How to promote a business on Instagram when it is blocked

In March, Meta was recognized as an extremist company and its activities in Russia were banned. This also applies to her two social networks – Instagram and Facebook. Running targeted ads on Instagram is considered extremist financing. How brands can advance on the site in such conditions, says an Internet marketer Saurabh Singla

Ways to promote

Many brands are leaving Instagram due to the lack of targeted advertising and the outflow of audience from the social network. You should not do this if you have a designed profile that brought sales. There are several reasons for this:

• you can work to retain existing customers;
• you can search for a new audience using the available and allowed promotion tools.

Advertising with bloggers

According to Nielsen’s Global Trust, 92% of consumers rely on a friend, acquaintance, colleague or person whose opinion matters to them when making a purchase. The blogger’s advertising is native, well-integrated into the content and does not irritate the audience. This tool is still effective and, most importantly, it is allowed: you pay an influencer, you do not sponsor a platform. The price of advertising depends on the number of subscribers. For a mega-influencer with a million audience, the price of stories can reach up to 1 million rubles. Most often these are stars, musicians or actors.

Small brands are better off reaching out to influencers who have between 10,000 and 50,000 followers. Most often, these are thematic or expert blogs, which are subscribed to by a more loyal audience. The price for advertising will be lower, and with some bloggers you can agree on barter.

When choosing an influencer, pay attention not only to the number of subscribers, but also analyze the audience. It makes no sense to buy advertising from a blogger from Moscow with a huge audience if you have a beauty salon in Yekaterinburg. Always ask the blogger for statistics beforehand: subscribers and activity can be cheated. You can check accounts using special programs. For example, LiveDune and Popsters .

Mutual PR

You can negotiate with another brand about mutual PR. Just choose the right blog for cooperation: niches should intersect and arouse interest among subscribers.

For example, a clothing store and a bag store. Create a profitable collaboration, post posts with collected images. This option may also be suitable for the service sector. For example, a nutritionist and fitness trainer can broadcast live with useful information for subscribers.

Gifts for feedback

In the absence of targeted advertising, you can use word of mouth: ask your customers to talk about your product. Offer a gift for a review, you can make a discount on your next purchase.

Contests

This tool helps to increase the reach and engagement of subscribers. As a gift, you can offer your product. Usually there are such conditions:

• subscription;
• a comment under the post, which also sometimes asks you to tag friends;
• repost post in stories.
  

Marathons

With the help of marathons, you can increase the activity of subscribers and draw attention to your products and services. For example, Nastya Saeva, Reels creation and promotion coach, periodically runs free marathons

This is how she warms up the audience and prepares them for the sales of her course.

Reels

Reels is a free tool to drive organic traffic. These are short videos up to 60 seconds, which are shown not only to your subscribers. Their display depends on the interests of the user, so you should not miss this promotion opportunity.

Most importantly, post videos that are relevant to your business. For example:

• the hairdresser can shoot a video before / after;
• clothing store – images for the season (winter, spring, summer, autumn);
• confectioner – the process of creating cakes.

Hashtags

Hashtags are words or phrases that are relevant to your business or post. They are often divided into:

• high-frequency – from 500 thousand publications;
• mid-frequency – from 100 thousand publications;
• low-frequency – up to 100 thousand publications.

It is better to focus not on the frequency of publications, but on the nature of the attitude to business.

• Specialized. These are hashtags that are most relevant to your activity. For example, for a hairdresser: #evening styling, #quads, #hair botox.
• Related. Hashtags that reflect not your activities, but the possible interests of the target audience. For example, for a fitness trainer: #weight loss, #diet.

Instagram allows 30 hashtags. You can determine the ones you need using Yandex Wordstat : use the queries that people use when searching for the right product.

Consider the example of a bag store. The word “bag” shows such popular requests: “buy a bag”, “women’s bags”, “men’s bag”.

Content plan

The absence of targeted advertising does not mean that all content should be purely selling, you need to know when to stop in any case. There are several types of content.

• Reputation or image. This format allows you to increase the loyalty and trust of users. This could include stories about your brand and team, creating products or services. Such content can occupy 30–35% of all publications.
• Selling. The main task is to sell a product / service. Types of publications: collections, unpackings, promotions, sales, and so on. Maximum 30% of all content.
• Informational. The goal is to show expertise and thus earn trust. Possible formats: guides, checklists, life hacks. For example, possible topics for a cosmetics store: “Top 5 hand creams”, “Selection of shampoos for curly hair.” Take them 15-20%.
• Engaging. The task is to increase the activity of subscribers, increase the number of likes, comments, reposts. Types: contests, tests. 40% of all content.
• Entertaining. The goal is to diversify the feed and content, to evoke the emotions of subscribers. It can be jokes, memes, selections of films and books. Maximum 20%.
• Custom. This content increases the trust of the audience. Formats: product reviews, questions from subscribers. Post this type of content preferably more often, at least 50% of all publications.

Keep a balance so that the audience does not feel pressure from constant sales. This is where a content plan can help. It is advisable to do it a month or two weeks in advance. This way you will save time and be able to correctly plan publications by topic.

Sales funnel

A sales funnel is an effective promotion tool. On the Ben Hunt ladder, there are 5 stages that the client goes through:

• no problem;
• search for a solution;
• comparison;
• choice;
• purchase.

This theory is useful to use before launching a sale of goods or courses. It will help you decide on the content plan and publications.

• At the stage of no problem, you can use the purchase of advertising from bloggers.
• When looking for a solution, the audience will be helped by useful content.
• Comparison. Here you can use the image: tell about your company and advantages.
• In the selection phase, show users that they should reach out to you through reviews, promotions, or special offers.

Summary

A lot of people don’t want to use a VPN. From February to September 2022, the number of followers on Instagram decreased by 76%, according to Brand Analytics. This once again proves that the brand does not need to focus on one platform of presence.

• Do not abandon an effective profile on Instagram, but try to develop other social networks as well: VKontakte, Telegram or Zen.
• Analyze your target audience and competitors.
• Explore other platforms to attract new customers and increase sales.