You may already be on Instagram for your business but if not I would really recommend you doing so. Instagram is a great way to expand your business’s reach and engagement with your customers and it currently has over 1 billion active users.
Your Instagram account needs to be direct and targeted
Focus on one area, if you cover more than one you can always have multiple Instagram accounts. So if you make cheese but also knit hats – separate!
Have a different account for business and personal
Keep pictures of your pets, kids etc to your personal accost unless relevant to your business. Instagram Business accounts are recommended as you get access to stats and marketing tools.
Post regularly
Posting on a consistent basis is important. Work out a schedule you can keep to and that you can stoical too and also that you have something to say. 3-4 times a week is good, but just do what you can. Every day can be hard to still too and for a small business is probably too much.
When to post
Apparent best times currently to post on Instagram areMonday to Friday 9 AM -11 am. And Sunday is worst time to post. But it does depend on what you do, your audience may vary. You can use an app such as Buffer or Hootsuite to schedule posting content when you want to go live.
Use #hashtags
Use hashtags to say what the picture is about. Hashtags are a way to categorise what it is and enable others to discover it. Also people follow Hashtags or search for them so make them relevant and don’t copy and paste the same ones for each post.
Good photos get more likes!
Invest in a mobile with a good camera, or use an actual camera. Crop photos to fit if you can and edit colours if need be.
Actively engage your audience by talking to them
Engage with your followers, like and comment on their posts. Also to gain more followers feel free to comment and like their posts. They may well follow back.
Tag other accounts in photos where relevant. If a photo is relevant to a particular person or account, tag them. This also notifies them.
Improve your your bio by making it more personable and simple
Use logo or good photo for your bio which can show a more personal friendly approach, but it depends on your audience. Keep your bio short and relevant. Include a link to for website or Linking app such as Linktree for which to you can add multiple links, although the jury is out as the whether this is a good or bad thing to use.
Use URL shortener
If you want to post a long URL, then use bit.ly to make it shorter and to also track the clicks. https://bitly.com/
Use Instagram video
You can create short 15 second videos, you can also upload your own videos. Good for engagement.
Don’t buy followers
Not recommended !! You will just attract a load of spammy followers, you need to find your true audience. Its better to have the right people following you that the most.
Create and use your own hashtag
Add your own hashtag to posts e.g. #mynewcampaign and add this to your bio. This helps you find all your images and also enables other people to find them too. Also if people want to join in they can also use that hashtag too.
Schedule Instagram tweets
Best times currently to post on Instagram are Monday to Friday 9 AM and 11 am. And worst is all day Sunday. You could use an app such as Buffer or Hootsuite to schedule posting content when you want to go live.
Some ideas for content
- Telling stories
- Talking about trending topics
- Giving useful tips
- Using humour, pop-culture references, and memes
- Asking interesting questions
- Giveaways – a chance to win a reward in exchange for their engagement.
Show an Instagram Feed on Your Website
This can boost your account and is a good way of making your website show the latest content
What are Instagram stories and why do I need them
A story is a format that combines photos, videos, text, or stickers into one thing. It is live for 24 hours and it disappears if it is not downloaded or saved in archive or Highlights. They appear at the top of your instagram account and are often the first thing people look at. Its a good way of speaking your news and getting new followers as over 60% of the Instagram stories visits are from non-followers. More info here –
https://embedsocial.com/blog/instagram-stories-for-business/
Instagram Highlights
You can save any of your stories as Highlights so they stay on your profile page and you can also Give them cover images to make your brand consistent, this is a great way to advertise your services.
