Do you get a kick out of using Instagram?
If this is the case, here’s the path to your professional success: become an effective Instagram manager!
Each social media network is massively influential these days for all things, ranging from boosting conversions to expanding reach and building brand awareness to promote products and services.
However, Instagram is growing in leaps and bounds, and it’s no longer only a picture-sharing app where people show off their lifestyle.
It’s turned into a platform that businesses use for digital marketing.
Source: Twitter
Considering the lucrative and competitive Instagram landscape, opting for an Instagram manager’s role either as a full-time job or as a part-time or a freelancing gig can be the best decision of your professional life.
Whether you are a newbie in the Instagram world or trying for some time but failed to yield results, we will explore the best tips and tricks you can use to get into the Instagram game!
Let’s start with understanding the fundamentals:
What’s An Instagram Manager?
An Instagram manager is basically a social media manager who has expertise in managing and growing clients’ Instagram accounts.
Instagram managers create content, schedule it, and monitor the Instagram accounts of clients. They manage collaborations with other brands as well.
Besides, Instagram managers develop and implement various Instagram marketing campaigns for clients. These include collecting and analyzing the results of campaigns, identifying loopholes to fix, and handing over the progress reports to clients, and helping them refine campaigns.
Let’s see in detail what are the significant tasks of an Instagram manager:
7 Crucial Tasks an Instagram Manager Needs to Handle
There are a wide variety of tasks that an Instagram manager needs to handle but let’s explore the most crucial ones:
1. Do Audience Research
One of the major tasks for an Instagram manager is to do thorough audience research for their clients’ industry to understand their target audience and gain insights into the audiences’ preferences, interests, inhibitions, pain points, etc.
The audience research is significant for crafting an effective Instagram marketing game plan for clients.
Source: Hootsuite
Besides, understanding what motivates the clients’ Instagram audience with actionable knowledge of their target audience is crucial. It helps the Instagram managers produce the correct type of content and share posts that drive maximum engagement.
2. Set up Instagram Accounts
An Instagram manager must know how to set up Instagram business accounts properly and learn to handle multiple Instagram accounts.
It helps them seamlessly switch between various Instagram accounts of their clients and precisely control each one of them.
Having expertise in setting-up Instagram accounts and managing all the settings and features gives Instagram managers an upper hand and makes them better than amateurs.
3. Publish Different Types Of Posts Including Instagram Stories
Crafting engaging posts and captions to attract the clients’ right leads is a crucial task of an Instagram manager.
Creating engaging Instagram images, videos and captions isn’t a piece of cake but not impossible!
For becoming a successful Instagram account manager, it’s crucial to understand how to keep all your Instagram content and visuals aligned with the personality of the clients’ business. It’s also important to adhere to Instagram’s algorithm.
Your copy should be capable of interacting with the target audience and drive them to act according to the call-to-action buttons (CTAs) for turning those casual swipers into paying loyal customers.
4. Be On The Lookout For New Post Ideas & Hashtags
Instagram is a dynamic and evolving social media platform as new trends keep coming over the horizon every new day!
So, Instagram managers must be on a constant hunt for fresh content ideas and hashtags that are trending on Instagram so they can keep ahead of the curve and draw audiences’ attention.
As an effective Instagram manager, you should never keep your clients’ Instagram profiles dull or outdated.
Keep looking for new content ideas by exploring what the competitors are up to and post out-of-the-box content for growing the Instagram profile for your clients.
5. Handle Instagram Ads
There are plenty of organic opportunities on Instagram for businesses of all shapes and sizes to attract their target audiences.
However, as the platform is becoming more crowded, standing out among so many competitors is becoming daunting for most businesses. Therefore, Instagram ads are becoming more popular these days.
Instagram ads are stories or posts that a business pays to promote its offerings.
A powerful Instagram manager must know how to handle Instagram ads for their clients to help them reach out to specific audience segments, nurture them, build relationships, and turn them into customers.
Source: Kristi Hines
Along with a massive reach, the knowledge of handling Instagram ads will let Instagram managers build brand awareness, drive traffic, garner maximum engagement, generate leads, etc., for their clients.
6. Help With Instagram Growth
One of the primary reasons businesses maintain an Instagram presence is to grow their organic follower base, and an Instagram manager plays a significant role in doing this.
From posting engaging content at the best times to sharing exciting stories, cross-posting, and from running live videos to leveraging user-generated content and hosting various contests, an effective Instagram manager must know how to do it all!
Here’s an example of a successful Instagram contest for some inspiration:
Source: Buffer
Besides, for an Instagram manager, it’s crucial to know how to leverage Instagram Insights that provides the data for gaining an idea of which of your Instagram posts are the most liked by the followers and which ones couldn’t perform so well. These metrics are essential for organic growth.
Based on these insights, it becomes easier for the managers to develop refined content for clients.
7. Work With Influencers
Influencer marketing is one of the best promotional techniques on Instagram, where brands collaborate with influencers for promoting their products and services.
An Instagram manager must have expertise in partnering with influencers for advertising the offerings for their clients. Posts from influencers promoting products are popularly known as Instagram shoutouts.
Source: HopperHq
They must maintain a robust network on Instagram and keep an eye on the influencers who can benefit any of their clients.
7 Ways To Get Started With Instagram Management
Being a social media buff, scrolling through the Instagram feed every morning just after waking up could be your favorite task.
However, nailing Instagram as an effective manager isn’t a piece of cake.
So, we have compiled the seven best ways to help you get started with seamless Instagram management.
Let’s look at them one by one:
1. Take A Course
Whether it’s about boosting your clients’ conversions through Instagram marketing or becoming an influencer yourself, achieving organic Instagram growth is becoming even more tedious day by day!
Taking an online Instagram marketing course can help you make the most out of your Instagram marketing strategy, grab more real followers, and learn anything about the platform.
Plus, these courses are less intense, convenient and let you spot fresh perspectives and ideas from all across the world that you can implement on your clients’ Instagram profiles.
You can find various useful Instagram marketing online courses on esteemed platforms like Udemy, Alex Tooby, and Skillshare to easily acquire all the skills needed to become a successful Instagram manager.
2. Read Blog Posts And Books
Learning through reading can never go out of fashion.
If you want to become an effective Instagram manager, make a habit of reading relevant books and blogs everyday.
It will not only help you stay on top of the new trends and happenings on Instagram but also equip you with in-depth knowledge of the platform.
With the help of books and blogs from expert Instagram marketers, you can quickly learn the trade secrets of getting started with the platform.
You can also leverage the proven tricks and strategies on your clients’ Instagram accounts to analyze what’s working and what’s not!
3. Work With A Successful Social Media Manager
Similar to reading relevant books and blogs regularly, it’s beneficial if you collaborate with an experienced social media manager who can guide you on the right path.
Professional social media managers have all the expertise from which you can learn how to manage Instagram effectively and yield results for your clients.
Source: Just Digital
Moreover, a social media manager can tell you his/her real-life experiences, achievements, and failures from which you gain the proper knowledge essential for being successful on Instagram.
You might also want to work with experts such as copywriters and content creation specialists as their advice can give you an edge.
4. Get Better At Creating Visuals
Instagram is a visuals-driven platform, and for being an effective Instagram manager, you must get better at creating appealing visuals.
Your clients would want their Instagram pages to visually communicate their brand as soon as anyone lands on their page!
So, you must learn how to maintain a consistent look and feel for all your clients’ Instagram profiles for optimizing brand recall.
There are plenty of visual designing tools like Canva that you can leverage to get better at creating highly engaging visuals for Instagram.
Plus, you can collaborate with graphic designers on the platform and take some inspiration.
5. Practice On An Instagram Profile
There’s no denying the fact that practice makes you perfect, and this applies to Instagram management as well.
If you want to excel as an Instagram manager, you must practice on an Instagram profile.
Post content regularly and share visuals and learn how to manage the account properly, so you don’t fail while doing the same for your clients.
6. Get A Social Media Management Tool
Getting a social media management tool is one of the crucial investments you need to make if you want to become an effective Instagram manager.
A relevant social media management tool will help you manage multiple Instagram profiles seamlessly. You can also schedule the content, develop and maintain relationships with influencers, monitor engagement, and analyze the performance of various Instagram profiles.
Source: CoSchedule
Moreover, with the help of analytics, you can provide a detailed report of the performance of Instagram profiles to your clients, and based on their feedback, you can refine your strategies.
Try to get a tool that lets you post to multiple social media channels as you will be easily able to expand your offerings later. Otherwise, you will need to find new software that lets you connect to other social media accounts.
7. Look For Clients Or Get A Job
Now, you are almost ready to hit the Instagram battleground and get your name out there.
So, start looking for clients or a job by telling your family, friends, and peers.
Plus, you should share your new skills and services on all social networks so more people can learn about them.
Start exploring job portals like Upwork and Indeed and respond to relevant job vacancies.
Also, make sure to update your LinkedIn profile with newly acquired skills and the most crucial task: keep your Instagram profile optimized for grabbing potential clients. Many small business owners will judge you based on your Instagram account. Having more Instagram followers will help too.
Are You Ready to Become an Instagram Manager?
Becoming an influential Instagram manager can be a tough job, but the struggle is worth it compared to the perks it offers.
The best aspect of becoming an Instagram marketer is that there’s no need for you to report to an office every day as this is a remote job.
You can earn while you travel the world, and location would never come in between your work.
So, be ready to kickstart your journey of becoming an effective Instagram manager by using the proven tips provided in the article!
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