IS THIS GUIDE FOR YOU?
You want to have a successful business Instagram account but you don’t know how to build one? Or maybe you already have one but you can’t engage your audience?
If you find intimidating creating a business account that will lead to your desired outcome with all the image filters and silly hashtags or you don’t know how to create engaging content that will increase your ROI, all these concerns will disappear while reading our guide, since we’ve researched already that sea of ever-changing opinions and compiled the best data on the subject, in here.
We can help you succeed with Instagram, regardless of what niche you’re in, or what stage and we can help you grow your business, since this is the third-largest social media network in the world, so good for promotion and in the end for increasing your revenue.
Instagram is a very powerful tool for marketing and even if the process of growing can take a little time, there are a lot of opportunities and once you’ll see people engaging, you’ll understand its worth.
We will start by responding to some of the most frequent questions business owners want to know about Instagram
Why is Instagram so popular?
Considering that the main purpose of this network is to connect your consumers with your brand, using visual imagery (that is more memorable than any strong headline), images that usually reflect the brand’s value, culture, products, etc. it makes Instagram a perfect marketing tool and offers to the brand lots of options to engage with the target.
Instagram is primarily mobile and this offers your business also a great chance to reach your customers on the go.
Which businesses benefit the most from Instagram?
Even if every business can benefit from Instagram, due to its visual nature, the platform will work better to B2C businesses and for services that can showcase their work.
How long will it take to build a popular profile?
The popularity of your profile will depend very much on the time and efforts you decide to put in building it. Of course, it will be helpful to follow our guide but considering Instagram is becoming more and more competitive, you need to dedicate yourself to build strong connections and loyalty. Sometimes it can take several weeks, other times 6 months should be enough to be able to see results.
Which type of Instagram profile is right for my business?
There are several types of profile you can create for your business and the main distinction depends on the type of content you will need to post.
The first important profile is the Business Profile that is usually represented of products and services that are clearly sold.
The Personal Brand Profile promotes someone’s personal brand, blog, book etc.- Mostly used by bloggers, influencers, leaders, or in general people that are selling themselves more than a product or a service
And the Fan Page Profile that doesn’t sell anything, but cultivates and audience and a community, making money from advertising, sponsored ads, shotouts etc.
Now, depending on what will serve you best, you should build one of these profiles and start promoting your business page.
GETTING STARTED ON INSTAGRAM
Creating an Instagram account is easy. Grab a mobile or a tablet and start building your profile. This will tell your followers who you are, what you do, how they can find you online or physically. This profile should include a username, profile name, bio, website and location.
You also need to upload a 110 x 110 px profile photo to make your account recognizable. Don’t forget to get creative, write a username and make sure it is your business name, URL and match it with all the other social media accounts.
The bio part is the most important part because it will allow you to add updates about discounts, lead magnets, to state your purpose and share the brand voice-all in 150 characters.
To make your profile searchable, you need to use hashtags, emojis, personality and hyperlinks that are usually prohibited anywhere else except in your profile. About the stories, we’ll talk a bit later.
Make sure that your link will send the followers to your business homepage or to a landing page of an actual campaign. This is the bridge between Instagram and your conversions, so you’ve got only one shot!
As a recommendation we believe you should set your account as a Business Profile because it will open some analytics features, allowing you to run campaigns. More than this, will give you a Contact Button on your profile.
Once you created your profile start getting to know your followers so you can create some engaging content. Understanding your target allows you to have a personal approach and to transform them into customers. One sure way to find out more about your target is to search the competitor’s profiles.
Check out your top 10 competitors and see what are their customers interested in, what makes them engage. Research the consumers profiles and see what kind of pages they are following. When you find specific themes and similarities, make sure you will include that in your Instagram content, but make them better.
CULTIVATING A CONSISTENT THEME
If you make sure your profile will contain the themes your followers really enjoy (quotes, videos, photos) your brand will have a sense of familiarity for them and they will depend on that consistency. Reinforce a coherent theme, make your profile recognizable and your followers will know what to expect, will know what are you all about.
Don’t forget that your visuals have to speak as loudly as your bio. Your Instagram aesthetics is an important extension of your brand so make sure you have a good design team that can create some visual assets that will attract followers and transform them into customers.
CREATING ENGAGING INSTAGRAM CONTENT
Once you know who your audience is, you’ll have to make people stick around and that is possible only with amazing valuable content. If you manage to post something entertaining or educational, they can follow you forever.
Quote images seem to be very popular on Instagram, inspiring and motivating people and driving lots of traffic. You can use WordSwag and Typorama to create these text focused visuals and you can get creative and write punchy messages and jokes to connect with your audience.
Instagram is also full of selfies and people photos. Give your brand personality displaying different kinds of experiences your customers are interested in, including humans in your posts. It is very important to get creative so you will engage your audience in a fresh way.
Just like motivational quotes, landscape images receive a great appreciation on Insta, so if you have scenic photos that symbolize where your company has been don’t hesitate to post them.
Another powerful way to make people follow your brand is the behind the scenes images. Giving a glimpse of the goings on at your company, makes them feel as they are a part of your community, connects them at a human level, behind all those fancy logos and product images.
As long as you don’t forget to have fun showing your team has cool people others would like to follow or hang out with, engagement will increase.
Curated Images and Video, typically featuring your products or brand in some way are also a great idea. Videos became popular after 2013 and as long as they are between 3 and 60 sec long, you can use them for products demonstrations, testimonials or to present your company in a creative way.
Product Photos Note are the most important but even so, they should not be the focus on your Instagram Account. The goal of Insta is to connect with your audience providing them value and things they are looking for. If they want to see photos of your products they can go to your website.
Stories- they have unique linking abilities and give the feeling of a real interaction with your audience. They humanize the brand and are valuable for sharing all the types of content described above. They not only help your brand to develop a personality but also, they give trust, boost awareness and drive conversions.
Nevertheless, now matter what type of content you decide to use it is very important to always provide high quality, visually appealing images and a theme that suits your brand and your consumer’s interest best.
Got overwhelmed already? Here’s a step by step method to come up with creative content.
- Understand Your Niche taping into your competitors account for inspiration and ideas;
- Check the most popular themes and posts and try to make your content better than theirs;
- Try to think what do they lack and you can provide: what kind of posts will make sense for this niche, for that specific audience;
- Once you managed to settle on a strategy and planed your content try to remain consistent, start posting and test the engagement.
At this point, you already have a good idea of what you can and should be posting on Instagram. But before you run out there and start posting images, let’s not forget the technical details.
The standard Instagram image size switched to 1080px x 1080px in July 2015 to keep up with high-resolution displays on smartphones, tablets, and computers. Later they also added the ability to post vertical and horizontal images. Here are the maximum sizes for square, vertical, and horizontal images: Square 1080px x 1080px Vertical 1080px W x 1350px H Horizontal 1080px W x 566px H. You can use any sizes within those measurements. If your image won’t fit, use apps like Whitagram and select Full Resolution. That re-optimizes the photo to fit on Instagram.
If you are ready to dominate Instagram, we will show you in our next article how to write captions that convert, when and how to post, how to schedule your content and how to develop and engaged Instagram following.
