The beauty of marketing is that you can get creative with it. This post centers around 7 different ideas for Instagram marketing tips. All of these 7 tips are geared towards small dropshipping companies. So don’t worry you don’t need to be a marketing wizard or have a huge following. These tips and ideas are here to help you improve your Instagram engagement to grow your company’s visibility and therefore sales.
1. Host a giveaway
The first mention from our top Instagram marketing tips and a great way to increase sales is to give something away. It doesn’t have to be huge or expensive either. There are a variety of ways you can allow people to enter. They can like your photo, post their own photo and tag you or use a hashtag. They can comment on your photo and tag a friend. Most importantly, ask them to follow your account too in order to be eligible. If you can team up with an influencer that will give you a lot more exposure you. This Instagram marketing tip is full of different ideas.
That’s what Liquido Active did. They partnered up with Carmen Morgan. Liquido Active sells active yoga clothing. Carmen has a great following on Instagram based on her yoga photos and videos.
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The giveaway is only for 24 hours. To be eligible, you have to like her photo announcing the giveaway, follow Liquido Active on Instagram and tag a friend in the comment. That’s it. The photo generated over 1,200 comments and over 2,700 in the first two hours of her posting it.
2. Feature your customers and fans
If you have a little bit of a following and a few customers you should start featuring them. Ask your customers in their order confirmation to tag your Instagram account with photos they take with your product. And this can be of anything you’re selling from t-shirts to keychains to socks. You can post photos, or videos, or people using your product in a few different ways. You can run a campaign where you do so every day. You can dedicate a single day and call it #showoffsunday. You can run a campaign with a specific product and ask for photos of just that one article.
You can use this Instagram marketing tip however you’d like. There are many benefits of featuring photos of your customers. First of all, it will let them know they are cared for. No one wants to feel like they are just an order number. It shows them you respect and appreciate them for having purchased your products. Secondly, it’s social reinforcement for those who haven’t bought anything from you yet. It lets potential customers know that you are selling good products that others enjoy.
GoPro’s Instagram is made up mostly of other people’s content. They feature many cute, funny and inspiring shots and video clips. The above is a video of a pirate bungee jumping, aka Collin Harrington. Loyalty towards your customers will go very far.
3. Get yourself a hashtag
Any list of Instagram marketing tips will mention creating a hashtag. That’s because hashtags make Instagram go round. You should create one for your brand. It can be a short lived one like for a specific campaign. That’s okay. But you need something that will tie it back to you. Not only that, but your followers will be able to use it too. When they do, it will tie them back to your account.
Additionally, don’t forget to use hashtags in your own posts. There is an actual limit of hashtags you can post yourself. It’s 30. But, that doesn’t mean you should underutilize them. Use tags that are trending in relation to the products you’re selling. That’s my only word of caution. You shouldn’t be using hashtags for dog accessories if you’re selling shoes. Your content won’t be noticed because it’s irrelevant. When you’re growing your Instagram account, there is no such thing as too many hashtags. Use them to your advantage.
LORNA JANE is currently running two campaigns. They too sell activewear. Their profile is filled with two different hashtags: #movenourishbelieve and #activeliving. Both of the hashtags have been tagged in hundreds of thousands posts each.
4. Find your photography style
Instagram is all about aesthetically pleasing photos. Thus one of the most important Instagram marketing tips one could receive is this. Experiment with your style and find what works for your niche. My two favourite examples are Ben & Jerry’s and Chobani. They may be successful companies with a big marketing budget. Don’t let that scare you. There are plenty of people and companies taking great shots with just their phones.
Let’s take a look at Ben and Jerry’s. food is easy to photograph for Instagram and the company is having a lot of fun with it. They posted a photo of an ice cream box dressed up as a witch for Halloween. They created a gradient out of the different shades of ice cream from white to brown. If you look through their account, you’ll notice that there is a very evident theme. The photos are high end but they are also usually fixed on a single item at a time. The images often tell a good story too about the ice cream like this punny take on a banana split.
Now, Chobani is doing something similar. Right now, it’s fall season and Thanksgiving is approaching in the US. A lot of their photos have to do with Thanksgiving, fall and Halloween theme. The photos are really pretty because they have composure. They aren’t filled with all sorts of junk, just a nice photo of a pumpkin and a pumpkin flavored yogurt.
5. Use Instagram to tell your story
These next three Instagram marketing tips are less about what to post and more on how to go about your Instagram account to make the best of it. Companies on Instagram see a significantly higher engagement than on either Twitter or Facebook. Your Instagram should have a thoughtful story of your company. Stories compel people to listen and pay attention. When people are listening, it is significantly easier to convert them into paying customers. Stories are an authentic way to set your company apart from others. Through well-defined content management, your Instagram will keep developing a great story over time. With beautiful photos of your products, of your company or employees, and of your customers, your story will start to develop. But that’s okay if you keep the content relevant. Your posts need to be cohesive with what your target audience is expecting. This brings me to my next Instagram marketing tip.
6. Always be testing
It’s not easy finding your own style or developing a relevant story but it’s going to be worth it. Your style is comprised of two things. First, something that represents your company and your products well. Second, it should resonate well with your audience. Which brings me to the 6th Instagram marketing tip: always be testing. You’ll have to run numerous campaigns and post numerous photos in order to get better and better at it. There is no way to know what people end up liking. So, instead of forcing the content on to them, test the waters first. The only way to master something is keep trying.
7. Use your marketing plan
With a marketing plan, you will know how Instagram specifically can help you drive traffic, engagement or sales. But it will also let you see where it falls short too. Instagram is not the answer to all marketing questions. It’s just one of many outlets. And, it works really well for dropshipping companies too.
On our blog, we have written a bunch of articles explaining how to create marketing plans and content plans. Please read up on those. The gist is that with a plan you will be much more successful. A plan will make you set a goal and make sure you post regularly to achieve it. And of course, goals can be measured. Therefore, you will know how effective the campaign was, or not. You can run multiple campaigns at once, if you need to.
Learned any new Instagram marketing tips?
Trying to get the hang of Instagram is achievable. These 7 Instagram marketing tips will give you a starting point for making the most out of your Instagram account.
Want to learn more?
- How to Hack Instagram Marketing: 60 Instagram Tips You Should Know
- The Ultimate Guide to the Best Instagram Hashtags for Likes
- How to Use Instagram for Your Dropshipping Business
- How to Do Instagram Influencer Marketing
- How to Get Followers on Instagram: From 0 to 10k Followers
Is there anything else you’d like to know more about and wish was included in this article?