If you’re not efficient with your Instagram marketing, you may be missing out on a lot of sales! Here are seven Instagram marketing tips you should know to grow your account and convince followers to convert.

Instagram is huge these days in terms of marketing opportunities. It offers brands an advertising audience of over 1.16 people from around the world. It keeps users on the app an average time of 30 minutes daily. It helps brands convince over 130 million users to tap on shopping posts every month.

Since its release back in 2010, Instagram grew into a marketing channel that holds endless sales opportunities. It’s the channel used by brands worldwide to increase brand awareness, attract new customers, make existing customers loyal, and, ultimately, sell.

Now, the real question is: how well does your brand use all these marketing opportunities offered by the social media giant? If you feel like your business isn’t using all the marketing potential Instagram has, we have some tips that can help you grow your Instagram account and improve your presence on the network.

1. Go for the business version of the account

If your business’s Instagram account isn’t a business profile by now, make the switch right now.

Switching from a normal to a business profile is really easy. And, it comes with several advantages that can help you improve your Instagram marketing game.

Head to the profile settings and simply click on the button that allows you to change your profile to the business version.

Once your business profile is all set up, you get several perks your normal account didn’t have. For example:

• Instagram users can contact you directly using the contact button.
• You’ll be allowed to create and share ads without using other advertising tools.
• You get access to relevant data.

And, yes, these are all free once you switch your account to the business version.

Having a business profile for your brand also makes you look more professional to Instagram users.

2. Make the most out of the app’s tools

As mentioned, business profiles give you specific tools that you wouldn’t have with a standard account. Now, it is time to make the most out of these tools.

The most crucial tool you get access to is Instagram Insights. That’s because it provides you with relevant and valuable data that allow you to make better marketing decisions for instagram growth.

More precisely, with Instagram Insights, you can see everything about how well your account is doing, from how many impressions it gets, engagement data, and more. What’s more, you can also better understand data about the average follower you have, including gender, age, where they live, or even the exact time when they are scrolling on the platform. With all this information at the tip of your finger, your Instagram marketing can be driven by data, which makes it a thousand times more effective.

Just think about it: you’ll know exactly when to post content and be sure your followers see it. You’ll know how to tailor your content to reach your audience based on the age, location, and gender of your followers. And, you’ll also know precisely what type of content your followers find the most engaging.

3. Invest in ads

Sponsored ads are another useful tool that comes with the business version. And, the best part of it all is that you choose just how much you want to spend on them.

This feature of Instagram lets you to post one or more sponsored ads depending on your sales goals, and obviously, budget. If you want to promote more products in the same ad, the platform’s carousel feature allows you to.

Now, what’s really great about sponsored ads is that they give you the opportunity to widen your audience. In other words, before the app allowed brands to invest in sponsored ads, they could only reach out to their follower base. Not anymore!

Sponsored ads appear even to those Instagram users who aren’t following you but match the targeting requirements you set for who will be seeing them.

You can create ads in different forms, from photos to videos, stories, or carousel ads.

4. Improve your follower base’s quality

The quality of your followers matters a lot in how effective your marketing efforts are.

But first, let’s make sure you understand what the follower base’s quality means. Better yet, understand what type of followers aren’t good quality: fake accounts, inactive accounts, or accounts of those people who don’t match your ideal buyer persona at all. Promoting on Instagram to these types of followers isn’t going to help you sell more at all.

So, to improve your Instagram marketing game, you first have to improve your followers’ quality. How? By deleting those irrelevant followers and reaching out to relevant ones. Also, post content tailored to what attracts people in your target audience.

5. Stay in your audience’s mind with Instagram stories

Stories are gold in Instagram marketing. They help stay in your followers’ minds without making you look too pushy with your content.

Everybody on Instagram loves and uses stories. More precisely, 500 million people use them every single day. This makes it clear that Instagram stories are a key marketing channel for your brand.

Although they can only be seen for 24 hours after you post them, stories are engaging and a non-intrusive way to reach out to your audience.

6. Collaborate with relevant influencers

Influencers and Instagram marketing go hand in hand and can do wonders for brands looking to increase their follower base on the app.

Now, although influencers can help your brand get discovered, not just any influencer is a good choice. You need to choose an influencer that is actually relevant to your brand. More precisely, the person you choose to collaborate with must have an online presence that suits your brand and must have a follower base that is mostly made out of users that are part of your target audience.

Simply put, choose Instagram celebrities that are relevant to your business area.

7. Reward your active followers

Active followers are just like existing customers you want to keep loyal. With Instagram followers that actively engage with your brand on the app, or better yet, share stuff about you, it’s best to show your appreciation.

How do you do that? By organizing giveaways for active followers, by reposting their posts about your brand in your story section, or by simply sending them a “thank you” message.