Instagram tools. Promotion on Instagram: the most detailed instructions

In the few years of its existence, Instagram has come a long way. Today it is one of the largest social networks with 400 million active users. For most American teenagers, this is the main playground. But not only for them: according to Simply Measured, 85% of brands have Instagram accounts. To make promotion in it effective, each marketer uses certain services. Today we will present 5 effective tools - perhaps among them you will discover something new for yourself.

Formerly Latergramme, a tool used by Lonely Planet and the Wall Street Journal. There is a function of delayed publication, uploading photos, videos and quick repost. The free version provides limited functionality: a maximum of 2 accounts and only 30 posts per month. Paid packages - from $19.

You can work simultaneously with three social networks: Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. There is a function of delayed publication, managing multiple accounts, editing photo images. Five package options - from $19 Starter per month (1 Instagram account, 5 Facebook and Twitter accounts each) to $179 Enterprise Plus (20 Instagram accounts, 25 each other social networks) ). There is a free period of 7 days.

Works with 35 (!) social networks, with Instagram only since last year. An excellent tool for analytics, receiving feedback from the audience and evaluating its involvement. It also helps keep accounts secure. The Hootsuite collection includes 80 social media productivity apps. There is a free trial (3 profiles, basic analytics) and paid Pro and Business packages.

Another tool for analytics. Allows you to sort followers by engagement and value to you, determine the best time to post and those publications that your subscribers like the most. There are three packages: for digital agencies ($299 per month, 20 accounts), businesses ($79, 3 accounts) and ordinary users ($29, 1 account). All three plans have a free trial period.

Leah Canary

Why you need to create an Instagram account right now

You can only link your Facebook and Instagram accounts if you have administrator rights on your Facebook business page. If they are not there (or there is no brand page), then you can link it to a personal page.

To link your FB and Instagram accounts, you need to go to "Settings" - "Account" - "Linked Accounts":

Select Facebook and enter your login details:

You will now see the name of the page you linked your Instagram to:

You can skip these steps if you already linked your account to your company's Facebook page in the first step.

After that, you can configure a few more important settings.

For example, disable commenting on your posts. To individual photos / videos or to all posts at once.

If anything, remember - you can always complain about spam right in the comments:

By the way, Instagram is seriously concerned about - as Kevin Systrom (CEO and co-founder of the photoset) puts it - the "psychological comfort" of its users. So owners of private (closed) accounts can delete any subscribers without notice. And soon it will be possible to send anonymous messages about users who urgently need medical and psychological support. A sort of disturbing buttons for Self-Injury Posts (literally: posts of self-torture).

Stage 2. Description, link and avatar: we make out the account correctly

1. Profile description.

In the profile description, place important information about your company: USP, a brief description of the nature of the services. Do not fill the description with hashtags, a lot of emojis (smilies). Be aware of the 150 character limit.

To track traffic from Instagram, you can put a UTM tag at the end of the link in the profile description. But Google Analytics has been a bad friend to Instagram until recently. Traffic from the application in GA reports was attributed to the source - direct (direct traffic). However, some of the traffic from the application may still not be recognized in GA. This problem is solved with a redirect.

To address like https://site.ru/?utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=bhphotovideoaccount did not embarrass users, we make a link of the form http://site.ru/instagram(or similar) and add it to our profile. And then we set up a 301 redirect to a UTM link that will lead to our site. When a user clicks on such a link in your Instagram profile, the added parameters will be sent to Google Analytics - and the corresponding data will appear in your reports. Plus, Instagram considers such links more reliable than shortened ones. Attention! Google Analytics is case sensitive: utm_source=Instagram and utm_source=instagram will show up as different traffic sources

1. Link to your site.

If you want to make multiple links on your Instagram, use a service like taplink - this one is an internal app, for example. That is, a URL like taplink.cc does not lead away from the social network, but can serve as an information business card and a store. Classic content on the free plan would look something like this:

Stage 5. Pay attention to hashtags

1. hashtag always must match the topic of the post.
2. Make at least 5 hashtags per post. Yes, the more hashtags, the wider the reach. However, 30 hashtags for one post will be placed on the screen so poorly that they can distract the subscriber from the main thing - the picture itself. Don't make posts look like spam.
3. Remember that the most popular hashtags in the search you quickly go down.
4. Make a custom hashtag and keep experimenting.
5. Mistakes are sometimes incredibly attractive. Typos can become a feature if you try. So there was a domain and the name of one of the agencies in Moscow, for the registration and approval of advertising signs. The Reglama variant delighted my customer. Registration and a deliberate mistake in the word advertising, you know?

Remember that not only usefulness and diluted photos from the studio can sell, but also trash and humor:

Style will help you stand out, there will always be grateful users

Nature itself will help to emphasize the mood of the brand:

Let's move on to the video. Previously, videos in the Instagram feed were limited to a 15-second interval, today the maximum time for a video post is 1 minute. Now it’s safe to say that posts with videos get a lot more reactions than photos.

And at the end of 2016, Instagram launched a new feature - live video broadcasts. Live broadcasts can now be saved and shared with other users. Be sure to try working with live broadcasts: we told you how to launch them and make them watch.

But the laurels of YouTube certainly haunted the developers of the social network, so Instagram launched a new video platform IGTV in 2018, which is designed for long vertical videos.

Remember that the use of video should be justified by your brand's digital strategy and pursue specific goals. Development, filming, video editing is not the cheapest expense item, so decide in advance exactly what tasks you want to solve with it. Competent video marketing will allow you to stand out from your competitors and make your content diverse and attractive.

If you don't know where to start, here are the best brand ideas to inspire you:

1. Make a social video. PornHub's PSA is the best thing that could be done to draw attention to environmental issues. So the video service for adults outlined its position on the problem of ocean pollution.

The number of Instagram users today is 130 million active users, billions of new likes appear every hour. If you work with this service correctly, you can provide instant viral marketing success. But otherwise, failure is inevitable. For those who have just started promoting a brand on Instagram, business2community.com has compiled 52 useful tips on how to successfully run an advertising campaign using this social platform.

account settings

1. Create an Instagram business account - it's very easy.

2. Use the name of the company or brand as the name. If it is taken, then choose the name that is most associated with the brand.

3. Fill in the profile information: upload a beautiful brand photo, add a short information about yourself, link to the company website.

4. Integrate your account with Facebook.

5. Set up automatic integration of photos from Instagram to Facebook, this will increase the number of reposts. Companies like Mercedes Benz get a lot of likes with cross-posts:

6. Come up with a unique brand strategy, rely on it in all aspects of promotion, show people your company's view of the world, focus all content around a bright unique idea.

Advertise your account

7. Use the tools to promote your Instagram account. For example, in Russia, major brands use plibber.ru - just come up with creative content and an image, and then select the accounts in which you are going to advertise. The average cost of one organic subscriber is from 1 to 3 rubles.

Hashtags

8. Hashtags in updates are one of the key components of the service. It is with the help of hashtags that the user will be able to find photos of the desired brand. Unlike Twitter, the number of characters is not limited, but do not overdo it, it looks intrusive.

9. Include the brand name in the hashtag. Write unique hashtags for individual advertising campaigns. For example, if you decide to run a photo contest, come up with a special hashtag for this. This tactic will not only be a good brand advertisement, but will also allow users to connect with each other, the contestants will thus see who they are competing with. Here's how Dry Soda used #fridayDRYday to engage users and share photos:

10. Use generic hashtags in every post. For example, if you're a coffee shop owner and you posted a photo of a latte, use the hashtags #latte or #coffee.

11. Use popular hashtags. Trends on Instagram change very quickly, so if you have time to join the fashion movement in time, add a suitable hashtag. Thus, your post will be among the most famous, and the number of views will be measured in thousands.

12. Be sure to follow new and relevant hashtags on Instagram. Add them to your posts. Take some time to connect with users who add these hashtags, comment and like their posts. Your activity will not go unnoticed.

13. Monitor the web and look for users adding your brand name as a hashtag. This is how subscribers use feedback to tell you something important. Track all mentions the same way you would on Facebook and Twitter. Reply quickly to ensure a good and long relationship with buyers.

The main thing – Thisclients

14. Show your followers how much you appreciate them by posting and sharing their best photos on social networks. But remember, before you leave a post, be sure to ask permission. Starbucks, one of the top three brands on Instagram, uses this tactic very often. Once every few weeks, they dedicate a post to one of the followers, posting their artwork depicting one of the Starbucks products.

15. With the new feature in Instagram that allows you to embed Instagram photos on other sites, you are given the opportunity to host full-fledged fan posts. Make sure the user is aware that their post will appear on your site.

16. Like your followers' photos, especially if they feature your brand.

17. Comment on followers' photos.

18. Respond to all comments that are left on your photos / videos, even if they are negative.

19. Use mentions with @. Users love to be approached personally. For example, Coca-Cola singled out a subscriber who won a photo contest:

20. Use @mentions and tag celebrities. If your image is somehow related to the figure of a famous person, then do not be afraid to mark a star. Perhaps the photo will interest him / her so much that a repost will follow.

21. Focus on attracting buyers, create publications, constantly thinking about customers. An Instagram business should be geared towards the lifestyle your customers lead.

Show yourself

22. Don't forget to be creative: use various filters, interesting angles, lighting effects and other photography tricks. Add variety with programs like Photoshop, Diptic or Photoshake. Merge multiple images into one. Here is a great example of how you can combine three photos:

25. Show users how to use your company's products in real life. Here is an example of Whistler Water showing fans drinking their water at a concert:

26. Always maintain a perfect image: followers like cool brands. For example, Pilot Pen USA, which sells pens, is an example of successful marketing. Their Instagram is filled with stylish photos of notes and pens:

27. Illustrate the brand story colorfully: post beautiful photos and videos to show users the fundamental principles and values ​​that underpin the life and work of the company.

28. Open up to the world: post photos of your employees, tell us who is behind the success of your brand. Shoot videos from behind the scenes, share how a typical working day goes in your company. This will strengthen the brand image and the perception of the followers. Williams Sonoma practices a similar technique:

29. Post funny, entertaining CEO videos to get "closer to the people." For example, shoot short funny videos where he talks about what he likes to do outside of work hours.

30. Post unique content to make users feel special. Share photos that can't be found on other social networks.

31. Whether you're launching a product, hosting a band's first gig, or opening a new store, do it on Instagram. For example, on the day of the opening, make a video of the staff getting ready for the official moment while the customers wait in anticipation.

32. Create a teaser that will show the preparation of the product for the launch on the market or the event for the opening. But do not reveal the secret of what exactly is at stake.

33. Post a report on Instagram about an event that has already taken place. Feel free to show how the company's employees work in real life.

34. Build partnerships with other brands, no matter what business you represent: a small store or an international holding. You can achieve ideal cooperation - mutually advertise the products of companies in the feed. For example, Wimbledon and Nike:

Be creative

35. Ask users to write comments. If you want maximum engagement, speak up. Questions breed discussion. Ask readers what they think of a recently published post or image.

36. Ask questions about the company or product, get users talking about them. Ask if they've used the brand's product today, create a hashtag so followers can post photos about the topic. Target, for example, asks questions like “What flavor of popsicles do you like?” and users in turn start talking about the brand online.

38. Create interactive "fill in the gaps" posts. For example, if your business is a grocery store, post an image of a breakfast cereal and caption “I love starting my day with a plate of _____.” People will discuss your product and express their opinion.

39. Another original way to capture the attention of users is to ask them to come up with a caption for the image. Be original and post an unusual photo of one of your products. Announce a contest for the best signature and don't forget to come up with a small prize for the winner.

40. Crowdsource: Ask users to post pictures of the role your brand plays in their lives. This will help to understand the target audience, as well as useful for further research aimed at business development. But in order to attract the maximum number of users, you will have to launch a photo contest.

Competitions inInstagram

41. An Instagram photo contest is an opportunity to get a huge amount of user generated content and new ideas, or just to get all the attention for your company. Set the theme of the competition you need and let customers show their creativity. Here is an example of what you can do if you sell mocha:

42. If you run an Instagram contest, make sure the prize is good enough to motivate entry and further spread of the word online. Sometimes it is the prize that can cause the viral effect of the photo contest.

Don't Forget Mobile Users

44. Use geotagging - linking photos to a map. Add your location to the post to target local users in this way.

45. Stop separating online and offline reality. Post QR codes on Instagram so that users can scan them to receive, for example, discount coupons.

46. ​​If you're hosting an event, create a suitable hashtag where people can post their photo reports and get to know others.

47. Organize an online meeting for active users who may be potential buyers.

RaiseROI

48. Regardless of the number of subscribers, post content consistently. Users will look specifically at the brand account, knowing they will find interesting updates.

49. Decide on the frequency of publications. Some brands post 2-3 times a day, others 2-3 times a week. Use analytics to determine the frequency that suits you.

50. Find out what is the best time to post content. Each brand is individual. Therefore, you should resort to the help of analytics to find out when photos get the most likes, or what time subscribers actively use hashtags.

51. Analyze results: track activity across all metrics (hashtags, likes, shares, etc.)

52. Improve yourself. Based on the results, draw conclusions and improve the content.

Today, there are many services for automated promotion of your Instagram account, which, for a small fee, will help you attract followers and increase brand awareness.

53. The Zengram online service combines in its functionality a wide range of benefits and opportunities related to the promotion of Instagram accounts.

Its main advantages:

• simultaneous maintenance of an unlimited number of accounts from one personal account;
• full control over actions;
• advanced targeting settings;
• mutual liking of their subscribers;
• sending welcome messages to new users in direct;
• instaspy;
• attentive and responsive. support;
• full analytics;
• work through a proxy;
• cleaning from bots and commercial accounts;
• parser and comment likes.

The cost of the service depends on the number of days of subscription, the more days you buy, the more you save. For each new user, the first 7 days are free of charge.

The Zengram blog regularly publishes useful informational articles about the promotion. If you have not yet decided how to create an account for business on Instagram, focus on the article "What to write about yourself on Instagram: designing a business profile" . It will provide guidance on choosing a name for promoting a small / large business or personal brand, Tips for designing a profile header and maintaining an account.

54. The innovative SMM promotion tool Instapromo occupies one of the leading positions in all areas of Insta promotion. The service offers a full range of services:

• promotion (mass liking, mass commenting, mass following)
• deferred posting