Around 95 million photos are shared on Instagram EVERY DAY. Are you doing everything you can to stand out?
Here are 7 simple things you can update or add to your strategy and presence right now to be your best self on Insta, and drive more enquiries and sales!
1. Use a Business Account
Haven’t made the switch over to a business account yet? Now’s the time! Unlike personal accounts, business accounts offer analytics related to post performance and follower growth.
When you use a business account, you can set up your office location and hours in a section separate from the traditional Instagram bio, AND – since 80% of Instagram users follow at least one brand – Instagram allows Business accounts to include a contact button, making social media customer support easier.
To convert an existing personal account to a business account…
- Go to your profile settings
- Select Switch to Business Profile
- Review your business’s information, make any changes and tap Done
2. Optimise Your Bio
To make the best first impression, ensure your bio and profile pics are optimised. Your profile pic represents who you are, so choose your logo to help you stay visually consistent across all of your channels. Make sure your logo doesn’t become cropped in the round view.
Make your bio easy to scan, and ensure it contains all of the important info to let users know who you are, and why they should follow you.
- Include a keyword or your location (or both!) in your profile, or even in the name field.
- Include your branded hashtag (more on that later…)
- Add line breaks or emojis to split up your text and make your profile skimmable
- Add a call to action before the link to your website or online store
- Add a couple of key contacts (in the contact fields) to help users get in touch
- Set up your action buttons
- Ensure your business category is correct/ the most relevant to your business
3. Post a Mix of Content
To keep users engaged and make your account page look its best, share a good mix of content – including candid, behind the scenes photos, professional imagery, product shots and flatlays. Also be sure to include video or moving content regularly, including short videos, animations and gifs designed with popular tools such as Legend and Boomerang.
Don’t underestimate the value of user-generated content! UGC is any type of content created by a customer, fan, or user. If someone posts a photo of your products and tags you or uses your branded hashtag, reshare it! You can do this manually by taking a screenshot (although be aware this will reduce image quality) or using a tool such as Regram. Remember to credit them in your description.
4. Hashtags & Emojis
If you want users to discover your content – and your brand – on Instagram, hashtags are a must. We recommend adding 10 – 20 hashtags to every post – either in the post’s description (using a few line breaks to separate them from your description), or by adding a comment immediately after publishing with those hashtags included.
Emojis are equally important – not only because they can help lighten up your descriptions and show some personality, but because studies have shown that posts with emojis have a higher interaction rate. You can even combine the two with hashtagged emojis, allowing users who search hashtagged emojis to find your content.
Keep all of your hashtags in a memo or note on your device so you can copy and paste them quickly, rather than needing to memorise and type them all out each time you share a post.
Need to find more relevant hashtags to gain maximum exposure to your target audience? Have a good old fashioned brainstorm, add localized variations of key hashtags to your arsenal (ie, #Marketing #MarketingNZ and #MarketingChristchurch), and use free online tools such as RiteTag and Hashtagify to find related and popular hashtag suggestions.
5. Branded Hashtags
Want to encourage more user-generated content, increase engagement, run a competition, or simply make it easier to discover what your customers are saying about you online?
Create a branded hashtag, pop it in your bio, use it on your posts, promote it on Thank You cards included with your products, and ask your customers to include it on posts they share about your brand and products.
6. Engage, Engage, Engage!
Don’t forget that Instagram is a social platform – which means it’s just as important to be replying to comments and liking/ commenting on the posts of your fans, suppliers, stockists and customers.
7. Utilise Stories & Highlights
Instagram Stories are not just for individuals! In fact, Stories can be a great tool for businesses – particularly if you want to promote a flash sale or limited offer, or capture the attention of busy users who are regularly scrolling through content.
Stories is Instagram’s answer to taking on Snapchat – allowing users to collate pictures and video footage into short slideshows, which can be overlaid with text, graphics and emojis, and will disappear after 24 hours. Once they’re gone, they’re gone. Unless…
You add them to Instagram Stories Highlights! One of the biggest and most exciting recent additions to Instagram bios, Stories Highlightsare permanent collections of your best Stories, which you can pin to the front of your profile (where they’ll live until you delete them). Think of them as a ‘trailer’ for your feed, since they’re the perfect way to share the very best parts of your brand with new visitors.
Good luck!