– Instagram is one of the biggestand baddest social medianetworks on the market right now. With over one billion active monthly usersand 25 million active business accounts,it’s clear they’re notgoing anywhere anytime soon. That’s why in this video,we’re covering 10 Instagrammarketing strategiesfor small business so youcan better use the platformto connect and convert yourideal customer and client. Let’s get to it. Hey there my name is Adam Erhart,Modern Marketing Strategist,and welcome to the Modern Marketing Showwhere we help you makemarketing that matters. So if you’re interested inlearning about the latestand greatest marketingstrategies, tools, tips, tricks,and tactics, well, you maywanna consider subscribing. Alright so seeing as you’rehere now watching this video,it means you already understand the powerand the influence that Instagramhas had on the market in general. So rather than droneon and on about thingsyou already know, let’sdive right into the tips,starting with numberone, optimize your bio. The very first thing youwanna do on Instagramwhether you’re just getting startedor whether you’re lookingto take your accountto the next level is toreally fully optimize your bioby describing accurately,clearly and conciselywhat you do and who you do it for. This is also your opportunityto talk about why you’re worth following. After all, what you doand who you do it foris one part of the puzzlebut why is your accountworth someone’s attention and time?Of course, if you’ve got them there,you’ve compelled them with what you doand who you do it for andwhy you’re worth following,well then obviously you’regonna wanna follow this upwith an effective call to actionleading them somewhereto get them off the siteand to basically try to buildyour network some other way. A perfect example here is offeringsome kind of freebieor guide or lead magnetand making sure to link thatup using the link in your bio. A really important noteis to obviously make surethat whatever place you’resending them off Instagramis mobile optimized becausealmost all of Instagramtakes place on a mobile device. So the last thing youwanna do is send themto some ugly website thatdoesn’t work when they get there. Also, bonus points ifyou’re using a link trackerlike Bitly which is goingto enable you to seejust how many people are clicking the linkand ending up where you want them to go. Alright, tip number two is to make sureto have a brand plan. The three words that can help you buildan effective brand plan are consistency,clarity and congruence. Consistency means that you’reapplying a regular schedule,meaning you’re posting regularly,you’re checking in regularly,responding to commentsand responding to DMs on aregular and consistent schedule. All of which help provethat you’re a reliableand trustworthy brand. Clarity is all about what you’re about,your style and what you do and making surethat is really clear exactly what you do,who you do it for, whyyou’re worth followinglike we already covered,but also the theme andthe tone and the styleacross your entire account. Confusing someone isone of the quickest waysto lose them no matterwhat we’re talking about. Lastly, we have congruence. Again, this kind ofmarries the consistencyand the clarity by makingsure that what you do,what you talk about, whatyou post and all the imagesall really work togetherand all really followthe same line and the same theme, again,making sure that we avoid confusing anyoneabout you and about what you’re about. Tip number three is toleverage both feed and storiesin your Instagram marketing plan. The way that I like to think about itis feed, real good,and stories, real time. Meaning that you wanna makesure that you’ve curatedand created your absolute best contentin your feed so thatyou’re really portrayingyour best brand image possibleand putting your best foot forwardand then using stories toshow things in real time,live action as they happen. If you’re running Instagram ads,which we’re gonna talkabout in just a minute,well, then you can leverageboth feeds and storiesand see which one provides the betterreturn on investment foryou and your business. Our next tip is to use hashtags. Now I’m sorry that I even need to say thisbut it’s just so importantand so many peopleare still missing theboat here in leveragingand using them across all of their posts. And it’s so importantbecause this is how peopleare going to be findingyou and your content. Now there’s three tips I havewhen it comes to hashtagsto really help to elevate your gameand get more bank for your buck. The first of which is thatyou need to do #research,meaning, you’ve gotta go out thereand find out what other influencersin your space are using,what the top brands are usingand what your competitors are usingin order to attract and build an audience. Also, most importantly,you need to find outthe hashtags that your idealtarget market are usingbecause these are the peoplethat you’re actuallytrying to show up for. The next tip is that eventhough you’ve done your researchand you’ve got a kind ofa stock pile of hashtagsready to go, you wannavary them up over timeso that you can continue showing upin front of new and varied audiencesby using a variety of different hashtags. If you stick to the samehashtag, time and time again,over time all that’s really gonna happenis you’re gonna show up infront of the same peopleagain and again so youraccount is gonna stagnateand not grow as much as itcould by varying the peoplethat you’re trying to reach. My final tip when it comes to hashtagsis to make sure to usethe keyword shortcutinside your phone which isgonna make it a lot easierto pop them up quickly rather than havingto hand type out each and every single onewhich can be incrediblytime-consuming and laborious. My next tip is to make sureto leverage a micro-influencer strategy. Now I know you’ve heardof influencer marketingwhere celebrities andpeople with large accountsgo out there and get paid inorder to promote a producton their feed but there’s a sub-segmentof this massive industryknown as micro-influencersand this is where I’d recommendyou really wanna start diving into. What micro-influencers are are essentiallyreally niche-specific businesses or peoplewith tiny audiences ofthe exact perfect peoplethat you’re trying to reach. By going after them, you’re able to oftenget incredibly cost effectiveplacements and postingsfor really pennies on the dollarand reach exactly whoyou’re trying to reach. But of course, findingthe right micro-influenceris gonna take a little bit of diggingand a little bit of research. Still, well worth the effort. If you’re totally newto influencer marketing,well, I’ll make sure to link up a videoin the description belowas well as in the cardswhich will walk you throughmy influencer marketing outreach strategy. Really recommend you check it out. My next tip is to make sureto leverage user generated content. Leveraging user generated contentis a fantastic way to build brand loyalty,build engagement with your tribeand also take a little bitof the load off your platewhen it comes to creating content. Fortunately, generatinguser generated content,well, that’s a bit of a mouthful,well, it’s easier than you might think. All you really need to do is ask for itand probably one of the bestand easiest ways to do thisis by using a submissionspage right on your websitewhich you can direct people to. People submit content, you review itand you post it and give them a shout out,and that’s really it. My next tip is to understandthat timing matters a lot. Now a quick Googlesearch is gonna give youa number of different relevantand up-to-date statisticsaround the optimal posting frequency,the optimal time of day, andthe optimal days of the weekin order to post depending on your brand,or your business, or yourmarket, or your industry,or any of those factors. But there are some general guidelinesthat are working at least right now. For starters, postingone to two times a dayseems to be best withthree on the upper end. Eight to nine a. m. ,five p. m. , and two a. m. seem to be the best times to postand if you’re just gonna be posting twice,well, around eight or ninea. m. and two a. m. surprisinglyactually works out pretty well. And if you happen to be posting videos,which you should, well, ninep. m. seems to be the best time. Basically, you wanna be postingoutside of regular business hours. If you’re a nationalor international brand,these times are basedon Eastern Standard Timebut you may wanna vary itfor your specific market,especially if you’relocated on the West Coast. As for which days of the week,well, Monday and Thursdays seem to providethe best results, andSunday the absolute worst. Again, one of the thingsyou’re gonna wanna do hereis some active market research,meaning, follow your industry leaders,follow what your competitorsand other leaders in the space are doingand model it after themand then of course,track and check and testand re-test over timein order to find the right frequencyand timings for you and your business. My next tip is to reallyunderstand demographic details. First, the obvious stuff. 61% of Instagram usersare under the age of 31,69% under the age of 35. There’s about 7% more females than males,this number has been changingrapidly year over year,but older demographicsand younger demographicsare both still on the platformand those markets are growing quickly. So one of the mostimportant things you can doin your business whetherwe’re talking about Instagramor marketing in general,is really clearly dial inwho your exact ideal target market is,what are their pains and their problemsand their frustrationsas well as their dreamsand wants and desires,and how can you put yourmessage in front of themin the best way and inthe best place possible?It may very well be Instagramor it could be Instagramand something else, ormaybe just something else. But the only way to know thatis to really dive intoyour ideal target marketand who you’re trying to serve. Alright, moving rightalong to our next tip,paid promotions. My advice here is pretty straightforward. If you’ve got a business andyou wanna generate more leads,customers and sales, well,you’re gonna wanna leveragethe incredible power of Instagram ads. This does a couple reallycool things for your business. The first of which is that it allows youto keep your organic feedfree from all promotionsbecause you’re gonna beable to supplement thatwith paid advertising. The second thing is that understandingthat Instagram ads areone of the most powerfuladvertising tools available today,namely because they’reowned by Facebook adswhich as we all know hasone of the most powerfuladvertising algorithms available,allowing you to pinpoint yourexact ideal target marketand put your messagedirectly in front of them. If you’ve got a businessthat’s trying to generatemore leads, customers, and sales,you should be usingInstagram ads, end of story. Our next tip is to leverage Instagram DM. Direct messages are a fantasticway to build connections,outreach, network,and connect with otherpeople just like you. The key with Instagram direct messagesand basically all networkingis you need to lead with value,meaning, you’ve gotta goout there and find outa little bit about the personand how you can help to serve themwith no intention ofgetting anything in return. That’s what ads are for. So make a connection, seekto understand them firstand really build that relationshipand the last thing youwanna do is spam someone. Terrible for business. Alright so if you’re interestedin generating more leads,customers, and sales for yourbusiness using Instagram,the next step is gonna be tocheck out the video I post herecalled Instagram Advertising Tutorialwhich is gonna walk youthrough the exact strategywe use inside the agencyfor all of our clients. Really get you off to a good start. So make sure to check thatvideo right after thisand if you enjoyed the video,make sure to give it a thumbsup, subscribe to the channeland say hello in thecomments section below. Thanks so much for watchingand I’ll catch you next timeon the Modern Marketing Show.