Instagram has proven to be a valuable investment for marketing. To capture a new audience and engage with your existing customers, you must consider using Instagram for your business.
With over one billion Instagram users, it is one of the most prevalent social media tools at your disposal.
Why use Instagram for Business?
With about one billion monthly active users, Instagram is the most popular social network worldwide. From gathering awareness to selling products, Instagram keeps introducing tools to help business owners succeed.
Is Instagram beneficial for your business? Here are some of the reasons why small businesses should adopt Instagram-
- Give a Face to your Brand
- Serves as a Trust Signal
- You Can Reach a Lot of People
- Networking with Like-Minded People
- Boost Your Sales
- Useful for Feedback and Insights
1. Give a Face to your Brand
Your online reputation is crucial to your business, because of which, you have to be vigilant about what comes up when a customer searches for your business or brand’s name online.
An eye-catching Instagram feed can reflect your brand’s uniqueness and differentiate it from other businesses. A customer might search for your brand or business by name, or by hashtags relating to your business. In such a case, not finding you will be a bad experience and can lead them to a competitor’s page.
2. Serves as a Trust Signal
Having an Instagram account for your business – especially a verified account – will help the customer to believe that your business is reputable, authentic, genuine, and transparent.
3. You Can Reach a Lot of People
With millions of monthly users on the platform, Instagram offers businesses a large potential audience. With the help of relevant hashtags, you can reach your target audience. You can even create targeted ads to reach your potential customers.
4. Networking with Like-Minded People
With the help of an Instagram account, you can find people who share similar interests which, in turn, would expand your social network by collaborating with a brand or influencer to reach more users.
5. Boost Your Sales
With the help of Instagram, you can promote your product or services on a large scale and drive more traffic to your website.
Even if you are launching a new product you can use Instagram to provide a sneak-peek into your latest launch.
6. Useful for Feedback and Insights
Your Instagram presence can help you keep track of your mentions on forums, blogs, and other social media platforms. People are probably posting pictures of the products they buy from you and recording videos about your brand. You can utilize this feature by getting feedback on your product and using them to improve.
Considering the above points, we can identify Instagram as an undeniably powerful tool to spread brand awareness.
Here’s how you can make the most of this tool:
- Create a Business Instagram Account
- Set Goals and Objectives
- Advertise on Instagram
- Create a Content Calendar
- Enhance Your Instagram Profile
- Explore other Features
- Post consistently
- Use the Appropriate Hashtags
1. Create a Business Instagram Account
Steps to create an Instagram business profile from scratch-
- Download the Instagram app for Windows, iOS, or Android.
- Open the Instagram app, and tap on ‘Sign up.
- Enter your e-mail address. You can also log in with Facebook if you already have a business account there.
- Choose a username and password and fill in other info.
By following these steps, you can create a “personal” Instagram account that can be further converted to a business profile. Below are the steps to convert your account into a business account.
- Go to your profile and press the three bars in the upper right-hand corner.
- Tap Settings, and tap on the Switch to business profile option. You can also connect your business profile on Instagram with your business’s Facebook page. Add details about your business, including your name, username, profile picture, website URL, and a short bio.
2. Set Goals and Objectives
When using any marketing channel, it’s important to decide what goals you want to achieve by its use. The same goes for Instagram.
Common Instagram business goals are-
- Increasing brand awareness;
- Showcase company culture and values;
- Sell products and services.
Write your goals down and continuously monitor them which would encourage you and your team to create more engaging and relevant content.
3. Advertise on Instagram
Like other social platforms, Instagram also provides businesses with the option to advertise. There are three formats for advertising on Instagram:
- Photo ads: An Instagram photo ad looks similar to a post from any of the accounts you are already following but it includes a “Sponsored” notation in the corner to let people know they are looking at an advertisement.
- Video ads: These look like regular video posts, but with a Sponsored label on top which allows businesses to give users a closer look at their brand, products, and services.
- Carousel ads: Instagram carousel ads make it easy and seamless to showcase more products by using more than one image or video.
All three ad formats appear in users’ home feeds.
4. Create a Content Calendar
A well-planned Instagram content calendar ensures that you do not miss important dates and events and allows you to make creative content with enough time.
Post your content when users are online. The Instagram algorithms consider “regency” a significant ranking signal, which is why posting when people are active on Instagram is one of the best ways to increase organic reach.
With an Instagram business account, you have the option to check the most popular days and hours for your audience:
- Go to your profile and tap on Insights.
- Beside Your Audience, click on See All.
- Scroll down to Most Active Times.
5. Enhance Your Instagram Profile
1. Write a great bio
You get 150 characters with which you need to showcase your brand voice. It should include:
- A short and straight to the point description of what your company does;
- Your category (Shopping, Retail, Restaurant, etc.);
- A tone that shows off your brand’s culture Contact information (phone number, email, address, etc.); and
- Add a CTA. You can keep a static link to your homepage.
2. Add a recognizable profile photo
It’s an important aspect that people instantly recognize your profile picture when they visit your Instagram profile. Most brands use their logo as a profile picture which is a great option to aid recognition.
3. Use Story Highlights and covers
It is one of the most popular features of Instagram.
By organizing stories and highlights you can convert them into saved collections of your products, reviews, tips, frequently asked questions, etc. You can also easily interact with your users with the help of Instagram stickers for polls, questions, and sliding bars and get feedback. One such sticker says “Ask Me Anything”, which is a fun way to answer common questions.
6. Explore other Features
Instagram, started as a simple photo-sharing app, now provides everything from live broadcasts to Reels. Here’s an overview of some of the formats that are great for your business advertisement:
- Instagram Reels: Reels are short videos on Instagram, where one can express their creativity and bring their brand to life.
- IGTV: Instagram TV is a long video format that allows users to upload videos up to an hour in length.
- Instagram Live: Up to four people can broadcast live on Instagram which can be used to display your products to your followers.
- Instagram Guides: It is a great way to organize your products based on bestsellers, new releases, categories, or demographics, for your users.
7. Post consistently
It’s not enough to just post quality content every once in a while. You need to post it consistently, so your audience knows that your brand is worth following.
According to Instagram’s algorithm, posting regularly helps you show up in people’s feeds which gives them more chances to engage with you. The more constant you are with your content, the more often they’ll see it in their Instagram feed.
8. Use the Appropriate Hashtags
Using hashtags make your Instagram content easier to find. Captions on Instagram can not be searched, but hashtags can be. When someone clicks on or searches for a hashtag, they see all the connected content. You could start by adding hashtags like #instagood (used in over one billion posts), or #tbt (Throwback Thursday). If you are in an IT-related business, the hashtag #IT or #tech will be a good fit.
Conclusion:
With the help of the right marketing strategy, businesses can promote their products and services, boost their brand awareness, and increase sales on Instagram. But building up a business account and tracking your analytics isn’t as simple as it appears.
Are you starting your business completely from scratch?
Know what’s going on with your business with just a few clicks & take better decisions with ProfitBooks, an amazingly simple to use online accounting software that lets you create beautiful invoices, track expenses, and manage inventory without any accounting knowledge.
Find out how ProfitBooks can help you with your accounting needs.
Create your account for free today.
Also Read:-
- Top Financial Mistakes Small Business Owners Make
- How To Fix Marketing Problems In Your Small Business
- Email Marketing for Small Businesses
- Top 10 YouTube Channels for Business Owners
Top 12 FREE Software For Small Businesses
