Being a web traffic powerhouse with about 2 billion monthly users, Instagram is deservedly recognised as one of the most popular social networks in most countries. For this reason, both local entrepreneurs and multinational corporations are equally eager to get promoted there. The idea is simple. As long as the brand attracts the right audience in the digital, its physical products and services remain in demand.

Yet, if you think that by registering on the platform, you automatically acquire subscribers whose number is growing by leaps and bounds every day, we hasten to disappoint you. It doesn't work that way. Since the platform is designed primarily for visual people, you need to learn how to present yourself nicely and what you do. You’d also better learn to add an emotional component to your content so that users not only scroll your posts but also interact with them.

How to make progress, especially if you lack experience? Go on reading and take in a couple of proven methods that will upgrade you for business marketing in social media.

Make the Most of Profiling Competitors

You might think that we are going to give something that's a ‘keep-your-friends-close-and-your enemies-closer’ thing. Well, it makes sense, provided that you clearly understand which of your competitors are worthy of attention.

Keep track of the best. Monitoring their digital behavior allows access to exceptional knowledge and expertise. Seizing the opportunity to study the content posted and audiences’ reactions to it, you can single out positive cases. Adopting and adapting some tricks for yourself will significantly shorten your path to success.

Just to show how it works, let’s take Lay’s strategy. The company was among the first 30 brands to test the Stories advertising back in 2017. The management applied a new format to introduce the new STAX brand in Poland and establish itself in the market as the “No. 1 chips brand.” And you know what? They nailed it! The campaign ended up with an ad recall indicator increased by 33 points, and product awareness by 6 points. The audience’s reach was 6 million people.

Nowadays, you are unlikely to find a brand that ignores its Stories feed. But now you know who was at the origins.

A small checklist of what key parameters to consider:

• Subscribers. If they are not fake or spammers, you can safely proceed with the account and study it.
• The activity in the accounts. Discover what their audiences react to, both well and poorly. Check the best-performing posts and find out Reels and Stories that haven’t been skipped or better have been reviewed.
• Account mentions and hashtags. This allows you to examine comments and advertisements. By using similar and useful tags, you can navigate the same audience to your page.
• Prices. It is important to track competitors’ discounts and offers, which attract potential buyers.
• Cross-promotion. Competitors can receive traffic to Instagram from several channels like Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, etc., and vice versa. See what is happening on other platforms.

Well, it helps to know how your competitors operate, but in the end, both they and you are striving for the same thing.

Take Time to Identify Potential Customers

Sometimes, strategies that go off for big names in the industry may be of no use for your specific business. The effectiveness of marketing decisions depends not only on the field of activity but also on the target audience you are working for.

For example, major luxury brand Gucci avoids announcing sales on its Instagram feed. Instead, they write about the release of new collections with fixed prices. Thus, the brand recently presented a selection of #GucciGift for the holidays. For this purpose, a new line of products was brought to the market: from ordinary business card holders to super iconic accessories. The idea is to encourage togetherness as the holiday season begins.

Not all people can afford to please all their loved ones with branded items. Still, it is not the price, it is attention that matters. Starbucks' management remembers that. So, you can decide for yourself how much to spend. To do this, simply purchase Starbucks gift cards. What's especially nice is that you can customise yours using cute stickers to create a truly unique design.

The two brands demonstrate absolute discrepancy in pricing policy, although both dedicated their marketing campaign to the same event. That is why, if you are trying to make it big on Instagram, you need to understand what and to whom you are selling.

It is high time we moved on to the practical part and talked about how to identify the target audience.

Draft a profile of your target audience

It means you should detect the image of a potential subscriber/client, which includes such characteristics as gender, age, place of residence, marital status, occupation, interests, and hobbies.

• Study your account statistics. There is a special option for IG business accounts, which makes key information about your subscribers available. This way you are allowed age, gender, and geo data.
• Apply the Instagram poll feature. It is the easiest way to get to know your audience. Just ask your followers the question you are currently interested in and survey the answers. Since you hit users directly, the first-hand data will become a great asset.
• See who your target audience is following. It will help you determine their interests. Say, if potential subscribers/clients follow the accounts of stylists or clothing brands, they are likely to be into beauty and fashion.
• Analyze feedback. Thematic hashtags bridge you with the target audience. Just to help you get the hang of it, if you have a cosmetologist account, tags like #skincare, and #beauty appear useful to find posts from potential clients.

Don't limit yourself to just one platform, dive into the entire media space.

When Shakira made headlines with her diss track aimed at her ex-boyfriend, Gerard Pique, some brands got in the middle. With the lyrics holding the following lines: “You traded in a Ferrari for Twingo. You traded in a Rolex for Casio.”, the reputational crisis was about to catch up a Japanese manufacturer. However, they pulled themselves together and even managed to turn this trouble into an advantage.

SMM specialists have excelled themselves while being engaged in public discourse. In complete alignment with the company's tone of voice, snappy comebacks did their job against a negative narrative. Brilliantly Tweets like “Shakira, we may not be a Rolex, but our customers are loyal to us”, and “In defense of our Casio watches, the battery lasts longer than Pique and Shakira’s relationship” literally blew up the platform and even extended beyond the platform.

The emphasis was correctly made on the message that even though the product is not exclusive, the target audience likes it. Casio watches are reliable and have long battery life, which covers the needs of consumers. As long as the brand makes clients' satisfaction a priority, Shakira’s words could hardly be taken seriously.

As the situation was rolling out, Casio’s supporters also began to defend their products wherever possible, including on Instagram.

As one can see, both points assume a lot of work on the plate. In addition, this is not a one-time activity, as the number of competitors and potential buyers is a variable frequency. Therefore, the data you receive will only be relevant for a short period. So you will have to update to perform effectively.

Since time is the most valuable asset, it is unlikely that a reasonable solution would be to devote a day of work, or even more, to manually searching for suitable profiles. Today, technology makes it possible to fully automate the process.

The Role of Profile Search Tools

An Instagram profile search software is a tool or program designed to help you find and gather information about specific Instagram profiles. These tools typically provide advanced search capabilities and collect data from Instagram’s public profiles, allowing you to search for specific usernames, hashtags, locations, or other criteria.

With a Profile Search by Toolzu, you can easily hit all the marketing targets.

Competitors: Set a category filter and get a list of best-fitting profiles. Just in a few clicks, the capitals of the industry appear at your fingertips, which is a decent database for profound market research. Stay ahead by studying their strategies, content types, and engagement levels, and use these insights to improve your branding efforts.

Target groups: Apply keywords to diversify your exposure potential. This lets you find and connect with Instagram users who match your target audience. As long as you focus on people who are more likely to be interested in your products and services, the chances to convert them to customers increase significantly.

Influencers: Not every collaboration with influencers leads to increased brand awareness, credibility, and reach. The Profile Search tool is a great helper in identifying adequate influencers who align with their brand and have a potential impact on their target audience to run effective marketing campaigns.

Current Followers: Knowing who your followers are allows businesses to engage with their existing customers on Instagram. Finding and connecting with customers who have mentioned your brand enables businesses to build relationships, respond to inquiries or feedback, and provide personalized customer support, which all together fosters brand loyalty and advocacy.

Final Thoughts

No brand is too “boring” to be present on Instagram. Everyone is capable of running a well-performing account. The platform is a living, democratic community, so you can create catchy content for different industries. The only criterion is whether your audience exists there. A positive answer means gathering insights into already successful accounts, defining your user environment, and engaging with people who follow you. Add a bit of AI magic to speed up the growth.