Is It Time to Use Instagram Marketing for Your Business?

Short answer? Yes.

Instagram has huge potential for almost any business! It not only helps you engage 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 Instagram account.

Instagram Basics

Create an Instagram business account

If you’ve been using a personal business account to promote your brand, swapping over to a business account is extremely important! You get metrics and data that a personal account does not, including information about what post types and times are successful. You also have the option to do ads like a Facebook page.

If you’re already using a personal account with brand-appropriate content, you just need to simply convert it to an Instagram business account to make the transition seamless for your existing followers.

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. For specific products, this is easy. You can post images of your products, of your store (if applicable), customer testimonials, etc. If you provide services instead, you’ll need to get a lot more creative. Again, customer testimonials 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.

Create a winning Instagram strategy

Mix the audience information that you have from the rest of your digital marketing and Instagram’s primary audience (primarily anyone under age 35) to create the perfect strategy for Instagram. Knowing who already buys from you, doing some research and creating a clear value statement for your brand is an effective strategy of successful business on Instagram.

Use the right hashtags

Hashtags are extremely important for attracting new followers. Basically, pick some key words or phrases and place the pound key (#) – also called a hashtag itself now- in front of them! You want to use 4-7 hashtags per post. For example: if you are a fashion brand, you might use 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.

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!