Instagram is one of the top digital marketing tools for businesses of all shapes and sizes. With an increasing number of consumers choosing to shop from this popular social media platform, focusing on your Instagram growth can help you to increase your sales and reach a wider audience. To help you out, we’re here to share out top Instagram tips for business owners this year.
Craft the Perfect Instagram Bio
When a potential customer browses your Instagram profile, the first thing they’ll come across is your company bio. Your bio should be a short and snappy statement that captures their attention and encourages them to continue browsing your feed. If you haven’t set up an account yet, try to choose the best username possible for your brand that will be easy for users to remember. Your profile picture should be something that’s clearly associated with your business, such as your company logo.
The 150 characters you have to write allows you to share your brand’s personality. You’ll want to make it clear in this short space what your brand offers and why someone should choose to follow you. Finally, make sure you add a website link and contact info, and that you place your business in the correct category. At Perpetual Motion Marketing, we can craft the perfect Instagram bio for your business this year to set you apart from your competition.
Read and Respond to Comments
So many brands today simply hit post on their photo and never bother to review it again. If you aren’t taking the time yet to read your comments section, this is something you’ll want to change ASAP. Firstly, you’ll be able to see what customers have to say about your product or service, which may give you some great feedback for the future. On top of that, you should try and reply to as many comments as possible. While we know this can be a time-consuming task for small businesses without a dedicated social media team, it’s something you need to do to connect with your audience. This will allow you to build relationships with your followers, who will keep returning to your company for many years to come.
Use Instagram Stories
Instagram is no longer just about its little square images, and Instagram stories are now the preferred way of using this platform for the majority of younger users. As your story will disappear after 24 hours, you can keep your followers up to date with the most current promotions and happenings. Instagram stories are a great way to offer your followers a behind-the-scenes look at your business, and they offer so much more than a still image. Create a plan each day with your content manager for what you want to capture to share on your stories. However, don’t overdo the stories – there’s nothing worse than seeing a company upload 30 or 40 stories in one day. This usually leads to someone skipping over your content, so stick to around eight to ten stories a day at most for best results.
Video Content is King
While Instagram’s initial concept revolved around sharing still images, videos are now the preferred medium on the platform. Between Instagram Stories and Instagram Reels, you have the chance to give your followers an up-close look at what your business has to offer. Videos bring a product or service to life in a way that a single image can’t. As not every company has started to understand the importance of video content, try to get ahead of your competition by prioritizing this type of content. You don’t have to be particularly tech-savvy or understand advanced editing techniques to put together great video content. You just need your phone to get started with creating short and engaging videos. If you aren’t comfortable with creating video content, the team at PM Marketing can take care of this for you to ensure you make the most of Instagram for digital marketing this year.
Monitor Your Engagement
When it comes to tracking your social media content, there’s so much more to it than just the number of likes you are getting on an image. Instagram reporting tools allow you or your social media manager to see everything you need to know on one dashboard. You’ll be able to track which Instagram posts get the best engagement and how your hashtags are performing. By regularly reviewing this data, you’ll have a better idea of what your audience enjoys viewing. The more you know about your Instagram performance, the better you can tailor future content to reach more followers.
Using Micro-Influencers
Do you think influencer marketing is reserved for multi-million dollar businesses? Think again! The rising popularity of micro-influencers makes this form of advertising available to businesses with a lower budget. Micro-influencers are those with a smaller following, who usually have a very engaged and passionate audience surrounding one topic. Say you are trying to promote a new fitness product. You could find micro-influencers who target yogis, stay-at-home moms, or weightlifters. Micro-influencers usually have a much closer bond with their audience, which means that any product they recommend is likely to be trusted by their audience. Influencer marketing certainly isn’t just for those who can afford to pay celebrities, and you’ll find there are options available to fit even the lowest marketing budgets. Use a combination of giveaways and sponsored posts for the best engagement rates.
Research Hashtags
If you’ve been using a random approach to hashtags so far, it’s time to take a little more care with this tool. Don’t just make up a hashtag for your brand that no one will think to search for, and instead look at the trending hashtags for your industry. This will increase the chance of your content appearing for new followers. Use an online hashtag search tool to help you find popular hashtags if the current trending hashtags aren’t relevant to your business and what you have to offer.
When it comes to Instagram growth, following all of these tips listed above can help to put you one step ahead of your competition. At Perpetual Motion Marketing, we offer social media management for companies of all sizes and in all industries. Using an experienced content manager can help increase your sales when Instagram is used as part of your digital marketing toolkit this year.
