Want to know how to use Instagram for your business? This guide reveals all.
Instagram has over 1 billion users worldwide. Your business needs to be on this social media platform to attract new customers and engage with existing ones. However, finding the best way to use Instagram for your business can be tricky.
In this guide, we’ll outline exactly how your business can use Instagram – step by step. We’ll cover everything from starting the right kind of account to posting engaging content, growing your following, and more.
Let’s dive into it!
- Setting Up Your Instagram Business Account
- How to Use Instagram for Your Business in 7 Steps
2.1. Create a Solid Instagram Strategy
2.2. Optimize Your Instagram Profile
2.3. Post Amazing Content
2.4. Understand the Different Types Of Content
2.5. Engage On Instagram
2.6. Grow Your Instagram Account
2.7. Measure Your Success
Setting Up Your Instagram Business Account
The first step to using Instagram is setting up an Instagram Business account. A Business account is important because it allows you to access Instagram Insights and analytics – which will help you improve your marketing efforts.
To set up an Instagram Business account, follow these steps:
- Download the Instagram app
- Open the app and sign in
- Add your email address. You can use an admin email address or log in with Facebook if you want to connect your Instagram Business account to your Facebook page.
- Choose your username and password, and fill in your profile information – like your Instagram bio and profile picture.
- Now you have created your Instagram account. The next step is to switch it to a business account.
Switching to an Instagram Business account:
- Go to your profile and tap on the hamburger menu in the top right corner.
- Tap Settings and then tap Switch to Professional Account. If you do not see this option, you can do the following:
- Tap Account
- Choose Business
- Now you can choose to connect your Instagram Business account with your Facebook Business account if you wish
- Select your business category and any other relevant business details
That’s it; now you have an Instagram Business account.
How to Use Instagram for Your Business in 7 Steps
Now that your Instagram account is set up, you’re ready to start using Instagram for your business.
Here are the steps you should follow to help you make the most of this social media platform.
1. Create a Solid Instagram Strategy
Before you start to create and publish Instagram posts, you’ll need to have a clear strategy in place. This is to make sure you post the right kind of content at the right time for the right people.
To put together your Instagram strategy, there are a few important things you should consider.
Know Who Your Target Audience Is
Any good social media strategy starts by understanding exactly who your target audience is. This is essential for knowing what kind of content to create that will give your audience the most possible value.
Luckily, nearly everyone is on Instagram these days, so the platform covers a wide range of ages and demographics. Understand your business’s target customer clearly, and create detailed customer profiles to know who you’re targeting. The more specific you are, the better.
Set Instagram Goals
What do you want to achieve from using Instagram for your business?
There could be many reasons why you use this social media platform – such as spreading brand awareness, boosting sales, promoting specific products, driving traffic to your online store, and more.
Whatever your Instagram goals are, make sure that you make them measurable. This is important for being able to track how successfully your business is using Instagram.
Choose Performance Metrics to Track
Now that you’ve got a clear objective for using Instagram, you will need to choose which metrics to track in order to achieve your goals.
When choosing which social media metrics to follow, you’ll need to understand the different stages of the customer journey and what impact you hope to make during each stage.
Here are some metrics that align with the different stages of the customer journey:
- Awareness: Use metrics like impressions, follow growth rate, and how many people your content reaches
- Engagement: Likes and comments, engagement rate, shares, and amplification rate
- Conversion: Conversion rate, click-through rate, bounce rate, and any paid ad conversion metrics
- Customer: Metrics like retention and repeat purchases
Plan Your Content
Now you know who you will be posting on Instagram for, so now it’s time to plan out what to post. To do this, you should use a content calendar.
A content calendar lets you plan exactly what content you will post throughout the week or month. Your calendar should include the date, the image or video, the caption, and your hashtags. Once this is organized, managing your content and posting it at the right time is easy.
Using a content calendar is also important for ensuring you post consistently. This will help you beat the Instagram algorithm.
Planning your content calendar also lets you get a headstart on any important dates or events – such as holidays or promotions that your business will be running.
The other thing about creating a content calendar is that you want to plan and schedule the posts for the most optimal time. This is when your audience is most active online, which will help your posts get more engagement and more traction.
Follow our guide on the best time to post on Instagram to help you out.
2. Optimize Your Instagram Profile
Now your Instagram account is set up and ready to go, but it still needs some work for it to make the best possible impact.
Here are a few important strategies to improve your Instagram profile.
Write a Killer Bio
You’ve only got 150 characters to write your bio, so make the most of it. Get straight to the point, be concise, describe your brand, and try to reveal your brand voice. Including an emoji and a CTA in your bio can be a great idea.
This is your most important piece of Instagram real estate, so make sure you use your bio as wisely as possible.
Check out these Instagram bio ideas for inspiration, and follow our guide on how to write the perfect Instagram bio for more useful information.
Choose a Great Profile Picture
Your business logo is probably the best idea here. Try to keep your Instagram profile picture at a size of 320 x 320 pixels so that it loads to the right size. Remember, a circle will frame your profile picture, so keep this in mind for the design of your picture.
Add Story Highlights
Story highlights are a great way to keep some of your best Instagram story content at the top of your profile at all times. You can also add special highlight cover images to make sure your Instagram aesthetic stays on point.
Follow our guide to Instagram Story hacks to learn how to do this.
Use Your Link Wisely
You can only add one link to your Instagram profile, so make sure it counts This should be to your business website, your book a demo page, or your latest and most important piece of content.
3. Post Amazing Content
This is, without doubt, the most important part of using Instagram. It doesn’t matter how many Instagram hacks and tricks you use; if your content is not of high quality, then you’re not going to attract followers and get engagement.
Here are a few things to remember when creating great content.
Decide On a Theme
Instagram displays all of your content in a grid. While you don’t need to have the “perfect” aesthetic, it’s still important that all of your posts look good together.
Try to decide on a similar theme or aesthetic that you will use in all of your Instagram posts. This could mean using the same Instagram filters, using the same color scheme, or only posting about certain types of content.
Take High-Quality Photos and Videos
Instagram is a visual platform. If your photos and videos don’t look great, then you’re not going to attract much attention. It’s that simple.
This doesn’t mean you have to be a professional photographer. Your smartphone camera will work just fine – as long as you put some effort into your content.
Shoot in good natural light, experiment with different angles, and stick to photography basics (like the rule of thirds). Then, edit your images and videos carefully using a great app.
Take a look at this list of Instagram tools to help you find the right apps for creating content.
If you have the means, then consider hiring a photographer to shoot content for your brand. You could do a day of content creation and space this content out over your calendar for months to come.
Write Engaging Captions
Your Instagram feed needs to look good, but it should also be interesting, fun, and engaging for your followers. This is where your caption is important.
Spend time writing your captions, and make sure they offer something of value to your audience. Try to establish a clear brand voice when doing this.
Instagram captions could be short and funny, they could be long and informative, they could be personal, witty, or whatever else you’re good at.
When writing captions, try to make them engaging. Ask questions, and create room for your followers to engage in the comments section.
Here are 720+ short Instagram captions to inspire you.
Use the Right Hashtags
Hashtags play an important role in using Instagram. The right hashtags can help your posts get a lot more organic reach, which can result in a lot more engagement.
Search for relevant hashtags on Instagram, and you will see the most popular options that appear. Add the ones that actually relate to your post, and see how much of a difference this can make.
4. Understand the Different Types Of Content
Instagram is one of the most versatile social media platforms in terms of the type of content that you can create. You’ll need to know what to post on Instagram for your marketing strategy.
The different content formats on Instagram are all unique, and they should all be used differently. The best Instagram strategies combine each different type of content for the best results.
Here is a brief breakdown of the different types of content you can post on Instagram.
Photos
The main form of Instagram content is the classic feed post photo. Share photos that are high-quality and match your feed aesthetic. Use this to post about anything your brand wants to talk about.
Carousel Posts
Carousels combine a number of images and/or videos that users can swipe through. This is the most engaging type of content on Instagram, and it allows you to add more information to each post. Businesses should try to use carousel posts wherever they make sense to maximize engagement.
Reels
Reels are Instagram’s version of short-form video content, and they’re amazing to post. Thanks to the platform’s algorithm, Reels will help you reach more people. So if you want to go viral, then Reels are the type of content to post.
When posting Reels, keep it fun and don’t take yourself too seriously. Unlike other forms of Instagram content, Reels should look natural instead of overly produced. Try to hop onto trends and use trending audio to make a greater impact.
Follow our guide to Instagram Reels to help you out.
Stories
You can never post too many stories. Stories have a short life span, so you can use them as much as you want. The great thing about stories is that they let you reveal more about your brand and personality without having to make a commitment to a permanent feed post.
So, stories can be more informal and fun. Check out our list of Instagram story hacks to help you come up with some great content ideas.
Video
Previously IGTV, Instagram video is what you use to create longer, more serious videos than reels. This kind of video content is a bit more formal and gives you a great chance to create longer-form video content.
Live
You can do your own Instagram live streams. This is a great way to show off your personality, connect with your followers, and promote timely events and broadcasts.
These are some of the main forms of content on Instagram, but there are loads of different ways that you can use them. Check out our list of Instagram hacks for some ideas on how to best use each content format.
5. Engage On Instagram
Remember, Instagram is a social media platform, so don’t forget to be social!
Don’t only post and make it a one-way flow of information. Instead, you should use the platform to engage with your audience as much as possible.
Here are a few strategies to do this.
Comment and Respond to Comments
Always keep your comments section alive as much as possible. Respond to comments, start conversations, and use comments to give your Instagram account some personality.
At the same time, follow other accounts and actively engage with their content. Comment on their posts and start conversations across the platform. This will help you attract more followers and engagement.
Tag Other Instagram Accounts
Whenever it makes sense, reach out to other Instagram accounts and tag them in your posts or comments. This will help you attract more engagement and more followers and make your Instagram account easier to discover.
Partner With Other Instagram Accounts
Consider finding an account on Instagram that complements yours and running a partnership with them. This could be a giveaway or promotion of some kind. Doing this lets each of you tap into each other’s audiences.
6. Grow Your Instagram Account
Once your Instagram account is established, you’ll want to get more followers, more reach, and more engagement.
This is where understanding Instagram marketing is important. While this is a pretty broad topic, here are a few of the best strategies you can use to grow your Instagram account:
- Run a giveaway to attract more followers and engagement
- Use Instagram paid advertising to increase our reach and target specific users
- Collaborate with Instagram influencers to gain more popularity
- Promote your Instagram account through tour other marketing channels – like your blog or email
- If you run an eCommerce store, you can use Instagram Shopping to sell products to Instagram users
7. Measure Your Success
The final step to using Instagram effectively is keeping an eye on your metrics and measuring your success. This goes back to the initial goal that you set out for your Instagram account.
You can use your Instagram Insights to see what kind of content works best, what posts gain the most engagement, and when the best time to post is. The more you monitor your Instagram engagement and performance, the more you can optimize content in the future.
When doing this, don’t be afraid to experiment. The more you experiment with different types of content on Instagram, the more you will be able to see what works and what doesn’t
Just make sure that you remember your goals and that you monitor these accordingly.
Summary
Using Instagram for business is incredibly important these days. You can use Instagram to attract new customers, engage existing ones, spread brand awareness, sell products, run many different types of promotions, and build a storing online presence. It’s one of the most essential social media platforms for any brand to be a part of.
Follow the strategies listed above to help you get started with Instagram. These tips will help you make a greater impact and attract more Instagram followers and more engagement. Do it right, and your business can use Instagram to achieve all kinds of specific goals.
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