How To Use Instagram For Business?
Instagram marketing is no longer a secret. Your business needs to be on Instagram regardless whatever industry you are in.
As of this year (2017), Instagram has 600 million active users on a monthly basis (300 million on daily basis) and up to date, there are 40 billion photos shared.
So, if you are ever doubting Instagram, you should stop that and start focusing on how to use it for your business (like seriously).
In this article, you will find 8 fun and creative ways to take Instagram marketing to a whole new level. Feel free to share this if you find it useful!
How To Use Instagram For Business?
Free Instagram tools
Do you know that there are many tools you can use with Instagram?
For starters, you have Layout app which allows you to mix and match images into one full picture. Now, if you are a business owner and want to be creative, consider using this to showcase your business.
How this can be done is to plan in advance (yes, planning). That one photo need to be able to tell a story that will move your audience. If done correctly, you can see a huge spike in likes, comments and even new followers.
Instagram also comes with Insights, which allows you to take advantage over statistics. With Instagram Insights, you will find important information such as activities that interest your followers and time they are online.
In order to leverage Instagram Insights, you need to convert your personal profile to a business profile and here’s a quick guide on how to do exactly that.
Be really active
Instagram success stories often involve being very active on Instagram. Sure, there are many social media influencers who say that you shouldn’t overwhelm your audience. But, that is also the only way to get a lot of attraction fast.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that you should post 50 times a day… you can just start with 5 and gradually go to 10 (or any number that you are comfortable with).
Here’s the thing. There is no magic formula for posting on Instagram. There is no magic number of posts as well.
But if you want to be successful on Instagram, consider understanding the number of shares, likes and comments you get for each post. This will give you great insights on what your audience actually likes and ultimately providing the same materials that interest them!
Cross promote your Instagram, please!
Why are you not promoting your Instagram photos?
Instagram allows you to share your photos to multiple platforms; namely Facebook, Twitter and Flickr. So, make the most use out of it!
You should never assume that your posts will reach everyone that connected to your brand on social. People interacts differently from one platform to another. Therefore, cross promoting will get you more eyeballs on your posts (regardless it is about your products or yourself).
Interact with others (especially your fans)
Critical, vital, imperative.
You need to start communicating with others as this will easily improve your growth. When you are very focused on creating conversation, you will be able to create a loyal fan and slowly turning them into customers and soon, brand ambassadors.
Not sure how to get it done?
Consider using words such as “Tag three friends who will find this useful’ as this will bring your brand (or your profile) to a wider range of audience.
Also remember that because they are literally recommended to your Instagram account by friends they trust, this will create less resistance and will actually resulting in more people following your Instagram account.
Go crazy with hashtags
On Twitter, you can’t do more than three hashtags but it is entirely different on Instagram.
With Instagram, you can literally go crazy or creative with hashtags. Don’t be afraid to throw in 10 hashtags on one image.
And do you know why?
People judge you based on the images you post, and not the hashtags. Typically, I would recommend using at least 5 hashtags to ensure that you are reaching out to a wider audience.
But sure, you can also choose not to use hashtags from time to time, and bring differences to your marketing strategy.
Repurpose your content
Content is critical. Do you know that you can repurpose content from others?
Apps such as Repost allows you to repurpose other people’s content on your account. Of course, you need to remember to give credit accordingly.
However, this strategy is very powerful as you can easily share content with others on Instagram directly on your timeline. As there is no inbuilt sharing button on Instagram default app, this is a great way to find more ideas.
Filters, oh filters
I’m not a photographer and I certainly do not have a creative mind. How can I solve this disadvantages on Instagram?
Instagram comes with numerous filters that you can use. From changing the background color, blurring images, tilting the photo etc. There are a lot of things that you can do and if done correctly, can transform you from an ultimate beginner in photography to a super experience person.
Typically photos must be taken in high resolution and when import into Instagram, use the filters to make an adjustment on your Images.
This will make your images be unique and stand out from the crowd.
Be social and business
Instagram marketing isn’t entirely about promoting your business. I personally use Instagram to share my personal life and share motivational quotes.
Sure, I do promote my brand from time to time, but being personal is good as I am able to connect with my audience at a very special pace.
Furthermore, this gives me a better chance of creating loyal fans as well!
Instagram marketing — Recap
Instagram marketing is important for all businesses. As business owners, you should always use Instagram to showcase your brand (and yourself) visually. With Instagram marketing continue to grow by the day, you can create a lot of loyal customers through this platform itself!
What do you think? Leave your Instagram username in the comments and let’s connect!
