Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms, with over 1 billion monthly active users. And it's not just a platform for sharing photos and videos — it's also a powerful marketing tool.

If you're looking to use Instagram to grow your business or personal brand, you need to be strategic about it. Though you can use a private Instagram viewer tool to know other Instagramers strategy, here are 10 practical strategies for long-term success on Instagram:

1. Be Very Specific With Your Goals

The first step to any successful Instagram strategy is to be clear about what you want to achieve. Simply saying that you want to "gain more followers" is not enough.

Instead, ask yourself:

• What kind of engagement do I want?
• How many new leads or customers do I want to generate?
• What kind of brand awareness do I want to create?
• What do I want my business mission or tagline to be?

Only once you have answers to these questions can you create content and strategies aligned with your goals. Establishing clear goals is very important and creates a foundation for the rest of your strategy.

2. Continually Research And Explore Audiences

There is no way to make a definite list of all the possible audiences you could target on Instagram. The platform is simply too vast and ever-changing.

That's why it's important to continually research and explore new audiences. Try using hashtags, locations, and interests to find new potential customers you can target with your content.

As you receive more engagement, it will become much easier to determine which audiences are the most valuable to your business and focus on them. Once you have done this, you can backtrack to determine what part of your content strategy worked best.

3. Optimize Your Profile

Instagram is a visual platform, so you want to ensure that your profile looks as good as possible. This means choosing the right profile picture, writing an engaging bio, and using relevant keywords in your website and contact information sections.

Your profile is essentially your first impression on Instagram, so make sure it's a good one! Ensure you have a clear "Call To Actions" on your profile to point followers exactly where you'd like them to go.

It can be a good idea to develop uniform patterns and colors between your content and logos to make your brand easily recognizable.

4. Ensure You Schedule Content Efficiently

There is a lot of debate over how often you should be posting on Instagram. There is no right or wrong answer — it all depends on your audience and what kind of content you're posting.

That being said, most experts recommend that businesses post 1-2 times daily on average. This gives you enough time to try out different types of content and see what works best for your business without overwhelming your followers.

Scheduling your content in advance is essential to maintaining a consistent posting schedule. Several great scheduling tools, such as Later and Buffer, make it easy to plan and publish your content ahead of time.

5. Give Yourself Plenty Of Time.

Things can go wrong when you're trying to post content on Instagram, such as technical difficulties or a last-minute change of plans. That's why giving yourself plenty of time when scheduling your posts is essential.

You should set aside an hour or two each week to plan and schedule your content and get slightly ahead. Doing this each week will help minimize the risk of anything going wrong and ensure that your content is always fresh and up-to-date.

Giving yourself plenty of time with strategizing your content is also important. Coming up with creative and engaging content ideas can be difficult, so it's important to set aside some time each week to brainstorm ideas.

6. Use A Variety Of Content Types

Instagram is a visual platform, so it's essential to use various content types in your posts. This could include images, videos, infographics, behind-the-scenes footage, or even simple text posts.

The key is to mix things up and keep your content interesting. If you're constantly posting the same content, your followers will quickly become bored. Developing some themes to add to your content schedules can help you plan ahead and ensure that your posts are varied.

Depending on your business, you might want to focus on a specific type of content at a particular time of year. For example, if you're a fashion brand, you might want to focus on your new collections during summer and winter.

7. Thoroughly Analyze Results

If you want to improve your Instagram marketing, you need to constantly analyze your results and look for ways to improve. Several great analytics tools, such as Iconosquare and Simply Measured, can help you track your progress and engagement over time.

It's essential to look at various metrics, such as the number of likes and comments on each post. Other valuable metrics include: how much traffic you're getting from your Instagram to your website and how often your posts are being shared.

Ensuring you thoroughly analyze your results will help you fine-tune your strategy, improve results and save you money over time. If you choose to buy real Instagram likes or invest in Instagram advertising, you'll want to be sure you're getting a good return on your investment.

8. Put Yourself In Your Customer's Perspective

When creating content, you must put yourself in your customers' shoes and think about what they want to see. Not all content needs to be directly related to your product or service — sometimes, the best content is something your target audience will find interesting or entertaining.

It can be helpful to create a buyer persona for your target customer and think about what kinds of content would appeal to them. Developing long and short-term strategies can help you plan your content in advance and ensure that it's always on-brand and relevant to your audience.

9. Use Stories To Highlight Key Information

Instagram Stories is a great way to share quick snippets of information or content that might not be suitable for a traditional post. You can use Stories to highlight essential products, run quick polls or competitions, or even share fun content to help you stand out.

Stories are also a great way to connect with your followers more personally. You can use them to answer questions, give shout-outs, or just share some thoughts and insights.

Once stories have been uploaded, you can add them to highlights on your profile page, so they're always accessible, even after they've expired. Doing so allows you to create albums of highlights which can individually tell stories and engage your followers.

10. Plan For The Future And Focus On Learning

It's essential to always be thinking about the future and how you can improve your Instagram marketing. This means regularly researching ways to provide new content types, strategies, and tools.

Don't be afraid to try something new, it might just be the thing that takes your Instagram presence to the next level. And if it doesn't work out, you can always learn from your mistakes and try again.

As technology and other things improve, things will change on Instagram. So it's essential to focus on learning and keeping up-to-date with the latest news and updates. This will help you adjust your strategy as needed and ensure that you're always ahead of the curve.

Success on Instagram is about creativity and constantly coming up with new content ideas. It's also essential to analyze your results and look for ways to improve. Using Stories is a great way to share quick snippets of information, and planning ahead is critical in content marketing. Always be thinking about the future and how you can improve your Instagram.

Following these 10 strategies, you can set yourself up for long-term success on Instagram. It's all about being creative, thinking outside the box, and constantly looking for ways to improve your content. If you can do that, you'll stand out from the crowd.

Image Credits:

Image 2: Image by European Parliament on Flickr

Image 3: Image by Marco Verch on Flickr

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