15 Instagram tips for business
Instagram has over 10million users in Australia and over 1 billion worldwide. As an Australian business, can you afford to not be using Instagram to its and your businesses full potential?
Are you selling worldwide – The United States has the largest number of Instagram users 140million followed by India 120million, according to Statista.
What does your business look like on Instagram?
1. Have a business account
Don’t use a personal account for your business. Make sure you go into your settings and ensure that it is set to a business account.
Having a business account means:
- Insights about your Instagram account and followers
- You can advertise your business
- Instagram Shopping is available to you
- Your contact information is available via your profile
2. Your Instagram bio
There is not a whole lot of space with just 150 characters so you need to use the space well.
- Your user name – Included in the search results of Instagram
- Your business – Included in the search results of Instagram
- A website URL – This can just be your website or it can be changed to link to your latest articles. You can also use Linktree to add several links for your business
- Contact information
- Hashtags and other @userprofiles you may wish to share
- Add highlights from your stories
3. Consistency is key
For Instagram, you need to be posting every day at least once or even twice daily. This consistent posting keeps your Instagram feed fresh and interesting for followers old and new. Daily posts give more opportunity for your business to be seen.
Think about the times during each day that your followers are likely to be online. These are the times you need to be posting each day.
4. Have a goal
Have one or have several goals for Instagram – consider the following:
- Showing that you have an online presence
- Growing your brand’s awareness
- Selling directly via Instagram
- Generating new leads for your business
- Standing out from your competitors
- Not letting your direct competitors do more than you online
5. Share your story
Via Instagram, you have the opportunity to share with your audience via images, video and descriptions.
Along with your images and video add a great description and consider mixing up this content. Sometimes a short sentence or two and sometimes a microblog. Instagram gives you 2200 characters for your description so why not use it!
It’s not just your description you can add text to your stories and reels too. Draw your followers in with the story that is your business.
6. Use Stories
You may already know that Instagram stories remain visible for 24 hours. They are generally an instant look at your business or product and a great place to share user-generated content. They are also viewed far more than the news feed on Instagram.
- Try a video message from yourself personally
- Convey value to your followers
- Tell your followers what you want them to do
- Align your stories with your business message and aesthetic
- Tag others in your stories
- Use hashtags in your stories
- Try the endless number of stickers available to make your stories more interesting and come to life
7. Add stories to your bio
You can create highlights of your stories on your bio. Each of these highlights can have a cover that matches your brand and the album you are highlighting.
When you use this tool effectively you can create a whole new call to action for your business. Along with information, you can share products, how-to videos and so much more.
Instagram stories are great for eCommerce
If you have connected your product shop to Instagram you will have the swipe up feature within stories. Without a shop, you will need 10K followers to promote a URL or swipe up feature.
Linking your products or single product via stories give your products more chance to be purchased instantly due to the popularity of stories.
8. Who are your followers
Think about your ideal clients and what they would like to see from you on Instagram. How are you going to share your message with them both visually and with content?
- Do they want to see how to use your products?
- Do they want to be informed of your services?
- What will they benefit from most by following you?
9. Visual appeal
Your images and videos should aim to be fairly consistent. Try to create an appeal by using a colour scheme or frame for your images. Tools like Canva are great for this and I recommend the pro version as it is incredibly affordable for all the additional features and images you get to use.
Try creating a pattern with your images and check out what others are doing for inspiration. Visualise how you can showcase your brand on Instagram.
Ideas for posts include:
- Quotes or text-based images and videos
- Behind the scenes posts
- Products and services
- How to or instructional posts
- UGC or user-generated content, images and videos that you can repost of your followers
- Create videos you can add to your feed, Stories and also to Reels – Video is incredibly popular on Instagram.
- IGTV gives you long-form video options for your business and can be used in MANY different ways with the option of adding videos that are up to 60minutes in length.
10. Profile image
Generally, your Instagram Profile image is going to be your business logo. It shows as a small circle on your profile and gives an immediate indication of who you are. For brands, this gives you continuity of your colour, look and feel.
11. Hashtags are vital
While you can use up to 30 hashtags, 10-20 is generally the sweet spot. Hashtags are how people will discover your posts as hashtags are able to be searched and followed.
Do your research and use ones that are not too generic so you have less competition from the millions of others who may also use it. Make sure to add your own branded hashtag to your posts for searchability.
It can also be wise to check the ones you are planning to use to ensure they are not being used by any of the internets unique communities. Your business may not want to be associated with certain areas online.
Make sure they are:
- Specific to your business niche
- Highly relevant to your business
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12. Take the time to engage
If you want people to follow you and comment on your photos, you need to always respond. You also need to take the time to comment on other profiles.
Remember it is social media! Emphasis on social!
Make your business visible on Instagram but DO NOT SPAM and DO NOT SELF PROMOTE. Yes, seek out other accounts and comment on them in a way that is genuine and not self-promoting. Don’t ask for a follow back or for them to check out your profile, this is not genuine engagement.
If your business is tagged by someone else consider resharing via your feed or on your story. A great example of this is Heli Addiction on Instagram, they share helicopter driven content via both their feed and story.
13. Shopping is huge
Shopping on Instagram, only available with business accounts gives you an online store on Instagram. Your account will have a view shop button on your profile so followers can explore your shop without finding a specific post.
You may have noticed a shop tab. This is where people can search for new products and see products from the business they already follow.
14. Influencer partnerships
There are influencers of all shapes and sizes on Instagram. If you have ever thought about working with an influencer make sure to do your research as some are better than others. Follow an influencer you are interested in and see what they are promoting, how they are promoting and if they feel like a good match.
There are surveys that state nearly half of daily Instagram users have decided to buy because an influencer recommended a product. Could your business benefit from this type of marketing?
Don’t expect to just send your product to an influencer and receive free promotion. Influencers are running a business too. You need to find out how they charge and what they offer for that fee.
Micro-influencers are generally more affordable and tend to have a great connection to their followers with higher engagement rates.
15. Paid advertising is essential
Knowing your followers means that using paid advertising will get your business in front of more of the same types of followers. You can target your ads by location, demographic, interests and behaviours. Or you can just take a scattered approach to try and broaden your following.
Long gone are the days when you did not need to advertise on social media. It should be used in conjunction with your daily organic posts to continually grow your business online.
Conclusion
Instagram is a great way to market your business and these 15 Instagram tips for business are just the start of what can be achieved via this social channel. Start engaging with Instagram and see what you and your business can achieve.
If you need help with Instagram or any other social media channels contact Kelly @ My Sassy Business
With all types of digital marketing, My Sassy Business is here to help you grow your business.
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