Instagram can be a highly effective addition to your business. As a marketing tool, it’s great for driving engagement, increasing sales, boosting brand recognition, and much more.
But looking beyond all the fuss, how do you know if it’s actually worth it for your business?
Read on to discover how you can measure your Instagram marketing ROI and determine if it’s worth your money in 2019.
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It has historically been difficult to measure the ROI of social media in general, and Instagram is no exception. However, it is possible to get a good idea of how successful your Instagram marketing actually is by comparing the initial costs against your SMART objectives.
The initial costs of Instagram marketing are relatively simple, in their most basic terms:
While the costs of an Instagram marketing campaign are fairly easy to track, monitoring the outcomes are a little less straightforward. With most social platforms, results are viewed in terms of likes, shares, and comments — rarely as actual sales.
And while Instagram’s Shoppable posts make it easy for you to track, it’s less easy to monitor sales from outside the platform but informed by your Instagram marketing.
However, using SMART goals can help you evaluate your Instagram ROI with a firm footing. These goals are:
Setting SMART objectives as outlined above gives you a strong idea of how successful your Instagram marketing actually is overall.
Let’s break down your SMART objectives in terms of Instagram and establish how you can measure your Instagram marketing ROI.
Before you do anything else, you should establish exactly what goal it is you want to achieve. Without this, you won’t know the steps you need to take to achieve it.
The goals you might be working towards include:
Of course, these are just a few potential goals you might choose to work towards. There is no right or wrong goal — just choose the one that best serves your business needs.
Once you’ve established your goal, how will you measure this? This is largely tied to your specific goal, and it might be easier for some goals than others.
For example, if you want to get more followers, there’s really only one way to measure that. If your follower count increases, then you’ve nailed it.
But let’s say you want to see increased sales. In this instance, you’ll need to determine where the sales will come from (in-app or through your online store), if you want to see sales for a certain product or across the board, and so on.
Instagram Insights is a useful tool to use here. This built-in analytics function provides valuable metrics on how your posts are performing, your follower count, who is engaging with your content, and so on.
This step is essential: what do you need to actually achieve your Instagram marketing goal? Be thorough and plan in detail, as it is at this stage, you might see your costs increase.
Depending on the tools and resources you use and the goals you’ve set, you might need to invest extra capital into tech or team members to make it happen. For instance, depending on the campaign you’re launching, you might need one or a few of the below:
Plan ahead of time to identify any potential costs you might need. Don’t let any unexpected surprises arise that might scupper your plans and decrease your ROI.
Picture Courtesy: The Challenges of Measuring Social Media ROI
Your Instagram marketing is just one cog in your business, and it leans on and supports any number of other channels. As such, it’s important to remember that the goal you choose for your Instagram marketing should align with your wider business goals.
For example, are you currently preparing to expand your business? If so, you’ll need to generate regular revenue to support you through this growth. As a result, your Instagram goal should be increased but sustained sales over a given period.
Alternatively, if you want to transform yourself into a recognized brand, you’ll want to boost brand awareness. This would require you to grow your Instagram account and generate social mentions, which in turn would require an Instagram UGC campaign to drive it.
Last but certainly not least, you should set a time limit for your Instagram marketing. Without one, you won’t know when to measure the success of your Instagram marketing. A month might be too short, and a year might be too long.
As ever, this will tie back in with the goals of both your Instagram and overall business goals. If you have a certain deadline for your overall business goal, then the deadline for your Instagram goal should fall before that, giving you enough time to assess your situation going forward.
Instagram is a useful cog in your marketing machine, but it doesn’t work for everyone. Follow the tips above and use SMART goals to assess Instagram’s efficacy for your business and find out if you can make it work for you in 2019.
This blog post has been well crafted and contributed by Kayleigh Alexandra of MicroStartups.