The Benefits of Generating Reach on Instagram
Social Media Marketing is no fluke. In fact, especially among the younger generations, its importance keeps growing. Being visible on Instagram is a powerful tool to establish brand awareness, build an online community and reach new customers who react negatively to more obvious forms of marketing strategies.
The algorithm-driven dashboard of a platform like Instagram leaves us with the same opportunities as SEO marketing. If we tweak our content and profile to fit its standards, we will generate a bigger reach on Instagram. What is there to gain from using Instagram to generate reach?
Possible Benefits of Using Instagram for Business Owners
If we want to focus on using Instagram as a marketing tool, we should first define what exactly we expect to happen. Generally, any of the following strategies are part of a system of goals that influence each other. They can build on each other or be part of the same and different end goals but have slightly differing focus points.
For example: A simple way to gain more reach is by buying Instagram followers (for example here). A profile with many followers will be considered ‘good’ by the algorithm and will be shown to more people. However, simply having many bought followers will not automatically increase revenue and generate more customers. To reach this additional goal, the content they will be shown needs to fit their interest or need as well. But good content by itself isn’t good enough either, if it never gets shown to anybody.
- The best action is a mix of strategies.
Generating Reach
When we want to increase our reach, we are talking about raising the number of individuals that can see and interact with our content. This means we have to increase the probability of internet users finding or being made aware of our content.
There are multiple strategies to reach this goal, such as putting our content in the right places and presenting it in the right ways. With an algorithm-based service such as Instagram or search engines, it also means we have to make the algorithm think our content is good enough to be shown to people.
Establish Brand Awareness
Generally speaking, a higher reach also means we will generate more awareness for our brand. If we walk through a street and every two feet there is a poster with our brand imagery, chances are even the most inattentive people will become aware of the brand existing sooner or later. If people are aware of a brand existing and knowing which service they provide, chances are it will pop into their head when they are in need what they are offering.
You generate brand awareness by generating reach, but you also have to think about the way you are presenting yourself, meaning there is a bigger focus on the content and design aspects.
Gain & Keep Customers
Being seen and people being aware of your service does not automatically mean they will want to use what you have to offer. Being shown to many people increases the probability of interested users seeing your service. Whatever they will see will decide over whether they will find your service worth pursuing.
However, you will treat them and how good your service is will decide on whether they will stick around and/or recommend your service to others. In social media marketing, building a community is a great tool for binding loyal customers.
How do we Improve our Reach?
Instagram’s algorithm looks at your content and analyzes it to figure out whether it is something specific users will want to see on their feed or when they are actively looking for something using the search bar. There are some factors that are considered ‘good’ and good content will be shown to others more frequently.
When we try to use these factors to increase our reach, we are talking about ‘organic reach’, compared to inorganic reach we gain using paid marketing & ads.
- The single most important tool to create organic reach is engagement.
Engagement
The social component is what makes social media marketing so special, so we should make use of it. It is essential how you interact with your followers and how they engage with your content. When you give people a reason to stick around, they will keep following. If you give them a reason to interact, you will get more likes and comments.
- Any of these three – followers, likes & comments – are huge factors when it comes to Instagram deciding your ‘worth’.
A blog with many followers MUST be good, therefore it will be shown to others more frequently. But rarely, anybody creates an account and immediately gains a large number of followers just by posting. Strategies like buying Instagram followers are a simple tool to help you get a foot in the door. You can look at them as a little jump start to help you establish your service where it really counts.
There are many good strategies to use that can help you polish your Instagram profile and posts. You can find many of them using our Instagram tag.
Conclusion
Instagram can be a powerful marketing tool. Because Instagram uses an algorithm to analyze content and find out what their users would want to see, we can use many strategies to tweak our profile according to their standards. Good content will be shown to more users. We can use this chance to create good content that will pull these users in. They can become followers and possibly customers. By engaging with them, we can bind them and additionally increase our Instagram standing even further. This kind of ‘organic’ reach can generate a loyal customer base more effectively than any ad.
