With over 1 billion monthly active users, Instagram is an ever-growing and extremely popular social media platform. Whilst it used to be a place to post your most recent holiday snaps or pictures of your children’s latest escapades, it is now an extremely popular outlet for businesses.
It’s suggested that the majority of Instagram users are under the age of 35, so if your target market falls within those parameters, you should be posting on Instagram. It’s a great platform to engage with your existing customer base, create new ones, and let people know what your business is all about.
Here are 4 Instagram tips that could help grow your small business.
Collaborate with influencers
Instagram influencers usually have high engagement rates and a large number of followers. That’s why collaborations can prove extremely fruitful due to the increasing number of users you can potentially reach. According to Socialbakers, the number of Instagram influencers using the #ad hashtag grew by 133% between February 2018 and 2019. This shows that more and more businesses are using them to advertise their brand and products.
Whilst you can try and make contact with influencers directly, it isn’t always easy, and the results can be hit and miss. Working with companies such as Collabstr.com can make it a whole lot easier. For a monthly fee, you will be afforded access to an unlimited number of influencers. This reduces contact and negotiation times and allows you to get the ball rolling immediately.
Don’t forget the hashtags
Like many other social media platforms, hashtags are an integral part of Instagram. Users can engage with and follow certain hashtags whilst businesses can create hashtags to promote their brand as well as new campaigns and products.
Whilst you can use around 30 hashtags on any given post, it’s not a good idea. Too many hashtags can make users less inclined to interact and, to be frank, can make you look a bit desperate. Try and keep hashtags to around 6-10 maximum and make them as relevant as you can to your products, service, and company ethos.
Find out what your competition is up to
As is the case with all other social media outlets, any business needs to be up to speed with what their competitors are doing online. This allows you to stay relevant and will give you a good understanding of what might be needed to set you apart from the rest.
Monitoring their hashtags, follower levels, and post content could provide some great info. It’s never a good idea to directly copy what others are doing, of course, but it will give you some insight into what might and might not be working.
Make your photos Insta-worthy
If you are going to build your brand on Instagram, your photographs need to be good. Make sure your lighting is decent, use filters where necessary, and try to make your photos eye-catching. There are millions of photos uploaded to Instagram each day, so it’s important to try and make yours stand out. Users will be more inclined to follow you and make a purchase if your products capture their interest, so take your time and make each photo count.
