When Instagram started to become a social media powerhouse, it quickly became one of the top marketing channels for many businesses – due to the fact that some companies find that visual media is more effective in engaging their audience to interact with their brand.

Much of IG’s powerful advertising platform success is caused by the integration with Facebook and its powerful advertising strategies which have been run and tested for many years already.

Who can use Instagram as an advertising platform?

The answer is very simple. All businesses!

As long as imagery and visual-content is essential to your business, Instagram can be an excellent place to market your products or services. This is a channel where you can target an audience and provide a glimpse of what your business is truly about.

It can help boost your sales, customer engagement, Web traffic and brand awareness. Companies that fall under the niches that require strong imagery (such as lifestyle, fashion, beauty, sports brands to name a few) tend to be the most successful on this advertising platform.

Here are some of the marketing tips you can apply on your IG feed to get the best results.

Establish A Point of View

Businesses must try their best to establish a unique strategy on each social media platform. By doing so, it ensures that they deliver the right message to their target market on Instagram.

For example, it might be a good idea to share upcoming products or services on your Facebook page. Posting the same content on your Instagram account does nothing for your business. Instead, you can decide what specific point of view your audience may like.

You can try posting some behind the scenes footage, a sneak peek into your new brand ambassadors, a look inside your factory or production floor. These are the type of angles that are likely to pick the interest of the users on IG. Once the point of view is clearly established, you can now begin with your content strategy.

Integrate Content Strategy

Content strategy is also crucial in successfully marketing your brand on Instagram. It has to coincide with your account’s point of view.

This is where you think about hitting a certain target, like posting at least one photo a day, or consistently responding to the comments on your feed. Content strategizing is also about how you want your entire account to look like. This is where you need to think about using analytic tools to your advantage.

Remember, users on each social media network behave differently, including in Instagram. So that your content strategy across all channels needs to vary a little bit to help you determine what works best in terms of content, posting time and engagement. Do not to the same thing on all social channels, but instead make it more personalized to your audience.

Target The Right Audience

It is critical that you start showcasing your brand to the right users. Luckily, IG advertising is integrated with Facebook ads.

This means you can access the advanced targeting feature of FB and utilize them on your IG account. Using targeting features like age, location, sex, interests, custom and lookalike audiences can boost your click-through-rate (CTR).

In connection with this, a high CTR can also lessen your cost per click (CPC). Never rush when you are making your marketing ads and targeting your audience. Since you need to create specific ad campaigns, you also want to become familiar with Instagram’s ad types (photo ads, carousel ads, video ads and marquee ads).

Study and Test Your Content

Find out which among your posts have the highest number of comments and engagement. You should also check your tagged photos published by your customers or followers. This is a good place to start thinking about the kind of content you need to be posting in the succeeding days.

You must test your written and visual content which means you can try to amplify your best performing posts and see if you can repurpose them into Instagram Ads. Check their performance and try again. As for the written content, you can test different kinds of captions to see which style works best for you. Mix up your hashtags as well as these can greatly affect your visibility and ROI.

Instagram is a network where brands have the ability to share their point of view with the world. So use it well or your competitors will.

Aside from the fact that is a highly visual platform, it also has a strong marketing capability that can help businesses boost their traffic and sales. This is the place where you can get people to engage and get remembered.

Follow the tips above and launch your own captivating marketing strategies. Instagram users have reached the billion milestone, so do not miss this opportunity.