You’ve undoubtedly witnessed Instagram’s power by now. From consumer complaints to a product going viral, the platform provides several services for small businesses, therefore leveling the digital playing field between small and large firms. Yet, because it has been there for a while, there is a wealth of knowledge accessible on how businesses may use it. We lay down how to utilize Instagram for your small company in this article, from making use of the platform’s capabilities to specific suggestions for increasing your digital presence.
Why Should Your Small Business Utilize Instagram?
When your presence on Instagram Business is correctly planned and managed, it provides a plethora of benefits to small companies. If you’re utilizing Instagram as a marketing tool, you’ll need a defined Instagram marketing plan. Sure, even if the account is solely managed by you. According to Instagram’s own research, 81% of users say the app helps them research products and services. You don’t want to lose a large number of clients just because you’re not active on the network. Continue reading for advice on how to maximize small business Instagram accounts.
1. Basics: Set up Your Profile
You may laugh, but this is a vital reminder. Have a look over your Instagram Business profile once you’ve been set up as a business account. New features and settings are often added, sometimes without notice. It never hurts to see if you have any new features to test out. Additional primary necessary business profile considerations include updating the business categories, hours, location(s), a contact method, and attaching any service or product catalogs. While you’re here, double-check that your profile features, such as your bio and profile photo, are consistent with your overall Social Media Marketing Agency in Dubai.
2. Optimize Your Link in The Bio
SMM Services in Dubai has managers who have been inventive in order to make the most of Instagram’s solitary link box. It’s become normal practice in articles to refer to your “link in bio” and utilize this link to serve up a landing page with a mix of fresh content and evergreen connections to your most significant product and service sites.
Whether your company shares links, want to provide several connections to clients, has multiple offerings, or all of the above, the landing page method is for you. There are a number of tools available to help you construct a link in the bio landing page. Furthermore, you can continue to optimize and plan the remainder of your content within Sprout’s Instagram publishing workflow. Small companies should communicate the most critical information with clients through links, just as you would set up your profile with vital company information.
3. GEO Tag Your Posts
When you publish from your small business’s actual location, include the name of the place in the post. If you didn’t do this when you first posted, you may go back and modify them.
What is the purpose of geotagging? Instagram Business gathers all of the posts tagged with that location and organizes them into top and recent. Your brand photographs coexist with consumer photos. The “View Information” button at the top provides access to information about the marked business. All of this helps clients study your organization and increases brand familiarity. Do you have no idea what to order at a restaurant? Go through the most current photographs and discover what people recommend.
4. Use the Save Post Feature
This method is not for the general public, but it may be effective for improving your small business’s Instagram content strategy. Instagram allows you to “save” a post and organize it into a collection to see later. While it is not required to build collections, it is recommended. This feature may be used for research and inspiration in a variety of ways. Some collection ideas are as follows:
- What your competitors are posting about
- Visual inspiration for photos
- Great captions you’ve come across
- Ideas for future posts
- Customer reviews
- Both happy and unhappy customer posts
- Potential influencers
As you can see, there are several options open to you. If you find yourself thinking, “Oh, this is a great post,” save it.
5. Highlights May Be Used to Demonstrate What Your Company Is All About.
Instagram’s Stories Highlights feature allows you to reveal even more about your business. Highlights keep your Stories alive by displaying them on your profile after they would otherwise disappear, and they may help you aggregate those Stories into an easy source of evergreen material. Because they appear above your grid, begin with the fundamentals, such as:
- About: Simply a few postings about your principles, working hours, and brand.
- Locations or highlights per location: If you have several sites, discuss each one and provide images from each.
- Consumer feedback or posts: Repost from customer feed postings or make graphics highlighting reviews from other sources.
- FAQs: Provide information that consumers frequently ask for. This also saves time when replying to consumers because you can send them to this page. Highlight
- Product/service characteristics: Make an overarching one or one for each product or service. Some topics simply cannot be covered in a single post. This is where you may get into the weeds.
6. Create Guides
Guides, like Instagram Business Highlights, let you collect your favorite posts into a single piece of featured material. Yet, there are some significant variances. The format is more editorial, almost as if you were reading an essay. You may store photographs and posts from your own feed as well as feeds from others.
Each embed allows for a caption, where you may write more about the product or area you’re highlighting. Guides, in addition to the concepts described in the Highlights section, are excellent for generating a list of destination recommendations. These might be all of your locations or local companies that you suggest. You might broaden the topic to include an introduction to your city, an exploration of the community you live in, or suggestions from influencers. And what if you’re afraid to use this feature? Not to worry. Guides can be stored as draughts until they are ready to be published.
7. Pay Attention to Captions
The opening line of your caption attracts people’s attention and determines whether they expand to read more. You should double-check the remainder of your caption in addition to the first sentence. With the latest advent of Instagram’s keyword search, what you put in your Instagram caption is now more crucial than ever. You could be cutesy or styled with your terms before, and while you may still do so, you should make sure you include phrases that you want others to connect you with. This might contain your company’s brand and product names, as well as general keywords related to your industry, comparable to basic keyword research.
8. Use Instagram Live Constantly
Going Live for companies became increasingly popular in 2020, as marketing managers and business owners found themselves working from home but yet needing to communicate with customers on a personal level.
Instagram Live has a plethora of advantages. The most significant feature is that followers are alerted when an account they follow goes Live. This rapid connection is especially important when attempting to stand out on the network. Here are a few ideas to get you started on Live:
- Go behind the scenes: Provide a tour of your workspace or demonstrate a creative process. You should begin with anything that the consumer does not have public access to.
- Run a Q&A: Instagram Business offers a Q&A function that alters the story post to reflect the accompanying sticker if you use it. Live Q&As might be about everything (AMA) or about specific items.
- Conduct an interview: Transfer the live stream to another account. Having a guest on the Live provides you the opportunity to interview them on the spot or give them the microphone to highlight what they’re passionate about.
- Demonstrate a product or service: Is it simpler to show than to talk about your product or service? Use Live to detail this. If you enable comments, your viewers will also offer you feedback on what they wish to see.
9. Offer “followers-Only” Promotions
Everyone enjoys a good bargain. Just a one-time sale? It is a marketing strategy based on FOMO and urgency. If you conduct a limited-time followers-only campaign, it provides your followers another incentive to stay engaged and wait for the next one. Use the countdown Story sticker to create a buzz or to run a flash sale so that the promotions are surprising.
