As the world has changed over the years, businesses have always had to adapt with it. With competition around every corner, avoiding new marketing strategies could be detrimental to your business.
One of the best things a business can do to remain viable is to connect with their audience in the most effective way. Instagram is currently one of the best social media platforms to help you do that. However, many don’t realise that simply having an Instagram presence won’t be enough to reap the full benefits that social media can provide.
Let’s explore the intricacies of growing a business’ Instagram presence and making the most out of this near-essential form of marketing.
Profile optimisation
If you haven’t already, transforming your profile into a business account should be your first priority, as it will allow you to receive insights into your audience and engagement rate. This will ultimately improve your content as you will be able to analyse which posts your audience engages with most.
Make sure your business account is set to ‘public’, so that everyone can see your posts. Use your logo, or a familiar image that your audience will recognise, as a profile picture. Keep your bio short and concise and make sure it communicates exactly who you are and what you do.
Growing your following
Buying followers is likely to be exceedingly tempting for any business looking to grow their following in order to give off an aura of relevance and success. In truth, the poor engagement rate that comes with a purchased following will always make it very clear to the average viewer that the following is not authentic, ultimately damaging brand reputation.
A high follower count is, of course, ideal for any business looking to expand their reach through social media, however, it’s important to build an organic following if you want to appear genuine. This can be achieved through a variety of social media marketing strategies and dedicating plenty of time to genuinely engaging with other relevant accounts.
A visual platform
With statistics showing that 40% of people respond better to visual information than plain text, Instagram is the ideal platform for you to showcase any attractive products. Ensuring that your posts are visually appealing is essential in making the most out of your business’ Instagram page. All images should be high quality and work in unison to give the overall grid an artistic quality. This will encourage your target audience to ‘like’ and engage with your content.
Designing a style and theme will set the tone, overall mood and feel of your account. With this in mind, it’s important to consider how you would like your Instagram feed to look; dark, colourful, minimalist, vintage, natural. This theme and colour palette decision will ultimately determine the types of photos and videos that are shared.
Some services are, admittedly, difficult to showcase via imagery alone. In this case, you can always invest in influencer marketing to help illustrate them. This will help to increase your brand awareness, as well as the general customer perception of your business.
Content marketing and shoppable posts
Instagram has successfully bridged the gap between social media marketing and ecommerce with the introduction of shoppable posts. Retail brands can find huge benefits in setting up shoppable Instagram posts, as they can maximise their impact on their target audience by giving them the opportunity to shop straight from the app.
Content marketing, on the other hand, is perhaps the number one way to successfully promote your brand. Many retail brands are utilising Instagram’s ‘story’ feature to communicate compelling stories that are relevant to their brand message. This establishes a positive relationship with their consumers and encourages impulsive buying.
Hashtags, live videos and stories
Once your feed is looking professional, you’re going to want to help people find it. Implementing hashtags is the optimum way of doing this, as they help Instagram group your content into chosen categories. A mixture of hashtags is recommended as these will push your posts out to the widest possible audience.
Whilst Instagram is primarily a photo-sharing network, over the years it has pushed these boundaries and now supports videos, live videos and Instagram stories. Brands and businesses can use all of these to create a variety of content for their audience to engage with, ultimately growing their following.
With more than 60% of the world’s top brands using Instagram for marketing, your business can’t afford not to take advantage of this versatile and visual platform.
Sarah Kauter, MD of the digital PR and Marketing agency, VerriBerri.
