Strategies When Using Instagram for Business

Using Instagram for business provides you with yet another avenue for reaching and engaging with your target audience. Like with Facebook, you need to have a business Instagram account and this gives you some great additional features compared to your personal account. These include the ability to upload your logo, have a link in your bio, provide contact information, use action buttons and have store highlights and covers. You can also tag your products in Instagram content and use Instagram shopping. 

The best place to learn more about how to set up these features is Instagram itself, as it will provide you with the latest information. If you new to Instagram, this beginners guide to using Instagram for business is for you. Today though, what we are going to share with you are some of the most popular strategies when using Instagram for business. 

Strategies On Using Instagram for Business 

• Identify your goals - like with most large business tasks, you want to have a plan which details what you should do. This will include your goals. What will using Instagram achieve for your business? Are you wanting to increase brand visibility, building a community or connecting with your customers. Set KPIs for your goals and review how successful they are regularly.
• Create a strategy - you know what goals you want to achieve, so now it is time to create a strategy or plan on how you are going to get there. This will include details like your posting schedule and the types of content you will post; videos, stories, photos, reels, carousel. 
• Use a content scheduler - after having discovered the best days and times to post your content, use a content scheduler to pre-schedule them. This gives you the freedom of not needing to be on the spot to upload content and helps you ensure you are using the types of content you agreed upon in your strategy.
• Focus on your branding - having cohesive branding amongst all of your social media accounts, website and printed material grows your brand and makes it easily recognisable. You can use a graphic design software such as Canva to make branded materials to share with your audience.
• Use crisp and clear photos - Instagram is the place to share photos about your brand. Ensure that they are high quality and on form with your brand for maximum benefits. It's not ideal to use stock images and this gets reflected by the low engagement levels. Check out this article on capturing perfect product photos for help with your photography. 
• Engage with your followers - chat with them in the comments section, ask them to share photos with you and then comment on these. 
• Tag products - by tagging a product, up to 20 times per set of photos, you make it easier for customers to learn more about your products. Use this as an opportunity to link to your website product page.
• Hashtags - hashtags are used by people to find specific products, people, topics or activities. Using hashtags as part of your Instagram strategy by adding them to your posts. You don't want to overstuff with hashtags as that looks spammy. Instead you should research the specific hashtags that are related to your post and brand. Instagram prefers your hashtags are added in alphabetical order.
• SEO your profile - your profile piece should be carefully written to contain the words and phrases that people use to find brands like yours. Do a bit of keyword research to help you identify the best terms to use.