Have you been thinking about getting involved with Instagram for your small business, but you don’t know where to start? Or have you tried Instagram marketing before, but weren’t seeing the results you’d hoped for? If so, this post is for you! In this post, I’ll be covering the ways small businesses can use Instagram to build their brand and attract new clients.
Instagram is more than just a photo sharing app, it’s also a powerful marketing platform for small-to-medium sized business owners. There are nearly 70 million users on Instagram and counting each day. Your small business needs to be on it and creating content for it. But before you get started with your Instagram marketing for small businesses, there are a few things you need to know about how to use the platform to your advantage.
If you’re a small business owner, stay-at-home parent, or work from home entrepreneur, you need to know about this social media platform – Instagram. It’s turned into a marketing powerhouse for businesses of every size and type.
In fact, Instagram has become one of the best ways to reach your audience and promote your brand. According to Statista, Instagram has over 1 billion users worldwide up from 800 million in September 2017.
With those kinds of numbers, it’s clear that Instagram can be an effective way to build a community around your business and help spread the word about what you offer.
When I started using Instagram to build my own personal brand, this is what I found very helpful that I time and again, recommend my clients to follow. Here are some quick tips for you to consider when thinking about how to use Instagram marketing for your small business-
# 1: Create a Business Profile
# 2: Write an Eye-Catching Bio
# 3: Figure Out Your Niche and Visual Style
# 4: Use Relevant Hashtags Strategically
# 5: Post Images in the Same Aesthetic as Your Brand
# 6: Post at the Optimal Time for Your Audience
# 7: Post Behind-the-Scenes Content
# 8: Engage with your audience using IG stories
# 9: Attract and engage with new audiences using Reels
# 10: Measure and Track your Analytics
Let’s look at these points in detail.
# 1: Create a Business Profile
A regular Instagram account has limited features that hinder businesses from growing. To get the most out of your account, you’ll want to convert to an Instagram Business Profile.
There are many reasons why it’s a good idea to make this change, but the biggest one is access to Instagram Insights and paid ad campaign tools. These analytics and tools will help you track your posts’ and ads performance, audience activity and much more.
In addition, you’ll be able to add valuable links such as a contact button and the option to book appointments directly on the app with an Instagram Business Profile.
To get started, head to your profile settings and click “Switch to Business Profile.” You’ll be asked to connect your Facebook page and assign a category for your business before finishing the set-up process.
# 2: Create an Eye-Catching Bio
The Instagram bio is the first thing people will see when they click on your profile, so it’s important to get it right.
Keep your Instagram bio short and sweet. The 150-character limit can be a challenge, but it’s better to keep your Instagram bio short than to ramble on.
Use keywords in your Instagram bio that you want people to search for. For example, if you make handmade jewelry, you could use words like “jewelry” or “handmade jewelry.”
Put your website in your Instagram bio. This is one of the few places where you can add a link, so make sure it’s something that will help drive traffic to your website (or somewhere else that will help you achieve a marketing goal).
# 3: Find Your Niche and Visual Brand Style
Your niche is the type of business you are in, while your visual style is the way you show up on Instagram.
Your niche doesn’t have to be specific to your product, but could be a more general category that represents what your audience cares about. For example, if you sell hiking boots and outdoor apparel, your Instagram niche could be focused on outdoor adventure.
Your visual style is all about how you want to come across to your audience. For example, maybe you want to have a light-hearted vibe or speak directly to people who are interested in home decor.
Whatever you choose for your niche and visual style should align with how your target audience thinks about themselves and how they want to appear to their friends or peers.
Consistency is key when it comes to maintaining an Instagram presence, so plan ahead and make sure that the visual style and general theme of your account are something that you can keep up with.
#4: Use Relevant Hashtags Strategically and engage with new audiences
Hashtags are a powerful tool that can help you reach new audiences and grow your Instagram account. Think of hashtags like a search engine on Instagram. People search hashtags to find things they are interested in. So if you want to be found by the right people on Instagram, you need to know which hashtags those people are looking at.
Instagram allows up to 30 hashtags per post, but I recommend using between 11-15.
If you are a small to medium account (over 100 but under 5000 followers), using too many popular tags will make your posts get lost in the feed. It is a good idea to use hashtags that have between 10,000 and 500,000 posts.
You can make your own branded hashtags when creating contests or use those that already exist. This will help you build a community of loyal customers and followers on Instagram.
When making your own, they should be short, simple and easy to remember.
You can also use trending hashtags from Instagram, which will help you connect with millions of users who are using the hashtag. If you’re using existing hashtags, again consider their popularity. Using hashtags with a moderate popularity will positively give you great results.
Engage with other users on Instagram and follow your competitors. This is a great way to build customer loyalty and increase brand awareness.
It is also worth spending time researching the right balance of popular and niche hashtags for your audience. It may take a few tries before you find the right mix for your brand. If you use hashtags correctly, you can actually get in front of people who are already looking for what you’re selling (products or services both).
# 5: Post Images in the Same Aesthetic as Your Brand
The images you post on Instagram should reflect your business’s aesthetic.
For example, if you are a home decor company, post images of beautifully designed living rooms and kitchens. Below is an example of how Arhaus, a home decor company for outdoor and premium furniture uses beautiful images from staged photoshoots on its feed.
Remember that Instagram is a visual platform and users follow accounts they find visually appealing. Make sure your posts are consistent with your brand’s style and aesthetic to attract more followers.
If you don’t have the resources to hire a photographer or designer, use free tools like Overlay or Canva to create branded images for your account. You can even create photo collages for free on these platforms to maximize the number of products you’re showcasing in one image.
You want your feed to look cohesive, with a similar style to all of your images. This will help develop your brand identity and also makes sure that anyone who visits your page can recognize an image from you right away — even if they don’t know who posted it.
Your brand aesthetic should include things like filters, color schemes, lighting styles and editing techniques. Instead of thinking of each image on its own, think about how each one relates to the rest of your feed.
# 6: Post at the Optimal Time for Your Audience
Instagram is one of the most popular social networks right now, with more than 400 million active users. And it’s not just a place for individuals to share their photos and videos. Instagram is also a great platform for businesses to connect with their customers.
Engaging with your followers on Instagram is a great way to enhance brand awareness and grow your business. It helps you build relationships and create community around your brand. As a result, you will drive traffic to your website, gain exposure, and increase sales.
Be aware of when your followers are most active on Instagram, so you can post at the times when they are most likely to see your content. Having this information makes it easy for you to decide when the best time is for you to post on Instagram.
The best way to figure out when your audience is online is by testing different posting times and reviewing your analytics.
The frequency of your posts can also affect your reach. If you post too often, you might experience a drop in engagement. If you don’t post very often, your audience could forget about you and unfollow you.
In general, it’s best to post 1-2 times per day when you’re getting started. As you build up a following, you can increase that to 3-4 posts per day as long as they are spread out. This will help ensure you’re not overwhelming your audience with too many updates at once.
# 7: Post Behind-the-Scenes Content
One of the most important things you can do as a small business owner is to post photos on Instagram with behind-the-scenes content. This type of content helps to humanize your business, while showing people what goes into the creation of the products/services they see online or in stores.
This type of content also helps to increase engagement. You can show pictures of raw materials before they become products, or show how you create experiences with your services/ marketing materials behind your coaching sessions and how long it takes.
You could even take pictures of your team at their desks and in meetings. These types of photos help your followers feel more connected to your brand and its products/offers because it allows them to connect with real people working behind the scenes for your business.
Instagram is a great place to show the fun side of your business. Post pictures and videos of employee birthdays, launch parties and happy hours.
If you’re a B2C business, post images of your customers using your products or interacting with your team at events. Not only will this content allow your followers to get to know you better, but it will also humanize your business.
Post Edutainment (Education + Entertainment) Content
Provide educational content and post photos of how-to tips related to your industry. Share images that are relevant to the season or holidays. If you’re posting a photo of a product, feature how it can be used in different ways by different people with different interests. Host contests that reward participants with discounts or free products, and create polls and quizzes to gather data about your audience’s preferences.
Respond Regularly
Stay on top of all comments, questions and messages sent to you through Instagram in order to maintain high engagement levels and keep customers happy. When people post photos of themselves using your products or services, share their posts and publicly thank them for their support.
# 8: Engage with your audience using IG stories
Instagram stories are short clips that appear at the top of your feed for 24 hours and then disappear. They’re also a great way to showcase behind-the-scenes moments in your business or share quick updates with your loyal fans about how your day is going.
This feature allows users to upload photos and videos that appear above their followers’ feeds. These stories disappear after 24 hours, giving the feature an authentic feel like users are having a genuine conversation with their audience.
When creating Instagram Stories, use organic content to engage your audience. You can also encourage your followers to respond to you on each story by using stickers, asking questions or polls. A few ideas include:
- Show your customers what goes on behind the scenes at your business
- Promote employees and their work
- Highlights from events or trade shows you’re participating in
- Share user-generated content (UGC) by reposting images your customers have shared of your product or brand that they’ve tagged you in.
- Do a mini training of frequently asked questions in your business or by your audience.
You can also add direct website links in your stories which is a recent feature that IG rolled out last year (regardless if you have under 10000 following on IG), that can help you grow your website traffic.
Now, while IG stories are short lived, you can save them as highlights on your profile. This will make your stories permanent and are really useful for new followers to see your stories. Highlights save your stories to a dedicated section in your profile, so you can show them off to people who visit and share it later with others who missed out on your stories.
To add a story to a highlight, use these steps :
- Tap the story you want to highlight.
- Tap (iPhone) or (Android) in the bottom right..
- Select “Add Highlight.”
- To remove stories from Highlights or delete them completely, tap (iPhone) or (Android) in the bottom right of your story and select “Delete” or “Delete Highlight.”
# 9: Attract and engage with new audiences using Reels
Reels are a new feature on Instagram that allows you to make short-form videos from 15 seconds to a minute long , which can then be shared with your followers and featured in the Explore feed.
Reels are a great way to attract new audiences and tap into new consumer groups. Here are some ways to get started:
1. Make it personal. Your Reel should reflect your brand’s personality and values, so share content that is truly you.
2. Do something interactive. People like to engage with content, especially when it involves them! Try using the countdown sticker to create a challenge or a poll sticker to ask your audience what they would like to see more of.
3. Use hashtags and tags. Reels can be searched in the Explore feed, so use relevant hashtags and tag other businesses and people so they can discover your content!
4. Post consistently! To really grow an audience, you need to post regularly, atleast 6-8 reels per week if you have the bandwidth of creating videos or you can get started with just 3 reels per week and slowly work your way up! Having a consistent schedule is important so people know what they can expect from you and when they can expect it!
5. Make it valuable: Think of ways to make your reels video valuable. You can share your personal tips on videos and ask your followers to read your caption for more explanation. The more valuable your content on reels, along with good CTAs the higher your engagement rate on Reels is going to be.
# 10: Measure and Track your Analytics
Instagram has been a game-changing platform for businesses, but it’s not easy for every business to find success with Instagram. The good news is that the Instagram Insights can help you to get deeper insights into your audience and track your ROI on the platform.
Instagram Insights
Insights is Instagram’s free analytics tool, available only to accounts that have converted to a Business Profile. Once you have set up your Business Profile, you will see the Insights icon at the top of your profile. Click on it to see all of your analytics data.
You will be first greeted with the Overview section. This provides a snapshot of how many accounts your content reached, how many account engaged, total followers, profile visits, website clicks and email taps you’ve had in the past week. It also shows you the number of impressions and reach numbers for each of your posts during the past seven days.
Audience Insights
This section gives a breakdown of followers by gender and location, and shows what time they’re most active on Instagram. This can be useful information if you’re looking to schedule posts when your audience is most likely to engage with them.
Content Insights
This section provides an overview of how well each individual post, reels or videos has performed and tells you which filters have worked best for your brand on Instagram Stories.
Instagram analytics are easy to get, but they can be difficult to interpret. The number of likes and comments that your latest photo or video received is a decent indication of its overall performance, but it doesn’t tell you why people have reacted that way.
Instagram Insights exists to help you work out what’s going right and wrong with your posts. It provides a comprehensive look at your audience, posts, stories and promotions.
Check out the following metrics:
- Impressions: Shows the total number of times your post has appeared on someone’s screen. This doesn’t count people who scrolled past without looking at the post or didn’t stop long enough to register an impression, but it does include multiple views from the same person. Impressions are only available to business accounts that have switched to a professional account in Instagram settings.
- Reach: Shows how many unique accounts viewed your post. Reach includes impressions but not repeat views from the same user, so it’s generally lower than impressions. Reach is only available to business accounts
- Profile Visits: The number of times someone has landed on your profile after clicking on one of your posts, stories or profile bio link.
- Website Clicks: The number of clicks through to your website from a link in your profile bio.
- Engagement Rate: The number of likes and comments divided by the total number of followers. This metric will help you determine how well each post performs, as well as the average performance for all your posts.
- Top Performing Posts: The posts with the most engagement. These posts can help identify which types of posts drive the most engagement and what times work best for posting.
It’s important to track your performance so you can see what’s working and what isn’t. Analytics is a powerful tool that many people overlook. Instagram offers its own analytics, which are easy to use and give you a wealth of information about your posts and followers.
The possibilities are vast. But you won’t reap the benefits unless you have a solid Instagram strategy and an understanding of how to use Instagram analytics to improve your efforts.
Takeaway: Instagram can be a powerful tool for small businesses if you know how to use it.
Now that you have a better understanding of how Instagram works, you can apply these strategies to your own marketing efforts. Don’t expect an overnight success, the key to using Instagram well is doing it consistently and being creative with your content.
As you continue to master Instagram marketing for your business, I encourage you to look for new angles and take advantage of new features as they’re added. The more you use the new features, the better are your chances of reaching new audiences faster because the IG algorithm favors new features being used.
Instagram isn’t just for the Kardashians and teenagers anymore. Small businesses are using Instagram to draw attention to their products, build brand awareness, and create an organic buzz.
Developing a strong Instagram presence is one of the best ways for any small business to open itself up to new customers. But the key here is that Instagram is about more than simply posting photos. It’s about sharing with your existing clients, but also with other users and potential clients. And that means targeting, research, analytics and measurement, planning, and lots and lots of creativity.
Small businesses can take advantage of the unique opportunities that come along with Instagram, like capturing user-generated content and participating in the conversation about their brand. With the right strategy, a business can truly stand apart from its competition.
Want a comprehensive Instagram Strategy for your small business? Get in touch with me through my contact page or apply for a 90 mins strategy session here.
