Using Instagram as a business

Instagram is now one of the most popular social media platforms with over 700 million monthly active users, so why not get involved with your business?

50% of brands have already set up an Instagram account for their business and 80% of people who use the platform follow at least one business whether it be local or global.

There is a wide variety of things you can do on Instagram such as uploading photos with catchy captions, adding videos and even compiling them together on your own story for your followers to see. You can also like, comment and send direct messages to other people which can be a very good way to connect to a potential customer or another business. This makes Instagram one of the best platforms for building business relationships.

Now I will give you an idea of how useful Instagram can be to expand your business strategy.

Instagram offers one of the highest engagement rates out all forms of social media with 4.2% of your followers potentially engaging with your post. That is x60 more engagement than Facebook and x120 more engagement than Twitter. Not only that, but most Instagram users will take action (visit your website etc.) after seeing an Instagram advertising post. Those facts alone should convince you to set up your business profile.

Instagram can also be a very useful way to find out information about a product or service. Most Instagram users have used the platform to find a product or service using the simple search box to search for keywords that could be used in #hashtags or to look for locations relating to the product or service.

How to get started with Instagram for your business

There are a few steps that you will want to take when setting up your Instagram account to ensure that you are on track to expand your business. You want to make sure that when you set up an account it is completely separate from your personal account so that it is for business purposes only. Once your account is set up you can then go on to fill in the brand information such as the profile photo and bio. You can use the bio to explain a bit more about your business and even link to your website / blog.

If you don’t have a profile photo such as a business logo and would like to get one professionally designed, Contact us Today and we can discuss your design ideas.

Now you want to start attracting followers, so search for some terms that relate to your business or location and start following people and hopefully they will follow you back. Make sure to like and leave positive comments on your follower’s posts so that they do the same in return.

When posting photos or videos try not to focus entirely on your product or making sales. You want to connect with your followers so try to capture your brand in a way that will attract more followers. Most top brands will post on Instagram 5 times a week so try to post between 3-5 times every week and you should see an increase in your following.

One of the most important things to remember when posting on Instagram is to use hashtags. If you use hashtags you are pretty much guaranteed to get more engagement on your posts. Depending on the industry you are in, there are some popular Instagram hashtags that could be used to generate more likes. Some of the most popular hashtags are #tbt (throwback Thursday), #photooftheday, #instadaily, #instagood. You should also try to use hashtags that relate to your brand and location to attract potential local customers.

While we are on the subject of location you can also add geo-tags to your posts. These are tags that show the location of where you posted from, whether it be in the office or in a business meeting with a client, geo-tags can be very useful. Posts with geo-tags get almost double the amount of engagement so make sure you use them whenever you can.

These are just basic Tips and Ideas for helping you get started on Instagram, but it’s not necessarily going to fit every business. With so many reasons to join up, it could be the perfect platform for you and your business. If you have used Instagram in a different way, use the comments to share your experience with our users.

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