Photo Credit: https://unsplash.com/photos/KWZa42a1kds Photo by Solen Feyissa on Unsplash 

It’s hard to argue against the use of social media platforms, especially Instagram. Major corporations such as Target, Starbucks, and Nike have all had major success with the platform, increasing their engagement with each campaign and pulling more people in through quality content. Still, their engagement rates shouldn’t deter even the smallest business from using the platform. When utilized correctly, Instagram can be a powerful and useful marketing tool. Thanks to the team at Charley Grey, our clients see the benefits of having an Instagram account, but here is how you can set your own business up for success on the platform.

Why You Need Instagram

Now that Facebook owns Instagram, the two platforms work in unison to elevate brands just like yours. If you already have a business Facebook page but not an Instagram account, you’re missing out. Not only does Instagram have 500 million monthly active users, but it’s also the fourth most downloaded app in the United States (Facebook is the third). And now you can tackle many birds with one stone thanks to Facebook’s integration, including running ads, managing online shops, and promoting of your products or services. But how do you go about doing that? Keep reading to find out.

How to Keep Up With Instagram Marketing

Optimize Your Instagram Business Profile

Setting up your Instagram account is more than just signing up with your business name and uploading a profile picture. It also includes optimizing the space within your profile bio. Within this space, you should look to be extra creative, using a tagline that explains what your business does and who you serve, how people can find you, and relevant hashtags. Uploading a high-quality logo image and setting up your story highlight covers is another great way to optimize your business Instagram profile. There are even special buttons you can utilize depending on your type of business, which include things like booking appointments, purchasing products, and sending emails.

Create Quality Instagram Content

Instagram is a visual platform, meaning each tile of content should have a purpose. This is where creating quality content plays a role. You might be tempted to post more than once a day, but if your content doesn’t entertain, educate, or engage your audience, it’s likely to fall on deaf ears, or worse, be completely ignored by the algorithm. When you create quality content, you receive more engagement. When your content receives more attention, Instagram puts it near the top of your followers’ news feeds. So, always aim to give each piece of content a mission and a purpose. When it comes to your content, quality is still better than quantity.

Create More Instagram Videos

Instagram tools like Stories and Reels are hot and are only going to get hotter! If your business is new to the platform, you can elevate your page by crafting compelling, funny, or even educational videos that can be shared in both your Stories and on Reels. While the story version of your content will disappear after 24 hours, your Reels will continue to stay up, exposing your business to more platform users.

Do Instagram Hashtag Research

Think of hashtags as the keywords people are using to find content. Much like how you’d type in a word or phrase into Google, you can do the same thing on Instagram. Therefore, hashtags make your content easy to find. However, there is a strategy here, and it requires some initial research and insights. Platforms like Later and Sprout provide designated hashtags analytics and can help you tweak your usage. When it comes to good practices for tags, always put them at the bottom of a caption or in your posts’ first comment. This practice will keep your caption clean while still elevating your content through the tags you’ve chosen for that post. Just make sure the hashtags are relevant to the post.

Don’t Ignore Comments

One of the biggest mistakes small businesses can make is ignoring comments. When people comment on your Instagram content, they’re telling you that they found your content to be useful, informative, entertaining, or educational and want to engage with you more. Responding to comments makes your followers feel special. Social media platforms are all about building connections and relationships, and the comment section is where some relationships flourish. If a follower asks an engaging question that requires a more in-depth explanation, don’t shy away from taking the conversation to a private message. From there, you can nurture the relationship and create a loyal following and paying customers.

Grow Your Digital Marketing Through Social Media

When it comes to your digital marketing, there’s no question that social media should play a vital role in your overall mission. To ignore these platforms is to alienate potential customers since you’re unable to reach them where they’re currently spending most of their time. If you’re ready to elevate your small business through a new web design and better social media marketing, contact Charley Grey at (317) 659-7587.