Business Instagram tips and tricks

1. Set Up Your Account For Success

When setting up an Instagram account for your business, you need to do it in a way that maximizes your marketing impact. Equally important, you need to ensure that prospective customers can easily find your business online.

So, be sure to link your business’s Instagram account to your other social profiles. By adding your business’s Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, and Tik Tok accounts to your Instagram account, customers will be able to find you and keep up with your business on all platforms. Don’t forget to check your privacy setting to ensure that everyone can see and comment on your posts. After all, your account won’t be of any benefit if people can’t access it.

Same as with your other marketing strategies, your Instagram marketing campaign must be consistent with your brand. Consistency allows your audience to easily recognize your brand and engage with it. This means that you use the same logo, tone, and style that your brand uses everywhere else. And if there is something that differentiates your brand from others, don’t forget to share it. For instance, if your business only uses local products or recycled materials, this is a key aspect of your business and it should show in all aspects of your Instagram presence.

2. Invest in high-quality content

What you post will have a huge impact on the success of your Instagram marketing campaign. Instagram is a visual platform and users visit the site to see beautiful images and videos. With so many available, you will need to take the extra step to ensure that your content stands out.

Fortunately, Instagram has a user-friendly format that allows you to easily create archive-quality images at the touch of a finger. The platform has an extensive range of filters that come in handy if you want to adjust the contrast, shade your photos, or add other visual effects. With all these features at your disposal, you can’t run out of ways to customize your images. Finding what fits your brand and works with your audience might take a little bit of trial and error, so experiment as much as you can and you will soon see an increase in your Instagram likes.

Here are some important tips to keep in mind:

High-resolution photos shout quality

Vibrant colors are eye-catching

Intriguing and unusual images capture people’s attention

Short videos are a great and effective way of showcasing your products

Diversify your content – don’t just focus on promoting your brand. By also sharing content that isn’t about your brand, your account feels less commercial, which is a big source of attraction, especially for millennials. And again, your content should remain consistent with your brand. For example, if you are a children’s toy company, you can’t post adult content.

3. Make use of tags and hashtags

One of the key social aspects of Instagram is the ability to tag others in your images. When you tag a follower or another business, you not only share your content with them and their follower, but you also establish a connection.

On the other hand, hashtags let you add content notes to your photos/videos. Hashtags can be used to briefly inform your audience what the particular photo/video is about. For instance, if you are a spa or salon business, hashtags like #nailservices, #dayofbeauty, #spa, and #manipedi are right on your alley. When a user clicks on a particular hashtag, they are shown all of the posts with that particular hashtag. That is to say that by using hashtags, you ensure that your brand remains part of the conversation when it comes to topics that relate to your business.

A quick note – For your audience to make sense of the hashtags used, ensure that they actually relate to the photo or video. Posting random hashtags that have no connection whatsoever to the photo/video in question can leave you audience confused and just make the post look spammy and inauthentic.

4. Expand your reach

A big focus of your Instagram marketing strategy should be to broaden your reach and increase your brand awareness and goodwill. So, regardless of what content you choose to post, it should keep these in focus. If you notice that your content isn’t being liked or shared as you’d hoped, it’s time to review your strategy.

Engagement is another key aspect of expanding a brand’s reach. Don’t just set up an account, post content, and leave. You need someone to actively manage the account and engage with your audience. Initiate conversations and respond to users that comment on your posts. Your audience needs to see that you are an active member of the Instagram community. These are the small things that make your brand seem more authentic and relevant.

Keep in mind that there is always the option to pay for your content to be promoted on Instagram. This can prove to be a good business move depending on your budget and, of course, target audience.

5. Provide accurate and adequate information

Ultimately, your Instagram marketing campaign, if effective, should bring your small business more customers. This means that they need to know how to find you. Thus, be sure to include the full information on how to get in touch with your business. Don’t forget to add a link to your website. This is crucial since most Instagram users are more likely to click than call. You’ll also want to add a quick professional bio to ensure that customers who randomly bump into your Instagram page know exactly what your business is about and what it offers. Remember, this is a strategic place to share what makes your brand unique.

If you are having trouble coming up with what to say on your Instagram bio, we have provided a useful resource on writing an appealing bio that is sure to entice to your prospective customer.