Using Instagram for business is one of the smartest business moves any business owner should do today. According to Viralyft, Instagram has a monthly user base of over 2.3 billion active users. This makes Instagram one of the most popular social networking sites, not only for its users but also for businesses.
The top reason why social media users are using Instagram is to look at photos and videos. But 11% of the Instagram users are using the platform specifically to shop or find new products.
Since Instagram is becoming more and more popular, an estimated 71% of US businesses claim that they used Instagram for business in 2018. In fact, to support this claim, 130 million people tap on an Instagram shopping post every month.
You can be successful in using Instagram for business. With the right marketing strategies, promotions, and branding—you can increase to drive sales with Instagram. Here is everything you need to know about using Instagram to market your business.
1. Set up an Instagram business account
If you want to drive sales or to get more views on Instagram, the first step that you need to do is convert your Instagram account to an Instagram business account or set up an Instagram business account from scratch.
By doing this, you can take advantage of the many perks of using this platform strategically in marketing and improve its usability for your brand.
Benefits of using an Instagram business account
- It provides a sense of trust as you are taken more seriously because it gives your brand a more professional look.
- It gives you the ability to use built-in insights into your Instagram account to look at your performance and help you develop strategic marketing plans.
- Promote posts, create Instagram ad campaigns and use paid ads to help reach your target audience.
- Use the content calendar and published schedule post automatically or you may use a social media scheduling tool. You can use it to help you stay consistent with your posts. With this tool, you can pre-schedule content in advance, so it goes out automatically at the right time.
- Turn your feed into an online shop by turning your photos into Instagram shoppable posts.
- You can connect your Facebook business page and publish scheduled posts simultaneously.
2. Build a creative business profile
The Instagram business profile is starting to become the new homepage of businesses as people are starting to turn to Instagram to search for brands and to shop. So, just like what you do in creating a website, you need to capture your shopper’s attention by spending time and effort curating a beautifully-designed Instagram feed. Turn your Instagram feed and profile into a storefront.
Tips in optimizing your business profile:
- Choose a profile photo that makes your business easy to identify, like your logo.
- Write a well-crafted bio. This includes explaining what your brand is all about briefly and clearly.
- Include a clickable link to your shop.
- Add information about your business on your profile, i.e., contact number, email address, and business address.
- Welcome your shoppers to your store and add a call to action.
- Include incentives like discounts or free shipping.
3. Create a signature style with your photos in your feed
Instagram is a photo-sharing social media platform, and the main reason why users use the app is to look at images and videos. Therefore, it is essential that the photos in your feed are visually appealing, stand out, and have a consistent brand message.
Tips create a signature look for branding your profile
- Use high-quality images of your products or services.
- Develop a color scheme. Choose standout colors to represent your brand, like emulating your logo design color schemes and use combination schemes for your posts.
- Build a storyboard incorporating your brand’s elements in a lifestyle scenario.
- All your photos should have a consistent palette, and filter choices enhance your feed.
- Choose fonts that relate to your branding and style and use those consistently.
4. Write a good and compelling Instagram caption
Businesses are sometimes so focused on their feed’s visual elements that they forget to pay attention to another important element to engage their audience. That is the caption.
You also need to put an extra effort to come up with a captivating caption that will convert your posts into sales. But how can you give context to your posts, entertain the audience, show off your brand’s personality, and most importantly, compel them to take action? Looking to enhance your Instagram marketing game? Boost your engagement by gaining Instagram likes and combining them with captivating captions that showcase your brand’s personality and encourage action.
Tips for crafting your own Instagram caption
- Know your target audience. Your caption should resonate with your audience. We recommend building a marketing persona.
- Find your brand voice.
- Avoid lengthy captions. Keep it short and easy to understand.
- Place the important words, preferably your call to action at the beginning of your caption.
- Make sure that your caption is clear and with no error.
- Use hashtags that are appropriate for your post. Hashtags will make your post discoverable and easy to find.
- Ask questions to drive engagement. This can help you get more comments.
5. Invest in Instagram ads
Instagram ads are one of the most effective types of advertising. It offers detailed targeting options like Facebook ads, enabling businesses of different sizes to reach specific target audiences within your budget limits.
There are also different business goals in Instagram to choose from depending on your objectives. Achieve your desired result by customizing your advertisement or campaign based on your objectives.
Instagram business ads can help your business increase:
- Engagement
- Conversion
- Sales
- Awareness of your brand, services, and products.
- Generate leads
- Video views
6. Post Consistently
The most important in driving sales on Instagram (and other platforms) is posting consistently in your Instagram feed.
To get traction with the Instagram algorithm, you need to work on posting new content daily. When you do this, you will start to build strong relationships with your followers as they will see more of your brand often and remember you. You also need to know when is the best time to post on Instagram. Study your analytics to understand when you audience are most active online.
7. Embed Instagram Feed
Embed Instagram feed on website To have a strong Instagram presence, it is important that more people get to know about your page. And for that, you can embed Instagram feed on website so that people who aren’t aware of your Instagram presence also get introduced to your page, and if they like your content, they can even follow you there.
Alongside winning a large audience, there are various other benefits of this strategy. Embedding an Instagram feed on a website can provide numerous benefits. Firstly, it allows website visitors to see the latest updates and posts from the Instagram account, keeping them engaged and interested in the brand or business.
Secondly, it can increase the website’s visual appeal by displaying dynamic and attractive images and videos. Additionally, It can also lead to increased website traffic as visitors may click through to the Instagram account or share content with their own followers.
Want to learn more?
Here are our top three picks of online courses from Skill Success if you are interested in learning how to use Instagram to build your brand, grow your followers, and monetize your page.
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