9 Best tips to Grow Business with Instagram
How can you grow your business with social media platforms?
The typical answer is Facebook marketing or networking on Twitter.
With over 800 million users, Instagram has been one of the fastest growing social media platforms and one of the great social media platforms for business entrepreneurs to leverage. Instagram is a mobile photo and video sharing platform with visually strong content. The platform is relatively mature and it attracts a younger market.
With the large user base, there’s huge potential, and millions of business startups are using it to brand themselves and promote their business.
How can you use Instagram to grow your business successfully?
This article covers our best 9 tips to help you figure out ways to boost your business. Keep reading.
- Create your Instagram Strategy
You’ve probably developed plans for Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Developing plans for Instagram is no different. Given the strong visual features of Instagram, you have to consider how to communicate your business on the platform best.
To create a useful strategy, follow these steps:
Define your target audience
Consider who will see your content and who your target audience is?
To determine your target audience, look at your existing customers, research your competitors, check your followers on the other social media platforms, and create a clear value statement for your brand. Once you determine your audience, you will know what they expect, what they are interested in, and what content is helpful to their life and work.
The core of Instagram users are under the age of 35. You can check the Instagram demographics; you know your target audience – how are they using Instagram?
Set your goals
You have to create marketing goals for Instagram. Make sure your goals are measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely. Create a timeline to complete your goals strategically.
Keep an eye on your metrics
Set up metrics so you can monitor activity. Tracking should be easy to follow and align with every stage of your business.
The key metrics for your Instagram marketing should include brand awareness, engagement, conversion, and the growth of your audience.
Focus on your content
Instagram is a strong visual platform, which means you have to create content with a strong visual presence to attract your target customers. Look at other businesses in your niche to see what images they post on Instagram and how they position themselves. Make your content unique and visually appealing.
- Promote Your Profile
Make sure your profile is optimized. When you create your business account, you enter some basic info. However, there is much more you can do.
Your Bio
There are only 150 words in your Instagram bio and it’s the first thing you have to take care of. You don’t have much to work with, but you need to tell your visitors who you are, what your business is about, your values, and why the audience should care.
Use your brand voice to communicate personality, insert hashtags, and use space and line breaks to increase readability.
Your profile photo
It’s best to use your company logo as your profile photo, make it 320-pixel square. To build brand awareness, make sure your logo can be fully displayed.
Name and username
Your name and username should be your brand or company name. Keep them identical to make it easier for target audiences to find you.
Business only options
The business options should include contact info, including email address, phone number, and physical address of your business. Besides, you have to choose your business category and the call-to-action buttons.
- Don’t forget hashtags (#)
Hashtags are especially powerful to expand your reach. If you use hashtags on your posts, Instagram will organize your posts based on your tags. When people search for any of these terms, your post will show up in the search results. Using hashtags is a great way to make it easier for people to find any content related to your business. Otherwise, your post will be easily lost in the crowd. Set up your main company hashtags (#yourbrandname) to distinguish and promote your business and brand identity.
There are other types of hashtags you can use. Category hashtags will increase views. Use event hashtags to target your audiences. Create campaign hashtags to promote your marketing campaigns.
Before using hashtags, remember to insert the right keyword that is likely to bring traffic and leads to your business. Brainstorm keywords or do some research to look for trends. There are tools like Hashtagify to help figure out the most suitable hashtags. Best practice is to use between 3 to 5 hashtags per post.
- Share Great Content Regularly
Instagram is visual, so it’s imperative to have a recognizable visual identity. Create a visual aesthetic for your brand.
You might think about posting your products for promotion but this can annoy your followers. Don’t regard Instagram as a shopping destination, and avoid pushing your products too much. You can post creative product photos to show your niche.
Always promote your products with creative and professional photos, make them attention-grabbing, unique, and full of personality. Great images drive traffic to your business website and increase conversions. You can use tools such as Photoshop and Instagram editing tools to make your product pictures much more professional and appealing.
You can also create lifestyle photos that capture your brand culture. Use life-inspired backgrounds, scenes, and models to bring your products to life. Help users imagine how cool it is to use your products. For instance, if you are a running clothing business; you can post a picture of you wearing the clothes that you sell.
To increase engagement, you can offer promotions and exclusives to your followers. Give your followers an incentive to buy. Post updates and share the latest news with your followers. Use geo-tags to share your brand events, and reach more of your target customer, include your target audiences in your brand’s story.
- Partner with Influencers
Influencer marketing is one of the best ways to promote your business and instantly build your Instagram followers. Influencers will help you gain more visibility and engagement because a massive group of people trusts them.
Create a list of influencers within your niche. Reach out to them to figure out if their follower count is real. Do they have engaged followers and how much they can influence people? Contact them on Instagram, introduce yourself and seek their cooperation. You can contact them on other social media platforms such as Twitter to introduce yourself and your business idea. Offer free samples of your products or services and invite them to leave their comments. This is a great way to offer value in exchange for promotion.
- Engage Your Followers
It’s crucial for you to engage with your Instagram following. You have to schedule time to comment on and like posts as well as follow accounts in line with your target audience. These actions are great ways to engage your followers, build your brand identity, and expand your customer base.
Your comments on your followers’ posts often lead to recommendations and more traffic on your website. This is a great way to draw their attention and enlarge your customer base.
Besides, using Instagram is a great way to improve your customer service. You check your followers’ comments, complaints, and their feelings; you will have a better understanding of your business performance. You can respond to your target audiences’ ideas and gain more business insights from your customers’ perspective. Dedicate some time to respond authentically when someone mentions or tags your brand as this will help your business.
- Advertise on Instagram
If your marketing budget allows, you can try Instagram advertising to gain more visibility and engagement. If you are familiar with advertising on Facebook, it will be very easy for you to start Instagram advertising, as they share the same ad manager.
There are several ad formats available for you to use when advertising on Instagram. You can use photo ads, video ads, carousel ads, collection ads, and story ads. You can choose the best fit for your business.
Besides, Instagram ads include call-to-action buttons that encourage viewers to take actions straight from Instagram. These adverts make it super easy for audiences to reach your product’s page.
- Use Tools
There is an Instagram automation tool to help you with promoting your Instagram account quickly. You can choose your target audience, interact with these people, and boost your business.
Instagram has rules about using third-party tools. Familiarize yourself with these rules and then use the one to fit your business. Tools such as VSCO will help you improve your video and photo quality, and make it more user-friendly.
Tools may help you to grow your Instagram account as they will save you time and keep your business growing.
- Track, Analyze, and Adjust
When you start to promote your business on Instagram, it’s necessary for you to track the results of your posts, advertising, and stories. Check the results regularly, and match it to your goal. You can use the analytics tool to track your Instagram activities.
You will find the key performance indicators on the tool. Analyze your results carefully against your goal and figure out whether your posts, campaigns, and ads are working. Refine your strategy and adjust your promotional methods accordingly.
You can use the A/B test to check out the best way to promote your business on Instagram. You can create two variations based on what your research tells you. Keep the two versions the same except for the element you want to test. Track and analyze the result and choose the winning variation. This process can be repeated.
Remember to track the key performance indicator metrics, and make sure your Instagram business account is growing and performing better and better. Always keep your Instagram promotion in a sound cycle.
In a nutshell, create your Instagram account and start your promotion on Instagram with posts, ads, and campaigns. Your business will expand with more conversions and higher sales. Create high-quality photos; always engage your audience and deliver your business value. Follow the above tips and get inspired to make the most out of your Instagram marketing strategy.
BIO Info:
Sharline Shaw, the founder of a leelineSourcing.com, is an expert on Chinese export trade. With 10 years of experiences in the field of sourcing in China, she is familiar with all relevant regulations and laws about China’s exporting. She’d love to share her experience with people and has written many helpful articles.
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