Today’s digital marketplace is not only busy but very competitive that it has become crucial for brands to reach and engage their target markets across different social media channels. With more than 500 million active users, Instagram is one of the more important social media platforms today. Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs, especially the smaller ones, tend to shy away from using it.

But make no mistake about it–Instagram for digital marketing is more than the mere uploading of videos and photos. Instagram best practices will help entrepreneurs and online marketers to get the most out of this popular social media channel. The following pointers below can help concerned parties to harness this visual social platform:

1. Post visually appealing images

Most Instagram users like to see high-quality images. They expect nothing less but professional-quality photos from brands. Moreover, they expect the images to be engaging, interesting and optimized by Slazzer to remove background using AI algorithms. After that, you can use them for advertising campaigns, photo collages, product catalogs, editorials, templates, and much more.

Brands, though, don’t need to hire a professional photographer in order to upload interesting and visually appealing images. As phone cameras have become more advanced, small entrepreneurs and digital marketers can rely on these hand-held devices for capturing high-quality and engaging images. 

Below are some tips for taking photos using a phone camera:

• Use natural lighting as much as possible.
• Minimize clutter. 
• Take multiple images to have more options to choose from
• Avoid over-editing as these can result in images that look fake

2. Use appropriate image sizes

Uploading content on Instagram is not merely about using high-quality images. The sizes of the images can also have an effect on the impact of the posts. 

There are three image orientations on Instagram — square, landscape, and portrait. 

Square images are the old standard. It’s the ideal shape for images focusing on a solitary subject and close-ups. Quotations, too, are best highlighted with square images. 

Aside from portraits, portrait images are best for showing vertically oriented subjects such as buildings, waterfalls, and tall individuals. This is a huge factor on the Instagram story views order for the general audience of Instagram users.

Finally, the landscape is best for photos that show sceneries as well as those that rely on unfocused backgrounds. 

3. Balance the theme of the content

It can be very tempting for entrepreneurs to post everything related to their brand. The usual thinking is that Instagram posts should always be about the products or services offered by the business.

This is, however, not considered an Instagram best practice. If every IG post is intended to underline how great a brand is, it can rub off followers the wrong way. Instead of harping about their products and services, brands should look to strike a balance in their content by not only posting promotional content but also inspirational images or videos. 

Business owners and digital marketers should remember the reason why people get on Instagram in the first place, and that is to see images that can make them feel good. This fact should spur them to look for ways of including inspirational images in their posts. Aside from helping followers feel good and inspired, this type of posts can also encourage them to start a conversation. 

4. Always include a call to action (CTA)

Digital marketers know the importance of a call to action (CTA) in any social media or Internet post.  It is a key ingredient in any marketing campaign as it invites a response from users and results in a customer conversion.

Just like with any other kind of marketing content, an Instagram post should have a CTA. It should also be cleverly written to encourage interaction and engagement with followers.

There are numerous CTAs that brands can use to encourage follower engagement. One frequently-utilized call to action is asking followers to tag someone they know. In this CTA, followers are asked to tag a friend, family member, colleague, or anyone they know who can relate to a particular content.

Another way to call followers into action is to ask a question. The question should be relevant to the audience and something that most followers are comfortable and more likely to answer.

Brands may also invite their followers to share something. It can be a short story on how the brand helped them. Or it may be an experience that is related to the topic or theme of the post. These are some of the ideas that digital marketers and online entrepreneurs can play with to generate engagement with their brand followers.

5. Share engaging stories

The phrase ‘a picture paints a thousand words’ is very much true with Instagram. The platform stands out among the other popular social media sites because it allows brands to tell engaging stories with their photos or images. Whether the narrative is shared through a video or a still photo, Instagram is one of the best channels for brand storytelling.

This is where the creativity of business owners and digital marketers can come in and make a difference. Instagram can be harnessed to showcase products in a new light. Brands can show their products or services being used in action in a way that can capture the attention of their target audience and more importantly, get them to inquire or be interested in what the brand has to offer.

6. Use appropriate hashtags

Hashtags are not only an essential part of a Twitter marketing campaign; these are also useful in Instagram marketing. The appropriate use of hashtags is considered an Instagram best practice as these can help brands reach a wider audience by enhancing the visibility of their posts.

When an Instagram follower clicks or searches for a certain hashtag, he will find all content tagged with the said hashtag. However, brands should not overdo the use of hashtags on Instagram. Hashtags should only be used if these are relevant to the audience and content of the post.

Conclusion

There is no question that Instagram is one of the more important social media channels for digital marketing.  Brands should harness it by following the Instagram best practices discussed above. Doing so will have a tremendous effect on their online marketing efforts, leading to higher traffic and increased revenues.