Is It Time to Start Marketing With Instagram for Business?

Yes, you should be using Instagram for Business in your marketing strategy!

Instagram has huge potential for almost any business! It not only helps you engage with your audience, but also allows you to interact with potential customers. So, whether you are just getting started or need to refine your existing strategy, these tips will make sure you make the most out of your account next time you post on Instagram.

Instagram Basics

Create an Instagram business account

If you’ve been using a personal account for your small business, swapping to an Instagram business profile can really help you grow your brand. You ‘ll have access to a more professional ad format and are able to see metrics and data that a personal account doesn’t have. Some of the most important data includes information about what post types and times are most successful.

If you’re already using a personal account with brand appropriate content, you just need to simply switch to business account. The transition will be seamless for your existing followers, they won’t notice unless they go to your profile page.

Make visual content for your brand

If you want to increase your followers and user engagement on Instagram, you want to figure out how to tell your brand story visually with effecting types of visual content. For specific products, this is easy. You can post photos or videos of your products, of your store (if applicable), customer reviews, etc.

If you provide services instead, you’ll need to get a lot more creative. Again, customer reviews are always a good option. Also consider ideas such as before/afters (if applicable), “in the office” style images, relatable and applicable humor, or anything that tells your story.

Using services such as Repost for Instagram, you can also share user generated content about your business. Encourage customers to tag you in posts related to your product or service so that you can repost their images.

However, you don’t need expensive cameras or other equipment! Most phone cameras are extremely high quality, so just your phone and the Instagram App will allow you to create excellent content for your business Instagram account.

7 Tips for Creating A Winning Instagram Marketing Strategy

The most important thing to know is whether your target audience that you have from the rest of your digital marketing is even on Instagram. Instagram’s audience is primarily anyone under age 35, so take that into consideration when you build your Instagram strategy. Knowing who already buys from you and finding ways to reach out to their peers should be the very core of your marketing strategy across the board.

Optimize Your Instagram Bio

Your bio should be a snapshot of what your business is all about. Use clear language to explain what you do or sell. Commonly, brands will put an email address or phone number in their bios. Instagram bios are not clickable, so avoid putting links in your bio.

Include An Appropriate Link and Tag

Now there is one clickable link space in your Instagram bio area. Most people use these for either their homepage or contact page. However, if you have a shop or want more of your Instagram posts to be linkable, services such as LinkTree or Linkinbio are great ways to offer many different links through one bio link.

Tags are essential as well.  For every post, story or reel, you can tag a brand, an affiliate or a follower by using the "@" before their name.  The account name including the @ symbol is called a handle.  Tagging allows that person or brand to be notified that you've mentioned them.  This is also a great way to interact with your target audience in the comment section below your, or anyone else's, posts.

Build Our Your Instagram Store

For anyone running an online store, Instagram’s shop feature has grown into an extremely robust platform. Your shop can show and sell products within Instagram itself. These products can all be tagged in your Instagram posts, making them one of the only ways to have a clickable image that’s not an ad. Users are able to shop directly within the app, so they don’t have to leave to purchase your products.

Be Consistent

Consistency is vital across the board with Instagram. Obviously, you want to post regularly, daily if you can. Scheduling services like Later are a great way to be able to plan your content in advance.

However, if possible, you want to be consistent in what you’re posting. If you create a lot of quote graphics, use similar fonts and colors. In your images, try to use similar shooting styles or lighting to provide consistency to the images in your Instagram feed.

Use the right hashtags

Hashtags on Instagram are extremely important for attracting new followers. Basically, pick some key words or phrases and place the pound key (#) in front of them. You want to use 4-7 relevant hashtags per post.

For example: if you are a fashion brand, you might use trending hashtags like #style, #vintage, #fashionista, #streetstyle and so on. Also, you can use a branded hashtag to encourage followers to share their posts with your brand.

Use Instagram Stories and Instagram Reels

In the past couple of years, Instagram rolled out a Stories feature very similar to SnapChat’s that gives users the option to post images and videos that expire. Each item in these stories lasts 24 hours before it disappears from the site. These stories are great for short term offers, tutorials, ‘slice of life’ type content, and interactions.

Reels are Instagram’s newest feature. A reel is a series of 15 second mini-clips that you record within the app to create a longer video. Once recorded, there are options for adding text, stickers, audio, and other effects to the videos. Reels have limitless options, though some include tutorials, ‘meet the team,’ and even just showing off your different products.

Interact With Your Followers

This is a vital part of keeping engagement up on your Instagram posts. It goes beyond liking and responding to comments, though that’s the first step. You should also follow other accounts, including those of your followers. Then you can continue to interact with them and other Instagram users on posts shared by others in your field.

Instagram Ads

While you can manage your Instagram advertising from your Instagram account, the Facebook ads manager is significantly more robust. Once you link your Facebook page to your Instagram profile, you can use Facebook to run ads on Instagram. Facebook’s ad platform even gives you access to Instagram story ads.

Make sure you provide correctly sized images and videos for your Instagram feed and story ads! It makes your brand look significantly more professional.

Using Instagram and other social media for your business can be a daunting prospect, but with just a little bit of creativity you can do extremely well!