With an advertising audience of more than 1.16 billion users, Instagram can offer a lot of reach to brands. The potential reach of Instagram for marketing is only going up, with 76million more people joining the up in just a few months. Most Instagram users follow at least one business, and not just consumer products. A lot of B2B decision-makers use Instagram when they research new products or services, so it can work well for anyone. This set of Instagram marketing tips will help you improve your Instagram strategy, whether you’re new to the platform or have been on it since the start.
Use A Business Account
If you currently have an account for your business but have it set up as a personal account, you ought to reconsider. Don’t worry, you don’t need to figure out how to delete Instagram account, as Instagram allows you to switch your account type easily at any time.
A business account gives you access to a lot of useful features that you can’t access with a personal account, including:
- Instagram insights
- Instagram ads
- Instagram shopping
- Primary and secondary messaging inboxes
- Contact information and a call-to-action button on your profile
Clearly Define Your Goals
All social platforms are tools. You can’t use those tools very effectively if you don’t what it is that you’re trying to build.
Instagram marketing can mean different things to different marketers. Do you want to:
- Create an online presence for your business?
- Increase brand awareness?
- Get new leads?
- Establish your brand as an industry leader?
- Sell products directly through the app?
Know Your Audience
A little bit of research can help you to work out who you will be best able to reach when you’re working out how to market on Instagram. For example, according to research done by Hootsuite, Instagram demographics show that:
- The most active Instagram users are aged between 18 and 29.
- The United States is the largest Instagram market.
- More urban residents use Instagram than suburban residents.
Optimize Your Profile
In only 150 characters, your Instagram bio needs to make a good first impression on visitors to your profile, get across your brand’s personality, and tell people why they ought to bother to follow your account. This is a lot to ask from such a small space.
Luckily, you also get a few other fields on your Instagram profile that will help you to showcase what your brand is all about and to make it easier for people to find you. These fields include:
- Your name. These 30 characters are also included in search.
- Your username, or handle. This is also 30 characters and included in search.
- Your website. This is a clickable URL that you can change as often as you like.
- Category. This is a business feature that tells people what you’re about without needing to use up any of your bio characters.
- Contact info. Tell people where to find you and how to get in touch.
- Call-to-action buttons. Give Instagram users a way to interact with you directly on your profile page.
Choose The Right Profile Photo
For most brands, your Instagram profile photo ought to be your logo. This helps to give a sense of credibility and lets visitors see quickly who you are.
Your Instagram profile photo is 110 by 110 pixels, cropped to a circle with a 110-pixel diameter. However, your photo is stored at 320 by 320 pixels, so upload a file that large to make sure it will still look good if Instagram decides to change the way they display profile pictures.
If your logo is square, you will need to zoom out enough to show the whole logo within the circle, without cropping any details.
