Companies looking to create brand awareness, increase their audience, engage with existing customers, boost conversions, and achieve all of their business goals, have made the use of Instagram an integral part of their marketing and advertising strategies.
This is not surprising since Instagram is today one of the most popular and used social media platforms on the market and has proven to be a worthwhile investment for all types of companies, regardless of industry or size.
Brands can target their products and services to a wider audience by using Instagram, which in turn creates a better ROI than other forms of paid advertising. However, for those who have been engaging on this platform for personal use, it might be difficult to figure out how to use Instagram for business purposes.
Below, we share 4 tips on how to take advantage of the excellent opportunities that this platform offers and grow your Instagram business account.
Use the Right Hashtags
The main goal for companies that are active on Instagram is to regularly engage their target audience while working on increasing the number of real Instagram followers. To help you achieve this, you must make the effort to post new, exciting, and engaging photos but you should not forget about the hashtags and their role. They make it a lot easier for people to search for specific terms and find your photos.
Just like on other social media platforms, some hashtags are better than others. Since the goal is to attract new users on IG, you might want to consider using trending hashtags. While trending hashtags can increase your engagement rates, they are not likely to lead to long-term relationships or more sales.
So, you must do thorough research and instead find and use the most relevant hashtags that not only describe your business but are also searched on the platform. Look at what your competitors are using but the best advice is to create your own hashtags that relate to your brand.
Post Creative and Interesting Content
Creativity is everything when it comes to Instagram marketing and success. If you make your content interesting and relatable, this will make people want to like and comment on your posts.
To be able to grow your follower count and improve your engagement rate, make sure to incorporate great visuals on your profile and include different types of posts in the form of photos, videos, Instagram Stories, Reels.
Go ahead and experiment with the different content formats to attract a wider audience but your goal should be to pique their interest. Rather than just posting content about your products and doing promotions, create Instagram Stories around them that will make people curious.
This will make people connect with you and they won’t feel like they’re only looking at promotional content on your profile.
Post at Strategic Times
Creating digital content that engages customers is something all companies that are present on Instagram strive for. The prerequisite for good exposure is partly that the content must be of good quality and be adapted to the right target group. However, there is another way to increase the chance of exposure; namely to post at strategic times.
A general rule of thumb is that you want to act and post the content at the time your target group is active online. To find out when users are active, you need to get to know your target group and user behavior on different channels but also learn where they’re located geographically, which can affect time zones.
According to a study from SproutSocial, the best times to post on Instagram is on Tuesday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., and Monday through Friday at 11 a.m.
Despite this information, you should invest some time to understand what the optimal time for posting is and once you figure this out, you can start planning your content schedule and be consistent to see results.
Influencer Marketing
Lately, an effective way of getting access to a greater pool of engaged Instagram followers that might be interested in your business is working with influencers. Know exactly what you’re looking for before establishing a partnership with a third party as they have to believe in your brand and stand behind it.
Make sure to talk about expectations, fees, and goals before you start working with an influencer.
Final Words
Instagram is a great place for businesses but posting content isn’t enough. Use Instagram smartly and have a strong strategy in place to boost your Instagram following and increase engagement. The right hashtags and posting at strategic times will get you more visibility and help you grow your Instagram business account.