In this week's episode of the MegaMarketer Coachcast, hosts Scott Smith talks to Sara Kathryn King about the in's and out's of Instagram marketing.

Main Questions Asked:

• What are some of the basics we should know?
• Can you tell us something about paid ads on Instagram?
• What is a carousel ad?
• How can you hone in on your target?
• What are some of the automation options?

Key Lessons Learned:

Instagram Marketing

• Instagram is extremely large and growing rapidly, more than 100 million users have come on board since April 2017. Many Facebook users naturally become Instagram users.
• The first step is to start an Instagram account and then create a business account either within Instagram or through Facebook. It costs nothing to set up and post, the only time you will spend money is when you want to advertise or boost your posts.
• There are several types of paid ads you can run on Instagram and most of the time, the ads themselves are very non-intrusive.
• Don't discount Instagram because you think it's only used by young kids, more and more of your key demographic is coming on the platform every day.
• Video ads are gaining popularity with users online, 87% of advertisers online are using video. 60 second videos are a great way to attract new customers and share your story or your customer's story.
• Carousel ads allow you to use more than one image at a time, this could be an opportunity to share a transformation.
• Stories are a great way to engage follows and create content for your highlight reel.
• Go back to the basics if you're on a budget and engage your followers. Reply to their posts, start a conversation, and make them feel valued.
• Share the behind the scenes work with your audience with the stories feature. Anything you can do to be at the top of your customer's mind is a good thing, even if they don't watch it your brand still appears at the top of their feed.

Targeting on Instagram

• You have to think about the medium you are using to target and adjust your demographics to fit the platform.
• Targeting your ads on Instagram works exactly the same as Facebook and can be customized extensively, including retargeting with the Facebook pixel.

Influencers

• Influencers are another great way to reach new followers. Your customers can actually be influencers within their social circle.
• The hardest part is the ask, the worst thing they can say is no.
• Reach out to notable people in your community and ask them to mention you.

Contests

• Contests are simple, fun, and an easy way to create a viral prospecting mechanism.
• Using hashtags to track entries is the easiest way and manage the contest.
• If you choose your winner, you can rebrand their post and highlight them which encourages them to participate again the next time.

Automation

• Social media is not meant to be time consuming. Hootsuite and AMP allow you to schedule out your posts for every platform from one place.
• Marketing can often become reactive, automation allows you to stay ahead.
• What gets measured, gets managed. You can learn a lot of what works and what doesn't from the analytics of the automation software.
• Facebook and Instagram are working on making it as simple as possible to understand how the system works and what to do.

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Links to Resources Mentioned

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