Complete guide to successful Instagram promotion: boost your ROI with Instagram advertising!

Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms in the world, and more and more businesses are using it to reach new customers and build an engaged community.

In this article, we'll look at how you can use Instagram to promote your business and achieve your marketing goals through Instagram promotion.

Why is promotion on Instagram essential for your business?

Instagram boasts more than'one billion monthly active users, many of whom follow at least one business account.

In addition, Instagram has integrated promotion tools that allow you to turn your regular posts and stories into ads.

This means you can reach a wider audience, make your content more visible and add clickable call-to-action buttons.

The promotion Instagram is a powerful tool for increasing your brand awareness and engagement rate.

According to Statista, Instagram is the most gender-neutral social media platform, with 50.9% women and 49.1% men, which means your promotions are useful for reaching both segments of your target audience.

In addition, Instagram offers an excellent opportunity to build close relationships with your customers.

In fact, 77% of consumers are more likely to buy from a brand if they follow it on social networks, and 65% make a purchase from a brand after seeing it on Instagram.

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How does Instagram promotion work?

There are several ways to promote your content on Instagram. You can promote a publication you've already shared, a story from your profile, your highlights or your story archives, or create a promotion from the "Promotions" button on your profile.

Here's how each type of promotion works:

1. Promote an Instagram post you've shared

If you have a photo or video that has generated a considerable number of likes, comments and shares, you can promote it.

This option is ideal for getting extra attention for the content you post. The extra attention is a reach that could help nourish your marketing funnel.

2. Promote a Story from your Profile, Highlights, or Stories Archive

In the same way as promoting a Facebook post, you can promote stories.

This option is especially useful for businesses that rely heavily on visuals, such as before/after photos, beautiful landscapes, interior designs, etc.

3. Create an ads from the "Promotions" button on your profile

If you're looking for a quick and direct way to get results, you can boost a publication with a simple click on "promote". A new ad campaign will then be created automatically.

These can be created from your professional profile. Instagram will recommend the posts it thinks will perform best as ads.

This option is ideal if you're not sure which post you want to promote.

4. Use Facebook Ads manager to create ads

This is the most professional way to create ads for Instagram and promote in a paid way for your Instagram account.

Facebook offers a space entirely dedicated to advertising on instagram to schedule your ads, manage your Instagram ads, define your budget and target audience to get the most out of your budget.

For example, Instagram lets you choose the age, location, or interests of the people you target. This allows you to create instagram content tailored to your audience and an effective instagram promotion.

How to create an Instagram ad thanks to the paid promotion button?

Now that we've gone over the different types of Instagram promotions, let's see how you can create your own promotion.

1. Make sure you have a professional Instagram account

Before you start attracting more people to your Instagram account, make sure it's a professional profile.

If you use a personal-use Instagram account for your business, switching to a professional account is very easy.

Select the person icon at the bottom right of your home screen, then the wheel at the top right of the screen. This will take you to the "Options" screen, where you can select "Switch to professional profile".

2. Complete your profile

An incomplete Instagram profile is very unattractive; to the point where it would be better to have fewer people discover a complete profile than to have more people land on an incomplete one.

To complete your professional profile, include useful details about your business, use a high-quality profile picture, and make sure your Instagram bio is written in your brand's voice.

Also include a link to your website or a specific landing page in your bio.

3. Make yourself visible, go public

You can't promote your Instagram account and gain more followers if they can't find you! So make sure your profile is public. Otherwise, only those who are already following you can see your posts.

Once you've followed all these steps, all you have to do is launch a promotion by clicking on the "promote" button below your posts.

Now that we've taken care of these basics, it's time to discuss how to promote your Instagram account effectively, without spending a penny.

How to promote your Instagram account and posts in an original way

Digital marketing doesn't refer to just one channel in particular. An effective strategy uses several channels at once, and thanks to content consistency, creates a coherent system full of synergies to bring you the best results.

Here's how to use your various other marketing channels to promote your Instagram account for free:

1. With email

It can be useful to include social network icons from your most-used platforms in the footer of your marketing emails - or even in your signature for regular emails.

This doesn't directly promote your Instagram account, but it does give your audience an extra access point to your profile.

In addition, it's likely that some segments of your mailing list are either loyal customers or highly qualified prospects, so the chances of them reaching your Instagram account through one of your emails are higher.

2. On your website

At this point, consumers expect social media icons'to be on a business's website, usually at the bottom of the page in the footer, so be sure to add these icons and links to your handles.

Also, if your business relies heavily on visuals (such as before/after photos, gorgeous landscapes, interior designs, etc.); if you're a photographer or event organizer with a gallery; or if you have a product feed on Instagram, you can have a page where your Instagram feed is embedded.

3. Via other social networks

If you have a large number of followers or a high engagement rate on other social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn, use these platforms as cross-promotional tools for your Instagram account.

You can do this by using direct calls to action, by promoting the link to your Instagram bio, or by sharing your latest Instagram photos and videos on these platforms.

As many people are active on more than one social network, you can probably persuade some of them to follow you on Instagram too.

Use your network to promote your Instagram account on social

The strategies below are win-win because they help promote your Instagram account but also build a sense of community around your brand and give your followers a voice.

1. Start with your family and friends

This tip is particularly useful for small or local businesses, or those just starting out with their Instagram marketing.

Connecting with family and friends will help you get initial engagement, and they'll (hopefully) be more than happy to promote your account on their own networks.

Even if they don't directly promote your account, their interactions with your profile will appear in their feed and their followers can discover you that way.

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2. Prioritize engagement

The best way to promote your Instagram account is through authentic engagement.

Consumers like to feel heard, so the more you interact with their comments, the more feedback and exposure you'll get.

But don't just be reactive with your engagement; be proactive by liking and commenting on your followers' posts, and following them back.

Each of these interactions organically promotes your Instagram account while simultaneously strengthening your relationship with your audience and building trust.

You can even automate these interactions with targeted accounts to boost your follower count easily.

3. Request and share user-generated content

The user-generated content can increase your engagement on Instagram while promoting your business. There's no better form of promotional content than from real customers.

Moreover, when you share their content, they'll probably repost it for their followers to see, increasing your reach.

Much user-generated content will happen naturally, but you can also ask for it directly - through a challenge, contest, or any other fun and simple engagement activity.

For example, ask your customers to share photos of themselves using their favorite product from your brand, or supporting a cause close to your heart. Especially with contests, this strategy could inspire (or even compel) your followers to tag others who don't yet follow your Instagram account. Just make sure your efforts result in followers who are interested in your business.

4. Follow and engage with Instagram influencers

A collaboration with an influencer can really boost your visibility on Instagram, but you can also simply engage with them in a way that supports their brand while offering you increased visibility.

Don't just like their posts; repost them on your Instagram feed or Story and comment thoughtfully, adding value to the post or conversation.

Take the time to fully familiarize yourself with a web influencer's brand, audience and content to ensure you are fully aligned.

How to promote your profile naturally (without paid promotion on instagram)

At the heart of any good digital marketing strategy is content - informative, authentic, high-quality content that informs, engages and meets the needs of your customers.

Here's how to incorporate content marketing into your promotional Instagram efforts.

1. Publish useful posts

This is one of the tried-and-tested methods for promoting your Instagram account for free - or rather, promoting your business as a whole via Instagram.

Compelling, interesting and useful content gives users a reason to follow you. Here are some ideas and tips for useful content:

• The classic blog post: This is an Instagram post containing the title or brief summary of a blog post, then the link to it.
• Long snippet posts: Extract key points from your best-performing video posts and include them in an Instagram post with a corresponding visual.
• Content from'other sources: Share industry statistics via charts and other eye-catching visuals, remembering to tag the original source.

2. Publish captivating, high-quality images

I know, it's not a world-changing revelation. But contrary to popular belief, you don't need to be a professional photographer or have expensive equipment to produce engaging and captivating images for Instagram.

There are plenty of free photo and video editing tools available on Instagram itself and on other apps to help you create quality images and pictures, such as Canva or Layout.

3. Post at the right time

It's important to post regularly and consistently on Instagram, but you won't do much to promote your account if you don't post at the right time.

The "right time" varies depending on your target audience, type of business, and more, so you'll need to think about it a bit.

4. Ask questions in your posts

Using captions or polls to ask a question relevant to your niche is a great way to increase engagement on Instagram, get more exposure and boost your Instagram growth.

5. Get creative with your captions

And by that, we mean, don't Google caption ideas and don't settle for the generic list ones that clutter the web. Click on the link above to find out how to write a good Instagram description.

6. Always use #hashtags

When it comes to promoting your Instagram account, hashtags are essential. Use relevant hashtags in your posts and Stories to help your account stand out. And by relevant, we mean:

• Location-based hashtags. These hashtags help you build brand awareness in your local community, and be discovered by customers nearby (think #brunchparis).
• Industry-specific hashtags. These hashtags can help your Instagram account stand out to people near and far who may be interested in your company's content in general. This will help you build authority in your field and connect even with influencers.
• Popular hashtags.Interesting hashtags like #nofilter and creative hashtags dedicated to days of the week are good to use in conjunction with your more targeted hashtags.

You can use up to 30 hashtags in your posts, but that doesn't mean you should.

Stay focused on the ones that will promote your account to the right audience.

Also, a post with a multitude of hashtags can be a little overwhelming and even come across as desperate.

You can always include just two or three hashtags in your post and then comment on your post with the rest of the hashtags you want to use - this helps you get the same exposure while keeping posts tasteful (and less aggressive).

Conclusion on instagram promotion

As you'll have gathered, doing promotion on Instagram can bring you a lot, but isn't always straightforward. Numerous methods exist to promote your account's Instagram posts, but not all of them are suited to your profile.

You must therefore learn to distinguish between content promotion strategies to make your mark. To do this, use criteria such as:

• Your budget and promotion duration
• Your campaign objective (brand awareness, presence on Instagram, acquisition of new followers...)
• The cost of the envisaged promotion
• Your Instagram statistics on recent campaigns
• The instagram stories or post you wish to promote
• Your knowledge of instagram and all its features

Bref so many parameters to consider individually and collectively. If you're struggling to get the word out about your Instagram account to thousands of people, Boostfluence might just be the solution you need. Start testing the tool for free today.