The importance of social media marketing cannot be stressed enough. In today’s competitive business scene, creating a digital presence is critical for the ultimate success or failure of any kind of product, service, and company.
Instagram is one of the top-ranking sites where you’ll need to make your mark. One of the key elements of building a presence for your business is connecting with the target audience by following or getting followers.
Creating a Robust Presence on Instagram by Getting Followers
There are currently about one billion monthly active users using Instagram. That’s a staggering customer base that you can reach. However, when designing your social media marketing strategy, you’ll want to target the consumer demographic that is relevant to your particular niche.
In other words, you’ll create posts aimed at the particular audience that is most likely to purchase your products and services. Or, you’ll want to gain the right followers. At the same time, following people can also lead to a long-term connection.
Here are some interesting central Instagram statistics collected by the clever guys at Hootsuite:
Identifying the appropriate accounts is a complex task. For this reason, it is best to work with teams experienced in social media marketing who can get you started off in the right direction. The first step is creating a good balance between the number of followers you have and the number you want to follow.
A high number of followers indicates that your profile is popular. Once the business page crosses the 1,000 mark, you can expect increased sales. But, since you can only follow a maximum of 7,500 people, you’ll want to choose them carefully.
Determining Your Goals and Objectives
Before identifying the people you wish to follow, determine your goal from the social media marketing strategy. Consider what you’re hoping to achieve. Are you looking for higher engagement, increased sales, or a widening of your customer base? Or, maybe, your intention is to create more awareness for your products and services.
Set quantifiable objectives such as the number of people you’ll follow and a given time frame within which you’ll achieve this target. But, at the same time, choose people who are interested in your specific industry and work out a schedule for connecting with them.
Identifying the Right Customer Demographic
Pay attention to demographics such as age, gender, location, and income. Not only do 37% of American adults use the platform, but 67% of young adults ages 18 to 29 are on Instagram, as are 47% of adults ages 30 to 49.
These distributions should influence how you create posts and design an effective social marketing strategy. For instance, businesses producing and marketing college supplies will target younger age groups. But, if you’re selling an exclusive line of clothing for company executives, you’ll target the older age group.
Scout Instagram for celebrities, influencers, brands, hobbyists and any other pages that relate to your niche and follow them. Look for interesting images and content that connect with your business and compliment your products. If you market beauty products you’ll follow bloggers like Ingrid Nilsen. However, if your niche is sports goods, Simeon Panda and Cristiano Ronaldo should be on your list of followed celebrities.
Learning From Successful Competitors
When choosing the people to follow, pick out companies and brands that work in your industry. Learn from the approaches they use and understand their tactics for customer engagement. You’ll develop a fair overview of successful moves that you can consider adopting in your own social media marketing strategies.
Owners of local mom-and-pop grocery stores would want to follow larger chains like Whole Foods, Wegmans Food Markets, Kroger’s or Giant. If your company is affiliated or partnering with other businesses, make sure to follow them on your Instagram page. You’ll show support and spot their latest activities.
Connecting With Your Customers
If you have a dedicated customer base that regularly posts about their experiences with your products, following them back is a good move. You’ll build a connection with them and develop a better view of what clients are expecting to see. This information helps you innovate new designs and improve on existing ones for higher sales.
However, it is critical that you limit the number of clients you follow. If the images and content they post are not relevant to your company, look for other options. Remember that you can choose to unfollow people at any time. Interests and consumer trends change, or they may have new posts that are no longer relevant. Avoid following accounts whose content is not appropriate to connect with your company.
Choosing People to Follow Carefully
Use the Follow option on Instagram with caution. Remember that you do not have to follow back every person who follows your company. Take the time to verify their accounts and check for a complete bio, videos, and real images.
You’ll also want to ensure that the page carries authentic conversations and updated posts that reflect that the account is active. If the interval between posts is a few weeks, you might want to pass up the offer.
Watch out for spam accounts and people posting vulgar and unethical posts. Instead, focus on people with the intention of building lasting relationships and connections. And, stay true to your brand voice by connecting with people who share your company’s values and moral codes.
Staying Protected From the Risk of Data Breaches
Since Instagram has extensive security measures, you need not be concerned about the risk of data breaches by following user accounts. For added measure, safeguard all passwords and direct your employees to stay safe from phishing and malware attacks.
Assure customers that your pages are legitimate by connecting them with your Facebook account. You’ll also want to hire the services of credentialed cybersecurity professionals to keep an eye on your security systems and detect any potential holes in the protection systems.
[See related post: How To Protect Your Personal Information When Using Social Media?]
Unfollowing Users
Social media etiquette on Instagram dictates the follow for follow rule, but you don’t need to feel obligated to keep up with every person who chooses to follow your business pages. You’ll have people reaching out with follow for follow requests.
Don’t be surprised if they choose to unfollow you once you accept their requests to connect. You have the option of unfollowing at your end, too. But, you might just find that the pages have interesting posts that are relevant for your company.
In short, make sure the followed pages bring value to your social media marketing goals and you’re good to go. Many online tools exist that allow you to assess the value of each post and whether it is engaging and interesting for your specific audience. Make your decisions based on the results.
Expanding the Scope of Business Operations
Users in the US make up just 11% of the total number of people signed up on Instagram. If you’re a business owner thinking of expanding operations and perhaps, catering to overseas clients, make note of the fact that 89% of the users are based in locations outside of the US.
Don’t lose sight of the fact that users enjoy exploring the products and services available in offshore locations. You might just be able to market your brand via mobile apps. Keep a keen lookout for followers from abroad who might be interested in your pages.
Following users can be especially beneficial if you market consultancy services or virtual products. Like for instance, images and photographs, editing services, freelance journalism, and more. The possibilities are endless.
Social media marketing strategies that follow users on Instagram can be valuable by helping you develop a robust online presence. Explore the right methods and etiquette of using the tool and you’ll find that you’ll have increased sales and excellent exposure in your chosen industry.
[Recommended reading: Top Free Ways to Get Instagram Followers in 2021]
[Images – Main Image by Pera Detlic from Pixabay; Instagram infographic by Hootsuite; Security Knight: Photo by Henry Hustava on Unsplash; Followers Photo by Josh Sorenson from Pexels; other images are from their respective websites and/or social platforms]
Chris spent the first half of his career working his way up the corporate PR agency ladder, working at both world-class firms and tech-specific boutiques in New York City. 2010 brought the founding of his own full-service digital agency, 98 Buck Social which is a social media powerhouse with 26 full-time employees and over 1,000 active clients and growing.