Instagram for Business 

Imagine being able to connect and interact with one billion people about your business. As of 2018, Instagram reached the 1 billion monthly active users mark (TechCrunch, 2018). There are more than 500 million active users using the mobile photo sharing platform daily! If you haven’t tapped into this social media network yet, it’s not too late. Read on to find out about how Instagram for business can get your brand noticed. 

Why Use Instagram? 

The question should really be “Why not use Instagram?” Instagram is currently developing and evolving rapidly. Being a part of that growth is a way to help your business do the same. Once used mainly by teens and young millennials, Instagram continues to grow as one of the most popular social media platforms, and the data tells us that’s not going to change anytime soon. If your target demographic is anywhere between 20 or 30 years old, then Instagram is the place to advertise, post, share, and comment (Oberlo 2019). In fact, of all the social networks, Facebook and YouTube have more daily active users than Instagram. 
If that is not enough to convince you to hop on the Instagram bandwagon for your business, then this one just might. More than 80% of users follow business accounts on Instagram. That means that 200 million Instagrammers actively visit business profiles everyday. They click on photos, share videos, and tap into “stories” to find out what is new with your business – every single day. 

Getting Started 

If reaching your target audience through Instagram seems like it might be a good marketing strategy for your company, you can get started here. When you sign up for an Instagram account, be sure to create a business profile. Business profiles have access to tools and features that help create a business presence on the platform. Once you have signed up through Instagram, you will want to add details about your business, including your name, username, profile picture, website URL and a short biography. Be sure to include contact information so your followers can connect with you. 
Before you start posting photos, videos, or stories, you will want to come up with a calendar and strategy of what and when you will post. Is your goal to teach others about your business, highlight products, introduce services, connect with consumers or, maybe, give some insider info that viewers love? Decide what your ultimate goal is so your posts can have a direction. 
As for when to post, we suggest that you take a look at the metrics on when to post to get the highest engagement. Sprout Social offers up some pretty compelling data on when to post on Instagram. In general, these findings show that the safest time to post are Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m–3 p.m., while the peak times during the week are Wednesday at 11 a.m. and Friday between 10-11 a.m. These windows of high engagement can likely help to generate even more likes and engagement, especially for brands that just starting out.

Tips to Engage Your Followers 

One of the biggest mistakes that businesses make when adding Instagram to their arsenal of social media platforms is to treat it like Facebook or Twitter. Instagram is less wordy and more visual. Be prepared to show what you do or who is in images or videos rather than words. This means getting creative and looking at what you do from a different lens, per se. 
Get smart about hashtags to expand your reach. Instagram has always been big on hashtags, and they’ve always been an effective way to expand your reach on the platform. Now, Instagram allows for 30 hashtags per post and Instagrammers can now follow specific hashtags, meaning that they can keep tabs on relevant conversations by using hashtags alone.
In order to add to people who follow you, or at least follow your hashtags, collaborate by mentioning them with the @ sign in your posts. Take into account that not everyone is monitoring hashtags on social media, so tagging an account is usually a better choice if you want to get noticed.
Just like any other social media platform you will want to analyze your efforts. Check out the metrics often so you can see how certain posts are doing. Change your strategy according to those numbers. 
 
If you need more info on Instagram check out our workshops. The Instagram 101 workshop is on October 1, 2019, with more workshops offered all the time. 
 

Categorised in: Blog, Social Media