How to Utilize Instagram for Business this Holiday Season

Although holiday marketing is planned months in advance, it is never too late to build your brand this season. The fourth quarter is a highly competitive time to market your business. Lots of people are trying to reach goals like grow follower engagement, drive sales, or increase reach. Learn how to utilize Instagram to promote your business through a platform that allows you to be creative, yet effective.

5 Ways to Utilize Instagram for Your Business

Try one or all the Instagram tips below to best present your business this holiday season!

1. Partner with a Charity

Partnering with a foundation is a great way to give back this holiday season. When you affiliate with an aid organization, you can build your brand reputation and send a positive message to your followers. You can encourage donations, both monetary and otherwise, show your employees volunteering or practicing good deeds, or raise awareness about a cause. Your followers and potential followers will take notice and appreciate when you partner with an organization that is doing good work.

2. Run Contests & Giveaways

Consumers love contests and giveaways, especially during the holidays. A new product, a thoughtful basket full of merchandise, or a gift card is always fun to give and receive. Contest entry ideas include tagging a friend in the comments of an image, sharing themed content with the addition of a specific hashtag in the image’s caption, or directing followers to a link on your website to submit their entry. Depending on your budget you could run these contests daily, weekly or monthly to boost your engagement and brand visibly during the content-heavy holiday season. If you don’t have a large budget, featuring someone’s shared content is a prize that followers are fond of as well.

3. Highlight Sales & Discounts

Keeping your followers familiarized with the latest products, sales, and deals is always a good idea. To not spam their feed with too many sale promotions, strategically plan your content schedule so posts are mapped out evenly. Also, include coupon codes in your captions to make it easier for customers to make purchases.

4. Regularly Use Instagram Stories & Instagram Live 

By solely posting images on your Instagram feed, you are not taking full advantage of this popular social network. Instagram Stories and Instagram Live are becoming very popular and sometimes get more views that your conventional posts. That’s why it’s vital to utilize Instagram properly and create excellent content for all features of the app. Instagram Stories and Instagram Live offer a unique opportunity to highlight different aspects of your business. For example, showcase a behind the scenes look of your company, conduct an interview or demonstrate your products or service in action. It’s essential to offer exclusive content and to be creative and have fun! Find more Instagram Stories ideas through this blog post: 8 Ways Brands Are Killing It with Instagram Stories.

5. Instagram Advertising

Instagram ads are placed through Facebook Business Manager and are a great way to promote your business. Like Facebook, you can utilize Instagram to build your brand through photos ads, video ads, carousel ads, and stories ads. Business Manager allows you to customize ads with various marketing objectives such as brand awareness, reach, traffic and engagement. Through creating a custom audience and a budget, you can define who will see your ads and what the estimated reach will be.

If you are not sure where to start when it comes to Instagram, our social media team offers marketing plans customized for your needs and budget. Front Porch Solutions can help you advertise your business in a whole new way with our social media management services. To start something great, contact us today!

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