Instagram is not new to the world on the verge of 2021, but its novel approach to marketing which places the focus mainly on visual contents might have puzzled you if you have just started marketing your business on Instagram, or it might have simply frustrated you while comparing your account to celebrated ones which do a roaring trade.
Mind you, neither confusion nor frustration should persist in your online marketing since it could be very much about joy and pleasure in doing your business online as well as earning a profit.
If you have missed the opportunity to take advantage of Instagram for your marketing or you want to compete with some hotshots on Instagram, you are going to find the following tips incredibly of use and helpful.
Top Tips to Effectively Market Your Small Business on Instagram
- Switch your profile to a business account
Instagram has provided its users with three types of accounts: personal, creator and business.
The first one, which its name is self-explanatory, should be used by those who are just using Instagram as a way of connecting with friends and families, however, the creator account is largely used by influencers and other types of content creators.
On the other hand, a business account is what you require if you want to be taken more seriously. This makes you look more upright and reputable as well as other benefits that you need to derive.
The Advantages of Instagram Business Accounts
- Like other types of Instagram accounts, you will also have access to all the features of posting on feed, stories, and IGTV, along with some more features such as the ability to run ads.
- Another thing that you will have access to is an analysis of your performance that gives you a real insight into your business.
- Your audience will be able to contact you easier, use the tags in your posts, and have a video chat with you via direct messages.
- You can request verification, and if you are verified, you will be able to share links and swipe-up links to your stories.
How to Switch your Instagram to a Business Account?
If you have not used a business account yet, here is how to change your Instagram profile to a business account.
- Step 1 – Instagram Settings
Open your Instagram account, go to the settings, and tap account. - Step 2 – Switch to Instagram professional account
Tap on the blue CTA (Call-To-Action) button at the bottom of the page that says switch to a professional account. - Step 3 – A business account
You will be asked to decide which one describes you best, Creator or Business? As a marketer, a brand or business goes for a Business account. - Step 4 – Connect your Facebook page
Having switched to a business profile, your next step is to confirm which Facebook page you want to connect with so that you could make your catalogs there and get benefits from your Facebook friends.
2. Update your bio
150 characters to tell your followers what your business is about, has to be a space used sensibly. This is a representative of your business so your brand’s slogan and an outline of your business are the two most important things to write in your bio. Including hashtags also increases the chance to be found by more people.
Another thing to keep in mind is placing the link to your website. Try to review your bio at times to make sure if your bio needs any updates on changes you might have made to your business.
3. Plan your content
One term that you should know about is content pillars. Here are some examples for what could be considered as creating content pillars.
- Think about your company’s values
- Focus on your target community and their culture
- Show the human side of your company
- Consider the aspects of your content creation that could be light-hearted for your audience
- Find the potential for UGC (User-Generated-Contents) and customer stories.
It is advisable to plan your contents at least on a weekly basis.
4. Work out a strategy for using hashtags
Hashtags are a combination of letters, sometimes numbers, and emojis preceded by the # symbol that makes a clickable item. It could help you in expanding your target audience by attracting those who are interested in the subject and building a community to engage with your products.
Make sure to track how many people found your post through hashtags. There is not a right number of hashtags you use as recent research has shown that 7 hashtags could work as well as 30 hashtags, what matters is the right use of them which generates public engagement.
How to Build an Instagram Hashtag Strategy?
– Hide your hashtags
The amount of text that is shown on your feed is limited and the rest becomes hidden. Add line breaks to separate your caption and hashtags in order to have the hashtags after the “show more” link.
–Trace popular hashtags relevant to your post | brand
Hashtags can make or break your marketing. While you look for popular hashtags searched by most of the users on Instagram, having relevance to preventing those who searched your hashtag from getting annoyed is crucial to your policy.
A good strategy before using a hashtag is to search it and see what contents show up and whether its is appropriate for your content.
Remember that popular hashtags hold a bigger competition so combining them with hashtags related to a smaller niche can keep the balance to be seen by a wider range of users. It is also important to have variety in your hashtags and see which ones get you more engagement.
5. Realize the importance of stories on Instagram
Why is minimalism so popular in today’s world? The thing is, it promotes what is most valuable for us and removes any other extra things considered to be a distraction. This is a perfect match for our fast-paced way of life so the more minimalist your marketing is the more effective it gets, and Instagram stories have a key role to serve the purpose.
Your Instagram stories appear on top of your followers’ feed, which increases the chance to be seen by those who did not have enough time to check the posts.
How to Make Instagram Stories Like a Professional?
- Step 1 – Make a story
The first step to take is to decide on the content you would like to share, whether it is a photo or a video. Instagram gives you access to a camera to take a photo or record a video, however, most of the time it is a good idea to choose from your gallery. You should have thought about every detail of your photo or video in advance to have the best quality content. Instagram also gives you varied features such as filters, to edit your content and enhance its quality. - Step 2 – Use stickers
Since the main focus of Instagram is on visual content, try to get close to it as much as you can. One effective tool to fulfill this aim is to use stickers. Here are some functions that stickers perform and you can search them simply based on these functions.
Hashtags
mentions
Locations
Gifs
Emojis
Music
Polls
Questions
Countdowns
Product stickers
Order
And many others that require your time and creativity to search and find the suitable sticker for your content.
Remember that you do not have to use them, it is only a suggestion put forward in case you feel stickers are of the essence to convey your message. - Step 3 – Use highlights
Make a collection of your stories so that newer followers do not miss much, anyone who visits your page gets a better insight into your business.
6. Learn how to share a link on Instagram
It is vital for your Instagram account to direct your followers towards the content you have on your catalog, website, or anywhere else outside the platform. This means you need to learn to share a link on your Instagram profile.
This could be a link shared to your bio, a paid ad, a swipe-up link to your stories, IGTV videos, in your captions and shoppable posts.
7. Find the right influencer for your brand
Have someone with lots of followers to review your product, campaign your market, or simply use what you sell. Influencers are great assets to promote your business. However, you may not be able to afford some of them or talk them into collaborating with your business so you need to find the right person.
How to Find the Right Influencer for Your Brand?
It is very likely that a micro-influencer with a loyal community suits you better than someone with a host of followers while they are not necessarily close to your target audience. Here is a step-by-step instruction to find the right influencer for your business.
- Step 1 – Recognize your target audience
As mentioned earlier, make sure that the influencer you are working with has the same type of audience as you are looking for. - Step 2 – Evaluate your influencer
See if an influencer has a decent number of followers, and more importantly if a decent number of those followers engage with the contents shared. - Step 3 – Look in the right place
One question that may remain is where to find influencers for your business. In order to do so, you can search #influencer, #blogger, #sponsored, #ads, or other hashtags like this.
Another way is to find people on Instagram who are talking about you or set google alerts for keywords relevant to your brand in order to find influencers or micro-influencers who are likely to be interested in your business.
You can also find platforms that help you look for the right influencer. These platforms usually provide you with all the stats you need to know before contacting an influencer.
8. Increase your engagement by seasonal campaigns
Take Christmas marketing campaigns, as an example. They always convey a message that you care about your customers and broadens its appeal to more loyal followers.
It is always a good idea to show some generosity by offering discounts, gifts, organizing giveaways, and free packages of your products in seasonal campaigns, contests, and surveys. In exchange, ask people to tag their friends, share your content to their stories, or save your posts for algorithm boost.
9. Put yourself on the map
As a small business, always dedicate a great deal of attention to your location. Engage with the local community because they should be prioritized as your target audience. You can also boost your connection with the locals by geotagging. Tag your location in your posts and stories to make sure it will appear on locals’ feed.
Collaboration with other local businesses is also an effective tool to find more potential local customers.
Conclusion
If you are a small business and want to market your business on Instagram, it means you have already taken up a daunting challenge that takes a tremendous amount of effort and discipline to rise above.
However, it could be great fun when you do it right and see your progress day by day. So stick to your business plan, follow the guidelines, and do not miss another day to create your business Instagram account.
Which of these tips did you find more helpful?
