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Are you ready to improve your Instagram marketing?
Wondering which tools can help you?
To build a successful Instagram marketing presence, you need to have the right tools for the job.
In this article, you'll discover eight tools to create, manage, and analyze your Instagram marketing.
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#1: Content Creation
Instagram is a visual platform, so when it comes to content creation you want to make sure that you always publish high-quality images that grab people's attention. However, this can be tricky if you're not a graphic designer.
The good thing is that you don't have to be a graphic designer to understand good design, and there are some amazing services out there to help amateurs. Try one of these two tools to help you bring more spark to your design.
Typorama
If you want to build an account using motivational quotes and images, a popular and beloved approach to Instagram content, Typorama can help you do it.
A mobile app, Typorama gives you the ability to do text overlays on images. You can choose from a variety of text and font styles, along with other design options like filters and overlays so you always have a consistent theme.
Plus, you also can access the image database Pixabay, which is packed with a ton of royalty-free and attribution-free images that you can use immediately.
At the moment, Typorama is available only for Apple devices and costs $1.99 to access all of its features.
A Beautiful Mess
A Beautiful Mess is another solid mobile app that you can use to create great-looking content.
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GET THE DETAILSWhat sets A Beautiful Mess apart from other apps is that you get access to hand-drawn features and designs from its creators and it's constantly being updated. So you can give your content more of an authentic and personalized feel.
Having that extra bit of authenticity is key when it comes to marketing. Potential customers appreciate it when it feels like they're talking to a person, not a brand.
#2: Link Managers
If you're looking to create a sales funnel over Instagram, you're probably looking to drive traffic to your website or landing page.
One of Instagram's drawbacks is that it doesn't have a native tracking feature. To make up for that, try one of the following tools.
Bitly
Bitly is one of the most popular URL shorteners out there. With Bitly, you're able to shorten any distractingly long URL into a much shorter and more manageable form.
For example, with Bitly you have a built-in platform to track everything from the number of clicks you get to where in the world these clicks came from.
By analyzing this data, you can check how well your landing page is doing and whether your sales funnel is producing the results you want. After all, there's no point in producing great content for Instagram if you can't get people to click your link.
Pretty Link
If your website is hosted by WordPress, Pretty Link is a good choice. Messy links prevent people from clicking. If your URL is a jumble of numbers and letters, you're less likely to get clicks than if it were just a simple word.
With Pretty Link, you can create your own custom URL for any one of your pages and track how many hits and unique visitors you're getting.
#3: Analytics
As mentioned earlier, Instagram doesn't offer any native features to track performance. There's no way to track important data like engagement, follower count, or growth using Instagram alone.
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Without access to this type of data, you're unable to gain insight into how your content strategy is going and if you need to make any changes. With analytics, you'll be able to further refine your Instagram marketing strategy.
Luckily, there are a few third-party tools out there that can provide all the data you need.
Iconosquare
Iconosquare is the go-to web application that most marketers turn to when looking for help managing and tracking their Instagram accounts.
It allows you to track important metrics like the number of likes a post is getting, best times to post, and the number of shares your posts are getting beyond your followers.
With Iconosquare, you can even track and measure your followers. This is great if you're looking to do market research and want to see who is the most receptive to your message.
You can even measure what type of followers you're attracting and how they found you.
Currently, Iconosquare offers a seven-day free trial to access all of its features. They have two plans, with the Plus plan currently at $28.80 a year and an Elite plan at $149, to access bonus features like hashtag performance reports and rolling monthly reports.
Dash Hudson
Dash Hudson is a relatively new Instagram analytics platform, but it provides metrics that no other application can right now.
Where it differs is its ability to track and measure your followers and your return on investment on S4S, which basically means you mention another account in your feed in exchange for them doing the same.
With Dash Hudson, you can track your return on investment with the accounts you choose to do S4S with. You'll be able to find out how many followers you gain per post and measure your brand's influence based on user-generated content.
At the moment, Dash Hudson offers custom pricing and packages based on your specific Instagram needs.
#4: Content Strategy
No matter how great your content may be, it's not going far unless you have a solid strategy. Here are a few tools to help you fine-tune your Instagram content strategy.
Later
One of the more frustrating things for marketers using Instagram is the inability to schedule posts within the app. Thankfully with Later (formerly known as Latergramme), you'll be able to schedule posts weeks in advance.
With Later, you can schedule your posts at your peak times to improve your engagement and follower rate.
When posting on Instagram, it's best to post around the times your audience gets up, when they go to lunch, and just before they go to bed. Later lets you prepare posts without having to worry about constantly creating new content on the spot.
Unfortunately, Later won't post for you. Instead, you'll receive a notification that you've scheduled a post. A premium plan at $19 a month allows up to two users on one account to schedule up to 250 posts.
Grama
A key part of any good Instagram strategy is knowing exactly which hashtags to use with your post. Hashtags give your content context, and most importantly, put your content in front of your desired audience.
With Grama, a free mobile app, you'll be able to do hashtag research in no time.
By typing in a single hashtag, Grama quickly scours through Instagram to find the most popular hashtags related to your own. Using this app, you can maximize the discoverability and engagement of all of your posts.
Note: Grama is no longer available to U.S. users.
Conclusion
Like any other sales funnel approach, marketing on Instagram is a process with many moving parts. To successfully achieve the results you want, you need to have the right tools for the job. These eight tools will give you all of the help you need to create a great marketing process from start to finish.
What do you think? Can you use these eight tools to improve your marketing on Instagram? Please let us know in the comments below!
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