A picture can tell a thousand words

Unlike Twitter, where you’re primarily relying on 280 charactersto grab the attention of your target audience,Instagram allows a picture to do the talking for you, giving you the chance to really get creative with your Instagram retail marketing. Using photos can allow you to make a connection with your target audience in a way that text alone cannot and, alongside this, photos have a fun and engaging nature which, if chosen properly, can really make your brand more relatable to your audience. Of course, you don’t have to be a professional photographer to use Instagram, but it’s worth noting that in the Instagram-sphere, a good quality picture can be a reflection of a good brand, which is why, at Hit Search, our team of professional digital creators can ensure the quality of your Instagram content really reflects the quality of the products you’re selling.

You can target the right people

Instagram is a fantastic tool for not just targeting people but targeting the right people. Firstly, the use of hashtags is a great (and free!) way to make your brand reachable and searchable and it also allows you to engage with potential customers, by finding them easily. We will be sure to add appropriate hashtags to the end of your posts to really get the most use out of them. As well as using hashtags to target people who are likely to be interested in your products, we’ll ensure that your Instagram retail marketing strategy takes advantage of Instagram’s location feature. Location-tagged posts and stories show up in the relevant searches, which can significantly enhance your post visibility for a specific location.

Having an in-depth understanding of your target market is an essential part of your Instagram retail marketing strategy. At Hit Search, to ensure our targeting is as accurate as possible and to ensure the content we’re creating for you will have the best possible effect, we will:

Use data-led targeted personas in content planning, creation and paid activity
Collect insights from your competitors’ Instagram activity
Utilise Instagram’s audience insights feature
Collect performance insights from previous posts to see the types of content that best perform for your audience, and why

As well as posting for the right people, we’ll also use Instagram insights to ensure that we’re posting at the best possible times for engagement. There may be a specific time and day window that is best for engagement with your brand and the more people that see and engage with your posts, the better. A good Instagram retail marketing strategy will take this information into account and schedule posts for optimum times.

You can make the most of user-generated content

For some brands, it’s just as much about the carefully taken pictures as it is the user-generated content (content about your brand, that has been posted by your customers). At Hit Search, we know that user-generated content is a fantastic part of any Instagram retail marketing strategy as it shows that the brand is real, your customers’ posts will be highly relatable and UGC can also increase engagement with your customers, effectively building that all-important brand loyalty.

You can use the power of influence

If you have a budget for influencers as part of your Instagram retail marketing strategy, then use them. Influencers will help to instil feelings of authenticity and transparency that is attractive to the consumer. The approachable and relatable nature of influencers and their tendency to engage with their audience are slowly making them a more attractive choice than celebrity endorsements. At Hit Search, we have plenty of experience when it comes to working with a range of different tiered influencers and will work meticulously to choose influencers that are going to be just right for your brand. We’ll use a range of tools to decipher whether or not influencers have a targeted, genuine audience and whether they are on-brand for the products you are looking to advertise. You can read more about our expert influencer marketing services by clicking here.

You can make your posts shoppable

In recent months, Instagram has added a new feature that may turn Instagram retail marketing completely on its head and Hit Search can show you how. Companies now have the ability to link quickly and directly to items for purchase, meaning potential customers can now make a purchase, without even leaving the app. The new feature allows the retailer to add shoppable tags to their images which means you can see details, such as price and product description, before clicking through to make a purchase. This quick and easy way of shopping is revolutionising the way retail brands use the Instagram app and at Hit Search we’ll ensure you’re staying one step ahead of the game with eye-catching content that your audience will want to shop.