Instagram was started in 2010 and has a million users in just two months. In less than a year, this had increased by tenfold, and it was evident that Instagram was on its way to greatness. The site was purchased by Facebook in 2012, and by the following year, it had surpassed 80 million members. In today’s world, the social media network has over 400 million monthly users. Are you using Instagram to earn affiliate sales with such a large number of active users?
It’s no secret that social media, particularly Instagram, is an excellent source of traffic. Since 2012, the percentage of adults reached organically by Facebook advertisers has dropped by 60%. For advertisers on Instagram, the same metric has climbed by 200 percent during this time. Every day, Instagram receives 80 million photos and over 3.5 billion likes. It has proven to be a really engaging platform. However, while 93 percent of marketers use Facebook to promote their businesses, only 36% use Instagram.
Both organic and paid traffic can be driven via Instagram. The potential reach is enormous, and you can target individual users that are interested in your industry. Intriguingly, Instagram’s average order value ($65) is larger than that of its sister company Facebook ($55). In terms of interaction, 68 percent of Instagram users will engage with a brand on a regular basis, vs 32 percent of Facebook users.
Organic Growth
Follow these simple rules to increase your organic reach and follower count on Instagram
Post Consistently and Strategically
Stick to one post every day, but make it interesting, unique, and personal. To avoid being continually pushing a product, post a decent mix of branded photos and generic content. Consider your target demographic and what else might pique their interest away from the core product or brand. What are some creative ways to interact with your users on a deeper level?
Use Hashtags Wisely
Hashtags allow you to reach a far larger audience who might not have seen your content otherwise. You should give some thought to the most appropriate hashtags for each post. You can use a branded hashtag, but if you’re a smaller or less well-known company, it’s better to use more generic hashtags so that people can locate your material. Keep hashtags to a maximum of three per post, and remember that you can also place them in the comments section instead of the caption.
Interact
Instagram, as previously stated, is a very active site with users who will like, comment, and actively search for hashtags. To make the most of this, you should interact with your audience, promote comments, respond to those who do leave comments on your posts, and tag relevant users or repost other users’ posts if they include your product, for example.
Host Contests and Giveaways
Although this is much more important for ecommerce firms than for affiliate businesses, it is still worth remembering that if you do have a huge following on this platform, holding a competition is a wonderful way to keep your fans involved and give them something in return.
Work With Influencers
If you have the potential to cooperate with industry influencers, this is a fantastic way to reach a new audience, especially if that individual already has a huge following. It may be a professional athlete, a semi-famous chef who specializes in healthy cuisine, or a well-known blogger in the field. It’s a fantastic opportunity to collaborate if you can connect with someone who has a strong and important viewpoint in your field.
On Instagram, organic growth tracking is still limited. When it comes to paid ads, you can learn a lot more about your target audience and how well a campaign performed. That isn’t to say you can’t go beyond the amount of followers, growth statistics, and other metrics, and Bitly.com has the answer. When you shorten your links using bitly, you’ll be able to see more detailed statistics about who clicked your links, demographics, and so on.
Paid Ads
Paid Instagram advertising resemble regular posts in appearance. Native advertising gives brands 100 percent voice share and allows you to link your photos straight to your landing page as well as include a call to action button underneath your post.
A disclosure message will appear next to paid adverts to let users know it’s a sponsored post. The amazing thing about these advertising is that visitors can only see one post at a time while scrolling down on mobile. This means they’ll get to read the entirety of your ad before moving on to other postings in their feed. With a well-thought-out title, compelling image, and clear call to action, you have a terrific opportunity to lure that person.
Instagram, like its sibling site Facebook, allows you to target users based on their location, age, and actions. After you’ve created your Instagram account, you’ll be able to connect it to your Facebook ads management.
Best Practises for Instagram ads
Ensure You Have a Mobile Friendly Destination Page
The last thing you want is a low conversion rate owing to a non-mobile friendly site, especially because the bulk of consumers will be clicking through from a mobile device.
Easy Navigation
When a consumer visits your mobile site, you want them to be able to quickly find the product they were looking for. They should, ideally, be presented the precise product in the image from which they clicked through. Keep the design simple so that your visitor isn’t bombarded with different products when they arrive at your page.
Use CTA’s
When you use sponsored Instagram advertisements, you may choose from six CTAs: “purchase now,” “learn more,” “download,” “shop now,” “book now,” “install now,” and “sign up.” Make sure to use these CTAs and select the option that is most applicable to the article, caption, and image in your ad.
Align Your Campaigns
It’s critical to keep your messaging and promotions similar across all platforms while promoting across various channels. Don’t try to advertise yourself on four different social media networks from four distinct perspectives. Maintain brand consistency by keeping everything in line.
Carousel Ads
You can also utilize Instagram to promote carousel advertising. This is an excellent opportunity to advertise more than one image, allowing you to tell a story or highlight multiple product benefits. Users should be encouraged to swipe through. Tease them by showing them one panel of a larger graphic with more photos available when they swipe over.
When creating paid commercials, keep the following creative best practices in mind:
1. Align your creative efforts with your objectives.
2. Make your ads branded — for instance, utilize brand colors in your photos to keep everything consistent.
3. Concentrate on craft A/B.
4. Test each ad to see what performs best for your target market.
5. Replace your creativity every few weeks and avoid repurposing old photos.
6. Use hashtags and captions that are carefully designed to capture them.
Using Instagram advertisements has a lot of advantages. Marketers may execute native advertising across various platforms while driving traffic directly from the feed, in addition to the massive potential reach and number of engaged consumers. Instagram’s paid side benefits from Facebook targeting, carousel ad units, and call to action buttons.
Instagram offers a tremendous opportunity for all types of marketers to leverage its platform because it has such a large audience and highly engaged users who are prepared to engage with branded advertising in their feed. There is definitely a place for affiliate marketers on Instagram, so if you haven’t already, start advertising your content there and see what it can do for you!