5 Ways to Get the Most Out of Instagram for Your Business

The quickest growing social media platform, Instagram’s user base has increased at an exponential rate over the past few years. The platform now has over 700 million monthly active users who upload more than 34 billion photos a day, which makes it one of the biggest social media communities for businesses to market to. What’s more, Instagram has less competition and a more engaged audience than other social media channels like Facebook and Twitter. 

Unlike other social media channels where business promotions can seem out of place, Instagram users seem to embrace brands on the channel with more than 20% of Instagram users visiting a business profile every day. If your business isn’t currently using the channel, you’re missing out on a huge potential to build your brand and generate business.

Having worked on several Instagram campaigns, the team at Digital Squad knows how to succeed on the channel. The following are some of our tips for an effective Instagram strategy.

1. Create an Interesting Profile

First off, ensure you sign up for an Instagram Business Profile. This is a feature that was introduced by Instagram to give businesses the ability to add a phone number to their bio and access extensive analytics data.

Once you’re set-up, the first thing you have to consider is your Bio. You only have 150 characters in your profile to introduce yourself to the audience, so make sure you use it to focus on your Unique Selling Proposition (USP). In addition, if your business is hosting an event, has a promotion, or a new product launch, update your bio to tell your audience about it. Also, update the clickable link in your Bio section if you have a landing page promotion to point to. 

2. Get Creative With Content

When it comes to any social media channel, the key thing to remember is to avoid self-promotion. Focus on the solution your business provides rather than the products you sell. On Instagram, you have to do this in a visually engaging way. Share photos and short videos that give the viewer a ‘behind the scenes’ glimpse into your company, show your business culture, or give insights into the industry you operate in. 

Pro tip: you don’t need a smartphone to upload Instagram content. Here’s how to upload video to Instagram from PC.

3. Make the Most of Instagram Stories

Instagram Stories have been around for a few years now, but businesses still seem to shy away from using them. They differ from regular posts as they are in slideshow format and are only available for 24-hours. Stories can help brands get noticed as they are displayed prominently at the top of follower timelines. They are also a great way for businesses to experiment with different content types and share behind the scenes content as it will not stay permanently on the business page. In addition, they offer the functionality to tag other accounts, which means that they are ideal for collaborations and influencer marketing.

Stories can also include a link, which means they can be effective for showcasing promotions that link to a landing page.

4. Use Hashtags

On Instagram, hashtags are perfect for expanding your reach. Set up a brand hashtag (e.g #brandname) and use it across the platform on your posts so that users can easily find your business and its content if they are looking for you. In addition, when you post something on Instagram make sure you add popular hashtags and hashtags that are specific to the industry that you operate in to boost discoverability. Instagram allows up to 30 hashtags per post, but this can start to look a bit spammy, so aim for between 3 to 5 hashtags.

5. Analyse & Optimise Success 

As with any digital marketing campaign, looking at the data is vital. While following ‘best practices’ is a good way to get started on the channel, the truth is that every business is unique and so is its audience. As such, what works for one business won’t necessarily work for another. The only way to truly know what is effective for your business is through testing and measuring results.

There are a number of social media management tools that can help you to measure your success. These tools provide social media analytics that can help you to measure follower count as well as post engagement and clicks. By closely monitoring these statistics you can refine and improve your Instagram strategy.

For more information on using Instagram for your business, get in touch with Digital Squad. Our experts have worked on a number of social media campaigns and know how to get results on these platforms.

We aren’t your typical digital marketing agency. We make sure our clients’ digital strategy is fully looked after. Leveraging the power of all other digital avenues is key. With proven results, talk to us how we can help you with YouTube advertising, Instagram marketing or any other social media marketing Auckland. Additionally, we’re here to show you scalable growth with programmatic advertising Auckland and marketing automation.