Instagram Business Promotion: 13 Practical Tips

The social network Instagram is considered one of the most promising platforms for business development on the Internet. More than a billion people use the app every month. At the same time, it is here that users are highly active in interacting with brand and commercial profiles. An important plus of Instagram business promotion lies in its focus on visual content that is perceived better and faster by the audience. And these are not all the advantages of a social platform, but how can they be directed into the mainstream of business development? To get an unambiguous and complete answer, it is enough just to familiarize yourself with this material to the end. So let's get started!

Why does a business need Instagram

The latest statistics make it clear why it is imperative to include Instagram promotion in the company's strategic development plan. According to the Pew Research Center, about 17% of all adult social media users interact with their Instagram account on a daily basis. The bulk of the platform's users are young and active people under 30. Yes, these are exactly those representatives of the millennial generation, whose consumer behavior is largely shaped by the influence of social networks. If a few years ago Instagram was considered a predominantly female platform, today its gender segments of users are almost equal. Does the business need to reach out to this audience? After realizing the above figures, this question can be considered rhetorical.

Practical Tips for Using Instagram to Grow Your Business

It should be noted right away that this social network is not equally useful for different lines of business. The visual focus of content reduces the effectiveness of promoting services and complex products. On Instagram, what sells best is what lends itself to attractive positioning in the post: decorative items, cosmetics, clothing, handmade, shoes, etc. But this does not mean that, for example, a bicycle repair service cannot be promoted on Instagram. You can always visualize a brand or service in a quality manner. For example, show the result of the work or introduce the staff. And now you can safely approach the study of 13 tips that will help make business promotion on Instagram effective.

Subscribe to thematic blogs

Expert communities are the best source of relevant information. When forming a pool of blogs, you need to focus on the pages of companies and specialists with active and successful practices in the industry. As a result, you will receive a powerful knowledge base, learn about working cases and promotion trends. Ingate's blog also regularly publishes useful materials that help promote your business on Instagram.

Company account optimization

The main task is to make the brand profile as visible as possible for users and search engines. Good quality optimization will help algorithms to correctly evaluate the content and structure of the content. To improve your account, you need to do the following:

1. Make your brand logo your main profile photo. The image should look good in round format. If there is no logo yet, then you need to use a photo that most accurately conveys the direction of the activity.

2. It is better to use the brand name as a nickname, but only if the name reflects the business theme. For example, if the company is called "AIMagnus", then the nickname must be supplemented with thematic words.

3. Describe your main commercial proposal succinctly and meaningfully. This short text should immediately make it clear what the business can and wants to offer.

4. You must add contact information to the description. If the company has its own website, then you need to include a link to it in the description.

5. In the privacy settings of your account, it is important to make the content visible to all users without restrictions.

Post photos of your products

A commercial Instagram account should function as a virtual showcase. The quality of visual content plays a critical role in this issue. To consistently get good photos, you have to invest in equipment or specialist services. A regular smartphone photo can be beautiful, but a professional image can make you buy.

Support of posts with hashtags

Hashtags allow target audiences to find relevant content that interests them. There is no need to overload the image with labels. Usually 3-4 options are enough to find your potential clients. Hashtags should be specific and relevant to the topic of the business.

Publishing entertainment materials

Often it is the positive that keeps the users of Instagram commercial accounts. Humor should be tailored to the interests and sentiments of the target audience. Funny stories about the company work well. But here it is important not to show what can cause negative consumer reaction. For example, if a photo is attached to a post in which a pastry shop employee dropped a ring into a cream, then users will definitely not appreciate such a curiosity.

Increasing the number of subscribers

The effectiveness of business promotion on Instagram directly depends on the number of subscribers. The following actions will help to increase the volume of followers:

- connecting a profile to a Facebook Chronicle;

- the use of relevant hashtags;

- subscription to different users;

- commenting on content on third-party accounts;

- cross-posting of materials to Facebook.

It is important to try to increase not just the number of subscribers, but to gather a loyal audience around the brand.

Publishing Videos

Short videos on Instagram are attracting more and more attention of users. Therefore, it is important not to forget to use this format to promote your business. For 15 or 60 seconds of the maximum duration of the video, you can convey emotion, talk about an event, inform about discounts or show a workflow. Instagram videos can be embedded into website pages, which also needs to be practiced.

Applying Filters

Tools for additional visual processing of photos allow you to make content more interesting. For example, the Inkwell, Mayfair and Normal filters help to increase user engagement under the post. The most effective option for your brand will help you choose neat experiments and analysis of audience reaction.

Conducting competitions

Various contests are the best way to improve audience awareness and engagement. It is important that the conditions of participation are simple to implement, and they must also exclude the possibility of cheating results. For example, you can ask to send a drawing or photo with an agreed plot. To ensure that the results of the competition are not in doubt, the determination of the winner should be entrusted to one of the special random selection services.

Offering additional benefits

Use discounts and bonuses to attract and retain your target audience. If possible, you should offer unique benefits specifically for subscribers - this will create a closed club atmosphere. For example, only followers of the Instagram page should receive a 10% discount on attending courses. Bonuses also work well towards improving the quality of user factors. So, coupons can be offered for active commenting or distribution of materials.

Getting to know the business

Show users how the company works and develops. Buying new equipment, moving to another office, a corporate event, holding meetings, brainstorming - all these are excellent informational reasons. Getting to know the business allows you to “humanize” the brand that subscribers contact through the social network. To do this, you need to show how and who works in the company.

Demonstration of product qualities

The content plan should include materials that will tell you about the positive properties and benefits of the product. It's not just about posting shop window photos. For example, if a company sells athletic shoes, it needs to show how it makes training more effective and safer. You should try to demonstrate the quality of the product in terms of its practical use.

Fixation and analysis of promotion results

Today there are tons of tools for measuring performance indicators. By default, you need to monitor the following metrics:

- likes and reposts;

- volume of comments;

- transitions to the site;

- conversion;

- audience coverage;

- number of subscribers.

Analysis of these metrics will allow you to understand how effectively the strategy for promoting your business on Instagram is working. Without analytics, the promotion of an account can be compared to blind traffic.

Let's sum up

Today, businesses simply cannot ignore Instagram, a platform with a massive concentration of an active audience. The implementation of our tips does not require professional SMM skills. And if you don't have time to promote your business on Instagram, then it is better to entrust this task to the Ingate team