Instagram marketing is competitive, but not impossible. Follow this guide and try our top strategies to succeed in 2024 and beyond.
Stacey McLachlan November 28, 2023 11 min read
With over 2 billion monthly active users, Instagram is both the O.G. and trendsetter of social media marketing.
It’s not just a place for friends to trade vacation pics. Instagram has shaped social commerce, the creator economy, and how brands use social media for over a decade.
But forget about the big picture: How can you use Instagram marketing to grow your business in 2023? Do you need Instagram ads (or, worse, dancing Reels) for your brand to be successful? Are Instagram’s shopping tools a fun perk or an absolute necessity?
Find out how to use Instagram to grow your business online, no matter your industry or goals.
Bonus: Claim your free pack of 15 creative Instagram post templates made by Hootsuite’s professional graphic designers. Easily customize them in Canva, and start getting more engagement today.
Instagram marketing is the practice of using Instagram to grow your brand awareness, audience, leads, and sales. As the most-used social media platform for people ages 16-34, Instagram is a highly effective marketing platform for brands, entrepreneurs, and creators.
Instagram marketing strategies include:
Instagram has more than 2 billion active monthly users, making it the world’s third-most-used social media platform. If you run a business of any kind, your customers (present and future!) are absolutely on the app.
People also love using Instagram. In a survey about preferred social platforms, Instagram came in hot as the number two overall pick. No wonder Instagram users spend an average of 12 hours a month on the app.
And guess what they’re doing there? Looking for things to buy.
That’s right: 44% of Instagram users use the app to shop on a weekly basis, and 62.4% of social users use Insta to follow or research brands, products, or services.
Some users even go beyond just commercial interactions: 2 out of 3 active users say Instagram allows them to build meaningful relationships with brands.
So get out there! Make some new bffs… in the name of business! (Want more intriguing Instagram statistics? Here’s our extensive list.)
Creating a professional Instagram account doesn’t just lend your brand an air of legitimacy—it gives you access to important business tools like analytics (called Insights) and advertising options. Here are step-by-step instructions on how to change your Instagram profile to a business profile.
1. Head to your Instagram profile page and hit the hamburger menu in the top right corner.
2. Tap Settings and privacy.
3. Scroll down to Account type and tools.
4. Tap Switch to professional account.
5. Choose Continue and continue through the prompts
6. Choose the category that best describes you or your brand. Depending on your category type, you may be prompted to clarify if you’re a Creator or a Business. Both types of accounts have access to analytics and advertising tools, so choose whichever suits you best. Tap Next.
7. Review your contact information and update it as required.
Sure, some Instagram accounts thrive thanks to pure luck. But for the most part, brands with active Instagram followings and high engagement have executed some time-tested processes and techniques.
Follow these steps to create a winning Instagram marketing strategy for your own Instagram business account.
If you don’t know who’s reading your posts, it will be hard to create engaging content. A strong Instagram marketing strategy starts with a deep understanding of your target market.
Where do they live? How old are they? Where do they like to hang out online? What kind of hashtags or online communities are they a part of? Look at your analytics and data from your offline marketing efforts, too, to determine who you’re talking to.
These insights will help your team decide on appropriate content, a strong editorial voice and campaigns that will resonate. Just think about it: your Instagram presence will be very different if your followers are teen boys from India or suburban grandmas from Canada.
Think of your Instagram profile as your digital business card. It’s your first impression, so you’d better do it right.
Like a business card, there’s limited space to share what you need to share, so make sure you have a snappy bio packed with as many SEO keywords as possible.
Or, take a page out of this wine club’s book and get playful with the emojis. (Maybe you want to take advantage of Instagram Story highlights to showcase some past content, too.)
It’s also best practice to make sure all your contact details are filled out and your URL is working. You’ll also want a high-res professional profile image that aligns with your business’ branding.
For more tips on making the best Instagram profile possible, here’s our deep dive into optimizing your social media profiles.
Before you start posting up a storm, take a beat to make sure your social plan serves your bigger business goals.
Optical company Warby Parker, for example, regularly posts non-glasses-related content—for instance, a meme about soup. We’d take a good guess this sort of content is part of the company’s broader business goal to make the brand seem fun, approachable, relatable and human. (Or maybe they’re about to pivot into DTC soup; we’re speculating here.)
