You’ve probably noticed Instagram’s power. The platform offers various advantages for small businesses, from customer complaints to a product going viral, levelling the metaphorical digital playing field between small and large firms. However, because it has been there for a while, there is a wealth of information on how businesses may use it. In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to utilize Instagram for your small business, from utilizing the platform’s capabilities to specific suggestions for expanding your digital presence.

What are the benefits of using Instagram for your small business?

Instagram offers a wide range of benefits to small companies when their presence is well-planned and managed. If you’re utilizing Instagram to promote your business, you’ll need a documented Instagram marketing plan. Yes, even if the account is solely managed by you. According to Instagram’s own research, 81 per cent of users say the platform aids their product and service research. You don’t want to miss out on a large number of clients just because you aren’t on the network. Continue reading for advice on how to make the most of your Instagram account as a small company.

Get started: Create your profile.

You may scoff at this, but it’s an important reminder. Take a look at your Instagram profile once you’ve set it up as a business account. New features and settings are added regularly, sometimes without warning. It’s not a bad idea to see if you have any new features to try out. Update the company categories, hours, location(s), a contact method, and any service or product catalogues, among other basic and important business profile considerations. That your profile features, such as your bio and profile photo, are consistent with your overall al msociedia branding.

Check that your bio link is optimized.

Social media managers have been inventive with how to make the most of Instagram’s solitary link box. In articles, it’s become usual to refer to your “link in bio” and to use this link to serve up a landing page with a mix of new content and evergreen connections to your most significant product and service sites. The landing page method is for you if your firm shares links have various links you wish to deliver to clients, has multiple offerings, or all of the above. A link on the bio landing page may be created using a variety of technologies. SproutLink from Sprout Social makes it simple to create one by providing a landing page that duplicates your grid and includes clickable links for each post, highlighting and driving traffic to your most significant material.

Include a geotag in your posts.

When posting from your small business’s actual location, include the name of the place. You can go back and modify previous posts if you didn’t do so when you first posted. What is the purpose of geotagging? Instagram collects all posts tagged with that keyword and categorises them as top or recent. Customer images are mixed with your brand photos. The top-right “View Information” link takes you to information about the marked business. All of this contributes to brand recognition and assists, clients, in researching your company. Are you at a loss for what to eat at a restaurant? Simply go through the most current photographs to discover what others are recommending.

Make use of the functionality to save your article. 

This isn’t a public-facing approach, but it might help your small business’s Instagram content strategy. Instagram allows you to “save” a post and organize it into a collection for later viewing. It is recommended, but not required, to establish collections. This feature may be used in a variety of ways for research and inspiration. Here are a few collection ideas:

• What are your rivals saying about photo visual inspiration?
• You’ve found some great captions that might be used in future postings.
• Customer feedback
• Customer testimonials from both pleased and disgruntled customers are welcome.
• Influencers who may have an impact
• As you can see, there are several alternatives available to you. Hit the save button if you find yourself thinking, “Oh, this is a fantastic post.”

Highlights are a great way to show off what your company is all about.

Instagram’s Stories Highlights feature allows you to post even more information about your business. Highlights let you aggregate those stories into an accessible source of evergreen content by displaying them on your profile after they would otherwise disappear. Because they will be visible above your grid, begin with the fundamentals, such as:

• About: A few posts about your beliefs, hours, and brand.
• Highlights or locations per location: If you have more than one location, describe each one and include images from each one.
• Customer feedback or social media posts: Repurpose customer feed postings or make a visual that promotes reviews from other sources.
• Frequently Asked Questions Share information that is frequently requested by consumers. You’ll save time when responding to consumers since you’ll be able to refer them to this page. Highlight
• Features of the product or service: Make a general one or one for each product or service. There are certain things you just can’t do.

Now that you’ve mastered the fundamentals, it’s time to expand your horizons. The content themes you’re already producing in your feed are an excellent place to start. Are you going to produce a series on each of your employees? Make a highlight out of everything. Perhaps you work as an event coordinator. Demonstrate what you do for the client by going behind the scenes of your process. Have a great time with your highlights. This is where your brand’s personality may show through.

Make a guide

Guides, like Instagram Highlights, let you collect your favourite posts into a single featured piece of content. However, there are a few major distinctions. It’s written in an editorial style, almost as if you’re reading an essay. You may store photographs and posts from your feed as well as other people’s feeds. Each embed has a caption field where you can provide extra information about the product or venue you’re promoting. Guides are fantastic for building a list of site recommendations, in addition to the ideas already given in the Highlights section.

They might be any of your locations or local companies that you endorse. You might broaden the topic to include an introduction to your city, an exploration of your current area, or influencer suggestions. And if you’re on the fence about employing this functionality, don’t be. There is no need to be concerned. You may store draughts of your guides until you’re ready to publish them.

Read the captions carefully

The opening sentence of your caption is what draws people’s attention and determines whether they continue reading. You should double-check the remainder of your caption after paying attention to the initial sentence. With Instagram’s latest inclusion of keyword search, what you put in your caption is more crucial than ever. You used to be able to be cutesy or stylized with your words, and while you may still do so, you should make sure you’re using terms that you want others to identify with you. This might include your brand and product names, as well as broad phrases linked to your company sector, similar to basic keyword research.

Continually use Instagram Live

When marketing managers and business owners found themselves working from home but still wanted to communicate with customers on a human level, going live for companies became increasingly popular in 2020. Using Instagram Live has a lot of advantages. The most important benefit is that followers are notified when an account they follow goes live. This real-time communication is critical, especially if you want to stand out on the network. Here are a few suggestions to get you started on Live:

Take a look behind the scenes: Showcase your creative process or give a tour of your workspace. You should begin with anything that the consumer does not have public access to.

Organize a Q & A session: If you use the corresponding sticker with Instagram’s Q & A function, your story post will alter to reflect it. Live Q & As can be open-ended (AMA) or focused on specific goods.

Organize an interview. Use another account to watch the live stream. Having a guest on the show allows you to do an on-the-spot interview with them or offer them the opportunity to speak about something they’re passionate about.

Demonstrate a product or service by:

• Is it more effective to exhibit rather than speak about your goods or service?
• Use Live to go through things in more depth.
• If you enable comments, your visitors will also provide you with suggestions for what they wish to see.

Make “followers-only” promos available.

Everyone enjoys a good bargain. But a one-time sale? That’s utilizing the marketing strategy of FOMO (fear of missing out) and urgency. If you offer a limited-time followers-only promotion, it gives your followers even more incentive to remain engaged and return for the next one. If you want to create a buzz or run a flash sale, use the countdown Stories sticker to make the promotions more surprising.

Organize a giveaway

Hosting a giveaway is one of the best methods to expand your Instagram account naturally. Free things are something that people enjoy even more than a good deal. Depending on how you organize the gift, you might be able to get more post engagement. Add conditions such as bookmarking a post, commenting on a post, or forwarding it to a friend in addition to encouraging people to follow your account. Small companies can benefit from Instagram contests since they are low-hanging fruit. You may also collaborate with other small businesses with a similar target demographic to increase brand exposure. Of course, this technique should not be your exclusive social media strategy. Beyond organizing prizes, give your new fans further reasons to remain around.

Taking your company’s Instagram strategy to the next level

This list is a good place to start if you’re looking for Instagram marketing ideas for small businesses. Using tactics like Stories Highlights and Instagram Live daily to improve your Instagram strategy will help you interact with your consumers. Are you beginning from scratch with your Instagram brand strategy? Using our in-depth resources, create a customized Instagram marketing plan. Discover how to develop objectives, build a content strategy, and more.