Visual marketing is now an important part of SEO. Google values links that come from visual content. Even text-based content these days is becoming more dense with graphics. It’s because of this transition that brands are now leveraging social networks where visuals and graphics are shared with almost an unconscious click of a mouse.

Instagram is one such network.

This channel presents immense marketing opportunities and can help a brand in a number of ways:

• Instagram now has more than 400 million active users
• In 2014, almost 20% of Internet users had Instagram account
• It is considered the most important social network among U.S. teens
• The Instagram mobile app has registered 30 billion photos shared between users thus far

The stats above indicate why it is essential for every brand to use Instagram as a platform for visual marketing.

Among the useful Instagram marketing tips, the key ones are:

Deep link in bio

You can promote your brand through the link in the bio section. So place links strategically. Most brands put homepage link in the bio section. Does that help? Yes, it does. But it’d be better if they post deep links in the bio area of an Instagram profile.

For example, if you post your landing page link, then visitors on your profile will be taken straightway to the landing page of your site. Oftentimes, brands post specific images to Instagram but add homepage links. They should add the link to the page that has information, related to the image. By doing that, they signal to Google that there’s a contextual connection between their brand profiles on Instagram and their websites. Google values such connection.

Let’s say you are an automobile brand and you upload images of a shiny car on Instagram. The accompanying link should be of a page that has information about the make and model of the car. This will more value to your branding.

Use hashtags

Twitter is not the only hotbed of hashtag marketing. There are plenty of other similar networks and Instagram is one of them. The #chooseyourwinter campaign by Nike is a great example of the engagement that marketing on Instagram can generate.

The campaign helped Nike grow its user-base on Instagram and skyrocket its sales. Like big brands, smaller brands can also leverage Instagram. The #EEEEEATS campaign by a lesser-known brand called Infatuation was among the hugely successful campaigns on Instagram. Over 2 million posts were tagged with this hashtag.

The brands in the example belong to the B2C niche and they sell consumer goods. Visuals of consumer apparels are likely to go viral if appropriate hashtags were used. If you sell furniture like teak chair, bedding sets like mattress and pillows or have a restaurant, which serves a mouthwatering buffet, then find a suitable and actionable hashtag to make your campaign go viral on Instagram.

Use videos

Instagram is not YouTube. The channel is famous for being the hub of images, not the hub of videos. But that doesn’t mean you can’t share videos on Instagram. In fact, it’d be a sheer blunder if you dismiss Instagram from your video marketing checklist.

Below are the reasons your brand needs video promotion on Instagram:

Your competitors are using Instagram for video marketing and reaching out to a large number of users. Don’t believe me? Okay, then see the graph below:

Source

The graph above shows video sharing almost got doubled in November 2015 from January of that year. Clearly, if you are not promoting yourself on Instagram using branded videos, then you are lagging behind.

Sarah Fama of ReelSeo listed some advice that can make video sharing on Instagram more profitable for you. Here are the advice, check them out.

The targeted audiences

What if the visuals you are uploading on Instagram fail to create engagement and convert visitors into leads? The entire Instagram marketing campaign will become purposeless then.

To make the campaign better performing and productive, you need to pinpoint the target audiences. In my opinion, the easiest way to identify them is tap into the juncture where audience demographic meets brand loyalty.

Not getting it yet?

Okay, lets put it this way…

Instagram, just like other visual networks, have users from diverse demographic groups. Some of those groups may show interest in your product while other groups may not. Among the ones who display interest, some will buy from you and some will not.

The targeted segment of audiences may be narrow but they are the ones who will buy from you. Check the audience engagement details, identify the active ones, sort them out in accordance with demographic characteristics and measure the depth of their brand loyalty.

Normally, visual networks account for a high engagement rate, which is why, it becomes difficult for a brand to identify target audiences. Tallying the demographic details and brand loyalty index may come in useful for them.

Use Instagram tools

Instagram has plenty of tools for brands to use. The editing tools and filters can enhance the quality of your images. The business tools include analytics to monitor the in-network growth, ease cross-device accessibility, identify and manage Instagram followers, etc.

Instagram has recently introduced a new advertising platform. The platform is self-serve and its impending success is owed to the fact that Instagram ads are two and a half more times likely to be clicked compared to ads on other social channels. The new ad interface gives brands access to various ad formats. Brands can choose between a visual brand storytelling ad and a 30-seconds long video ad - whichever gets the message across.

Here’s a list of Instagram tools that clue you in on the right time to post, give you access to stats and fetch actionable insights from the pits of the visual channel.

Summing up

Marketing opportunities are rife for brands on Instagram. They have to work a little harder to understand the platform and their audiences. Of course, as we’ve discussed here, Instagram gives them access to various tools to ease these tasks. Harnessing the tools and promoting a brand with cool visuals will surely have a rewarding payoff for them. 

Image Courtesy: pixabay.com