Instagram is the go-to platform for marketers these days. With 1 billion monthly active users, it is a fast game changer for modern businesses and marketing strategies. Thanks to the fact that it allows brands to connect with their customers in a whole new way.
As we know, people respond well to visual content in marketing campaigns, and storytelling is becoming extremely important for brands and businesses. People are expected to remember only 10% of the information they read, but if there is a relevant image attached, they can remember 65% of that information.
So, with this growing social media platform, your brand needs to maintain its presence through the right Instagram marketing strategies. You should also learn how to improve your IG marketing with automation.
Fortunately, there are some great Instagram automation tools available and they help improve the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns. It would always help to be extra careful when applying these tools, as Instagram is getting stricter when it comes to anti-automation rules.
What is Instagram Automation?
This is the process of using apps and software to manage your Instagram page. IG automation is typically done using bots, with bots performing tasks like scheduling, commenting, liking, and flagging your posts.
The word "bot" may make you think the process is filled with "spam", but this view is dead wrong. Instagram prohibits inauthentic activity from any bot, but not all automation tools are spam.
Using tools that manage the backend of your account, such as posting, analyzing, and reporting, is not against the laws of Instagram. You can use them to automatically publish your posts exactly when your subscribers are most active. You can also discover useful hashtags to expand your reach.
Let's take a look at some of the best ways automation can help you develop a more effective Instagram marketing strategy for your brand.
1. Automate post scheduling
The software you have chosen for posting scheduling keeps your online presence active, even when you are not available. You can plan and publish your Instagram marketing content in one place and publish it later.
Post scheduling tools allow you to schedule even a single image, or video posts, or Instagram stories. They also offer the option of posting content to multiple profiles at once, which saves time.
The best way to use any of these tools is to automatically publish posts when engagement is expected to be higher. And you can identify more active hours and user trends with the help of analysis tools.
2. Automate likes
Using automation to like your Instagram posts is reasonably safe. Automation can help identify your brand's posts and like them on your behalf. Likes are a non-intrusive way to improve your chances of engagement, and Instagram won't consider them spam.
When your content gets more likes, Instagram's algorithm grabs the post to indicate it's useful and popular. And this also leads to improving your search engine rankings. Using automated likes is similar to paying the platform for your account to appear on user feeds via ads.
Pro Tip: Stormlikes is offering 10 free likes as a trial of the service. Just enter your username and you will see the magic. If you like the service, you'll be happy to know that you can get 500 likes for as little as $ 6.79.
3. Automate comments
Many Instagram marketers will advise you to avoid comment automation as it looks like spam. However, when you apply it correctly (using neutral but positive feedback and including a range of options for the bot to rotate) it won't look wrong.
It is recommended that you only automate comments for a few posts per day, as it is not possible to program the software to create context-relevant comments. It gives you the possibility to manually create real returns.
4. Automate direct messaging
Besides automating comments and likes, there are some tools that also offer post automation features. To this end, you will need to use generic wording to keep a variety of neutral but positive statements (such as "Thank you for contacting us") in the repository the bot will be working with.
But it would be better to limit this service to a small number of DMs each day. It is also difficult to create contextually relevant messages for every user the bot will encounter.
5. Automate the follow-up and search for new accounts
Most of these tools can help automate tracking and finding new accounts. You just need to specify the accounts and hashtags you want to follow.
Through automation, you can choose random accounts using a hashtag and start following them. And the software will gradually track a number of new accounts every day to boost your business.
On Instagram, regularly following new accounts can make a huge difference in terms of engagement. Make sure your automation software also has non-tracking features to automatically stop following accounts that aren't useful to your brand.
6. Automate monitoring and increase post engagement
Automation gives you the ability to monitor and increase engagement with your followers. In other words, you can easily follow the discussions about your business online.
Analytics tools can break down your Instagram chats and help you preserve the best of it. Use metrics like mention by post type, mention by type, history of mentions, etc.
Maintaining your audience's engagement at all times is essential, and analytics tools help you understand the interests and needs of your followers. Engagement automation is something you must try; it can create some serious hype around your brand.
7. Automate the assembly and understanding of analyzes
Actionable insights can lead to a well-optimized Instagram marketing strategy. Use software to automate analytics and make data-driven decisions for your marketing campaigns.
The collection, review, and use of data from your Page and your posts have a direct impact on the performance of your content and your community. You can also use automation to understand Instagram story analytics, revealing vital information like your speed of completion by story type and the best time to post your stories.
Engage with your audience on a personal level and work to create a social space of like-minded people. Building communities and personal connections is what Instagram thrives on.
Final thoughts
Use Instagram automation tools to save time and focus on creating high quality content your audience is looking for. But don't leave everything to automation. You still need to spend time on Instagram to engage with your followers in a natural, professional, and active way.
Instagram automation tools can help streamline routes for the best results. The best marketing strategy is a multi-faceted one. You'll find this vital technique in your brand's Instagram marketing arsenal.