How To Use Instagram To Promote Your Business

With more than 500 million monthly active users, Instagram is a platform with less competition and with an audience that is highly engaged. Instagram is an ideal platform for businesses since they can reach a targeted audience without having to spend a lot on ads. The following tips will help you develop a social media marketing campaign for Instagram whether you are new to using social media or want to strengthen your current campaign.

1. Use Instagram To Show What You Do

Your content needs to be about the solutions you provide clients with and not just about the products you sell. The content you share on Instagram needs to be valuable and look appealing. Visual content is the key to a successful campaign on Instagram.

If you provide services, your content should explain the process of providing these services. Your content should reflect your company culture and explain what your mission is. You can also use Instagram to share some valuable tips.

You can share photos, upload short videos or choose to share some longer videos of up to one minute. Instagram Stories allows you to create a collage of images and videos with text. You can use this feature on mobile and your story will be available for 24 hours. You can keep adding content to your story to refresh it.

2. Your Profile Needs To Be Appealing

Your business probably offers different products or services. Don't try to explain everything you do in the small space available on your profile. Use this space to state what your mission is or to draw attention to a new product or to an important event.

You can only include one clickable link in your bio and should update it regularly. Most businesses decide to add a link to their main website, but you can use this space to draw attention to other things. You can link to a product page, a page to download your app or lead to a registration page for an event.

Instagram gives you the possibility to create an Instagram Business profile or to launch paid ads. You can add a phone number to your bio with a business profile and have access to detailed analytics. These profiles are available in the U.S., Australia and in New Zealand and should be rolled out to other countries later.

The more views and followers you have the more likely people are to follow you. After all, success begets success. Consider purchasing some Instagram views to make your post look popular and it should encourage others to watch your video.

3. Show Behind-The-Scenes Content

People are curious and want to know about what goes on behind-the-scenes. You can share content that shows how products are developed and made or how employees work on Instagram. This could really be interesting if you manufacture green products or if Fair Trade is an important part of your business culture. You can for instance show what base materials look like, how products are made and how they are distributed.

If you don't have content to share, you can always document the creative process. You can upload pictures of notes, sketches or of what goes on in company meetings. Showing the result of brainstorming sessions is an interesting way to show how things are done.

4. Use #Hashtags

You can reach out to a more targeted audience by using hashtags. You can use hashtags for all your content or create hashtags for specific campaigns. You should use your brand as a general hashtag for all your content and use this same hashtag on Twitter. This allows people to easily find content about your brand and to share content related to your brand. Here are some good tips on hashtag use.

Even though Instagram lets you add up to thirty hashtags, you should only use between five and ten per post. Use a few hashtags to refer to your brand and to a specific campaign and add some more general hashtags to reach out to the right niche. You could use popular hashtags like #instagood (currently used on more than 300 million posts) or share older content with the #tbt hashtag. If your content would be relevant to a specific industry, use hashtags like #tech or #fashion.

5. Tag Other Users

You can tag other Instagram users with the @ sign followed by their username. You can use this feature to share success stories from customers or to talk about collaborations. You might not have an official partnership with a non-profit organization but you can donate money to a cause. Look for a cause that corresponds to your mission and values.

You can also use shout outs. Look for brands with a similar audience and with a similar number of followers so you can give shout outs to each other and get more followers. This is a good way to get exposure.

You can also use paid shout outs if you have a budget for your Instagram campaign. You can pay another brand or a user who is influential to give you a shout out, share content about one of your products or mention your brand. This is a good way to increase your following and gain exposure, especially if you are just getting started with Instagram.

Used correctly, Instagram can help your brand build a following and generate more exposure for your organization, leading to increased business opportunities.