When considering your Instagram marketing tactics, don’t forget that your primary goal with any strategy is to get more customers or clients. Failing to leverage your Instagram content for this purpose is a missed opportunity and will result in wasted time and effort.

If your ultimate objective is to get more customers, use these tips for leveraging Instagram to do just that.

Grow Your Following

Your first goal will be to grow your following. Without followers, you can’t use your account for much of anything. Reaching a certain following on your platform isn’t easy, but it can be done with the right tactics. Consider applying some of these strategies:

• Buy Followers: When you need rapid growth, buying real Instagram followers is an excellent strategy. Just be sure you purchase them from a quality organization that will use real followers rather than bots. This will prevent you from experiencing some of the horror stories you’ve probably heard about buying followers.
• Post Consistently: Instagram users follow accounts that post steady, consistent content. Otherwise, they’ll become annoyed by brands or forget them altogether—neither of which is a good option for you. Set up a schedule, trying to post at least a few times per week in order to establish yourself among the Instagram realm.
• Use Hashtags: If you want to grow your following organically, using popular hashtags will take you there. Trending hashtags make your posts searchable and it’s more likely that your posts will come up to meet the needs of your target audience.
• Host Contests: A study from Tailwind showed that brands who used contests grew their following 70 percent more than those who did not. This is also a good pre-cursor to turning your followers into customers, particularly if you’re giving away your products or offering a discount.
• Cross-Promote: Use your other social media platforms to gain more attention on your Instagram. This helps you reach a wider audience and drive more traffic to your Instagram page.

These are just a few of many strategies to generate the growth you seek on Instagram. Once you’ve hit a respectable number, turning followers into customers is easier than ever.

Engage with Your Target Audience

While you’re growing your following, engagement will be your best friend. Not only will it encourage more followers and a more loyal audience, but it will also help you find the customers that are most likely to buy.

“The followers who engage with you the most on social media are usually your most committed audience, and will be the most likely to make a purchase from you farther down the line,” reasons Julia Belkin of ThriveHive.

If you've purchased real Instagram followers, they’ll do some of the engagement for you. You should also spend at least a few minutes each day thumbing through your posts, liking and making comments as you go.

“The more you ‘like’ comments, answer questions, and follow users back, the more your followers will continue to engage with you, and the higher the Instagram algorithm will place your content on the feed,” Belkin says, underscoring the importance of high searchability in generating more customers.

Use a Call to Action

Many Instagram users forget all about the call to action in their posts because links are not quite as accessible on Instagram. Still, the CTA is an essential part of driving customers to your website and therefore generating sales.

According to Molly Marshall, blogger and marketer, there are two types of Instagram calls to action to be aware of. The first is when you encourage your followers to engage with your post. This is great for increasing your following and reminding customers why they enjoy your brand.

When it comes time to land the sale, Marshall says, you want to use the “bio link CTA,” which directs people to the link in your bio.

“Ultimately, you don’t own your Instagram audience (Instagram does!) so it is wise to move people to where you do business, your website,” Marshall says. “I do this by separating my Bio Link CTA from my main caption with a solid black line.”

This makes your CTA stand out and increases the likelihood that people will take the extra steps to find your link. Typically, this link will go to your website, hopefully a product page. You can switch up this link so that it matches whatever promotion you’re running.

Leverage Instagram Shoppable Posts

Eligible businesses can use Shoppable posts to allow consumers to make purchases from your website without leaving Instagram. It reduces the steps users have to take to buy an item they like, which will naturally increase your sales.

“When you feature your product in such a way as to exhibit the ways in which it can be used, it makes people want to have it for themselves,” explains an article from NowMarketingGroup. “And, the easier you make it for them to buy, the more likely it is they will.”

This tool is essential to a strong customer connection. Research shows that some brands have seen an increase in sales traffic of 1,416 percent, while it’s more common to see 20 percent. Either way, that’s a significant bet considering the fact that it’s a free service.

Be Likeable

Consumers connect with brands on Instagram because they find them useful, entertaining, and valuable. If you’re not likeable, you’ll not only lose your following but also fail to draw any sales whatsoever.

“Being likeable is more difficult on Instagram than it is on any other social media platform because you’re working with only one media – images,” says an article from Wishpond, underscoring the importance of photography knowledge and creativity.

Wishpond lists off several keys to being likeable, including being authentic, using filters, editing your images, and showing your products as they are in real life.

Most importantly, be yourself. “Personalizing your brand is an essential part of making your business likeable,” the article says. “Feature fun photos and videos of your employees. Give your Instagrammers a behind the scenes look at your company. Make a video of your organization doing fun stuff.”

When you’re a likeable brand and you’ve reached your target audience, getting them to engage and purchase your products is the next logical step.