Although Instagram has a reputation for being only an app to enhance pictures, the social media platform is in fact a gold mine for small businesses.
Many of the biggest brands in the world are dominating Instagram, such as Nike, Adidas, Starbucks and others.
Instagram has the attention of many people around the world, and many of those are engaged in the app daily. This means that there are potentially a lot of customers you could be selling to.
However, you shouldn’t just jump in if you don’t know much about the platform. That’s why today we’ll look at how small businesses can use Instagram.
#1 Make sure your other profiles are connected
When you set up your profile on Instagram, you should go ahead and make sure to connect all your other social media platforms as well. This means, for example, if you connect your Twitter or Facebook, when you post to Instagram you have the option to automatically post to your connected social accounts.
Another great benefit is that if you have a strong following on Facebook, for example, you can leverage that to gain followers on Instagram, as they will connect with you there as well.
#2 Track and adapt
Another important thing to do on Instagram is to make sure you measure as much as you can and adapt where you need.
This is easy to do with Instagram’s Insights, which is the platform’s analytics tool. It helps you to see your top posts that show which of your posts were the most popular. You can also see demographics about your followers and, if you’ve had any promotions, you can see detailed information about them.
#3 Use a lot of hashtags
Instagram is different from other networks like Twitter and Facebook in that their search works only through hashtags. The other sites all use keywords. Therefore, if you want to be found on Instagram for your product, service or niche, you will have to make sure to add as many appropriate hashtags as possible (up to 30 according to one study).
Be specific and relevant in your hashtags and never include things just to fill up the space.
#4 Make sure you engage with your followers
Another important thing is to make sure that you actually respond and engage with your Instagram followers.
Many people love to like and comment on others’ posts, and when you respond to their comments, you can actually push your post further. The more engagement there is to a post, the more likely that Instagram will highlight that post.
Because Instagram can only be used on mobile, it is quite easy to engage and stay in touch with your followers. Just make sure you do it in a good amount of time so that the engagement doesn’t grow stale.
The best Instagram tips
These tips are wonderful for getting you started on the platform, even if you’ve never considered doing it. It has a lot of potential, but the most important part is that you try and see what works for you on Instagram.
