To step up an effective social media marketing strategy, you have to consider the various opportunities on how you can connect with your target market on different platforms. Although Twitter and Facebook can be great when publishing company updates, Instagram is an excellent visual solution to inspire and captivate your audience.

Why use Instagram for brand awareness?

With over 700 million users, Instagram can be a powerful platform for businesses from a wide range of industries. But just like any kind of marketing out there, you have to ensure that you are taking the necessary steps to help you reach your goals. The more that you widen your following on Instagram, the larger your prospective sales will be. In this post, we are going to talk about how you can take advantage of Instagram to boost your brand awareness.

Brand personality should always be consistent

When you are just starting on Instagram, it might be quite tempting to post anything beautiful or interesting, but you cannot attain success if you are just posting randomly and without direction. For you to be able to succeed and widen your reach, you need to follow the same rules that go with any other kind of brand development.

You should have the right brand personality that prompts people to think of you as one of their peers. It also shows your human side. The same way that texts can go a long way in defining your brand personality, images can play a key role as well.

For instance, the photos that you post might tell a story; or the type of colors, filters, and imagery that you use can set a distinctive atmosphere. All of these play a role in showing your brand personality. But it is not just enough that you know your brand personality and incorporate it into your posts only when you feel like it. You need to step it up to show who you are as a brand.

Choose high-quality images wisely

When it comes to Instagram, aesthetics are crucial. Because it is a photo and video-sharing site, images are everything. Therefore, you need to adopt a general brand aesthetic in your account and then stick to it consistently.

Have you ever asked yourself why you are following someone on Instagram? Chances are, you are drawn to the interesting and excellent photography that they post, right? So upload high-quality photos on your account so that people will take notice as soon as they browse your page. See to it that the aesthetics you choose are authentic and directly related to your brand. Avoid switching filters too often, that way, you will maintain a consistent style and theme that people can follow.

Do a calendar for postings and stick to it

Although there isn’t a right or wrong way to publish your content, see to it that your feed is planned so that it is non-negotiable to your followers’ eyes! As we have mentioned previously, creating an Instagram aesthetic that is cohesive is one of the most effective things that you can do to level up your strategy, improve your following, and boost your engagement.

Also, if you want to come up with a feed that simply “wows,” then you need to start planning your posts at least two to three weeks in advance. But what about the posting times? Well, it mostly depends on your audience, because what works well for other accounts might not work well for you. One of the most effective ways to find out is to post and test. That way, you will know what works best for you in the long run.

Incorporate hashtags on IG posts

Hashtags are a great way to boost your exposure and create more engagement around your content. But it is also important to note that you should not abuse these hashtags and rely too much on them to get your point across. When you want to place something unique in your hashtag campaigns, hashtags are a great way to boost your brand. However, there are some rules that you have to keep in mind as well.

It is all about being STRICT. What we mean is:

• Specific
• Targeted
• Relevant
• Innovative 
• Concise
• Thoughtful

Do not just throw in hashtags for the sake of it. Instead, see them as a valuable tool that you can add in your social media arsenal.

Utilize Instagram story feature

Instagram Stories garnered about 100 million daily active users within just two months of its launch. But how can you use Stories to promote your business? Now, let us take a quick recap. What is it exactly? Well, it lets users collate photos and videos in slideshows which can be overlaid with texts, emojis, and graphics. Once a Story is uploaded, it will disappear after 24 hours. Meaning, it is only there for a limited period. Once it is gone, it is gone forever.

This gives you an excellent opportunity to be informal and even playful with your content. It is a unique way to take your audience behind the scenes, promote or host live events, and even hold Q & A sessions.

Instagram Stories gives you a fresh way to promote your brand, products, and services. Get it right and you can build loyalty among your followers and encourage future sales.

Constantly engage with your audience

The thing about Instagram and other social media platforms is that you need to be “social,” meaning you need to learn how to interact with your following. That’s why you need to make sure that you are taking the necessary steps to interact with your audience.

Engage with them by asking questions, joining conversations, and hosting fun contests to improve customer engagement. Holding contests boost your following, a great way to reward your existing customers, and attract more people to your page.

Instagram can be an excellent way to interact with your audience and boost your social media strategy. Just see to it that you are crafting the right posts to create better brand awareness and improve your revenue in the long run.