Instagram Marketing

3 Instagram Marketing Do’s and Dont’s everyone should know in 2021

Instagram remains one of the most powerful marketing tools you have in your arsenal this year. How do you make the most of it? Zebra 360 Digital Marketing Agency has some tips and tricks for Instagram marketing every business should be using. The key question is, are you?

1)  Don’t focus on Vanity metrics

Because Instagram builds around a core idea of ‘celebrity’, it’s easy to get sucked into caring about your vanity metrics more than the ones that really matter. Likes and comments are nice, as is ‘going viral’ with shared content, but they’re not what you need to successfully market your business on Instagram.

Social Media Marketing needs a many-pronged approach, and content can (and should) serve different purposes. That’s why you need to know the objective behind posting something before you post. Surface-level posts can be a great way to boost your presence in the Instagram algorithm due to the likes and comments. Inspirational content and infographics might not get as many comments, but offers great potential for shares, which boosts reach and visibility. Client feedback is another category that can be worth focusing on, building your brand image despite almost no possibility for likes and comments.

In short, different pieces of content serve different roles in your marketing strategy, and it’s not all about feel-good vanity metrics. Make sure you have a holistic plan in place that reaches all your target goals instead of chasing ‘celebrity’ alone.

2)  Do use short captions

The social world is always changing. At one point, long captions were the best way to leverage Instagram, but with the many alternatives ways to format content on the platform that have been launched since, that’s no longer the case.

Remember that content is there to consume. If people disengage halfway though, your goal fails. If you do have meaningful long content to share on Instagram, now’s the time to set up a smart carousel instead. Use an image you know will ‘stop the scroll’ as bait to get people to engage, and present your longer message in bite-sized portions people can easily consume. This lends it more of a ‘presentation’ style, and encourages greater engagement. Be sure to encourage people to swipe! This method sets up an ideal balance where your first slide can net you critical ‘vanity’ metrics, and the rest offers meaty content that encourages customers to engage.

3)  Don’t post (too much) free content

Free content is a great strategy to build your image as a guru of your industry, establish trust with a client base, and effectively ‘soft-sell’, or create a space for yourself in your clients’ busy lives where they feel like they have a meaningful relationship with you, instead of simply being mined for their money.

It is possible to go overboard, however. If you’re regularly giving away tutorial-style content that teaches clients to replace your product’s space in their life…well, you won’t be selling much down the line!

Instead, balance this with other types of content that help build demand for your service, too. You want to build an audience who engages with your business, not a coterie of freebie followers who don’t want to shell out a cent for your services.

Getting the balance right on social media is a full-time job in itself. If you’d rather focus on the intricacies of your core business, why not let the experts at Zebra 360 Digital Marketing Agency help you keep your social strategy moving forward?