What is Instagram Marketing
                     What is Instagram Marketing?
About Instagram
• Instagram has taken the world by storm since its launch in 2010. It 
seems like everybody is on the stage, along with their puppy. The 
U.S. has 130 million Instagram users. Behind Facebook, Instagram 
is the second most-viewed network. On average, users browse for 
53 minutes a day. On Instagram, at least 25 million company profiles 
exist. Instagram is no longer just for personal use, be it for you or 
your dog. It is now a global forum that makes it possible for brands 
to humanize their content, employ new talent, highlight goods, and 
empower their audience. Approximately 60 percent of the active 
users of the website visit the site daily, and 21 percent say they 
update it weekly. Instagram can also help you grow the popularity of 
your brand and launch fresh items. Based on what they learned on 
the site, 80% of Instagram users have made a purchase. Instagram 
helps you to advertise your brand and services to your customers in 
a fun, honest way without hard selling.
How to Create an Instagram Business Account
• It’s important to remember that Instagram’s 
intension is for in-the-moment content 
before we start. You’ll need to spend the 
time needed to post frequently to remain 
popular amongst your audience. Holding 
your Instagram profile up to date is the 
perfect way to keep your fans interested. 
Below, we will look into how a good 
Instagram profile can be created and 
maintained
Setting Up Your Instagram Account
• You will have two options to build your account when you open the 
Instagram app, such as Log In with Facebook or Phone or Email 
Sign Up. So that your Instagram profile is not connected to your 
personal Facebook account, be sure to sign up with a business 
email. First, enter the information on your account. Enter your real 
company name under Full Name so that your profile is visible to 
tourists. This name is what is showing on your profile; for those 
Twitter folks, it’s not your account username (or handle). The 
username is a name that is exclusive to your profile and helps your 
brand to connect with other accounts. The username of HubSpot is 
@HubSpot. Select a recognizable and easy-to-find username. Try 
to keep the first part of your business name in your username if 
your business name is stripped away. Note: Later in your account 
settings, you can refresh your username, so don’t worry if you want 
to change it in the future.
Optimizing Your Instagram Account
• Now it’s time for the right profile image to be selected. For new guests, your profile 
picture is your first experience. Keep your image aligned with your branding and visual 
indicators for this purpose. Consider using the logo or another familiar symbol. 
Instagram profile images are cropped into a circle automatically, so leave space 
around your image’s corners. Next up, your bio from Instagram. Instagram bios have a 
limit of 150 characters, so a direct, succinct overview of who you are and why 
individuals should follow you is your objective here. Using a hint of personality, tell your 
audience about your business. Instagram bios are not searchable, so don’t worry 
(which we discuss below) about keywords or hashtags. You may inspire users to take 
a particular action in your bio, such as using a particular hashtag or visiting your 
website. The only location where you can feature a clickable URL and push traffic to 
an external site in your bio. For this reason, updating their featured URL to conform 
with their most recent post is popular for companies. Be sure to use a link shortener 
like HubSpot’s Tracking URL builder or a tool such as Bitly, Goo.gl, or Linktr.ee to 
prevent your profile from looking cluttered if you plan to add a link. Tracking URLs also 
helps to better understand the amount of traffic to your website. For future changes, to 
change your photo, name, username, bio, and URL, click the Edit Profile button on 
your profile.
Managing Your Instagram Settings
• Finally, let’s review your settings for the account. In the upper 
right-hand corner of your profile, click the three stacked lines, 
and at the bottom of the window, click Settings. (You’ll see a 
few connexions under your username, which we’ll discuss 
below.) You’ll be able to do things like changing your password 
inside your settings, see posts you like, allow notifications, and 
much more. Here are a few things you can immediately find 
out. Story settings, where you can monitor who your Instagram 
stories can see and answer to (which we’re addressing below). 
To improve brand interaction, we suggest allowing all your 
followers to see and respond to your posts. To access your 
Story Controls from your settings, click Privacy > Story. (This 
can also be reached when posting a story by clicking on the 
gear icon in the top left corner.)
Switch to a Professional Account
• Switching to a Professional Account enables you to define as a 
business profile your profile. The Business Tools role of Instagram 
makes it easy for users to reach you, gives you in-depth insights, 
and helps you to promote your content. Your company must have 
a Facebook business page to turn to an Instagram business 
profile. To access these features from your settings, select 
Account > Turn to Professional Account. Choose this setting to 
turn to a business profile, log on to Facebook, and allow 
Instagram to manage your accounts. To link to your Instagram 
profile, pick a Facebook page. (To connect the two networks, you 
have to be a Facebook page administrator.) Instagram 
automatically imports related information for you to edit from your 
Facebook profile. You now have a company profile on Instagram. 
Be sure to review your insights and account settings for your 
profile!
Private Account
• Instagram will automatically make your profile public, and we do 
not suggest changing it! As a brand, without any barriers, you 
would want users to see your posts and follow your brand. Tap 
Privacy > Account Privacy in your settings and make sure that 
it’s disabled. Comments, which allows you to use certain 
keywords or phrases to conceal comments. To do this, you must 
enter into your Instagram settings the specific words and 
phrases and turn on the feature. It’s exciting and rewarding to 
receive feedback, but that feedback can go against brand values 
or annoy your audience. To change these, press Privacy > 
Comments under your settings
Adding Additional Instagram Accounts
• Adding additional Instagram accounts, where you can add up 
to five accounts without logging in and out, and move between 
them. This role also allows you to log multiple individuals into 
an account at one time. Click the Add Account button at the 
bottom of your settings to add an account. Enter the account 
username and password that you would like to include. To 
switch between accounts, go to your profile, and, at the top of 
the page, tap your username. Choose the account to which 
you want to turn.
Types of Instagram Posts
• It’s time to begin posting amazing content now 
that you’ve built and configured your Instagram 
account. You can post many types of content, 
including images, videos, and stories, using 
Instagram. Let’s talk about the various forms of 
Instagram posts and some best practices to 
encourage interaction.
Images
• A picture post is the most prevalent post on Instagram. 
Share several photos when sharing pictures. The 
variety will illustrate that your brand is versatile and will 
involve your supporters in numerous ways. It is also 
important to note that Instagram users, not overt ads, 
are searching for authentic posts from brands. With 
lifestyle shots and behind-the-scenes looks, aim to 
capture the corporate culture. Avoid sharing too many 
pictures of your brand.
Behind-the-Scenes Posts
•These posts give a peek into the 
part of your organization that 
people usually don’t see. They 
mustn’t look staged-authenticity is 
necessary!
Reposts From Employees
• Great content can be right in front of you … 
on the Instagrams of your employees. (Just 
be sure to tag or credit the original poster.) 
Reposting images from your employees is 
a simple way to curate authentic content 
and humanize your brand. Your audience 
will not only interact with your brand, but 
they will begin to “bond” with your 
employees as well.
Educational Posts
•Snackable tips on how to do or 
make anything are offered by 
educational blogs. Typically, 
the images or videos show the 
instructions in a way that is 
quick and simple to follow.
Influencer Posts
•To endorse your brand, influencer 
posts use the fame of a celebrity or a 
well-known public figure. A picture of 
the influencer using or engaging with 
your product is also included in these 
articles. Gaining the focus of another 
viewer is one of the key advantages of 
influencer articles.
Motivational Posts
• A motivational post blends a simple image with a 
quotation or uplifting text that is superimposed. These 
posts support your audience and amplify the values 
of your brand. Try to post these sparingly while being 
effective, to avoid looking cheesy. Apps such as 
Quipio and Typic will help you add text to images in a 
way that is compliant with the guidelines for your 
brand.
User-Generated Content
• User-generated content (UGC), similar to employee 
reposts, is curated content from the fans and followers. 
An excellent source for UGC is your tagged posts and 
posts with your brand hashtag. Not only does posting the 
images of your fans and supporters make the original 
poster feel comfortable, but it also shows that you care for 
your customers. Only make sure the original article is 
credited with a tag or in the caption. To repost user-
generated content, screenshot and crop the original post 
or use a reposting software like Repost for Instagram.
Newsjacking (Trending Holiday Posts)
• User-generated content (UGC), similar to employee 
reposts, is curated content from the fans and followers. 
An excellent source for UGC is your tagged posts and 
posts with your brand hashtag. Not only does posting the 
images of your fans and supporters make the original 
poster feel comfortable, but it also shows that you care for 
your customers. Only make sure the original article is 
credited with a tag or in the caption. To repost user-
generated content, screenshot and crop the original post 
or use a reposting software like Repost for Instagram.
Capturing and Editing Instagram Photos
• Now that we’ve studied what you can post on Instagram, 
let’s look at some ways to ensure that your content is 
successful. Instagram’s simplistic profile layout, unlike 
other social media sites, forces you to concentrate on the 
quality of content … not the quantity. Although this is 
perfect for interaction, it also implies that bad content will 
not be concealed. To use high-resolution images on your 
Instagram stream, do your very best. 1080 x 1080px 
should be square pictures. Landscape photos should be 
1080 x 566px, and 1350 x 1080px should be profile 
photos. Regardless of what size you upload, in your 
profile feed, every picture will be displayed as a square
How to Take a Great Photo With Your Smartphone
• The technology of the phone camera has become so advanced that it now challenges thousand-
dollar cameras. Here are some tips for driving the creation of followers and Instagram interaction. 
Switch on the lines of your camera grid to instantly boost your picture composition. At the 
intersection of one set of vertical and horizontal lines, aim to position your subject.
• In each frame, you come across a single subject. By cropping them out or finding a clean 
backdrop to aim against, eliminate distractions.
• The space around your subject is a negative space. Leaving negative space around your subject 
will attract attention to your image’s desired emphasis and stop it from appearing crowded.
• People are accustomed from eye level to seeing the globe. Use shots from various angles to 
produce fun and fresh images. To catch a bird’s eye view or a worm’s eye view, change your 
shooting perspective. To discover different perspectives on familiar sights, play with distinct 
angles.
• The human eye is drawn to symmetrical shapes and objects naturally. It’s better to break the rule 
of thirds occasionally and focus the scene in your frame. Another more precise type of symmetry 
that draws the eye into the picture is leading lines. People are attracted to patterns as well. A 
design, such as a tiled floor, or natural, could be created by man, such as petals on a flower or 
vines on a wall. Break up the pattern with your subject to make it very interesting.
• Use gentle, natural light wherever possible to prevent this from occurring. Try taking pictures next 
to a window, and the half-hour just before sunset and after sunrise also provides the most striking 
lighting for outdoor shots, when the sun is low on the horizon.
How to Add Filters and Edit Photos
• It only takes a few minutes to edit images and can have a 
huge effect on the quality. Editing images is very easy, 
thanks to Instagram’s built-in tools and philters. To make 
the picture of your homemade lunch look like a culinary 
masterpiece, follow these tips. Start with a great photo 
(using our tips above) first. If they have poor composition or 
lighting, no amount of editing will repair the images. To edit 
a picture, consider using other applications. Snapseed is 
free editing software that allows you to apply, as well as 
change brightness, contrast, and saturation, effects such as 
HDR and tonal contrast. With various free philters that 
mimic common film stocks, VSCO is also another common 
editing app.
Videos
• You can also post videos on Instagram, as long as they 
are a minute or less in length. You can download videos 
that have been professionally edited from your computer 
or videos that you have edited from a smartphone app. 
Splice is a free editing app that allows you to cut together 
several clips and add transitions, names, and music. 
Instagram videos are played without sound by default. 
Because of this, make sure that no sound is required to 
understand at least the first few seconds of your images. 
You can turn the sound on with your caption or prompt 
viewers.
Boomerangs
• Open your Instagram and press the camera icon on your home 
screen in the upper left-hand corner. This is the in-app camera. 
By swiping right on the phone, you can do this, too. On the 
bottom, note the settings. You can note that the first set to the 
right is Boomerang, which takes three seconds to play forward 
and backward looping images. Boomerangs make it possible to 
put a quirky twist on a typical video. Using a burst of photos and 
stitching them together for a short, repetitive video, Boomerangs 
were made. For situations like jumping, toasting cups, or high-
fiving, these kinds of posts are fun. To have a separate place to 
catch boomerang images, you can also download Instagram’s 
Boomerang app.
Hyperlapse
• Have you got a video for Instagram that’s too long? Check 
out Instagram’s Hyperlapse, which enables you to 
condense long videos into shorter, post-able content. With 
built-in stabilization, it produces smooth, time-lapse 
images. Download the app and grant it access to your 
camera to make your Hyperlapse videos. To stop and 
resume your recordings, tap the circle once. You can 
select a replay speed of between 1x and 12x once you’re 
finished recording. To upload later, save the final 
Hyperlapse video to your camera roll.
Instagram Stories
• Instagram Stories allow users to post without overposting 
and clogging your main feed at a higher frequency. 
Stories typically feature less-polished images and videos 
that are more organic. Your Instagram story disappears 
after 24 hours, like Snapchat Tales. Stories are all about 
genuineness. Use the function to give your brand a look 
behind the scenes or highlight the culture of your 
company. Will you have an office that’s dog-friendly? Post 
your story with pictures and videos of the dogs. Stories 
are also a useful tool to highlight live events held or 
attended by your organization, as this role is far more 
time-sensitive.
How to Post to Your Instagram Story
• Instagram provides three posting options for your story. In the upper left 
corner, you can tap the camera, tap Your Story above your feed, or just 
swipe right to reach the camera. Type : Generates a post with text
• Music : Match a music video of your choosing to a photo or video
• Live : Captures and publishes live videos for your fans to watch on 
Instagram
• Superzoom : Applies a zoom animation to a frame
• Focus : Concentrates on a subject and blurs the meaning
• Hands-Free : Allows video to be recorded without holding the record 
button
• The thunderbolt icon controls the flash, like your standard phone camera, 
and the arrow icon changes the view of the camera between the front and 
the forward side. The app has recently introduced philters that you can 
reach by tapping the smiling face next to the arrow icon (like on 
Snapchat).
Instagram Story Highlights
• In the tiny circles under an Instagram biography, you will find the 
Instagram story highlights. Story Highlights are a brilliant way to 
present your best stories and add them to your account for your 
fans to see semi-permanently. They are also useful ways to 
display goods, programs, promotions, and more, as links to 
external sites can be included in your highlights. Instagram Story 
Highlights can also act as a sort of menu. Many Instagram 
companies use Story Highlights to share their working hours, 
new deals or sales, information about team members or shop 
locations, footage behind the scenes, and more. The app also 
allows you to add highlight covers to demonstrate your story 
highlights and keep your profile on-brand (at 2000 x 2000 px and 
an aspect ratio of 1:1).
Instagram Live
• Instagram has a live video feature, as we talked about above, 
which allows you to share content in real-time. Open the 
Instagram camera to start a live video stream, swipe to the Live 
environment, and then press the Start Live Video button. If you 
initiate the live video, a notification that you’re life will be sent to 
any followers currently on the app. Using the built-in chat 
feature, live viewers can also comment on the live video. To 
highlight entertaining, real-time material or engaging moments 
such as Q&As or disclosures, the live video should be used 
sparingly.
IGTV
• Instagram TV, or IGTV, is the newest video offering for 
Instagram. Users will view long-form, vertical videos from 
Instagram owners, available to watch via the Instagram 
app, or the standalone IGTV app. Think: videos for 
cooking, celebrity interviews, product reviews, and 
tutorials … This is usually the material you’ll find on IGTV. 
Between Instagram Live and IGTV, what’s the difference? 
IGTV uploads videos, giving users the ability to edit their 
video and fine-tune it.  To start posting, download the 
IGTV app, create a channel, and upload a 15-second-to-
10-minute video. Verified accounts will make videos run 
for up to an hour. 
Hashtags
• On Twitter, hashtags have taken over. Hashtags 
refer to keywords or phrases of keywords which 
are spelled without spaces and prefaced with a 
symbol of a pound (#). In general, they are used 
to reference activities, gatherings, pop culture, 
television, or recurrent themes and are a perfect 
way to make the content more accessible. 
Hashtags, originally popularised by Twitter, are 
now on numerous social networks.
Instagram Marketing Strategy
• On any social media site, several organizations feel forced to be present … and they forget 
about strategy. Don’t make a mistake here. Since Instagram is very distinct from other 
common social media, a separate marketing strategy is needed. Start creating your 
brand’s distinctive style here.
•  1. Set your goals for Instagram
• Ask yourself (or your team) one question before you begin posting on Instagram: Why are 
you on Instagram? As common as the site is, the response should not be, “… because 
everyone else is.” To be successful in the long run on Instagram, you need to have a 
defined objective and objectives so that the time, energy, and monetary commitment can 
be justified. Here, there is no right answer. You may want to use your Instagram feed, like 
Anthropologie, to post and sell your goods to customers. 
• 2. Determine your Instagram audience.
• Before you begin marketing on Instagram, decide the audience you want to enter. If you 
have other marketing techniques in place, to keep your efforts consistent, draw on those. 
Don’t forget to consider variables such as age, location, gender, income, desires, motives, 
and points of pain. Don’t you know where you should start? Monitor common events and 
hashtags of interest relating to your company. See who uses and communicates with these 
hashtags and look at their profiles. You should also take a look at the followers of your 
rivals. Instagram makes identifying your audience simple.
• 3. Conduct a competitive analysis.
• Do a comparative study to see what other advertisers in your industry are posting after you assess your Instagram 
audience. Start by analyzing their Instagram profiles if you already know your top competitors. If not, to find similar 
accounts, look for words specific to your company and industry. To see what posts are getting the highest interaction, 
what common hashtags they are using, what their captions are, how often they post, and how quickly they are rising, 
perform a fast audit of related accounts. When you begin growing your account, this data will serve as a benchmark. 
When auditing the material of your rivals, take note of any possibilities they may have overlooked. The addition of 
unique content to the mix would help your organization stand out from the rest. 
• 4. Configure an editorial calendar.
• On average, on Instagram, brands post about six photos a week … which is over 300 posts a year! At that pace, 
keeping track of what you need to post and what’s already posted can be hard. Creating an editorial calendar will help 
save you time and control your presence on Instagram. With some Instagram post forms listed earlier, fill in your 
calendar and schedule your captions, hashtags, and posting times in advance.   Your editorial calendar is also a perfect 
way to document any important events to highlight, such as new product releases or promotional deals, on your 
Instagram account. With an editorial calendar, instead of scrambling for last-minute articles, you can keep an eye out 
for real-time opportunities. 
• 5. Build a consistent brand on Instagram.
• Your audience is confused by random or disjointed content which can cause you to lose followers. Maintain a clear 
brand aesthetic on your Instagram account to avoid this. Determine what this looks like by thinking about the 
personality of your brand. What are your principles as a brand? How will your brand be described by your clients and 
staff? Bold, playful, rough, or adventurous, are you? The brand personality of Apartment Therapy is light, clean, and 
structured, and all three of those characteristics are reflected in its account. Ideally, brand aesthetics make the brand 
identifiable, ensuring that anyone will see the image in their feed and recognize it’s yours immediately … without seeing 
the name. 
• 6. Grow your Instagram follower base.
• It takes significant time and energy to grow your following. You could be tempted to go the easy way out and buy 
supporters … don’t do this! Buying followers won’t drive interaction, which is really what you need to make sure that 
your posts are seen. (Also, recent API updates to Instagram will delete those followers automatically!) 
• 7. Convert your Instagram followers into customers.
• You can start turning those followers into paying customers once you create a dedicated follower base. Here are 
several techniques.
TIPS TO CONVERT YOUR INSTAGRAM FOLLOWERS INTO CUSTOMERS
• Promotions: For your Instagram audience, promotions, discounts, BOGOs, 
and other offers are a fantastic way to boost first-time sales. To receive the bid, 
be sure to include what your followers need to do and mention a deadline to 
build a sense of urgency.
• Contests: What better way than making them try your product to make 
somebody a customer? Run contests that involve anyone with a hashtag to 
follow your account or post to join.
• Charity: 81% of millennials want corporations to contribute to charity publicly. 
Doing so can develop brand affinity and help turn consumers into followers. 
Gap has collaborated with the Global Fund, for instance, to help fight AIDS in 
Africa. It has helped raise over $130 million since 2006.
• Teasers: Before they’re available, Instagram is a great place to offer your 
audience insights into new items. Although you don’t want to flood the feeds of 
your followers with just product images, a few pictures will generate 
excitement.
• Live Launches : Consider using Instagram Live to showcase a new product or 
service. Then, drive users to buy by providing a connexion to buy in your bio.
Instagram Analytics
• Instagram, like Facebook, does not have an integrated, in-depth analytics platform 
… yet. You get access to some restricted analytics when you move to a Business 
Account, such as the growth of followers, views, scope, and interaction. Access 
these by clicking below your uploaded images and videos on the View Insights 
choice. Via Facebook’s Ad Manager, you can also monitor Instagram views, 
spending, and interaction on ad campaigns. These metrics, while helpful, are 
restricted to individual posts and campaigns. Using third-party tools, you can view 
more in-depth Instagram metrics. Iconosquare and Simply Calculated allow you to 
monitor additional metrics over time, optimum post time based on previous posts, 
and performance relative to selected competitors, such as followers and interaction. 
While both platforms require you to pay to use them, to see if their analytics 
solutions are right for you, you can start with a free trial. Depending on your 
objectives, the individual metrics that you monitor on Instagram can vary, but you 
can still keep an eye on interaction (likes and comments) and your number of 
followers over time. Your account will slowly gain followers and interest if you are 
posting useful material. If you have the budget for more in-depth analytics tools or 
not, track these simple metrics to ensure that your account develops and performs 
well.
Instagram Marketing Helps You Grow Better
• There is no denying Instagram’s strength and scope, with 700 
million monthly active users. What used to be a simple picture 
sharing app has become an interactive social experience that 
enables users to discover the visual identity of an organization. 
High-quality content is respected by Instagram users. Build 
graphics that provide insightful insight for your audience or 
highlight your brand in a fresh, creative way. Optimize the 
material by writing fun and engaging captions. It can seem 
daunting to build and sustain a website that captures the visual 
identity of your brand, but Instagram makes it fun and simple. 
To make the most of your Instagram marketing campaign, 
follow our guide, and get motivated.