Social media has become one of the most important virtual platforms in our lives, with millions of people across the world accessing their social channels every single day. It’s strange to think that only 15 years ago the likes of Instagram didn’t even exist.
Instagram is so ingrained in our lives that we use it without a second thought, posting pictures and videos for our friends and family to enjoy. This might lead us to believe that using Instagram for business is the same thing, but in reality, it’s a lot harder to get engagement for a business account than it is a personal one.
Instagram Business Algorithm Update
Back in 2018, Facebook (who owns Instagram) announced feedback from the community that “public content, posts from businesses, brands and media” was “crowding out the personal moments that lead us to connect more with each other”. As a result, changes to the Instagram and Facebook algorithms were made to help you “find relevant content” and “have more meaningful social interactions”.
This means that Instagram posts from businesses are typically seen by fewer people than the content posted from your own personal account.
Marketing Strategy for Instagram Tips for Business
So, how do you make Instagram work for your business? First and foremost, you will need to work hard and be consistent with your posts, making sure you are giving value to your audience.
To help you with your strategy, here are our top Instagram tips for business and how to use Instagram for marketing.
1. Define your goals.
What do you want to achieve from Instagram? Brand awareness? Reach? Lead generation? Your strategy should be created around these outcomes. Your goals also need to be SMART – Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-Based.
2. Optimise your account.
Your account may be the first impression that someone gets of your business, so make sure it reflects you in the light that you want. Have a profile picture that fits 320 x 320 pixels. Include a link to your website and a call to action. Use relevant and clickable hashtags in your bio, name all photos you post with relevant keywords and add alt text to your posts with keywords.
3. Do not use ‘fancy’ fonts in your caption.
They won’t be recognised as actual words and Instagram has confirmed they use the keywords in your captions, bio and posts to help the content get found in their search function.
4. Engage with your audience/potential audience.
Engagement gets engagement; make sure you are liking, commenting and sharing other accounts’ posts. This will help you to get noticed and hopefully, the interaction will be reciprocated!
5. Use Canva.
Canva and other design software are fantastic for creating great-looking posts easily. A word of warning – do not use the exact same template that they offer. Find one you like and adapt it to your aesthetic and brand.
6. Keep a consistent theme/aesthetic.
The news feed is very busy with potentially thousands of pieces of content that could be shown to a user and people scroll fast! You need to stop the scroll and people recognising your content in their feed can help do this. Develop a consistent theme by using the same font, colour palette, tone of voice, filters/presets, etc. for all of your posts.
7. Keep the most important information in the first two lines of the caption.
The first two lines are shown automatically without having to click (or tap) “read more”. This is your opportunity to engage the reader after you have got them to stop scrolling, so make sure you are giving them what they want.
8. Know your audience.
This will be important for ad targeting and setting your tone of voice, as well as for knowing the best times to post. Regularly look at your insights to see who your followers are and when they are most active, then use that information to schedule posts in order to maximise engagement.
9. Have a regular posting schedule.
Make sure you are posting regular, consistent and valuable content so there is always a post in your followers’ feed for them to engage with.
10. Use features such as ‘quiz’ or ‘polls’.
You can ask your followers what kind of content they want to see and if they see the content they voted for/want, they’re more likely to engage.
If you need help with your social media marketing, schedule a free consultation today.
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