Instagram is a photo-centered popular social media for almost any generation. Its easy-to-use features have made it a great entertaining platform for almost everyone. There are now more than millions of monthly active users on Instagram who check their feeds first thing in the morning, during their coffee breaks, after work, and before they sleep.
So, just think about the volume of people who can be your active customers and you will be impatient to promote your Instagram account to grow your brand awareness. Perhaps you even find Instagram’s marketing strategy smarter and more budget-friendly than many other marketing strategies.
However, what makes your job a little bit difficult is that there are many competitors for almost every industry on Instagram. So, what you need to stand out among them is definitely your knowledge of Instagram over the others, your creativity, and of course, patience and consistency.
So here we are! You are reading this article because you want to learn Instagram guidelines and rules in 2021. These guidelines can help you beat your competitors and stand on top. Keep on reading then!
You really know the answer, don’t you? First of all, there is a high potential that you get a lot of followers on Instagram immediately as there are many active users worldwide. These followers can one day convert and become your customers if you know how to engage them by meeting their needs.
Moreover, using Instagram for promoting your business does not require you to spend money. Well, there are some ways such as making partnerships with influencers or using Instagram paid ads for which you should spend money, sometimes a large amount of money. The benefit of resorting to a paid advertisement on Instagram is that you choose the budget you want to spend. Therefore, even in the case of paid solutions, you are free to spend as much as you can. Taken as a whole, you can establish your brand on Instagram and find your customers based on your buyer persona for free unless you want quick ways to reach your goals.
Furthermore, regarding the statistics, there are 25 million companies in the world that have an active account on Instagram. On the other hand, more than 200 million users visit one business profile each day. With a quick calculation, you can realize that there is a high chance of gaining a lot of reputation for your business. Then, the only thing you need to shine is to learn Instagram promotion guidelines and rules to promote your business.
To establish your brand image on Instagram and to promote your business, you should know the best Instagram promotion guidelines and rules. So, let’s see what these guidelines are and how you can use these growth hacks to grow your brand and business on Instagram.
The first guideline is that you should create a business account on Instagram if you do not already have one. Here are the benefits of an Instagram business account:
After having created your Instagram business account, it is time to choose a username for your account. The proper username should be easy-to-remember, easy-to-search, and relevant to your niche. So, people can find you easily when they search for the keywords in your niche.
The next step is adding a profile photo to your Instagram business account. The profile photo that you choose has to be high-resolution and appropriate. One suggestion for your profile photo can be the logo of your business. You can also add a photo that is related to your niche.
The last step to optimize your Instagram business profile is to write a bio description. The words that you write in this section can determine whether your profile visitors would find your business worth following or not. Of course, many would take this decision by the pictures that you have posted on your feed but bio description is also influential.
Your bio description can contain up to 150 characters. Hence, you should really think about what you want to write so that you do not exceed the character limitation.
Another thing you should make sure to add is the link in your bio section. You can add a link to your website and always refer to it in the captions of your posts so that your followers would tap on your link and buy from you on your website. Moreover, you can add the link to your other social media as well. However, the Instagram limitation says that you can only add one link to your bio. So, what if you have more than one link?
In that case, you can use the available AI tools that allow you to add all your links to a page and add the link of the page to your bio. Easy, yes?
Regarding the preferences of your buyer persona, you must create the content on Instagram to attract similar people to your buyer persona. Targeting a group of audiences on Instagram can help you increase your followers’ retention as well as gaining a lot of new followers similar to your buyer persona. You can also use tools to grow and engage your followers. Therefore, as you know the needs of your target audience, you can create an Instagram strategy that suits their preferences.
If you think that managing the activities on Instagram is time-consuming or needs a team, you can consider using tools that do Instagram monitoring for you.
The picture-based platform of Instagram necessitates you to share high-quality pictures with captivating captions. This is how you can engage your followers and attract more audience for your audience. As already said, people are highly likely to judge an Instagram account with its content. Therefore, if you do not care about what you post, you are harming your Instagram presence critically. Captivating and quality content based on the needs of your target audience is significantly important for your Instagram strategy.
However, posting visuals on Instagram is not just about sharing high-resolution photos. You can also think of sharing designs, infographics, videos, animations, memes, quotes, tips, etc. Remember that all the mentioned types have to be adapted to the preferences of your target audience.
Posting regularly is one of the things you can do to engage your followers. Therefore, you are always there on their feed whenever they open their Instagram to scroll their feed. They see your content and if they find it attractive, they will like it or even share it with their friends! But, posting in bulk and without considering the right time to post can ruin all your energy and efforts. So, what should you do?
The solution is easy. You should know the right time to post by analyzing your audience. Depending on the location of your target audience, the posting can differ. If you continuously search through your Instagram analytics and the Internet, you can find out when is the best time to post on Instagram. Then, you can enjoy the high engagement after every time you post.
If you want to get to high engagement and sales quickly, you should try the paid solutions for your Instagram account. For instance, you can collaborate with influencers or use Instagram paid ads. About Instagram paid ads, we will discuss in the next part. But about collaborating with influencers, we should say that the amount of money that you should send depends on whether you choose a micro or macro-influencer.
You can find the influencers who are active in your niche by the use of some Instagram tools. Then, you should make a shortlist of the most suitable ones and contact them via email or Instagram DM to see how their pricing is. You can also send Instagram DMs on PC. When you have done the necessary negotiations, you will start the collaboration and they will promote your products or services or your brand.
However, there are influencer marketing mistakes that you should avoid. One important tip that you should consider while collaborating with influencers is that you should not force them into saying the exact words that you want them to. Instead, you should leave them free and let them promote your brand the way they always talk to their followers. The reason is that their followers know them and trust them and doing this would result in their lack of trust which is bad for your collaboration goals.
Here is the collaboration of @orosabeauty and @charlidamelio:
The next paid solution for promoting your business on Instagram is using Instagram ads. Depending on your budget, you can choose the target audience of your ad. For instance, you can choose your target audience to be the 30 to 40-year-old men who live in London and love doing sports. Then, you will pay for your ad and it will be shared on the feed of your target audience. If they like your products or services, they will reach you and you will gain more followers.
How would you know if you are going in the right direction on Instagram if you do not check your performance? Constantly checking your performance gives you the opportunity to see whether your audiences like your content or your Instagram marketing strategy as a whole. Checking whether your posts are receiving good engagement is important for your future content marketing strategy.
Instagram can help you promote your business and get many customers. The key to such a good result is to know the Instagram promotion guidelines and rules and apply them to your Instagram marketing strategies. Wish you the best of luck!
I am Parichehr Parsi, a born writer, and a freelance copywriter in the fields of travel, fashion, and Instagram marketing. I currently write for DMPro, Realtormate, and online magazines in Italy and I love reading, writing, and researching. Find me on LinkedIn!