Instagram has quickly become one of the most popular and most used social platforms in recent years. Many businesses are waking up to the realisation that they can tap into a whole new demographic of potential customers by creating an Instagram strategy.
Unlike its counterparts, Instagram isn’t the place for the ‘hard-sell’ approach. Instagram’s demographic is generally much younger than the likes of Facebook and Twitter. Instagram is a platform to take followers behind the scenes and show them your creative side, the ins and outs of your business. The social media strategy you have in place for other social media channels won’t cut it on Instagram, it’s a completely different ballgame, so it is important to understand how to succeed on Instagram as a business.
Optimise Your Profile
Social media users who have never heard of your business before get their first impression of you from your profile. Once you have added a branded logo and your business name, it’s time to create an enticing description – in only 150 characters or less. Instead of stuffing as many great things about your business in as possible, focus on your main USP and a company slogan/benefit. Ensure you add a link to your website to your product, but don’t feel like it has to be purely to your homepage. Experiment with changing the URL depending on your business goals, such as seasonal product pages, booking pages or even app downloads.
Be Creative
It can be hard to take your ‘business head’ off and try to inject a level of fun into your business. Instagram gives you plenty of opportunities to be creative and showcase your business in a completely different way. Instagram is an image-sharing website, the text-based content you include in the descriptions of your posts come secondary to the imagery and videos you share. Focus less on the actual products or services you offer and instead focus on behind the scene looks of how your business works and your company ethos.
Use Hashtags
Using hashtags within your post helps them, and your business, get discovered. Use a mixture of specific and general hashtags, as well as branded campaign hashtags for any promotions or events you are running. Experiment with how you integrate hashtags into your post; within the text itself, within a comment on the post or at the end of the post.
For help setting up your business Instagram account, contact us now.