Instagram for Business: 9 Best Practices
With over 800 million monthly active users and the highest engagement rate of any social media platform, Instagram is a social media platform that you can’t ignore if you want your business to evolve. As 80% of Instagram users follow at least one business, Instagram can be a significant part of your digital marketing strategy.
Are you planning your company’s Instagram strategy? Here are the key best practices you should take into account:
Things To Do
Provide excellent customer service
Don’t just post a photo and forget about it. Serve your audience well and reply to comments. When followers need extra assistance, offer them the chance to send an email to discuss details and fix any potential issues. Answer all questions and consider suggestions. Keep a polite and professional tone, even when dealing with criticism.
Post interesting content
This may seem like a no-brainer, but it can’t be overstated. Don’t just post any photo that comes to you – always provide useful and catchy content that your target audience will love. Communicate your brand’s story and personality, and encourage interaction.
Instagram is a visual platform, so you can add some emojis into your captions to express ideas or emotions. In fact, a recent Adweek report looked at 20,000 Instagram profiles and found that emojis help with marketing campaigns, as they give a friendly touch.
Promote your page
Promote your Instagram business page on your website and on all your other social media accounts. This is crucial especially if your business just joined Instagram.
Engage users through giveaways and fun contests to help boost engagement and increase your number of followers. Experiment with Instagram stories to show behind-the-scenes content and experiment with short videos.
Write a complete bio
The bio is essential to let people know about your company’s field of activity. Keep it simple but incorporate all the essentials. A few concise and straightforward sentences will do. Try to convey your brand’s personality through the bio, too, to make your profile stand out from other businesses.
Go for a signature tone
Build an image and an attitude for your business. Whatever you choose, stick with it. If you go for a fun approach, don’t go overboard and use too many puns. When a highly professional attitude suits your company best, make sure you keep a conversational tone.
Use hashtags
Though Instagram allows up to 30 hashtags per post, you shouldn’t overload each post with the maximum amount. Choose only hashtags that are relevant for your business. Some hashtag research before you start posting will help you determine the best hashtags to use in your post.
Things to Avoid
Buying followers
Your business needs real engagement and promotion, not just a high number of followers. Focus on a strategy that will gradually bring you the relevant audience. Buying followers only leads to inappropriate content and fake accounts that you don’t want to associate your business with.
Posting random images
Instagram works like a charm for visual marketing and Instagram for business best practices is all about high-quality photos. So double-check all pictures before posting them. They should be appropriate for the message you want to convey and have a high resolution – no random or blurry photos allowed!
Being overly promotional
Pay attention and don’t post repetitive or meaningless content. Post often, but come up with new posts that might appeal to your audience. Try to avoid being overly salesy – talk about your brand’s story, not the details or benefits of your products. Your buyers come to Instagram for inspiration, not to be sold to.
Instagram is one of the leading social media platforms so you can’t afford to overlook it. Create a powerful Instagram for your business by following the best practices and get closer to your audience.
Would you like some help deciphering the secrets of social media marketing? We love to talk social – reach out to our team today!
