Instagram Marketing for the Holidays
Instagram provides excellent digital marketing opportunities, and many small businesses use it to raise awareness of their products and services. That said, Instagram marketing can be an extremely competitive space, especially during major shopping seasons. If you want to stand out from your competition on Instagram during the holidays this year, you might want to brush up on your knowledge of how to use the app as a promotional tool. We have some tips that can help you begin.
Put a Holiday Theme in Your Profile
Your Instagram profile is somewhat akin to the homepage on your website—it’s the first screen users will see when they click on your name, just like your homepage is (usually) the first screen they’ll see if they click on a link to your site. Would you change your website to reflect a seasonal trend? Probably, so you should do the same thing for your profile. Try updating your bio with a brief holiday message, like this.
Run Smart Holiday Instagram Ads
Instagram provides excellent digital marketing opportunities, and many small businesses use it to raise awareness of their products and services. That said, Instagram marketing can be an extremely competitive space, especially during major shopping seasons. If you want to stand out from your competition on Instagram during the holidays this year, you might want to brush up on your knowledge of how to use the app as a promotional tool. We have some tips that can help you begin.
Ads are a pretty new feature on Instagram, so a lot of people are still figuring out how to make the most of them. You can beat them to the (holiday) punch by being clever about the ads you place. Instagram ads are partnered with Facebook ads, but it’s a mistake to forget that these are separate platforms requiring different approaches. Consider using ad formats that perform especially well on Instagram specifically, like carousel ads and videos. Engagement for video posts on Instagram has risen by 53% in the last year alone, beating the growth rate for photo engagement. Just make sure that you have the available capital to place an ad that will reach a substantial audience… and remember to put some holiday content in your videos—maybe a carol or two?
Connect with Influencers who Thrive During the Holidays
Influencer marketing remains one of the most effective ways to reach Instagram users. The most successful profiles on Instagram aren’t businesses—they’re individual influencers and celebrities. Still, a lot of businesses waste time trying to figure out how they can convince an influencer to plug their products or services when the answer should be obvious: just hire them. Since influencers can often achieve up to 16 times more engagement than paid media, hiring one normally proves cost-effective in the long run.
Some Instagram-based holiday marketing strategies are easy and inexpensive, but most require a certain investment of capital as well as time. To make sure you can afford to overhaul your Instagram for the holidays, look at practical short-term borrowing options. Taking out a working capital loan to fund your next ad campaign can be a smart choice, especially since the average consumer spent nearly $1000 extra last season. The more eager shoppers you net with your marketing this year, the easier it will be to pay off debts and collect substantial profits.
Social media has provided small businesses with many versatile options for digital marketing during the holidays. Whether you make small adjustments to your profile or invest in major campaigns through ads and influencers, this time of year represents an opportunity you won’t want to miss.
Thanks to Nick Rojas for his guest blog post. Follow Nick Rojas on Twitter
Nick Rojas is a business consultant and journalist who lives in Chicago and his hometown Los Angeles with his wife. His work often discusses social media, marketing, and branding in regards to small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
