Does thinking about your Instagram promotions leave you breathless? What do you consider when creating them? Do you know how to organically publish images of your products?
We know the theory well, but when it comes to practice, expectations fall apart. This happens with social media. The higher the quality, the better, but sometimes we lack the necessary resources or time. Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter are the window through which many users first encounter brands. And you know what happens: first impressions count.
That’s why we want to help you. We’re going to tell you the steps to take to ensure the images you publish of your products on Instagram are professional and creative.
4 steps to promote products on Instagram
Social media is an ideal tool for brands to maximize their potential. With it, we can share content, provide value to the audience, interact, increase visibility, improve online reputation, drive more traffic to the website or blog, boost sales, increase engagement… and much more. How can we achieve this without losing our minds in the process?
Here are some tools for quickly editing your images:
- Adobe Photoshop. It works on PC and Mac. It’s the flagship program because, in addition to its countless features, it supports a wide variety of image file types (JPG, PNG, GIF, and many more).
- Pixelmator. For those who aren’t yet proficient in Photoshop, there’s no need to worry. There are other options, and tools to help you achieve the quality you need. Pixelmator works with Mac OS and allows you to correct color and adjust brightness and contrast levels.
- PhotoScape. Available for both operating systems. With it, you can easily adjust the size of your images, as well as add frames, change the color, or even create GIF animations.
But none of this would be possible without first working on the aesthetics, the visual aspect of the images you publish and share, and the style of your corporate profile on social media. Before promoting a product on Instagram, keep these 4 steps in mind:
1. Use editing tools before publishing images (whenever necessary)
They help improve and refine your images—enhancing color, increasing resolution, preventing cropped images, and adjusting them to Instagram’s square format. Remember the sizes for photos, videos, and stories:
- Profile picture. 110×110 pixels for an official Instagram photo. Recommended? 180×180 pixels. Instagram compresses the size a lot, so it’s best to increase the resolution slightly. Remember that your profile picture is the photo your followers will recognize you by.
- Photos for your posts:
SQUARE: 1080×1080 or 640×640. The maximum size of your photos cannot exceed 2048×2048 pixels.
HORIZONTAL: between 1080×566 or 400×400.
VERTICAL: 1080×1350 or 600×7489 pixels. - Videos.
SQUARE: 600×600 pixels.
HORIZONTAL: 600×315 pixels.
VERTICAL: 600×750 pixels.
Don’t forget that your Instagram videos should be between 3 and 60 seconds long.
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Instagram Stories.
For photos, 750×1334 pixels.
For videos, 750×1334 is ideal.
2. Publish professional-quality images
In addition to applying everything we’ve already told you when you want to promote products on Instagram, you can also take photos with a good-quality camera you have at your company, with a smartphone, or even hire a design or photography studio to lend a hand. And, as a bonus, save yourself the entire editing process.
3. Don’t be too promotional
Remember that your mission as a brand isn’t to overwhelm your followers with images or videos, but to be as visual as possible, without falling into the trap of being overly promotional. People love visuals, which is why Instagram is so popular. Otherwise, why do you think there are accounts with millions of followers? It has surpassed the barriers of other networks like Facebook and Twitter. “Instagram now sees 15x more engagement than Facebook and 20x more than Twitter,” Neilpatel.
4. Show ads and promotions
If you’re going to post ads, keep in mind that their sizes are the same as those used for images. Just decide if they’ll be square, horizontal, or vertical. Offers will help you increase conversions and boost engagement. (Take a look at the content you should post on your social media if you have any doubts.)
Want more Instagram followers?
Well, who wouldn’t? It’s clear that the more followers you have, the more people will see your images and the more opportunities you’ll have to keep growing. But don’t obsess over it. If you’re dedicating time to your posts and following the steps we’ve given you to improve their quality, everything will run smoothly. Even more so if you integrate your social media into a marketing strategy.
And one more thing!
To increase organic reach, you should check if your use of hashtags is the most appropriate, especially since it’s one of the most important resources for increasing your account’s visibility, and you shouldn’t overlook it.
Start by brainstorming keywords related to your industry, research which ones are already being used, and use analytics tools that can help you. Iconosquare, for example.
Create your own hashtags, use them in your posts, but don’t overdo it. Don’t fall for the myth that ‘the more hashtags, the better.’ Not at all, because not only will you be overwhelming users, but Instagram’s algorithms will penalize you. The ideal? No more than 5 per post.
Some tips for your Instagram account
We want you to take away some tips that will be incredibly helpful for improving your results when promoting products on Instagram:
- Don’t obsess over likes. What really matters is user interaction with your account.
- Make your captions so eye-catching that people have to scroll back to read them again.
- Run the occasional giveaway for your followers. Have them comment on a post on your brand’s Instagram profile, answer a quiz in your stories, or even run photo or video contests where users upload their videos and tag your company’s hashtag.
- Get creative, because there are countless options.
When are your followers most active? Research the times of day when you receive the most interaction from your followers. Analyze, analyze, and analyze some more. Data holds the key.
Create your own content publishing calendar. What’s on the agenda for today? It’s best to have your posts planned, or even scheduled, just in case. Having defined days and times for posting on your account will let users know how and when to find your new content. Be consistent. It’s best to publish one piece of content per day.
You are what you publish and share. At our design studio in Madrid, Salago, we want to share that with you.
