Instagram is home to 1 billion users and counting. With so many followers and endless Instagram marketing tips out there, it would be a cinch to turn many of them into paying customers, right? As more and more local businesses are discovering, it's a lot more challenging than it looks.

As a local business owner, you have to oversee everything from daily operations to your employees, right down to the nitty-gritty details like customer service and product improvement. It would be so easy to just pay for Instagram ads and hope for the best. A well-executed Instagram advertising strategy, however, can be incredibly rewarding for your business.

Here are some tried and true Instagram marketing tips to help you stand out in one of the world's largest marketing platforms.

Define Your Goals

If you don't know what results you want from your Instagram marketing strategy, you'll have a hard time getting there. Do you want to increase brand awareness? Would you like to prioritize gaining more leads and more traffic? Once you know what the finish line is, you'll be able to adjust your strategy as necessary.

It's best if you set measurable, specific, and attainable goals. For instance, a target can be getting 2,000 new followers in one month. This goal is easy to track and helps you see if your Instagram advertising strategy is working.

Discover your Target Audience

You can apply all the Instagram marketing tips in the world, but if you don't know who your target audience is, then it'll all be useless. No matter if your target market is soccer moms, gamers, millennials, or pet lovers, you can bet they're on Instagram. Now the next step is to find them.

Instagram offers a lot of customization options when it comes to pinpointing your audience. For example, you can upload a customer file to generate a lookalike audience. You can also target people who've interacted with your page. Once you know what your target audience looks like, it'll be easier to narrow it down later or even retarget if needed.

Prepare a Budget

The last thing you want to be stingy on is your Instagram advertising strategy. To succeed on Instagram as a business, you must be willing to set aside some of your budget for Instagram advertising. Of course, you don't want to spend more than you need— this is where your goals will help you stick to a realistic and practical monthly budget.

What should this budget include? An ideal one would integrate lead generation ads, content, boosted posts, and page like ads. Keep in mind that whatever you spend on your Instagram marketing strategy will be worth it by increasing your followers, enhancing brand loyalty, and gaining more revenue potential. You can also get Instagram views and followers to create a buzz on this platform.

Don't Slow Down

Instagram continues to grow, and it's completely changing how the marketing game is played. This channel is unavoidable for any business or company, no matter what size. Therefore, make sure to plan out an Instagram marketing strategy that has clear goals, a defined target audience, and a realistic investment.