These days, it’s an accepted fact of life that if you want to grow your audience online, you need to use social media — and few platforms receive greater emphasis than Instagram. With the ability to post attractive images and an intuitive search function, many brands have been able to build quite the following on this popular platform.
Of course, generating quality leads from your Instagram efforts isn’t necessarily easy. Even those who follow Instagram marketing best practices aren’t always able to generate the return on investment they’d like to see.
The good news is that there are plenty of tools available to help you grow your account and more than a few solid examples of quality content — from Gary Vee, Gerard Adams, Carlos Gil, and Davidson Petite-Frere, just to name a few — to generate those leads your business needs. Here’s a closer look at some of the tools that will help you take your Instagram efforts to new heights:
1) Kicksta
Even when you’re able to consistently produce quality posts for your Instagram account, it’s not always easy to get your target audience to notice your content. This is where Kicksta comes in. Kicksta essentially automates the process of growing your Instagram followers so that your content actually reaches the people who are most likely to convert.
Users provide Kicksta with a short list of Instagram accounts that have the type of followers they want to gain for their own brand. Kicksta then likes posts from users who fit these target demographics (all using your profile).
This natural form of engagement serves as a simple way to gain the attention of potential followers, enticing them to check out and follow your account without appearing spammy. Better yet, because these followers are relevant to your niche, they’re far more likely to become paying customers.
2) FameBit
Influencer marketing has become a central part of Instagram growth strategies — but identifying legitimate influencers isn’t always easy. Actually connecting with the influencers who could have the biggest impact on your brand’s growth can be even more difficult.
FameBit seeks to alleviate this problem by creating an easy-to-use platform for brands and influencers alike. As a brand, you can set up campaign parameters (including your budget and the type of sponsorships you wish to use), and then receive proposals from influencers who are interested in working with you.
By having influencers come to you, rather than the other way around, you can quickly get going on a campaign that will help you generate leads.
3) Canva
Without high-quality images, you’re going to have a hard time gaining many followers on Instagram, no matter how good the rest of your marketing strategy may be.
Fortunately, you don’t have to break the bank (or even hire an outside agency) to produce quality content. Canva serves as an affordable solution for creating beautiful posts, with some plans even available for free.
Canva includes thousands of templates, even more photos and illustrations, customizable color palettes and fonts and more. By also allowing you to upload and edit your own images, this simple tool will make it easier than ever to create attractive posts that help you build a strong following.
4) Shopify’s ‘Shopping On Instagram’
Wouldn’t it be nice if your followers could go straight from your Instagram posts to checkout? That’s exactly what you get with Shopping on Instagram from Shopify. This add-on feature allows businesses to link their online store directly with their Instagram account.
Any time one of your products is featured in a post, you can tag the product, complete with pricing information. When an interested user clicks on the tagged item, they can then go through the entire purchasing process without ever needing to leave Instagram. Forget leads — with this tool, you can make actual sales.
5) Iconosquare
Analytics are the backbone of any successful social media effort.
The better you understand your followers and the performance of your current posts, the easier it will be to create new content that actually helps you generate leads and sales. Iconosquare provides in-depth analytics for each of your posts so you can improve your posting habits.
Iconosquare analytics program allows users to break down post performance by hashtag, post time, type of engagement, and more. By digging deep into this data, you can gain the insights you need to optimize your posting strategy so you can better reach your potential customers.
6) Planoly
As important as Instagram may be, it is far from the only marketing responsibility you have on your plate. You don’t want planning and scheduling posts to take away from other important tasks — and this is where Planoly can help.
Planoly serves as a visual organizer for your Instagram account, allowing you to plan and schedule posts with drag and drop functionality. When combined with the app’s “discovery” mode, which allows you to curate user-generated content, you can easily schedule out posts several weeks in advance, allowing you to spend more time on other lead-building activities.
Maximizing Instagram’s Potential
With over 800 million users, it’s clear that Instagram can serve as a great resource to reach your target audience — when you use it right.
By using the above tools to streamline your social media efforts and become better connected with potential customers, you’ll be able to generate greater revenue than ever before.
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