With over a billion users, Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms available today. Instagram business is a great tool for any type of business to gather insights and attract new audiences for your product and services. Instagram keeps rolling out new tools for businesses and with the right marketing strategy can be a solid investment. This is a cheaper medium than traditional forms of paid advertising and an effective way to find the right target audience for your enterprise.
Here’s how to set up a business account, create content and use Instagram to boost your business.
How To Create A Business Account On Instagram
Creating an Instagram business profile is extremely simple and easy. In order to create an Instagram business account, you must first create a personal Instagram account and then switch it to a business profile. To create a profile, either download the app on your phone or go to instagram.com and sign up for a new account.
Once you sign up or if you already have an Instagram account, follow the steps below to switch to the business profile.
- Go to your profile on the app
- Tap “Settings” from the menu bar
- Select “Account” under the tab
- Choose “Switch to Business Account” and fill in the required details.
You can also link the Facebook page of your business to your Instagram. After you create an Instagram business account, one should know the basic terms of Instagram and how to use the app.
Instagram Terminologies That Are Commonly Used
Bio: This refers to the section in your profile where you can provide details about your business. Information like location and the website can be added. You can also include a call to action to direct visitors to your product/services.
Direct Messages (DM): You can communicate with other Instagram users privately through this feature. Any customer complaints, feedback or further product enquiry can be handled through DMs. This is often how brands connect with each other for collaboration opportunities and marketing engagements.
Filters: Instagram is a visual medium. To make your images appealing, you can use a preset filter to enhance your images and make them more appealing to the audience.
Hashtag: Hashtags denoted by the ‘#’ symbol is a method of indexing words or phrases; it was first seen on Twitter. Hashtags are essentially Instagram’s sorting process. By clicking on a hashtag, one can see all the posts using the same hashtag. They help you reach a target audience, and more importantly, they help your target audience find you. One way on how to promote your business on Instagram is by using the right hashtags on your posts.
Highlights: Instagram stories disappear after 24 hours. By saving your stories as highlights on your business profile, they can be viewed at any time until you remove it.
Instagram Handles & Tagging: Your Instagram handle is your username on Instagram and begins with a ‘@’ symbol. You can tag other users in your posts and stories, and do so by mentioning their handles.
The Different Types Of Instagram Posts
Instagram allows you to post different types of content and you can choose the appropriate ones to boost engagement.
1. Images
This is the most common type of post which either involves a single image or multiple (carousel of) images. You can add captions to describe and engage with your followers. Users and customers love to get a sneak peek into your business, including images that show how your products or services are made.
2. Stories
Instagram Stories allow your brand to post at a higher frequency without overposting and spamming your followers’ feed; they disappear after 24 hours. Stories usually feature less-polished, more organic images and videos and you can use different filters to edit them. Businesses can use Instagram Stories in their marketing to improve their engagement, visibility, and content through behind-the-scenes footage, testimonials, quizzes, polls and listicles.
3. Videos & IGTV
Instagram also lets you upload videos, with or without sound, upto 1 minute in length. You can add captions and edit them using professional tools too. If you want to post a video longer than 1 minute and upto 10 minutes, you can use IGTV, which even comes as a standalone app. IGTV can be an incredible channel to showcase products, DIYs, tutorials; the kind of content that really resonates with audiences and can help build long-term relationships!
4. Instagram Live
Instagram also gives creators an option to live-stream their content. Once you start the live video, any followers currently on the app will receive a notification that you’re live and they can view, or engage through comments with your video. Live video should be used to showcase exciting, real-time content or engaging moments like Q&As or reveals. Going live on Instagram is one of the best ways to connect with your followers in a direct, transparent, and authentic way.
5. Reels
This is Instagram’s latest offering and allows users to make 15-second clips and stories with preset music available. It’s a fun and engaging way to share snippets and creatives with your audience. Even in its early stages, Instagram Reels is proving to be a space where both brands and creators can make waves.
How To Promote Your Business On Instagram?
Now that we understand the terminology of Instagram, let’s delve into how to use Instagram for business.
1. Make Engaging Content
Whether it’s photos or videos, make content that is engaging and useful for your customers. Make sure your images are properly edited, use filters and write a caption that enables participation. You can show different types of content like behind-the-scenes footage, user-generated content, and even educational posts to bring variety to your grid.
2. Interact With The Audience
Interacting with your audience can go a long way in increasing brand reputation and is key to how to use Instagram for business in the right way. Like and comment on other users’ posts and reply to them when they comment on your posts. Tag or mention users, so that they further interact with your page, or repost their posts to encourage visibility if they’re talking about your products.
3. Use Hashtags
As mentioned above, using relevant hashtags increases the visibility of your posts to the relevant audience. You can even create a custom hashtag that can become associated with your brand. Using hashtags makes your posts appear on the Explore section of the app, thereby increasing your reach to newer audiences.
4. Do Paid Advertising
One method on how to promote business on Instagram is through paid advertising. Ads on Instagram are run through Facebook ad manager. Based on your marketing objective, you can customise the audience that you want to target, length of the ad campaign and the budget. You can boost an existing post or upload new content to run as your ad. Instagram allows you to create Single Image or Video Ads, Carousel Ads, and Story Ads.
5. Run Giveaways & Promotions
Another method on how to promote business on Instagram is by running contests and giveaways. Asking users to follow, comment, or repost your posts or stories and announcing winners based on the activity can help both increase followers on your account, and increase brand awareness too.
Instagram Marketing Tips & Strategies That Can Be Helpful For Your Brand
- Use Instagram analytics to get insights regarding the top posts, impressions, engagement metrics, audience demographics to better understand and optimise your strategy.
- Get creative with your stories, use boomerangs, gifs or other free tools to stand out amongst the competition.
- Partner with relevant influencers to grow your reach. Influencers with a large following can promote your products to their audience, thereby directly increasing sales.
- Post at the right time to increase your impressions. Don’t overshare on Instagram, but choosing the optimal time for business can increase views on your posts and stories.
- Try Instagram Shopping for the ability to sell directly from your business account. Since you can’t link directly from Instagram posts, this is a huge opportunity for brands.
Instagram enables a business to sell something more than just products. It can help to build better ‘word of mouth’ marketing. No matter the changes with the algorithm, it’s easy to master Instagram business. Instagram has proved to be an effective and inexpensive tool for business, especially for small business owners. Follow our guide and get inspired to create your own Instagram marketing strategy.