How to Create a Winning Instagram Marketing Strategy for Small Business in 2025

Instagram is well-known as one of the most popular social media platforms in the world. It's great for casual users to share photos of their lives, but it’s also a valuable business tool. In fact, Instagram can be one of the most effective marketing tools of modern times.

However, in order to get the best results from Instagram marketing, you need to have a solid Instagram marketing strategy. Read on through our guide to develop a winning Instagram marketing strategy for small businesses and find out how to promote on Instagram and get results in 2025.

Why choose Instagram for promoting your business?

There are lots of social media sites and platforms out there you can use for advertising and driving business growth. So, what makes Instagram such a good choice for branding and boosting sales?

Well, one of the key reasons to choose Instagram over other sites is because of its massive user base. Hundreds of millions of people use Instagram, giving you a massive potential audience to reach.

Moreover, the platform’s user-friendly interface and free entry make it a low-risk option that’s highly accessible for businesses of all sizes, including startups and small brands.

Additionally, Instagram’s visual focus makes it a perfect platform for showcasing products and enhancing brand visibility. Some of the most effective content types for this platform include photos, videos, and infographics, which are easy to create and highly engaging.

Tools to use for Instagram Marketing

There are many tools you can use to strengthen your Instagram marketing strategy and get more value out of every post. Here are a few examples:

SocialPilot

SocialPilot is an all-in-one Instagram marketing tool that includes various features to help you push your Instagram campaigns further. It includes scheduling, analytics, automatic posting, and engagement features for Instagram.

Iconosquare

Iconosquare is another popular Instagram tool. It allows you to schedule content in advance, which can be a crucial part of any winning IG strategy. It also works on other social media sites and lets you manage social media accounts more simply.

Phlanx

Phlanx is a really useful Instagram engagement calculator. It basically lets you search for any other user, including your competition, and find out more about their account, like engagement rates and average likes or comments. This can be helpful when setting your own account goals.

How to Promote Your Business on Instagram?

So, now that we’ve looked at some useful tools to help manage your Instagram account, let’s now take a look at some useful tips you can keep in mind to get the best results from your own Instagram posting strategy.

Know what you want to do 

One of the first things to start with when it comes to Instagram content strategy is laying out your goals. Think about what you actually want to achieve. Is it all about brand awareness? Do you want to make more sales? Do you have a target conversion rate in mind? Once you know what you’re aiming for, you can build a strategy that will help you get there.

Find the right people 

Instagram boasts hundreds of millions of active users, but not all of them will be interested in your products or services.

That’s why it’s crucial to focus on identifying your ideal customers or target audience for your posts. Once you've defined your audience, research their Instagram habits—discover what hashtags they follow, which brands they engage with, and how they interact on the platform.

Don't fall behind 

Instagram makes it quite easy to find and track your competition. Look for other brands that are similar to your own and check out their Instagram habits. Look at their follower count, engagement levels, and so on. See what sort of content they post and how they interact with their followers to get some ideas for your own posts.

Have a plan for what you are going to do 

A great thing about Instagram is that it's a very visual-oriented platform. This means that you can make quite a wide range of visual content – design images, create videos, compile infographics – and share it all with your subscribers. Devise a content plan that matches your brand’s voice and play around with different forms of content to see what works best at engaging your audience.

Rely on ol' reliables

One of Instagram's unique strengths is the effectiveness of platform-specific strategies. Tactics such as giveaways, contests, influencer partnerships, and collaborations have been shown to deliver great results. Don't hesitate to experiment with these techniques on your account to boost engagement and reach.

Schedule your posts 

Instagram users tend to appreciate regularity and scheduling. They like to know that they can expect a post from one of their favorite brands every day or every week at a certain time, for example. Try to set yourself a schedule and then stick to it. Remember, you can use scheduling tools to automate this and ease the burden on your team.

Optimize your profile 

A lot of Instagram business users fail to understand the importance of their profile. You only get 150 characters for your brand bio, but you have to use them well. Try to include your brand name, web address, some contact info, and even a call-to-action (CTA) to get users instantly engaged with your brand.

Include hashtags 

Hashtags are a critical part of the Instagram platform. They're used by IG users to search for the things that interest them, as well as attached to posts to get more eyes on your content. It's key to find relevant tags and put them on everything you post. Once you find tags that work, save them in a template, so you can refer to them for future posts.

Don't overlook stories 

Stories are another key feature of the Instagram platform. They allow you to share little slideshows or videos, or some of your favorite content, and each Story runs for 24 hours before disappearing. This is great for sharing news or announcements about sales, events, or product launches.

Engage with your audience 

If you want to build up a brand that people enjoy engaging with, you have to be willing to respond to feedback and get in touch with your customers. Keep track of responses to your posts and reply to some of the comments you get. Even responding to negative comments can be a good way to show that your brand isn’t afraid of criticism and wants to improve.

Invest in ads

Instagram is free to start using, but if you want your posts to be seen by as many people as possible and build up your follower account, you'll need to be willing to invest. The platform has its own advertising system you can use, with customizable budgets and ranges to help your account grow and your posts reach a bigger audience.

Make Instagram Work for You

Instagram can be one of the best marketing tools to use, and it offers so much scope for lead generation and brand awareness. This guide has offered a few tips and tools to help you refine your Instagram strategy. The more time you invest in the platform, the better you’ll understand how to leverage it for your business’s success. Start applying these insights today and build a winning Instagram marketing strategy.