Marketing strategies have evolved over the years. We’re long past the billboards and paper flyers. Today, advertisements and marketing can be done through technology. It’s not uncommon to see advertisements on our social media feeds, especially if social media platforms are part of our lives.
Instagram is a good example of a successful social media platform and the perfect place to market brands, businesses, products, and services. This photo-sharing platform boasts a large userbase and has become popular among established brands as a way to connect with consumers and potential customers.
There are various ways brands can advertise or market their products on Instagram. They can use paid advertising or do it through content marketing. Since Instagram has a lot of unique features, marketers can be creative with their marketing strategies.
What’s an Instagram Takeover?
One way marketers can advertise and promote brands is through a cross-promotion technique called Instagram Takeovers. The name is pretty self-explanatory and usually entails influencers taking over a brand or another influencer’s Instagram account.
The essence of an Instagram Takeover is allowing influencers or content creators to share their perspectives with a brand’s audience. This isn’t just limited to Instagram and can be done on several other platforms.
Benefits of Cross Promotion
Cross-promoting can bring a lot of benefits to a business. They help expand a brand’s reach, build reputations, and are considered cost-effective. Cross-promotional activities such as Instagram takeovers can help expand a brand’s reach by tapping into a different audience.
By promoting your brand through an influencer, content creator, or even other brands, you can build a solid reputation and increase credibility. Lastly, cross-promotion is considered cost-effective because you won’t need to pay high agency fees. By simply having a strong business relationship with other brands or content creators, you can perform cross-promotional marketing.
How to Have a Flawless Instagram Takeover
Now that you know what an Instagram takeover is and how it can benefit a brand, we’re going to list the essential steps you need to take to ensure that your takeover is successful. Read on to find out how you can have a flawless Instagram takeover.
Identify your goals
The first step you need to take is to identify your goals. You need to know why you’re doing an Instagram takeover because your goals will affect the strategies that need to be implemented. Also, having clear goals will help you map out your takeover and ensure that it goes according to plan.
Before you start thinking about your takeover plan, think about what you would like to achieve with the takeover. Some brands opt for an Instagram takeover because they want to grow their audience, increase brand awareness, promote a new product or service, or boost engagement. Instagram takeovers are also great for freshening up your account and bringing traffic to your website.
Find your partner
Once you have your goals, it’s time to find a takeover partner. When selecting someone to do a takeover for your brand, you want to find someone who fits your vision and what your brand stands for. You need to make sure that the person understands your product or service and that they fit with your audience’s demographic.
A good benchmark when looking for takeover partners is finding someone whose content you enjoy. The last thing you want is someone who you don’t like representing your brand. Lastly, don’t settle with someone who only has a lot of followers. An influencer’s follower count may seem important but it doesn’t mean that they might be good for your brand. A key metric to look at would be engagement.
Choose a format
Instagram has a variety of formats for you to choose from. You can post on your Stories, Feed, collaborate with another user, or even live stream with the Instagram Live feature. Hosting a takeover through Instagram Stories is ideal for giving your followers a real-life experience of what your brand is all about. It’s also perfect for doing fun experiments and raw content.
Posting on the main feed of Instagram is perfect for permanent content. So, if you want the takeover to be memorable, guest content on the feed might be your best option. You can post both videos and photos to your feed, so there’s more variety. You can also use the collab tool on Instagram so two accounts are posting the same image. This is a great way to solidify the takeover with the influencer or partner you are working with. It also ensures that their audience will see your post as well.
Lastly, Instagram Live is perfect if you’re willing to take a risk. Since the whole event will be live, there will be a lot of room for error. Although this might seem scary, it’s what makes the whole experience fun. To make sure that it doesn’t go south, just plan your takeover thoroughly.
Decide if it’s a partial or full takeover
Before you hand over your account to your takeover partner, you need to outline the details. For instance, you need to clarify how long they will be taking over your account, what kind of content you are expecting, and what the costs are.
Clearing these things up early on will make the takeover much more seamless and you won’t have to worry about missing any important details. So, before you reach out to influencers or content creators, make sure to outline your expectations and requirements. Also, ask for rate cards and media kits so you can make comparisons before making any final decisions.
Map out the takeover
When you already have a takeover partner, now is the time to map out the actual takeover. It’s important to do this step with the content creator or influencer to ensure a seamless transition. You want to avoid any miscommunications and make sure that your expectations are met.
During this step, inform your takeover partner what goals you would like to achieve, what type of content you expect to see from them, and the process of handing over the account to them. You should also review and discuss the outline of the takeover before doing it.
Promote your takeover
Before your partner starts posting on your account, you want to make sure that you have an audience to witness the takeover and that no one misses it. Like how you would promote an actual event, you should also promote an Instagram takeover.
Share a few posts and stories to remind your followers that a takeover will be happening. You can also ask your takeover partner to do the same thing so their followers can tune in as well. Another thing you can do is invest in some paid ads to promote your Instagram takeover.
Keep in mind that you should promote it in the time leading up to the takeover. Promoting it far from the actual date might backfire since people might not remember. Promoting it too close to the takeover might not get you enough people.
Final Words
Instagram takeovers are unique marketing tactics that every marketer should try at least once. Takeovers allow brands to reach new audiences, expand their reach, and build credibility. It’s also an excellent way to work with influencers and content creators. Other than that, takeovers can do wonders for your engagement and reach.
So, if you’re looking to increase your traffic and engagement, an Instagram takeover might be the answer to your marketing woes. With these six steps, you’ll be well on your way to a successful Instagram campaign.
