It’s no surprise that Instagram has become one of the most popular social media sites. It is now more popular than Twitter! This article will help you use your business account on Instagram to generate more followers and increase sales. We’ll discuss how to make sure your account is set up correctly, what kind of content you should post, and some strategies for building an engaged following. So without further ado – let’s get started! Find out what your business needs to succeed on Instagram in today’s ever-evolving digital marketing landscape.
Setting Up Your Instagram Account Correctly
First, let’s make sure you’ve set up your Instagram account correctly. When you first set up your account, username and bio are pretty much the only things that have to be filled out, but we recommend filling out your profile in its entirety. Enter a username related to your business or brand name in the username box (e.g., @yourbusinessname). Then type something about what your page is for. This space is an excellent place to put some keywords in to help users understand your purpose.
Next, make sure your username and bio link to the correct websites. Fill out the URL for your website in the username box if you want users to be able to go right from their Instagram page back to yours. If not, fill out a link where people can find more information about your business or brand on other social media sites. We highly recommend using your website or a link in bio software, as you’ll read about later in the blog.
Now, let’s post a few images to get your account up and running.
The best time to post on Instagram is when your audience is most active. For example, if you run a restaurant and most of your customers are adults, it might be wise to avoid posting at breakfast or lunch hours. Instead, post from around dinner time until closing time so you’ll have more engagement, and more users will be reached by your post.
Now that we’ve chosenĀ an excellent time to postĀ let’s choose an image that is high quality and will appeal to your audience. Next, make any edits to the picture using third-party editing software or Instagram’s built-in editing tool.
Then, add your chosen hashtags to the image. You can do this in various ways, such as adding text with an app like Phonto or typing out the hashtag name using Instagram’s built-in keyboard. You can only post 30 hashtags per post and make sure they are varied between popular high-use hashtags and smaller niche hashtags.
What Kind of Content Should You PostĀ So Your Business Can Be SuccessfulĀ on Instagram?
You may be asking yourself, “What kind of content should I post on Instagram?” This is a question that cannot be answered with one answer. Each business needs to analyze what their customers are looking for and then create the most engaging content possible based on that information.
There is no blanket lifestyle or aesthetic that will work best across all businesses in today’s social media landscape.
Here are a few suggestions that may be relevant for your business.
- lifestyle photos or videos
- high-quality images or videos from your brand’s products or services being performed in action
- behind the scenes of how a product is made or a service is conducted
A lifestyle photo or video is generally what most individuals look for in their feed. So this would be an excellent place to start if you want to hook people with visually striking content. It can take some time to create an engaging lifestyle photo that will generate likes from your followers, and business owners often struggle to understand the meaning of a lifestyle photo.
When creating lifestyle photos or videos, it is vital to keep in mind what the individuals viewing your content want to see and how they want to feel from seeing that content. A lifestyle photo should show an experience where others can imagine themselves living if they choose this lifestyle. For instance, when posting about travel destinations, you’d take an image of someone laughing with their friends while throwing coins in the Trevi Fountain in Rome.
How to Build an Engaged FollowingĀ So Your Business Can Be SuccessfulĀ on Instagram
As a business, it can be difficult to find success on Instagram because you need an engaged following. To build your engagement, there are four steps:
Step 1:Ā Audit competitors in your space, killing it on Instagram with lots of likes and comments on their posts. How can you tailor your page uniquely to do the same?
Step 2:Ā Follow those people you’re trying to emulate. This will help build your following and provide a sense of community for potential followers.
Step 3:Ā Comment on posts from influencers in the space with an audience similar to yours or higher. These comments should be genuine, not just spammy links with hashtags or one-liners like ‘Nice!’
Step 4:Ā Post consistently, with a mix of quality photos and videos.
Ideas to Increase Engagement So Your Business Can Be Successful on Instagram
If you’re struggling with low engagement on Instagram, there are some simple fixes you can try.
- Run a Contest. Running a contest is a great way to increase engagement on Instagram. It can be as simple as asking people to share your latest post or giving away something special like a free product sample.
- Include Hashtags in Your Posts Some of the most popular hashtags are trending acronyms like #tbt and #ootd. Find out which ones your customers use, then include them in posts with pictures that relate.
- Encourage Feedback. When you ask your customers to leave feedback, it gives them a chance to respond and feel like they are being heard. It also lets you know what’s working for them so that you can tailor future posts accordingly
- Post pictures with captions in your best copywriting voice. If the picture doesn’t say it all, let your words paint the picture you’re trying to convey.
Be Authentic
In conclusion, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution for running a successful Instagram account, but what you should take away from this blog post is that it comes down to authenticity. Post consistently and authentically, engage with your followers on the app, ask them questions about themselves or their interests in comments and captions of posts, try new things, and have fun! If you would like some help managing your company’s social media accounts and creating engaging content, we would love to help you. Call us today for a free marketing consultation where we will look at where you stand right now and how you could improve in the future!
Bonus Tip:Ā To increase the number of pages, articles, blogs, etc., you can link to in your bio, consider a link in bio software like the ones offered by Later and LinkTree. These allow you to create a landing page of links in your bio to take users to the destinations mentioned in each post quicker and more efficiently since you cannot have links in your captions.
