Promoting your blog post on Instagram has become a must-have way to engage potential customers, and is now a centerpiece of any digital marketing strategy.  With Instagram currently being the social media platform, with over 1 billion monthly active users worldwide it presents valuable opportunities to generate an audience, build a community and generate sales.

Instagram is growing every day, resulting in a constant stream of new Instagram trends and features. If you’re hoping to drive traffic to your website, regardless of your niche, Instagram is one of the most powerful social media tools at your disposal to promote your blog.

More businesses than ever are using Instagram for business purposes. There are over 200 million business accounts on Instagram worldwide that users visit every day and 90% of Instagram users follow at least one brand(Instagram, 2021).

Using your Instagram, the right way will help you build your blog traffic and significantly increase your sales. However, in order to get the results, you want from your marketing activity on Instagram, you need to do it right.

 Compared to other popular social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, Instagram relies heavily on visual elements. By using Instagram options like videos, text, and Stories, you can promote your blog post.

In this blog, you will discover step by step, how you can promote your blog post on Instagram using all these features to generate targeted traffic from your Instagram content and direct them to your website.

What Are the Benefits of Instagram for Bloggers?

If you’re using Instagram well to promote your blog, it can be the best place to grow your followers and readers in one place. Instagram has over 1 billion daily active users, which means you have a lot of opportunities to get your brand out there.

Instagram is a platform where people crave engaging visual content. And sharing engaging content on Instagram can do wonders for your brand. It can help you to:

– Grow a community around your blog.

– Boost your blog’s engagement

– Promote your latest blog posts

– Increase traffic to your blog

-Advertise products

With Instagram constantly expanding its shopping tools, it’s no surprise that one of the main focuses for marketers is advertising their products and/or services.

The use of the product and service-focused content will increase in 2022. 79% of marketers say they have used Instagram Shopping tools and one in three plan to use them for the first time in 2022. Whatever your goal, whether it’s to increase brand awareness or generate more revenue, using Instagram for business gets you closer to your goal.

While not all Instagram tools offer a high return on investment, they are all worth trying to see what works best for your audience. Now that you know the benefits of using Instagram, let’s look at some tips to help you find success on the platform.

10 Steps to Successfully Promote Your Blog on Instagram 

Let’s take a look at how you can create an organic growth strategy on Instagram for your business.

1. Create an Instagram Account

Creating an Instagram account is free and only takes a few minutes. You can download the Instagram app from the Google Play Store (Android) or the App Store (iPhone). Users can also sign up for Instagram from a desktop computer now. You can have more than one Instagram account.

– Once the app is installed, tap the Instagram icon to open it.

– Sign up with your email address or phone number if you are on an Android.

If you’re using an iPhone, you’ll need to select Create Account, then enter your phone number.

You will receive an SMS with a verification code to enter.

You can also use single sign-on by selecting your Facebook ID.

– You will then receive a prompt to create a username and password.

– Be sure to have a public profile rather than a private profile, unless you want only the friends and family you allow to read your blog.

By signing up for an Instagram profile for business, you’ll have access to detailed analytics. You’ll be able to see the performance of your stories, posts, and profile, as well as details on who your followers are and what days and times they’re most likely to be online.

Choose a good username

Choosing a good username for your Instagram account is very important. It grabs users’ attention and helps them remember your brand. Many prefer to use their full name as their username to build a personal brand.

Keep in mind that, unlike other social media platforms, Instagram allows you to change your username later. If you already have an established blog name, you may want to stick with it to be consistent across platforms. Choosing the same Instagram username as your website will also help your current readers find you easily on the platform.

Add a nice profile picture, a short bio, and, of course, a link to your website. Now that you’ve chosen a professional and catchy username for your Instagram account, let’s move on to the next step.

2. Stay Connected to Your Niche

Before you start your journey on Instagram, you need to choose a niche. A niche will help you decide what type of content to post on Instagram. Your Instagram blog’s niche should be the same as the blog you want to promote.

If you’re a travel blogger, you should avoid posting or writing about other topics, otherwise, you’ll not only confuse your followers, but you may cause them to unsubscribe. The key to achieving consistent growth is to give your audience what they want.

By sticking with your niche for your Instagram blog, you’re telling people who come to your blog exactly what type of content they’ll get in the future if they follow you.

 3. Create A Captivating Instagram Bio

An Instagram bio is a small snippet of text below your photo on your Instagram profile. An Instagram profile is where users see your profile, your photo, and any posts you’ve created.

Your Instagram bio is your opportunity to show everyone who you are, what you stand for, and who you serve, and convince your audience to stay and follow your page, all in 150 characters. You can fill your Instagram bio with text, emojis, hashtags, and mentions.

Your Instagram account bio is very effective in increasing traffic and readers to your blog if you use it effectively. It is also where users go to follow you. You should also place a link to your blog in your bio, this will help your audience navigate to your blog quickly.

Keep in mind that you can’t post the link anywhere else, not even in your posts. Depending on your niche and target audience you can highlight in your bio, your contact information, such as an email address or phone number in particular if you want someone to contact you about collaboration opportunities.

When you are very specific about who you are, you are more likely to attract people who are like you and want to engage with your content.

-Create a Link in Bio to  Improve Your Blog Promotion Plan

Since your main goal is to direct people to your blog you need to reference your blog and tell people to go there. There is only one place on your profile where you can place a clickable link, and that is in the website link portion of your bio.

Pasting your website URL into your Instagram bio link is the perfect way to promote blog posts on Instagram. Use a link tool in the bio to create more traffic opportunities On Instagram, you can only have one link in your bio at a time.

But that means potentially changing the link in your bio every time you share new blog content – which, in addition to being tedious, limits the number of clicks on previous blog posts.

You can use a tool like Tailwind’s Smart.bio that helps you host a link that automatically updates all your content as soon as it is published.

What Are the Benefits of A Professional Profile on Instagram?

A professional profile on Instagram is a special account that Instagram offers to brands and organizations and gives you access to additional features, such as Instagram Insights and the ability to run ads. To create a business profile on Instagram, you must first create a personal Instagram account and then turn it into a business profile.

A business profile not only legitimizes your Instagram account but allows you to add essential information such as your business hours, location, and phone number. With a business profile, you have access to data on the performance of your posts and stories, as well as the ability to track how your followers engage with your content. You also have the ability to add URLs to Stories to send traffic to your site.

4- Use Attractive and High-Quality Images

Instagram is a visual platform where the photos and videos you use have a direct effect on increasing your followers, engagement, and traffic. To promote your blog posts on Instagram, make sure to use high-quality images and videos with a polished and professional look to catch the attention of new Instagram users. 

To quickly grab attention and wow your followers, you’ll need high-quality images that stand out from the sea of content vying for attention. In addition to your own images, you can take advantage of many free stock photo sites to use, like Pexels and Pixabay.

You can also use Canva’s online app, which offers thousands of customizable, high-quality Instagram post templates. For a classic post, open Instagram, click the “+” button in the bottom center, choose your photo, add a filter, description, or hashtags, and click “Share.”

Use Instagram’s slideshow to introduce your blog post. The new slideshow feature on Instagram allows you to build a story with a series of photos.

-Maintain a consistent theme

Create a consistent tone and feed aesthetic with the photos you share so that they present your brand identity and your image style is recognized.  To create a consistent look for your profile, it’s best to maintain this theme throughout your Instagram posts. The more specific and consistent you are with your posts, the more likely you are to attract your audience.

5. Share Your Blog Posts On Instagram

The best way to get more traffic to your blog and take advantage of Instagram’s massive user base is to share your blog posts on Instagram. To get users to click through to your blog, you need to post engaging visual content. 

But despite the appearance of a simple task, sharing your blog posts on Instagram is a bit more complicated than that.  If you want to get your audience’s attention, then you need to:

-Add value to your content

Since Instagram is a visual platform, in order to attract an audience, it’s essential to create valuable content that draws an audience in and encourages them to engage with your business rather than using the platform solely for ads. For your long-term success, consider how you can delight your customers while staying true to your brand.

-Write strong and compelling captions

Writing a good caption is essential to connecting with your audience and driving traffic to your website. Think of your captions as an incentive to tease your blog content and convince your viewers to learn more.  To grab the reader’s attention, the first line you write should be relatively short so that it can be read in its entirety.

Many times, short captions that are thought-provoking, such as an intriguing statement, elicit an emotional response, or share an offer, work very well on Instagram. Your captions can’t be more than 2,200 characters, which makes Instagram considered a microblogging space as opposed to writing a real blog hosted on your own website.

You should always look to create high-quality captions that are informative, engaging, and related to the content you’re sharing because even though your image or video may be attention-grabbing, the caption is often where your followers become emotionally engaged end up going to your website.

– Tell a hilarious story, or by asking a question.

– Share your thoughts or experiences related to your blog content so your audience can relate to you.

– Give your readers a taste of the “happy ending” of your story by offering a solution to their problem through your content, for example.

– Then tell your reader where they need to go to find the solution using a compelling call to action (CTA).

-Include CTAs in the captions of your articles

Including a clear call to action (CTA) in the captions of your Instagram posts is one of the easiest and most effective ways to drive engagement and traffic to your blog. Since Instagram doesn’t allow users to place clickable links in their Instagram posts, you can always add your website URL in your bio to help your audience navigate to your blog.

If your captions are captivating will work just as well, but if It may not clickable. Your call to action can be as simple as asking users to click on the link in your bio for more information.

-Use Relevant Hashtags

A hashtag is a word or phrase, preceded by the pound sign (#), that makes it easy for people to find content relevant to their interests. Using hashtags on Instagram has a huge impact on the reach of your Instagram posts and helps you get your content seen by people who don’t follow you but are looking for that particular hashtag. 

This allows Instagram bloggers to reach new audiences and increase their follower count.  81% of marketers say that using hashtags has been somewhat or very effective for their Instagram strategy.

If you choose hashtags that are relevant to your business and use them in your captions, people can find your posts, discover your profile and follow you, and help you grow your account.

Using the right hashtags can have a huge impact on the reach of your Instagram posts. You can use hashtags on both static Instagram posts and Instagram stories. With static posts, you can use up to 30 hashtags, while in a story, you can add up to 10 hashtags.

You don’t have to use them all, but it’s common knowledge that content with 11 or more hashtags receives higher engagement. But a study by HubSpot shows that 62% of marketers on Instagram use 4-9 hashtags, and only 1% use the maximum of 30. It’s important to use only relevant and popular hashtags in your niche to attract more followers.

-Post regularly

For social media to work for your online business, you need to make a serious effort to post regularly.  The more regularly you post on Instagram, the easier it will be for you to gain likes and followers and build an engaged audience that will be aware of your posting rhythm and habits.

By posting regularly, maintaining a consistent tone and message, as well as keeping a clear and continuous visual style, your audience will become more and more familiar with your content and ultimately your brand. 

Studies have shown that accounts that post at least once a day, seven days a week, grow their followers much faster than accounts that post less than seven times a week. Also, make sure your branding aligns on every social platform, as well as on your website and newsletter

On the other hand, if you break this consistency, you’ll start losing followers. To create a consistent publishing schedule that helps you stay top of mind for your audience. By having a consistent posting schedule, you can get more views, engagement, and followers on your Instagram. Many marketers feel that four to six posts per week are a good pace.

A great way to maintain a consistent posting schedule is to create a social media calendar on Excel, Google Docs or Google Calendar. 

-Post at the right times

When you post on Instagram, it’s also important to post at a time that allows you to meet your audiences when they are online and more likely to engage with your posts. The best way to decide when to post on Instagram is to monitor your analytics.

-Geotag Your Posts

Some users prefer to be very detailed about where an image was taken.  Geotagging helps users find images from a particular location. Including location allows bloggers to increase their audience, as Instagram users can search for geotagged posts and come across any post with a geotag. To geotag a post, you can simply add a geographic location to tell others where a photo was taken.

6- Take Advantage of Different Content Formats on Instagram

Video and carousel posts are the most engaging type of content on Instagram, especially compared to single images. Carousel posts contain several different forms of media (image or video) in one, allowing you to create high-impact posts.

The advantage of both forms of content is that they keep users’ attention for longer, whether they’re scrolling through your photo series or watching a video.  The longer the user interacts with your content, the more engaged they are.

While videos and carousels are the most popular, you can also experiment with different content formats like reels and Stories and see what resonates with your audience the most.

– Use Instagram Stories

One of the most popular features of Instagram is the use of Instagram Stories which can be used to promote your blog and gain followers.  70% of Instagram users view Instagram Stories every day. 58% of Instagram users say they became more interested in a brand/product after seeing it in Stories. Additionally, 50% say they visited a website to purchase a product/service after seeing it in Stories. 

A Story acts as a slideshow that is only available for 24 hours on your Instagram Story feed unless you choose to feature it. When you feature the Instagram Story, it remains on your profile in the Highlight section until you delete it.

Stories are much less curated than a static post that shows up in your Instagram feed and stays on your profile forever unless you choose to delete it. In Instagram Stories, users can share images, videos, and text.

You can use Stories to get people to know you, but the most important thing you can do in your Stories is to provide free information and a ton of value and direct people to your website and the resources they can find there. Talk about things that can help your ideal reader and tell them where they can find them.

For an Instagram Story post, click on the camera icon at the top left of your screen, go to your camera roll at the bottom left of the screen, choose your image and then click on “Your Story” at the bottom left. Instead of placing all the relevant information about your new blog post in a single Story frame, create 3 or 4 slides filled with engaging visuals and a story that unfolds in each frame.

This way you have a better chance of grabbing people’s attention and generating interest and a strong desire to learn more! Then you can ask them to find your latest blog post in your link in the bio if you don’t have access to Link in Stories yet.

If you have over 10,000 followers on Instagram, you can use a feature that allows a visitor to swipe up on the story. When a user swipes up on the content, they are directed to a URL chosen by the story creators. This is a great place to insert an affiliate link.

– Create compelling video content

In recent years, video has become a staple of our social media feeds. In fact, short snackable videos have quickly become Instagram’s most engaging format, with videos now generating 49% more engagement than photos.

Creating engaging video content is crucial if you want to stand out on Instagram. With now, over 500 million daily users, Instagram Stories are perhaps the easiest way to create engaging video content on Instagram.

 Fun features like filters, music, polls and even swipe-up links can be added to Stories, allowing you to post anything from polished, pre-filmed promos to raw, authentic behind-the-scenes snippets.

– Live videos on Instagram

Going live on Instagram is also a great way to engage your followers.  In fact, live videos have the highest engagement rate of any type of content because they allow audiences to interact with their favorite people, brands, or businesses in real-time.

In addition to Instagram Stories, IGTV, and Instagram Live, Reels is Instagram’s latest video feature. Instagram launched Reels in 2020.

Reels allow users to produce short in-stream videos that can be edited with audio and music. Like TikTok, you can use Reels to create short videos that promote your business.

7. Interact with Other Instagram Users

Generally, all social media platforms reward posts that get high engagement like comments, likes, and shares. A high engagement rate makes your Instagram posts more visible and having more visibility means there are chances to get more followers.

When you interact with other users on social media they are more likely to check out your profile and microblog and if they like your posts may leave a like or comment and even follow you.

-Connect with your audience

Don’t forget to talk to your followers in the comments section to strengthen your relationship with them, this increases the chances that they will follow you in the long run. Ask your followers to interact with your post by asking them a question, asking them to share an experience, or simply asking them to like or share the post.

-Comment on Users’ Posts

Actively following, liking, and commenting on content shared by other influential bloggers in your niche is a great way to significantly increase your blog’s visibility. When you engage with another user’s content, they are more likely to reciprocate.

Try to make comments that show you actually read their captions and remember to always respond to the comments people leave on your photos. This shows that you care about the time people spent leaving you comments.

Also consider building a strong community with others in your niche and interacting with them by commenting, liking, and even re-sharing as an integral part of your plan to promote your content. IG Live is one of the most effective ways to interact with your audience

By hosting a live Q&A session for your followers you can answer their common questions and ask your followers what they want to see more of and talk about the process of creating your latest blog post.

8 -Enter Influence Marketing

 Leveraging the power of the right influencers in your niche, who are already authentically connected with their audience and considered a reliable source of information, is a great opportunity to promote your brand and find followers who will truly appreciate and support your products, or services. Micro-influencers (10,000 to 50,000 followers) and nano-influencers (less than 10,000 followers) are considered the next wave of influencer marketing.

9. Use Instagram Ads to Drive Traffic to Your Blog

If you want to drive traffic to your blog via Instagram without spending too much time building an audience, the best way to do so is to run ads. Contrary to popular belief, Instagram ads are not that expensive, and they are easy to manage.

Instagram ads give you the freedom to send people to your blog, your latest blog post, or a conversion page on your website as well as customize your target audience yourself, or you can let Instagram target people for you. To start using Instagram ads, you’ll need to have a Facebook page to set up a free Instagram business account.

Once you have that setup, you can create your ads, then choose the purpose of the ad you want to run. If you have money to spend and are serious about getting traffic to your blog, you should consider running ads on Instagram.

10. Monitor Your Engagement

Monitoring your engagement on Instagram is the most impactful way to grow your followers because you’ll learn exactly what works and what doesn’t. Constantly monitor your engagement analytics to make informed decisions that will help you grow better.

By checking your stats, you should be able to change and adapt your strategy to what people like the most. For example, if your profile information tells you that users are engaging more with your Stories, you should focus on sharing high-quality Stories content instead. The idea is to test as many things as possible, find out what works for you, keep iterating, learn and grow.

Conclusion

I hope you found this post on how to promote your blog on Instagram useful. Obviously implementing them to grow your blog via Instagram takes a little effort, but once you get your foot in the door, you’ll see how beneficial Instagram is for bloggers.

The advantage of using Instagram to promote your blog posts include being able to create captivating content very quickly without spending any money, building an audience, and even potentially making money with it. Try out all of its features and most importantly stay on top of all the new trends and updates on Instagram and keep track of what works best for you