INSTAGRAM - A POWERFUL MARKETING PLATFORM
Nobody could have predicted that Instagram, a small photo-sharing network, would grow to be as powerful as it is today when it first launched in 2010. Instagram appeared to be a minor game player among others in the age of Facebook, Myspace, and existing photo-sharing platforms like Tumblr and Pinterest. In the year 2022, Instagram has dominated the social media platform market, with 1.3 billion users using the app every day.
Taking advantage of this free platform as a marketing agency should be of the highest importance, as it typically is. When it comes to engaging as a brand, however, not every element of Instagram is taken into account. We’ll inform you about Instagram tools you’re losing out on in this blog article!
1) Carousel posts
Aside from the standard photo sharing with a single image to display to your followers, a vital tool to utilize with this function is to upload many pictures at once, also known as a carousel post. This lets you share a photo story and allows your followers to interact with your posts for longer periods of time. Carousels can also be promoted, which helps you to reach a larger audience.
2) Instagram Reels
In response to Tiktok’s small format videos, Instagram launched Reels, which allows users to publish videos ranging in duration from 5 seconds to 60 seconds. These videos will appear as a post (if that option is selected) or in the reels column of the UI. Reels have been a popular feature on Instagram because they are a simple and organic method to reach a larger audience. As a brand, reels are the way to go because Instagram tends to share popularly viewed reels to a broader audience group.
3) Stories
Stories are a great way to show your immediate audience what you’ve been up to in just 24 hours! The first layout on the top of your home page in circles is your following’s stories when you open Instagram. This makes you want to know what’s going on in their lives right away. Similarly, using stories to show off what your brand is up to keeps your audience interested on a regular basis.
4) Story engagement
Apart from keeping your audience informed, using the engagement stickers offered on Instagram stories is an important element of sharing stories! When you slide up before uploading your story, you’ll see options like Quiz, Polls, Slider, and many others that allow your audience to interact with your stories using these stickers, resulting in a higher story view count.
5) Story highlights
If you don’t think uploading a story for 24 hours is enough, especially if you put time and effort into the creatives you share, Instagram offers a solution for you as well! The highlights of your stories appear on your profile page. When you upload a story, you can mark it as a highlight in any category you create. These highlights will stay on your page forever, so if you wish to show off your story to a new audience, they can do so by visiting your highlights.
6) Instagram Live
Instagram Live allows you to share your live moments with your followers while they tune in for the duration of your live session. Consider it a live feed where you may interact with your audience. The watching audience gets a sense of reality when they chat and participate with you on Instagram Live. Inviting well-known people to go live with your brand is a simple way to increase interaction and collaborate with popular creators, allowing your brand to be recognized
I hope this blog has helped you gain a better grasp of Instagram so you can use it to its full potential and maximize your marketing efforts on this powerful network.