When was the last time you kept your hands off Instagram? Can you recall? I can’t, either! ヽ(´▽｀)ノ
Amidst all the buzz that social media has created on the internet, Instagram seems to be the loudest. This app, launched in October 2010, has outgrown its impression of a pre-teen’s leisure time app into a full-grown marketing hub.
If you are a digital advertiser looking for inspirations on Instagram marketing, I would take a leap and say you can get inspired by literally anything- influencers, meme pages, food bloggers, social media activists, etc. In this article, we are specifically going to discuss some creative Instagram marketing ideas that the artists use on Instagram every October.
But why October?
Well, October is the month of Inktober for artists, especially the ones present on Instagram. Now, before we get into how they grow their IG accounts on Inktober and how you can get creative inspiration from them, let us first understand what on earth is Inktober.
A Bit About Inktober
Inktober is a worldwide art challenge that takes place in October. Every artist who follows this challenge creates one ink drawing a day for the entire month, thus the name Inktober (Ink+October). Inktober involves a pre-decided list of prompts (topics) for every single day that the creators interpret in their own style.
There are various monthly art challenges like Munchy May, Fairyary, Julycanthrophy, Dinovember, etc. But Inktober is the most popular among them all, especially on Instagram.
Now that you understand what we are talking about- let us get into why we are talking about it.
Instagram Marketing Ideas from Inktober
Ever wondered why the Instagram feed and the discover section looks flooded with artists and their artwork by the end of October. It is the Instagram app’s algorithm that makes sure it comes up with relatable content for its audience. Meaning, one has to learn to create, post and manage their content in a way that caters to the app’s algorithms.
By following the Inktober trend alone, the IG artists seem to optimize their content and profile according to IG algorithms. Let us now take a closer look at how does Inktober act as a catalyst for growing these profiles in no time:
1. Building A Community
It is absolutely fine to try and reach out to all kinds of audiences while spreading brand awareness- but you also have to target the ones interested in your brand. A lot of people who visit your profile may not choose to stay if they don’t find like-minded individuals on it.
When artists post their creations on Inktober, Instagram displays it on the feed and the discover section of the people who are interested in artistic stuff. Thus, all the followers kind of act like a community of people interested in a particular niche.
Building such a type of community is crucial because these followers retain on a profile even when the owner gets busy and does not stay very active. (Don’t be irregular, though.) Such followers also drop genuine feedback, comments, and DMs, usually share your posts on their stories, draw more audience, and stay loyal to your brand.
Experiment with different things and analyze the kind of community that you want to build. Target the audience who are suitable for it and keep them occupied with your brand as much as possible.
2. Posting Regularly and Consistently
Always remember- Instagram DOES NOT promote dead profiles. You can definitely post whenever you feel like it- but you have to make sure that you stay regular and consistent with your content.
Inktober involves posting an artwork a day. The artists following this trend seldom skip a day. Their followers check back regularly on their profile to look for the next post. As a result, Instagram starts identifying these IDs as more engaging and relatable for the audience on its platform, thus making its owner a reliable content creator. Such artists start popping up more on feeds as compared to the ones who do not follow Inktober.
Posting regularly on your feed makes more difference than you think. It increases your profile reach and enhances social signals. You can use automation tools like Socinator if you are a busy marketer, and you cannot stay active on your Instagram account.
3. Proper Use Of Hashtags
Using hashtags wisely is the prerequisite to reaching out to your targeted audience. Various Instagram marketing experts suggest using 20 hashtags per post on average. But ALWAYS refrain away from using irrelevant/spam hashtags, or else Instagram will reduce your post reach in the longer run.
Check the hashtags under the Inktober posts. The artists make sure they only use hashtags that have content from participants of Inktober- not the hashtags used in generic posts (ex- #followforfollow). Thus, only the audience who follow those targeted hashtags gets to explore their posts. This step brings quality visitors to their profile who will, most likely, follow them.
Using spam hashtags on posts is very harmful as it also brings bots to your profile. Bot followers and likes are not very high-quality, and they are going to impact your profile reach in the next posts. Use highly targeted hashtags with a commendable follower base and posts on your next Instagram marketing campaign.
Bonus- 13 Creative Instagram Marketing Ideas That You Need To Learn From Meme Pages
4. Showcasing A Unique Style
When artists follow Inktober, they have to interpret the given topic of the day in their own preferred style. You can witness them taking creative inspirations from one another but would never find a copied art. The only thing that makes them stand out here is their unique approach.
Visual representation of your content is a crucial part of branding. It lets you mark your presence among the crowd. Consider it this way- you find a page that only posts South Asian arts. Now, there would be several pages that fall in the same category, but this one particularly chooses neon backgrounds, adds glasses on its characters, and adds their signature. Thus their audience can immediately spot them without any hassle!
Learn how to represent your page in a unique way. It is one of the fundamental Instagram marketing ideas that you must follow from the very beginning. Don’t make your feed look sloppy. Decide on a theme, and maintain it in the long run.
5. Creating Relatable and Shareable Content
One of the highest quality social signals on Instagram is when people share your posts- either on their stories or in DMs. While story shares get you an ample amount of views and likes from the targeted user IDs, sharing via DMs brings more page visits and followers. Inktober posts are highly alluring and worth sharing. Here is an example.
You can ask for a paid shout out on an influencer’s story as a part of your Instagram marketing campaign, but you cannot get generic shares if the content is not up to the mark. One of the best ways to get maximum shares is to create such content to which your audience can relate. Coming up with a fresh concept every single time is, indeed, tricky- but you can modify it in a way that looks appealing to the eyes.
Experimenting with the image that you are going to post is not going to help alone. You have to focus on the caption that you add as well.
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Leverage Your Instagram Marketing Game!
It’s really hard to believe that Instagram used to be the younger, immature sibling of Facebook, where people used to post pictures of their cats. The social media platform is, now, one of the biggest revenue-generating tools for a majority of online marketers out there. Utilize it in the best possible way to reach your potential audience in no time.
Was this article helpful? Are you going to try these Instagram marketing ideas in your next posts? Drop your questions/ suggestions/ queries in the comments below. I would love to hear from you!
