5 Ways to Use Instagram for Business

We are often asked by clients, should we be on Instagram? Or how can we use it properly for our business?

You first need to establish your target market and whether they will be on Instagram. Don’t be a marketing magpie and go on Instagram because everyone else is! It needs to suit you and your business.

We are going to run you through a few tips on how to make the most out of Instagram:

Hashtags

Hashtags are the perfect way to help grow and be found in a specific area of expertise. On Instagram you can use up to 30 hashtags, this is great as you can pick a variety that will help you reach your target audience.

Make sure you don’t bombard with lots of hashtags and ensure they are relevant!!

You should aim to make the hashtags are specific and try not to use popular hashtags as your post is less likely to be seen.

Examples of hashtags to use:

Location
Business industry
Relevant to subject post
Create your own brand hashtags
Product or service
Niche hashtags
Seasonal
Awareness days

Stories

Instagram stories only last 24 hours then they disappear. This is the perfect way to post as much as you want without feeling like you are bombarding your followers with too much content. It is an ideal way to engage with your followers and give them an insight into some behind the scenes of your business.

Top Tip! Make sure you use stickers on Instagram stories for more engagement! We recommend using:
Polls, Questions, Countdown, and Quiz.
These will all help you interact with your customers and give you an idea of what they like, which you can base your posts around!

Examples of stories to make:

Behind the scenes
Questions
Motivational quotes
Tell a story
Ask for opinions
Before and after
Testimonials
Review products

Instagram Highlights

Instagram highlights are Instagram stories that you can feature on your profile, this is so that they can stay permanently. You can add highlight covers to make it look aesthetically pleasing, this will make a good impression for new followers who are looking at your profile.

You can categorise your highlights, for example naming one as “Questions” and you can add all the stories you have previously posted on questions your followers have asked and you have answered. This is really useful as it is like FAQs, and you are not having to repeat questions.

IGTV

Instagram IGTV’s allows you to create long videos, this is great as you can go into detail about a particular subject you are talking about. This is an ideal way of building engagement, as people tend to like videos more as they give a better insight rather than a stand-alone picture. You can also go live on Instagram which you can then save the whole live video onto your IGTV for people to watch at a later date.

Examples of videos you can create:

Question and answer sessions
Give tips and ideas
Behind the scenes
Tutorials
Tell a story
Explainer videos of products etc

Engagement

It is important to engage with your followers as much as you can. This will not only help others engage with you, but the Instagram algorithm also detects that you are active on the App and will then make your posts visible to more people.

Make sure you are liking, commenting, and sharing other content, this will help build your engagement and interaction.

Get in contact with us and we can take a look at your Instagram to find ways to improve – 0115 8 376 260

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