Let’s address the elephant in the room: is it too late for your business to thrive on Instagram, a platform that has over one billion users? The answer is no. It is never too late for your business to expand its horizons, even if it is on a highly competitive platform during a global pandemic.
With conventional marketing strategies being compromised due to COVID-19, Instagram is one of the best marketing tools to adopt. It is a cost-friendly solution to stay engaged with your customers, increase brand reach, and generate more leads for your business.
Whether you are an e-commerce startup or a brick-and-mortar giant, you get equal opportunities to market your brand on the popular social media platform. But in terms of performance, it depends on your strategy.
Distil the essence of your brand
Every post you publish on Instagram should have visible strands of your brand’s DNA on it. The overall package of your account, which includes your bio, captions, hashtags, stories, highlight reels and so on, should all illustrate the purpose of your brand and what people will gain from it.
Imagine you are running a healthcare business, your choice of visuals and wordings in your posts should convey comfort and care. You want to create informative content with a nurturing approach that is centred around your business’s core values. It is essential to look at your brand through the lens of consumers and ask yourself what do you want people to learn and feel from your page.
How visually pleasing is your Instagram feed?
Seeing how popular Instagram is, it may seem difficult to create a unique account that will set you apart from your competitors. The next thing you need to establish is a consistent visual presentation of your brand. When someone takes a glance at your feed, they should be able to immediately identify a consistent pattern that mirrors the soul of your brand.
Different strokes for different folks – what works for others may not work for you. While it helps to study what everyone else is doing, it is, however, not advisable to copy them. To build a killer Instagram page, you must first understand the demographic of your target audience. For example, if you are a luxury brand that targets middle-aged women, you may want to consider a brand colour palette that conveys elegance paired with visuals that include subtle traits of poise. The overall aesthetic of your feed should have a “premium” touch to it. Conversely, you would want to avoid bold colours and cheeky fonts that might clash with your brand personality.
Build your tribe
Who doesn’t love a good brand story that tugs at people’s heartstrings? To rally a community of like-minded individuals who share the same sentiment and vision as your brand, you need a compelling narrative that is rooted in a meaningful cause or purpose. Authenticity wins in many cases when it comes to storytelling. People are often drawn to narratives that feature real issues and real people as they bring a sense of familiarity that will make a brand seem more relatable and genuine.
If you want to create sharable messages, your business needs to be a clear and strong advocate for what it believes in. Essentially, it all goes back to how well you inject your brand essence into your marketing strategies. To craft content that makes people feel moved to double-tap or share your posts, it needs to speak to them on a personal level. People want to be able to see what your business truly cares about, and this goes beyond the perfectly angled and retouched images on your feed. They want a story that will inspire and empower their own beliefs.
Once your business has rallied like-minded people that support your cause, you can take comfort and assurance that the people who are following your account are the right people who are drawn to your mission statement and vision. If you stay true to this, you do not have to worry about the people who are not following you – the ones who are already following you will become natural advocates of your business. To put it simply, once you have identified your brand essence, know who you are and what you stand for, you can form your own tribe.
So, if you are still wondering if you should put your business on Instagram, the answer is a resounding yes.
As the editor-in-chief of the team, Mephine takes pride in producing scintillating copy that delights and entertains the audience. She also believes that authentic and strategic storytelling is the way forward for brands to stand out from content clutter.
NEED AN EXPERT LOOK AT YOUR MARKETING STRATEGIES FOR INSTAGRAM?
The Outsiders Co. has a team of highly-skilled social media content creators and marketers who can enrich your brand essence across all messages and improve the engagement you have with your followers. Chat with us at creatives@the-outsiders.co to find out how we can elevate your business’s Instagram page!
