Thinking of running a promotional campaign on social media? Running one on Instagram would be a good choice. With roughly 800 million active users and some 80 million posts per day, Instagram definitely has the huge potential to help you reach out to a wider audience.
Trouble is, running an EFFECTIVE promotional campaign isn’t that easy. Notice how we wrote the “E” word in all caps? We’ve seen a lot of campaigns run on Instagram, and we’ve seen a lot of them fail as well.
Running a successful Instagram campaign, as with any other campaign on other social media platforms, requires a lot of planning and research. It doesn’t just happen overnight.
It’s good to keep in mind that each platform has its own unique algorithm and features, so before you run a promotional campaign, make sure that you understand the different factors that determine its success.
Not sure where or how to start planning your promotional campaign on Instagram? We’re here to help!
Here are four things that you need to consider BEFORE starting a campaign.
Begin with a clear strategy in mind
Many of those who run promotional campaigns on Instagram gloss over this very crucial step, and that is primarily the reason why their campaigns fail. Having a clear strategy in mind helps you minimize the risk of wasting a lot of time and money. So how do you come up with a good one?
The secret lies in defining your 4 T’s: target audience, tactics, time frame, and total budget.
Let’s go ahead and discuss each.
Understanding your TARGET
As with any project, you have to begin with a clear end in mind. What is your goal for this campaign? Is it to drive new followers to your account? Is it to build your Instagram presence? Once you have a goal in mind, it would be easier for you to think of tactics later on.
Keep in mind though that if you are to run a successful promotional campaign, you not only need to have clearly defined campaign goals; you also need to have a clear understanding of your audience.
How well do you know your target market? Do you know their behavior? Their interests? The types of content they usually engage with? What type of post will resonate with them best? Knowing and understanding these information will help you come up with effective and appealing strategies for your campaign that will align with the goals you have in mind.
Come up with an effective set of TACTICS
Now that you already have your goals and objectives set in place and your target clearly identified, it’s time for you to come up with strategies that will get you to your goals.
This is where your knowledge of your audience will come in handy. After all, the success of your tactics will ultimately depend on whether or not your target audience engaged with your campaign.
There are a lot of tactics that you can employ to reach your ultimate goal, so let’s talk about a few of them.
- For Instagram contests: Make sure that you have enough budget set aside for the legal fees and general management of your contest, as well as for the prizes themselves.
- For influencer marketing campaigns: Make sure that you have a list of influencers who are a good fit for your brand, products, and services. Also, make sure that you have enough set aside for influencer fees, among others. If you’re running on a tight budget, you might want to scout for social media marketing agencies that offer effective influencer marketing campaign services at a reasonable price. You might also want to consider running campaigns with other companies that offer products and services that are complementary to yours.
Specify the TIME FRAME for your campaign
Although you definitely want to build a long-term following for your Instagram account, you do not want to bore your audience as well with a long-term campaign.
One of the best ways for you to keep your audience engaged while consistently driving new followers to your account is by running regular campaigns on a short-term basis.
So before running a promotional campaign, make sure to decide on an end date.
Determine your TOTAL BUDGET for the campaign
Remember, you’re not working with an unlimited budget for your campaign, so make sure that you have your spend all planned out well before you start the campaign. Otherwise, you’re going to end up running out of cash before you’ve even completed the campaign.
How will you know how much to set aside for your campaign? A good way would be by determining how much you’re likely to earn from the entire campaign. This will help you determine your maximum spend and minimize your chances of losing money.
Another way to determine how much to invest in your campaign is by starting with a low amount. Testing the waters before you jump right in will help you assess the success of your campaign without risking your investment.
Here’s a Bonus Tip
One of the best ways to ensure the success of your Instagram campaign is by partnering with the right influencers. Chosen carefully, these influencers can drive thousands of high-quality followers to your account.
There are several types of influencers out there that you can work with for your brand. These are:
- Nano influencers: these influencers have 1k to 10k followers
- Micro influencers: these influencers have 10k to 100k followers
- Macro influencers: these influencers have 100k to 1M followers
- Mega influencers: these influencers have more than 1M followers
Choose the type of influencer based on your campaign goals and your total budget for the campaign.
For example, if you want to focus on getting lots of high-quality engagement, working with a nano-influencer for your campaign might be a great way to achieve that. But if you’re after the number of new followers, then working with influencers who already have a huge following base can definitely get you on the right path.
The Bottom Line
Whatever campaign you ultimately decide to run on Instagram, it all boils down to the fact that you need to understand your audience first. How in-depth your knowledge is of your target audience will either make or break your campaign, so don’t take shortcuts! Plan your campaign well and you’ll reap results not only for the months to come but for the years ahead as well.
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