Hundreds of millions of users use Instagram every single day to share their pictures, videos, and experiences. In this article, we’ll dig right into how you can use Instagram for your small business and demonstrate how to engage with customers there.
Think about how you use Instagram for yourself before you use it for your business.
You’re enjoying your carefully crafted feed as you browse Instagram. Your personal friends, content producers, adorable animals, and companies are all mixed.
Nobody compelled you to follow those business accounts. And you consciously decide to keep following them each time you see one of their posts or Instagram Stories.
Yet why?
Why should people keep coming back for more? That is the question you need to address for your potential consumers when using Instagram for business.
We’ve put together our best business-related Instagram tips to help you promote your business on Instagram.
#1. Identify your purpose for using Instagram for business
When using any business medium, it’s important to have goals in mind. Instagram is no different. Before spending time or money on Instagram marketing, ask “What do we want to
Common objectives for the Instagram company include:
- increase brand awareness.
- create a community;
- Display the values and culture of the firm;
- Promote your goods and services.
Make goals for yourself, and keep track of them. Think of the goals you’ve put down as a way to check your gut. You and your team have to be more careful about what you post on Instagram because you can always look back and make sure it fits with your goals.
#2. Improve your profile
Consider your profile to be your Instagram homepage if you’re using it for business.You have 150 characters, one link, and a few action buttons to get the attention of possible clients. Make sure your page stands out.
Keep in mind the first switch to an Instagram business profile… You can grow your profile, monitor the effectiveness of your material, and sell on Instagram using the additional tools that business accounts offer.
write an excellent Instagram bio. Your profile ought to contain:
- a brief explanation of your company’s activities;
- Your industry (retail and trade, business services, bars, etc.);
- a tone that reflects your brand’s personality;
- contact details, such as a phone number, email address, and so forth; and
- A link
Your bio is the only spot on the Instagram app where you can share a clickable link, making it prime real estate. You can keep a set link to your site or change it often to show the most current information. But link-in-bio tools like Buffer’s Start Page let you use the link more effectively by turning it into a list of resources.
Additionally, Instagram business profiles have access to Action Buttons, which are additional clickable buttons for particular calls to action like “Book Now,” “Contact,” “View Shop,” and others. An excellent way to increase the number of links on your profile and make it simpler for your followers to communicate with you is by using action buttons.
Finally, remember to take your grid into account. When someone views your profile, they will see a grid of your most recent posts. To ensure that your grid constantly looks appealing, avoid sharing posts that are aesthetically similar back-to-back.
Use a recognizable profile image
It’s important that people who follow your Instagram account can recognize your personal picture right away. For most businesses, this means picking one of the following options:
- Logo
- Logomark (the logo, minus any words)
- Mascot
Instead, you should think about what will help people find your brand the quickest. Instead, you should think about what will help people find your brand the quickest.
#3. Find your visual aesthetic
Instagram is a place to share pictures. But what works for one business might not work for yours. Think about how you want your company page to look, and then make design rules to make sure it stays that way.
Think about the colours you use. Some of the most popular Instagram accounts usually only use a few colors in their photos, which helps them create a unique style. For instance, Oneika Raymond prefers vivid colors with strong contrasts.
Considering the font you’re using and how it compares to the fonts on your website or other marketing materials is crucial if the text is a major component of your Instagram content.
#4. Post consistently
Having a regular posting plan makes it easier for you to show up in the news feeds of the people you want to reach. Instagram searches for content that is current and pertinent to each person’s interests to display the content they are most likely to love.
The Instagram algorithm continuously analyses each user’s activity and adjusts their timeline as necessary using machine learning. People can’t like something they don’t see, so posting often will make you more visible in users’ feeds and make it more likely that they’ll connect with you. The more they interact with your Instagram posts, the more often they’ll show up in their feed.
You can make sure that your account never goes dark when you’re busy by setting a bunch of posts at once. Scheduling also makes it easier to try out different posting times. There may be optimal times to post on Instagram, even though there isn’t a single finest moment to do it to reach the largest possible audience. Buffer lets you choose when you want your posts to go live. All you have to do is add content to your queue, and the posts will be set to go live at the next open time slot without you having to do anything else.
Then you can check back to see if posts planned for a certain time get more attention than posts set for other times.
#5. Leverage hashtags to reach new audiences
On many social media platforms, hashtags are now a consistent technique to group information into categories. Users of Instagram can use hashtags to find material and accounts to follow.
Although many people save groups on their phones to copy and paste into each post before publishing, it can be challenging to arrange, group, and save hashtags. Customers of Buffer can create and save hashtag groups straight inside the Buffer composer by using the Hashtag Manager feature.
#6. Engage with your community
If you want to use Instagram for business, you shouldn’t turn your page into a never-ending ad. Because Instagram is a social networking site, you should make more friends.
When someone takes the time to talk to you, it’s important to answer back and show that you’re listening. By responding to comments, you can build a strong group on Instagram. You can reply to comments on Instagram posts immediately within the Buffer platform thanks to its interaction capabilities; there’s no need to type long responses on a small phone screen.
Engagement questions are also a great way to encourage people to talk. Try out stickers like sliding ranks, polls, and quizzes that you can use with Instagram Stories.
Keep in mind that your group is unique, so you need to make sure that your content fits their tastes. Learn how to measure and track your Instagram interest rate so you can keep an eye on what’s working.
#7. Try out different content types
Instagram is much more than a photo-sharing app. At the moment, the site has a wide range of material types, such as:
- Video
- Reels
- Stories
- IGTV
And it’s crucial to offer a variety of content types if you want to broaden your audience and boost interaction on the site.
#8. Analyze your outcomes
Examining your Instagram analytics regularly is one of the greatest Instagram for business suggestions we can offer you. You must keep track of how your content is doing if you want to grow your following on Instagram, maintain engagement with your audience, and market your brand.
Although it’s only available on mobile, Instagram’s built-in analytics tool, Instagram Insights, is a good place to start. Also, you’ll have to open each post individually to see important stats like the number of likes, comments, shares, and saves.
Utilize Instagram to its full potential for business.
Instagram is a powerful tool that can put you in touch with millions of people who might want to buy from you. You can’t just follow a few big names to build up a business account. Use these tips to help you make a marketing plan for your business that uses Instagram. Start using Buffer today and start handling everything from plans to reports.
