How to market yourself on Instagram

Did you know that some people earn $18,000 for a single post on Instagram? Even if you are not planning to become a beauty blogger, marketing yourself on Instagram can help you drive sales and promote your personal brand. 

Instagram is one of the most popular social networks with millions of monthly active users. It gives you unlimited opportunities to find the right audience, no matter what you are doing or which industry you’re in. If you can create a successful content plan – you can market it. Whether you are a designer, photographer or a business owner, you need to know how to promote yourself and your business on Instagram, and we’ll teach you the basics of how to do it right.

But what will you get out of it? If you promote your company, you will get leads and sales. If you want to earn some money, you can become a blogger. If you promote your personal brand, it’s a great place to become an influencer – to show that you are an expert and to establish relationships with people. Like we’ve said, if you have visuals and a plan – you can market it. 

How to promote your Instagram account

These 10 Instagram hacks will help you create a professional account, gain followers, and generate more sales.

1. Create a new account

Even if you have a great personal account with hundreds of subscribers, we advise you to create a new one for your business. The thing is that your potential clients won’t be interested in your selfies or photos from your trips unless you are a travel blogger. Moreover, you can plan everything thoroughly, from content to brand style. Following this rule also gives you an opportunity to use Instagram business features in the future. This includes analytics, post promotion, and links sharing.  

2. Complete your profile

Your profile info (short account description, bio, and link) is one more way to promote your Instagram. People will study your profile from the top once they land on your page. If you want your Instagram profile to look professional, all of the elements have to be balanced. Starting from the details people often overlook – the name of your account, your bio, and the images you post.

Try to find a unique and original username that reflects what you do. Avoid typical names like ann_77, or maryosborn_1988. These names are not easy to remember and don’t provide any additional information or message about you or your brand.

You can use your real name if you want to market yourself on Instagram, the industry you’re working in, or a catchy phrase related to the topic. The name can be formal, fun, or inspirational. These names: girleatworld, wheresandrew, theblondeabroad are great because they are short, they sound good, and provide information about the topics of their accounts.

What you can include in the bio:

• • your skills
    
  • funny, witty, or inspirational phrases
    
  • keywords and branded hashtags
    
  • a link to your website
    

You can change your bio as often as you’d like if you change the direction of your personal brand or business. Change links to make people read your latest articles or add links to your promotional campaigns. Include emojis to add some personality to your bio.

3. Plan your content

Why do you want to market yourself on Instagram? Do you want to build a personal brand, to get new followers and potential clients? If so, you need to pay close attention to the content you publish, when you publish, how often, and your personal aesthetics. People will subscribe to your page, like and comment on your posts but only if they like your content. That’s why you need to create a good content plan that is consistent and coherent.

If you want to promote your brand page, you need to think of your customers. What do they do? What social media do they use? What posts do they like, comment, and share? Experiment with content, include pictures, quotes, videos, and animations. Post something funny, educational or personal. Don’t go crazy with too many content formats. It’s always best to focus on a theme or stylistic. 

If you promote your own brand, create an image of an experienced professional with the content you publish. Show your followers that you are an expert and that you have authority in a specific field. Share your point of view on trending topics, attend conferences, and post the photos. Look for an opportunity to speak at lectures, seminars or presentations, and don’t forget to mention it on social media. You can also check out these Instagram photography trends for inspiration in 2020.  

If you want to post often, you need to keep in mind that you need to be consistent. However, posting for the sake of posting doesn’t work, so think carefully about the content. If you look at the Depositphotos Instagram for example, we carefully curate Royalty-free images from our library, to promote artists but also make the feed aesthetically pleasing.

4. Add personality

Wondering how to promote your Instagram without relying on the sad ‘pay for followers’ option? To attract new followers and then keep them constantly engaged, you need to show people that there is a real person behind your account. Some companies post only pictures of their products, quotes, and articles. Pages like this usually look too formal and don’t attract too much attention because they’re hard to relate to.

Talk the way you do with your family and friends, ask people their opinion, start discussions, and try to be yourself. Make jokes and write about things that bother you. At the end of the day, you have to let your personality shine even on Instagram because it’s what makes you unique and what will make you stand out in the overcrowded online space. 

Consider that storytelling is also really popular now. Don’t post a picture of your laptop with a hashtag #workinghard. Create a story that will relate to some of your followers. Make people say or think: “That’s what happened to me! I can totally relate!”. Posts like this will bring you followers, comments, and shares, more so than the most beautifully-designed pictures.

5. Use hashtags and geotags

After you’ve completed your profile and filled it with great content – start promotions. Several decades ago we faced a problem and looked for information that can solve it. Now, we get information and solutions even before we realize that we have a certain problem. That’s why we pay a lot of attention to promotions. Our main aim is to help people easily find us. So here is the main secret of how to best market yourself on Instagram – you need to provide the right people with the right information.  

Instagram is a great social media platform, however, it’s search function is far from perfect. You can search for posts and users only by name, location, or hashtags. That’s why the first thing you should do is add location and hashtags to all of your posts. 

According to Simply Measured, Instagram posts with a tagged location get 79% more engagement. It means that these posts are almost two times more likely to be clicked on, liked, commented, and shared. Posts with at least one hashtag have 12.6% better engagement.

What geotags should you add? Add your physical location, or think of the places your audience visits. For example, if you are a wedding photographer, tag popular wedding venues in your city, country clubs or wedding agencies. The same with hashtags – industry and location hashtags and consistent posting will bring you the first customers. Check out our guide to Instagram hashtags to get more information.

What geotags should you add? Add your physical location, or think of the places your audience visits. For example, if you are a wedding photographer, tag popular wedding venues in your city, country clubs or wedding agencies. The same with hashtags – industry and location hashtags and consistent posting will bring you your first customers. Check out our guide to Instagram hashtags to get more information.

How to market your business on Instagram if you sell something non-material: Introduce yourself as an expert and share a documentation of your working process, or even better – share photos and videos on how your product improves the lives of your clients. 

6. Collaborate with other users

Collaboration with popular people or companies is always a good idea. Especially if you have the same audience. There is nothing wrong with promoting other people and brands, as they, in turn, will promote you.

Partner with influencers or tag big brands in your posts. Many companies publish user-generated content and mention people who created it. It works well for photographers because millions of people see your photos, and some of them always subscribe. It’s a very effective and free way to promote yourself or your business.

How to market yourself on Instagram with collaborations when your audience is small: A small audience doesn’t mean you are not interesting for brands and opinion leaders. In 2020, micro-influencers are believed to become the marketing force of the future. Try to engage potential partners by leveraging the quality (not quantity) of your audience.     

7. Run your contest

When you market yourself on Instagram, your main aim is to make people talk about you. Posts with contests usually result in great reach and they can also help you get new followers and customers. Try to be creative – think of an interesting task and a valuable prize. Use a branded hashtag and ask people to tag their friends. Keep in mind that in 2020, you’ve got plenty of options on how to promote posts on Instagram using contests developed by bloggers: photo caption contests, tag-a-friend, trivia, like and comment to win. These are just a couple of examples.  

8. Post discounts and coupons

Do you know why people follow brands on social media? According to Marketing Shepra, 56% of people follow brands to see sales and promotions. It’s very important if you want to drive more sales from all the activity on Instagram. If you are not sure about how to measure the effectiveness of these promotional campaigns, add promo codes to your posts. After that, you will get valuable information and see what engages your audience more.

How to market on Instagram if you do not sell anything yet: Go back to the very first question on why you need to create a brand around yourself on Instagram. If you just position yourself as a professional to remain in demand in the employment market, offer your audience free (or almost free) personal consulting. Then, share results with others during in a series of posts. 

9. Promote Instagram on other networks

People who follow you on different social media are interested in your products. Give them an incentive to follow you on all social media networks. Repost your posts to Facebook or Twitter and mention that you are also present on Instagram where you publish special deals or events. Add social media icons to your website – it will help you get your first followers.

How to market yourself on social media (alternatives to Instagram) after your Instagram account gets popular: With a well-established Instagram account, things will become easier with promotions on Facebook or Twitter. To test your audience without huge investments, start with sharing content that is similar to your Instagram one. Don’t forget to adapt captions to the target style of each social network.     

10. Advertise on Instagram

There are many services to get Instagram followers. Some choose to use special platforms or use hashtags #likesforlikes or #followforfollow. However, we don’t recommend you do this because you will spend a lot of time and money and won’t get any significant results. The followers you buy are not interested in your content and most of them unsubscribe within several weeks. You need to find an audience which is interested in your services.

Use native ads to promote your Instagram account. Facebook Ad Manager, a platform where you create Instagram ads, has advanced targeting options. You can narrow your audience, spend less money, and even target visitors who left your website without making a purchase.

Wrap up

Instagram marketing may seem a tough task, however, if you approach it in an organized and strategic way – everything is possible. It will take some time and effort, but the results are 100% worth it. It’s also exciting to watch your efforts pay off, grow your following, and bring in some love and appreciation for what you do. For more tips, check out our cover on the secret to success on Instagram as well as tips on how to gain more followers on Instagram.