Instagram is one of the most powerful platforms for marketing and communication with a massive active user base of more than 1 billion monthly active users. If you’re looking to grow your brand, you need to start Instagram for business. As this network expands its reach, more and more businesses are using it to increase brand awareness, gain potential customers, and improve ROI.
As of 2019, 4 out of 5 users follow a business on Instagram, and half of those users say they knew about a new business from the platform. In fact, 64% of Instagram users have left a business review on the platform, so it’s clear that Instagram has become a vital channel for businesses to engage with their customers and is an essential part of social media marketing.
If you’re wondering how to promote your business on Instagram, then this comprehensive post is for you. We will walk you through some ideas and tips that you need to know about Instagram business.
The first step is to create an Instagram business profile.
There are two ways to create an Instagram account for business. One is to convert your personal account to a business account. The other is to create a new business account. Let us look at both the processes in detail and the steps involved.
Convert a personal account to an Instagram business account:
Sign up for a new Instagram business account
After you have created an account it is time to shape up your account for the business. we will need a strategy for it. But before that define your target audience and set your goals.
It's important to know what type of content your customer or potential follower will engage with. In order to have a better understanding, you should review your customer profile. This can be done by looking at demographics, values, needs, challenges, shopping behaviors, and the type of content they prefer.
By understanding who your audience is, you'll be able to create more effective content that will engage them and convert them into buyers.You should also take the time to compare your marketing tactics to those of your competitors. This way, you can see what is working for them and what isn’t. Evaluating the advantages of your brand, as well as the drawbacks, is essential to define who belongs within your target audience.
To establish a successful Instagram strategy, first define what you hope to achieve on the platform. Start by defining your business objectives and then finding a way to measure the results of your campaign. Once you have a good idea of your goals, try following SMART guidelines for a proper strategy.
Specific: Define what you want to accomplish with your Instagram strategy to meet specific business objectives.
Measurable - Every goal you set should be a measurable one. You want to be able to see if you're progressing, right?
Achievable- It's also important that the goal is realistic and attainable. That way you can stay motivated and successful.
Relevant- Check yourself, is your goal personal? Does it also tie into other relevant goals?
Time-bound - Every goal needs to have a deadline that is realistic and helps you to achieve your final goal.
All businesses have different needs. You might want to increase your reach, engage with followers, convert followers into buyers, or find ways to connect with consumers on a deeper level. decide what is best for you and your business account.
When you know your goals, it becomes easier to monitor and monitor important metrics on social media. These vary from business to business, but in general, it’s helpful to focus on metrics related to the customer journey. Metrics like follower growth rate, post impressions, and accounts reached will help you stay on the customer's radar.
Engagement metrics like engagement rate (based on likes and comments) and amplification rate (based on shares) will help communicate with your customer. Conversion metrics like conversion rate, click-through rate, and bounce rate make it easier for you to lead your customers toward the desired outcome.
Paid advertising is a great way to measure your advertising performance. These metrics include cost per click and CPM for actions such as retention, repeat customer rate, etc. Online customer service is just as important as a perfect product inventory or an excellent e-commerce site. When customers run into issues, business should be there for them with kindness and support.
How do you use Instagram to publish with purpose? First, you need to understand your audience and goals. With these in mind, create a content calendar. A well-planned social media content calendar ensures you don’t miss important dates and allows you the time to produce high-quality content regularly.
Beginning with research, start by plotting out and researching important events. Followers will appreciate hearing from you regularly, so make sure to commit to a regular posting schedule.
This means looking at important events in your industry, including holiday planning, tax season, or even the latest buzz in the world of entertainment. You'll need to research these trends to figure out what to do next.
Consider developing themes or regular installments that you can build your series around. The more you plan, the more you’ll be able to produce regular content and respond to last-minute or unplanned events.
Plan to publish and schedule Instagram posts when your followers are online. With an Instagram business account, you can check the days and hours that are most popular for your audience and schedule posts accordingly. Instagram offers some really interesting features that help you do so.
You can check all this using Instagram insights, go to the Insights tab. Under Your Audience, tap See All. Scroll down to Most Active Times. Check to see for day and night to see which time stands out. Scheduling your posts is a great way of Instagram marketing strategy which helps to attract more people.
Instagram is a great resource that can be utilized for business. It’s where people go to learn more about your company and see what you have to offer. The more information you include, the better. Use Instagram to win over potential customers and make the best impression possible by giving them all the necessary information in 150 characters.
You can also include one link, and a handful of action buttons to reach your audience and convert them to customers. In this day and age, your Instagram bio is the new post.
A well-written bio can help attract potential customers and show your personality. Write a catchy bio for your company's Instagram profile. A few things to include: What your company does, what industry it is in, what personality you want to show off, contact information, and a link to the company website.
The only place on the Instagram app where you can share an organic clickable link is in your bio. this is helpful in converting followers into customers. By doing so, you can link your latest blog post, campaign, or product landing page with your prospective audience.
How can you make your Instagram profile pop?
It’s important to make your profile picture recognizable for all of your followers. Choosing the perfect Instagram photo is all about how well it conveys your brand. Do they recognize it when they visit your profile? Businesses should choose one of the following four options: Logo, Logo mark (the logo minus any words), Mascot, or None. There’s no right or wrong choice, but think about what will best represent you. Keep your profile photo looking the same across social media platforms to aid recognition.
Your profile picture shows up as 110 x 110 pixels in size, but it's stored at 320 x 320 pixels in reality, so that's the size you should aim to upload. Social media profiles typically have a circular frame, so keep that in mind too. A very popular social media platform, Instagram, when used for business, gives huge results but make sure to provide a contact number or web address on your profile page.
Include an email address, phone number, or physical address to make it easy for customers to contact you with any questions or concerns.
Want to get more customers in the door? Put an action button on your Instagram profile and build an account with one of Instagram’s partners. With the Action Buttons feature, you're able to add a button that prompts users to book or reserve an appointment.
Action buttons are a great way to get your links in front of more people and make it easier for your fans to interact with your Instagram content. Create a cohesive brand story with Instagram Stories Highlights. The idea is to organize Stories into saved collections on your profile, whether it’s recipes, tips, frequently asked questions or user-generated content. These are great for catering your Instagram page to your customer’s needs.
This way, they can find what they are looking for in 10 seconds. Use highlight covers for the extra edge to your profile. Lastly, don’t forget to consider your grid. When visitors are on your profile, they are able to see your recent posts in grid form. To have an appealing looking grid which makes up a visual aesthetic, avoid posting visually similar posts next to each other.
Having a recognizable visual identity can make a huge difference while doing business on Instagram. Using some astonishing and eye-catching themes can make wonders. Showcase your food ,if you want audience to visit your restaurant or showcase your jewelries if you want to create traffic on your Instagram profile.
Along with the products you can also showcase your special services that you serve as well as highlight your office and the people who work with you. Once you are done deciding your themes stay consistent with the visual look, make it aesthetic and recognizable so that your audience would stick to your product. Instagram content plays a great role in shaping your business. They make your Instagram posts noticeable.
Take eye catching photos:
A picture speaks thousands of words. Make your photos as interesting as possible. For this particular purpose you don't need a lot of equipment or a professional photographer. You can directly click pictures on your phone and upload them to your Instagram feed.
Some of the tips and tricks that are recommended to take best photos are shared below -
Use natural lights:
Using natural light and natural photography always gives a classy and appreciative look, it makes the shadows softer, colors richer and photos more inviting to look at. Instagram is a visual platform and getting the best photograph enhances your social media strategy.
Moreover, now-a-days people can easily recognize whether the photo is natural or not. It is obvious that people tend to watch the natural and original only.
Avoid harsh light:
Cloudy days and late afternoon times are the most suggested and appropriate hours to take photos. These are the times when you will get the proper filter which would neither be very bright nor very dark.
Use the rule of thirds:
Placing your camera with grid lines make the photo more interesting and balanced though off-center.
Try Different angles:
Try to look at your object from every angle in order to divide out the best version of your shot. You can move forward, backward or even crouch down to get the best out of your brand.
Make it simple
Make sure that your visuals should be easy and delightful to look at. Do not add more fascinating visuals or unnecessary backgrounds. This would lead to distraction and would kick out the targeted audience attention too.
Make sure there's enough contrast:
In order to make content more accessible. Try adding some contrast.
Use proper editing tools for your photos:
Though you are skilled in photography , you will certainly need a good editing tool. There are hundreds of people who create special apps for photo editing with either an affordable cost or even for free or you can simply use the Instagram editing tools if you fix it appropriate for your photos and suits your feed.
Though, editing can do wonders, try not to use a lot of editing as this would ruin your photo by losing it's naturally aesthetic look.
Even after trying the following criteria, if you are unable to get a satisfactory result, you can hire a professional photographer or certain equipment which could help you out with your work.
Write compelling captions:
Even if Instagram focuses more on pictures and videos A compelling caption can make your work easier when it comes to marketing. Sum up your story or narration with captions. Make your Instagram captions influencing. Include your own branded hashtag or any signature phase that you use for your particular product or profile in the Instagram caption. Be a consistent user of your particular phrase as it makes the search easier.
Try adding a call to action on your caption. Call to action buttons inspire people to take action. Captions most probably makes the audience empathetic and involved. Use emojis if necessary as it represents a facial expression and can make people think it in the same way.
Some more casual content for Instagram stories:
Even if a person doesn't see your profile it's very easy to get into an Instagram story advertisement. Try to make it richer in content or you can simply narrate a story related which would include a starting and ending too.
In addition to it ,you can also use your website link to your Instagram story. The stickers provided by Instagram can make much more impact. According to Facebook, over a population of 50 million people daily take a look at Instagram stories. So,make sure to build Instagram stories so as to compel your audience to get back to your profile on a daily basis.
Explore other formats:
Instagram provides a lot of features which are proven to be very enhancing to grade up the business forums. Starting right from IGTV and story posts to live sessions, Instagram provides huge features to increase business .
The types are summed up below:
Instagram carousels:
Up to 10 photos on a single post in Instagram are very engaging and audience inviting. It also allows you to showcase your product with different angles making it more preferable to use. Some of the most successful Instagram accounts for business share photos like this and gain new followers.
Instagram reels :
The substitute of TikTok is very agreeable to use nowadays. This particular feature has it's own tab on Instagram.
Apart from this, reels are short and short videos are more preferable as audiences love to engage themselves with short videos which are worth watching and time saving.
IGTV:
Instagram TV is ideal for your content series, this feature supports long videos promoting the brand more preferably. You can make the videos communicative by adding your product details or content explanations.
Instagram live:
Almost 4 people can conveniently broadcast themselves live on Instagram.
Having a face to face discussion with your engaged audience can serve you with a huge amount of advantages.
Instagram guides:
This is where you can ventilate your product, company news, how to use and more. A guide is always reliable whenever it comes to the satisfaction and enhancement of your audience.
Create inclusive content:
Make your audience feel like using the products and services because if you don't make them feel like using your products, it becomes harder for them to use it.
Avoid clichés and stereotypes and enjoy every walk of life. Give emphasis for your content to be inclusive by including alt+text images description and automatic caption.
Post consistently:
Make sure you're active daily on your Instagram business profile. If you really want a serious review from your audience and want to become successful in your initiative, don't be lazy. Once you start taking vacation from posting ,you will start losing your community soon. Plan your post every single day and be consistent on your social media.
These are some of the more recommended ways to increase your community on Instagram.
Respond to comments and mentions:
Give some time to react to your audience's appreciation and even for their taunts. Try answering them. This particular need can influence you to use bots, but try doing it manually only. This keeps your audience inspired . Appreciate the tags and mention of your community to keep them engaging. Direct messaging also establishes connection with your audience.
Use the right hashtag:
Hashtag can make you more visible on Instagram. It appears instantly if somebody searches for it. The captions are not searchable but hashtags are. Make sure to put related and famous hashtags that people are more interested in or you think that the content that you create will interest them.
You can also use your own brand hashtag as it would make your brand exclusive on Instagram.
Promote your Instagram business account on other channels:
Influence people towards your own profile. If you are active in other platforms also put them on your stories or posts or you can directly add the link to your Bio.
This particular tactic always attracts a lot of audience who doesn't follow you yet. Don't forget about print materials like business cards ,flyers and even signatures.
Add the details of your content and make their time watching it.
Collaborate with influencers:
Search the type of influencer and creators whose fans can take an immense interest in your content too. Do not judge the small brands with Limited budget, as it's much possible that even smaller Instagram influencers can have great dedication and give you great results. Most brands only search for high end influencers, but small businesses who cannot afford them can look for other options. Influencer marketing works a lot in social networks these days.
Even if they have a small audience this influencer can hold a lot of sway in their domain.
Use Instagram ads to get in front of a large targeted audience:
Instagram ad can attract a large amount of people towards your content. It ensures you can get your content in front of a wide and targeted audience. Whether it be paid ads or not they help you to reach a wide audience.
Moreover it also includes a CTA (call to action) button that allows users to directly reach to your website or store that too with a few taps.
Run an Instagram specific campaign:
To achieve your necessary goal ,campaigns often involve ads. These are not only about paid content but offer immense efforts in both your organic and paid posts.
Instagram campaign can include a number of ways some of the impact of Instagram campaign is to:
Track result with analytic tools:
When you run a business account on Instagram you are provided with an inbuilt analytic tool to measure your program for achieving your goals. Remember that Instagram insights only tracks data packs for 30 days.
There are several other analytic tools available that can track longer time frames and can also easily compare Instagram metrics across other platforms.
Use A/B testing to learn what works:
If you want to track the interest and need of your audience then the best you can do is to compare your existing content with different types. This would certainly provide you with a better strategy to increase your content's attention and audience engagement.
Here are the steps suggesting how to run A/B test on Instagram :
Experiment with new tactics and tools:
Apart from A/B testing, social media platforms always stay ahead to launch something new all time. Keep an eye on everything that gets launched for the betterment of your business strategy. Never miss an opportunity to test the effects of new formats on the platform.
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