Since Instagram was launched in 2010, the platform has captured the hearts of over 1 billion active users—and counting. With a focus on interactive, visual, and live content, it’s no question why 25 million businesses have created profiles on Instagram.
But the popularity of Instagram isn’t the only reason why millions of companies have made Instagram an integral part of their digital marketing strategy: the platform also boasts high brand engagement.
Consumers are more likely to engage with businesses on Instagram than on many other equally popular social platforms. In fact, 80% of users follow at least one company on Instagram, and 72% of Instagram users have purchased something they’ve seen advertised on the platform.
This popularity is only expected to increase over time, so if you’re interested in a digital marketing career, learning the ins and outs of Instagram marketing will prove valuable for years to come.
Instagram Marketing: An Overview
Instagram offers a wide variety of features and post types, so it’s important to understand the different components the platform offers before you start creating content for a company.
For starters, there are two different types of accounts you can create on Instagram: personal and professional. You’ll likely use the professional account most of the time after your digital marketing courses as this option allows you to add extra information to your profile such as a phone number and website link.
Once you’ve created an Instagram account, now comes the fun part: creating content. There are four areas you can share content on Instagram—Feed, Stories, Instagram Live, and IGTV—and each has its own unique characteristics and best practices. They each also have a different lifespan. Instagram Stories, for instance, are available for 24 hours (unless you save them to your profile ‘highlights’), whereas the photos and videos you share to the Instagram Feed are there forever—unless you decide to delete them, of course.
Creating an Instagram Marketing Strategy
Whether you’re livestreaming on Instagram or creating Stories, the content you share on the platform should help contribute to your larger digital marketing goals. Sharing posts haphazardly may get some traction, sure, but not as much as if you set out a comprehensive Instagram marketing strategy beforehand.
If you want to make the most out of Instagram, it’s important to start by setting goals. Are you hoping to generate leads? Improve brand awareness? Engage with consumers? It is also important to define your target audience in order to optimally tailor your Instagram content.
When it comes to planning out your content, consider creating an editorial calendar so you ensure you’re posting consistently. You could also conduct a competitor analysis to get inspiration for your posts. Finally, as you’ll learn in digital marketing training, no strategy is ever complete without a plan for how you’re going to monitor it and improve it over time.
Instagram Advertising for Students in Digital Marketing Courses
Instagram has become an attractive advertising option for many companies, and it is predicted that Instagram’s ad revenue will reach $12.32 billion in 2020. This is likely because of Instagram’s high brand engagement, as well as the fact that Instagram ads are integrated into the Feed and Stories features, which helps them blend into organic content.
If you know how to create ads on Facebook, creating Instagram ads will be a breeze since both use the Facebook Ad Manager. The only difference is in format. Instagram ads are available in a wide variety of styles, including standard formats like photo and video ads, as well as unique options such as Stories ads, Explore ads, and IGTV ads.
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