Today, Instagram marketing is crucial for any growing business. Through Instagram, you can reach potential customers worldwide and make it easier than ever for them to get to know your business, connect with it, and purchase from it. As a platform, Instagram has grown more substantial in recent years in its sophistication, business-focused features, and consumer usage as an e-commerce platform.
However, this sophistication brings with it complications. Whereas five years ago, Instagram was simply a place for people to post photos and share them with friends and family, today it has become a vital tool for business that requires some skill to use. The Instagram algorithm has become more complex, making it harder to grow and succeed on the platform than ever before. But that doesn’t mean you need to be a rocket scientist to use Instagram as a tool to grow your business online.
Ultimately, success on Instagram comes with having a clear and concise strategy and sticking with it., This strategy will be different for every business. The following five tips apply to almost every business. They can help you to take your business’s Instagram from zero to hero in no time at all.
The many features offered by Instagram can be intimidating. Many business owners fail to realize success on Instagram because they attempt to do everything simultaneously and don’t do anything very well. Check out the following five tips for improving your business’s presence on Instagram quickly without attempting to use every single feature available.
1. Tidy Up Your Bio
The bio on your business’s Instagram account is like your virtual storefront. It provides the first impression for new visitors and potential customers. It is essential to get it right.
First and foremost, be sure to have a great profile image. It should contain your logo and nothing else. Keep in mind how tiny it appears on a phone screen, so keep it simple.
Next, make sure to include your business’s name and location, as well as a short summary of what you do. You can spruce this up by sharing your passion for your business. For example, instead of saying “we sell kitchen accessories,” opt for something along the lines of “connoisseurs of the finest kitchen accessories in the world.”
You’ll also want to use the Contact feature on Instagram in your bio. You can find this in your business settings. It makes it really quick and easy for potential customers to contact you without going to your website.
Finally, make sure to include a Linktree in the website section of your bio. Linktree adds links to various sections of your website, such as “Shop,” “Customer Testimonials,” and “FAQ.” Remember that Instagram users have the attention span of a goldfish, so make it easy for them to find what they’re looking for.
2. Create a Content Plan
Too many business owners set up an Instagram account for their businesses and think that simply posting whatever comes to mind when they have a chance will be enough to succeed. The truth is that to maximize the benefits of marketing on Instagram, you’ll need a content plan.
This doesn’t have to be complicated. You should consider how much time and effort you have to give to Instagram. It’s always better to under promise and overdeliver than vice-versa. So, if you think you can post twice a day, to begin with, start with just once a day and see how that goes before amping it up.
Your content plan isn’t just about how often you’ll post. It’s also about what you post and how. Will you just be posting product pictures and descriptions, or will you add some behind-the-scenes content too? Will you be sharing motivational and aspirational content or practical tips and tricks for using your products? And how will you post them? Will you just stick to the classic grid post, use carousel posts, reels, or a combination?
Don’t feel overwhelmed. Your content plan can be as simple as you need it to be. If all you can manage right now is three classic grid posts per week, great! Just get it done, try to be as specific as you can about the kind of content you’ll post, and stick to it.
3. Use Captions on Stories
Instagram Stories are a handy tool in your Instagram marketing arsenal. With 500 million people using this feature daily, it’s a big mistake to overlook it. But unfortunately, it’s not as simple as just sticking up a story every now and again, hoping for the best. One of the easiest ways to get more from your Instagram Story content is to use the Captions feature. The Captions feature auto-generates captions for any speaking you do in your stories and makes it possible for users to watch your stories with their phones on silent.
4. Use Engagement Stickers Every Day
Another excellent and straightforward way to improve the return on your Instagram Story content is to utilize the engagement stickers at least once a day. These include the polls, quizzes, and question boxes that you may have seen other accounts using. They provide a brilliant source of engagement because they don’t actually require you to engage back in the way that comments on posts and direct messages do. You can simply post a video or image, add an engagement sticker, and watch as your audience starts interacting with your account. Make a habit of doing this in some form every day, and you’ll be amazed by how quickly this tiny change begins to pay off!
5. Create Highlights
Finally, start using the Highlights feature on your business’s Instagram account. Highlights allow you to save your stories onto your profile and categorize them in a way that essentially creates a menu. The best way to do this is to mimic the menu you have on your website. Typically, you’ll have an “About Us” tab as well as “Shop,” “Contact,” “Customer Testimonials,” “FAQ,” and others. Try to recreate these in the Highlights section of your profile, making it easy for your potential customers to find what they’re looking for.
Another excellent tip for getting the most from this feature is to put yourself in your potential customer’s shoes and think about what they want from you. What problem do they have? Are they looking for information about your products or services? Do they want inspiration and ideas? Are they concerned about the environment or about the ethics in your manufacturing processes? Will they want an insight into the people behind the business? Figure out the potential deal-breakers for your customers, and create highlights to help them find the answers they are looking for.
When you’re new to marketing your business and your products/services on social media, Instagram can be a fantastic place to start. It’s quickly becoming one of the most shoppable social media platforms out there, with 130 million users clicking on shoppable posts per month. It might seem overwhelming and complicated at first. And it can be if you try to do everything at once. But by focusing your efforts and getting clear about what you’re doing (and what you’re not doing), Instagram can be an easy, effective, and even fun way to market your business online.
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