If you're like any typical startup, you want to attract a large audience to your Instagram business account once you launch. You also want to increase your followers, sales and engagement on the platform.

The question is, how fast can you do all these without breaking the bank?

The truth is, outspending everyone else isn't the key to a successful Instagram marketing campaign for your new business.

So, what is?

Being more inventive with your marketing and making a large sensation with unconventional thinking—that's the key to taking your startup to the next level leveraging Instagram.

Through this, you'll get even better outcomes than any amount of money will ever be able to deliver.

So, you need a guaranteed blueprint to engineer massive success for your startup and stand out effectively? We have these 5 hacks for you.

What is Instagram Marketing?

As a kind of social media campaign, Instagram marketing summarizes the series of processes through which businesses promote themselves on the Instagram platform.

Instagram marketing can include a variety of methods and approaches. However, there's always a goal in view.

For some brands, it's to sell products and  services or gain more followers and digital engagements. Others do it to create partnerships with potential customers and other businesses, and generally improve their business.

So, don't forget this: As a business, you shouldn't delve into Instagram marketing without a goal in mind or a strategy for achieving the goals. You Instagram strategy should state your:

• Overarching business objectives
• Goals for Instagram marketing
• Plans of action
• Definition of success
• Indicators of key performance
• Guideline for branding

Bottom line is: Having a social media strategy assures that whatever you do will benefit your business. This entails targeting the appropriate individuals and creating content that will appeal to them.

Since your goals are the cornerstones of your marketing strategy, it's only reasonable that you set goals the right way. Here's our tips for doing that.

• Be specific. Instead of setting a general goal, give specific metrics and milestones.

• Choose goals that can be tracked and measured using analytics and insights.

• Be reasonable in your expectations. It's highly unlikely that you'll gain a million followers in a week.

• Maintain relevance by staying up to date on your industry, business, and prospects. This will help you set better goals

• Set a deadline for yourself to achieve your goal. For example, instead of saying, "I want more followers," try saying "In three months, I want to gain 500 genuine followers."

That said, let's dive into marketing approaches that'll make your startup standout on Instagram.

1. Run an Affiliate Program on Instagram

Consider this: if you only conducted a campaign on your own Instagram account, you'd likely only reach your own followers.

Meanwhile, when you partner with influencers to execute your campaign on their own Instagram profile, you'll get access to all of their audiences.

Besides, affiliate marketing is natural. When an Instagram user sees a company post a product or service, it's clear that the brand is looking to sell something.

When they see an influencer endorse a product, they believe the advice is more authentic and legitimate.

User-generated content influences 90 percent of buyers to make a purchase. As a result, the endorsed brand sees a rise in customer interest and loyalty, while the influencer receives a cut of any sales generated by posting their honest suggestions. Everybody wins!

Now, How do you set up an affiliate program on Instagram?

     i.  Choose an Affiliate Network

An Affiliate Network does everything from tracking data, to monitoring and processing payments, and exposing you to a pool of influencers who already use affiliate links on their platforms.

The most popular affiliate networks include ShareASale, Rakuten, Pepperjam, AWIN and CJ Affiliate.

Tip: Once you've joined an affiliate network, you can use monetization platforms like rewardStyle or ShopStyle to increase your exposure. But, keep in mind that you must first join one of the networks listed above.

ii.  Decide on Your Commission Rates

It's now time to figure out your commission rates, or how much you'll pay an influencer for each sale they generate. This you can accomplish in various ways. Here are a few suggestions:

• Ask Your Affiliate Network
• Conduct Competitor Analysis
• Analyze Your Profit Margins

       iii. Create a Profitable Affiliate Program

Make sure your affiliate program is one that influencers want to be a part of when you're putting it together. Give them plenty of incentives.

For example, building a multilayered program with the potential to earn extra when they refer a certain number of people is a good idea. This will spur influencers to promote your products and services and receive an appropriate compensation for their efforts.

       iv. Find Influencers

There are a plethora of ways to locate influencer affiliates to work with on Instagram. However, to get the most out of your affiliate efforts, you may want to intentionally hand-pick influencers based on your Instagram marketing goals.

Keep in Mind: The quantity of influencer affiliates pales in comparison to the quality. Don't worry if you don't have a lot of influencer affiliates posting about your brand.

However, ensure that the ones you have are powerful advocates for your product and are generating sales.

You could even provide your influencers with brand rules and tools to help them create affiliate content that resonates with your brand.

v. Analyze and Make Adjustments

It's critical to keep track of what's effective for your business once your affiliate program is up and going.

If you're working with an affiliate network, they should be able to provide you with valuable information. For example, how many affiliate links were created for your brand? How many impressions did the affiliates get? and what's the overall sales value?

2. Host An Instagram Giveaway

Consider organizing an Instagram giveaway to delight your present fans while also attracting new visitors to your profile.

An Instagram giveaway allows you to give anything away for free in exchange for massive instagram engagement including comments and likes. Or any other predetermined criterion.

When done right, giveaways can help you build a loyal following on Instagram and showcase your remarkable products or services to a wider audience than you could reach naturally. Here's how to organize a giveaway.

      i. Define the Goal of the Giveaway.

You'll be able to tweak your strategy more precisely and keep track of whether or not your giveaway was effective if you set a clear objective.

It's up to you to decide what makes the most sense for your brand, whether it's more website traffic, more followers, more interaction, or a bump in sales.

      ii. Decide on the Giveaway prize?

The first step is to identify what kind of product, service, or experience you'll give away as a reward. This will depend on your purpose. For example, if you want to raise awareness about a product launch, you'll probably want to give away that product as your prize.

      iii. Determine the Contest's Entry Criteria.

Again, you determine the entry-criterion by your end goal. For example, if you merely want to raise your brand's popularity, you can ask participants to like your post and tag (News - Alert) their friends.

Alternatively, if you'd like to increase your website views and engagement, you can direct participants to your blog or web page. Here, they'll find information about the contest criteria as well as questions to answer in the comment section of your Instagram profile.

       iv. Form a Brand Alliance.

When two or more new brands collaborate on a giveaway, it's usually effective. For your giveaway to be successful, you may have to collaborate with a content creator or influencer to create something unique. Then, both you and the Influencer can promote it across your platforms.

      v. Choose a Hashtag for Your Campaign.

Hashtags on Instagram will help your content appear on the explore page, which, in turn, enhance your visibility on the network.

To raise awareness of your offer, consider designing a captivating and unique brand campaign hashtag. For example, you may put #+ your brand name +giveaway. Or #+your brand name+ contest. Example is #applegiveaway.

      vi. Set a Time Limit for the Competition.

Setting a time limit for the contest will create a sense of urgency among your followers. This will encourage them to engage with your post immediately and keep your giveaway at the top of their Instagram feeds.

      vii. Launch and promote!

You're now ready to launch and advertise your giveaway. Remember that Instagram users are likely to engage when you post at specific times of the day. So, plan ahead.

Tip: if you promote your contest on a blog, Facebook (News - Alert) page, or another social media outlet in addition to your Instagram, you'll likely get more people to enter. To get the best results, think about where else you can promote your giveaway.

3. Design and Use Your Brand Hashtags

Hashtags should be at the forefront of startup marketing initiatives. When used appropriately, they can help you enhance your brand's reach and target audiences during campaigns.

The goal is to use your brand name, slogan or core values to create hashtags with a punch line.

Nike does this perfectly. They've designed and used popular hashtags like #Nike and #JustDoIt to their advantage. These hashtags make it easy for consumers to find materials related to their brand.

As a startup, it can be difficult to make your hashtags popular at first. However, as you grow, more people will adopt the hashtags, thus increasing your popularity.

Develop your own startup brand hashtag and watch your company thrive. It could be anything from your brand slogan to a simple phrase or call to action.

4. Run Instagram Ads

If you have the budget, running Instagram ads should be a top priority for your startup. Why?

According to estimations, Instagram advertisements reach over 1.2 billion individuals. When you do the maths, that's 20% of the world's population over 13 years old.

To crown it all, 27% of users claim they find new items and brands through paid social ads. Impressive, right?

Instagram advertising appears in users' feeds, Stories, Explore, and other areas of the app. They appear to be normal postings, but they always have a "sponsored" tag to highlight that they are advertisements.

Ads also often include more elements than a standard post, including links, product catalogues and call-to-action buttons.

There is no benchmark price for Instagram advertising because they vary depending on a range of factors. The following are some cost considerations:

• Your target audience.
• Your industry's competitiveness
• Season of the year (costs increase during the 4th quarter of the year, especially during Black Friday (News - Alert))

Note That: There's no definite way of determining how much to spend. You can begin by investing a few dollars every day and gradually increase your investment based on your success.

5. Post consistently

You can do giveaways and run ads all you want, but if you don't have a feed of high-quality content, people will be reluctant to interact with your brand.

That said, you might believe that posting on a daily or hourly basis is the way to go. It's not. You gain more by posting consistently, even if that's just once weekly.

Since Instagram is a visual app, you also want to make sure you're posting eye-popping imagery and stylish snapshots.

Post photos with some form of distinctive artistic hallmark, whether it's a beautiful backdrop or a vibrant color scheme. These kinds of photos tend to expand customer experience and get the most likes and comments.

Yes, not everyone has the opportunity to work in an industry that permits them to capture pro-level photographs.

Still, modern smartphones, thankfully, have built-in features that can capture stunning images of just about anything.

Here are some additional tips for when you create Instagram content:

• Post content that focuses on people. That means putting people at the core of your content strategy. An example? Highlight the people who help you run your brand.
• Post videos. They're popular and get shared a lot on Instagram
• Memes and image macros can help you break up your feed's monotony and engage your followers on a more personal level. Use them.
• Post on your Stories every day. They're great for passing important updates, or for sharing entertaining clips.
• Every post you make should have its own caption. Even the tiniest things in those descriptions can have an impact on your interaction rate.

Summary

In the world of social media, Instagram is unquestionably a force to be reckoned with. There's an almost unlimited amount of untapped opportunity for brands to attract attention, create interaction, build strong relationships, and exceed their annual financial targets.

While the platform may appear large and overwhelming, it's not as bad as it appears. If you approach your Instagram marketing strategy with a growth attitude, you'll discover that it becomes easier and more profitable as time passes. Play your cards well, and it can even be enjoyable.

Author Bio:

Ms. Ade is a content writer and a social media marketer, with extensive experience in branding, content development and social media management. She works with brands across different niches, helping them communicate their values and assisting with content consistency, memorability, originality and virality.