As the world begins to adjust to the new realities after a pandemic, brands and businesses need to act fast on their strategies in order to make it out on top. Many companies are moving towards online operations to adapt and ensure business continuity for both their customers and employees. While small businesses may face hole other challenges with smaller budgets and workforce there are still impactful ways they can take their business digital. Using Instagram for your small business can add value to any marketing strategy.
While most aren’t new to using Instagram to compliment their small business goals, the truth is majority are not using the platform to it’s full potential. Instagram might seem like something that is complicated and time consuming. After all, major companies have entire departments dedicated to content creation and social media management. But using Instagram for small business doesn’t have to be that complex and it fact, it isn’t. We put together this small guide o help you better navigate Instagram and learn how to make it work for you.
Instagram For Small Business
Create A Business Account
The first thing anyone should do when using Instagram for their small business or brand, is to create a business account. Instagram business accounts come with a tone of features to help enhance your Instagram presence and help better reach your customer base. Some of the key features of a business account are:
- Enhanced Instagram bio with contact buttons
- Access to profile insights to understand performance
- Set up promotions on Instagram to reach a wider audience
- Create shoppable Instagram posts to boost sales
- Swipe up links in Instagram Stories for profiles with 10K+ followers
Maximize Your Bio
Your Instagram bio is the most vital part of your profile. It’s where people will look to for key information about your brand. Asides from filling in your information, once a business account is set up you’ll gain access to additional buttons so your customers and followers can easy contact you, or access your online store. There is definitively an art to writing an eye catching Instagram bio. We recommend you check out our article on the Wolf Blog about how write an Instagram bio that will attract your audience.
Determine Your Goals
Just like with any part of marketing, your social media strategy should compliment your current goals. It’s important to not only identify your business goals but also what you want to achieve out of your Instagram account. Are you looking to drive sales and grow your customer base? Well that might take different actions than an Instagram strategy that only wants to focus on building a brand or community. However you choose to use Instagram for your small business, just be sure that it aligns with your business’ overall goals.
Establish An Online Identity
Looks are everything when it comes to Instagram considering it’s a visual social media platform. It’s important to align your online content with your current brand to ensure consistency at all times. Sticking to your brand’s current colour scheme, fonts and imagery maintains cohesiveness. You’ll also want to think about the tone you use when writing captions, and keep that consistent with the tone you use throughout your marketing.
Plan Your Content
The easiest way manage your Instagram content is to have a strong plan. Determining your posting schedule, content and captions in advance will help streamline the process. Whether you build your plan out weekly, monthly or quarterly taking the time to come up with content ideas and execute them ahead of time will make the entire process a lot easier to manage.
Instagram For Small Business: Extra Tips
Be Active Daily
The most success Instagram profiles are the ones that post regularly. Especially in the start of building your Instagram presence, it’s important to be active daily on the platform. This means posting to your feed often, replying to comments and messages, interacting with other users and of course using Instagram Stories.
Get The Most Out Of Hashtags
Hashtags are a crucial part in getting your content seen by users outside of those who follow you. If you want to grow your following and boost your reach then it’s important you use them with each post. But it’s not just about throwing a bunch of hashtags together and hoping for the best. You should be selective in the hashtags you use, picking those that fit your niche and content being posted. Checkout our article on how to use hashtags effectively.
Don’t Forget About Instagram Stories
Instagram Stories are a great way to stay active daily without having to post to your feed every single day. Many business forget to use Instagram Stories, or don’t use them to their full potential. What is great about Instagram Stories is it allows you to connect more directly with followers or share a behind the scenes look at your business. With a business account and over 10K followers, you gain access to the swipe up features that can help you drive sales to your online site or highlight important information.
Utilize Instagram’s Shopping Feature
A lot of businesses both big and small are realizing the benefits of Instagram for driving sales. If you have an online shop you should definitively be using Instagram’s shopping feature. This allows your audience to shop products or services directly from your feed posts which helps to easily boost sales.
Explore Influencer Marketing Opportunities
There are a lot of opinions when it comes to Influencer Marketing. Some brands swear by it where others just don’t see the impact. Influencer Marketing works in a lot of different ways and doesn’t always work the same from business to business. When used in the right way to compliment your business Influencer Marketing help to grow your brand. Stay tuned for our upcoming article on Influencer Marketing for small business.
