Instagram now boasts over 1.3 billion active users. With its huge user base and exceptional engagement rate, Instagram for business is a great tool for marketing your brand. Hence, you should know how to use Instagram for your business.

1. Create Your Instagram Business Account

When you create an Instagram business account, you will have access to business features like contact details, in-depth analytics and more.

Here is how to set up an Instagram Business account.

(i) First, download the app.

(ii) Log in with your email address to sign up. In case you are on Facebook business, then you can like both profiles. To do that, simply tap “Log in with Facebook”.

(iii) Select your password and user name.

(iv) Open the app. Select “settings”. Tap on “switch to business account”. You will now have an Instagram business account.

(v) Add relevant business details like phone number, physical business address (if it exists), email address and business hours.

The chances are that you may already have an Instagram account. You can convert it to a business account just by going to step (iv),  

2. Create Your Instagram Strategy

Instagram is an awesome platform from where you can target prospects. But you can do that only if you have a solid strategy in place.

Understand Your Target Audience

You can create relevant and useful content only if you know who your target audience is. Once you understand your targets, you can use empathy and other means for composing content that will resonate with them.

It would help if you asked the following questions to get to know your target audience.

  • Where do your customers live?
  • What age group do they belong to?
  • What interests them?
  • What is their character like?

Understanding the answers to these questions can give you clues as to the kind of content they prefer. The better you understand your audience, the more relevant your content will be.

Set Goals

You need to set goals for yourself so that you know exactly what you want to achieve. When you have objective goals in mind, you will know what kind of content you need to achieve those goals.

Posting Calendar

Besides content quality and relevance, frequency is another key factor. You need to post content at the right frequency for your efforts to create a desirable impact.

You need to set up a schedule or calendar that shows what you will be posting and when.

Some of the best times to post content are Friday from 10 to 11 am and Wednesday at 11 am.

Take care to include variety in your content so that viewers feel motivated to keep checking your posts.

3. Instagram Profile Optimization

It would help if you optimized your Instagram profile so that it looks attractive and inviting to your prospects.

Profile Photo

Your brand logo will be the face of your business. So you can upload the brand logo image as the profile photo.

Bio

The bio should convey the true nature of your brand succinctly so that your visitors know what your business is about and what it stands for. You can try mentioning your core values and how your brand is trying to achieve them.

Since there are just 150 characters, there is very little room to manoeuvre. So make sure that you are using the most meaningful words and phrases.

To evoke the right emotions, you can make use of emojis where appropriate. Not only does it save precious character space, but it also makes your profile more lively and engaging.

Website and CTAs

One key benefit of an Instagram Business account is that you are free to include your website address as well as CTAs.

You can urge visitors to buy tickets, make reservations, book appointments, contact you or do something else useful via appropriate CTA buttons.

4. Create and Upload Content

After getting your content strategy right, you will have to follow it to create awesome content that will appeal to the masses and drive more traffic to your Instagram platform and website.

Instagram provides several means through which you can share stunning, mesmerizing and visually appealing content. You can create content and add it to IGTV, Instagram Reels, Instagram Live, Instagram Stories, etc.

The nature of your content will depend on your business, industry, audience type and other factors.

For instance, if you are in the retail industry, you can take product pictures against the right backdrops to create a favorable impact on your audience.

So if you are promoting all-natural cosmetics, you can display your items in front of citrus fruits, for instance, to create a good impression.

Go Behind the Scenes

While there are times when you will want a more polished and professional look, you will also want to show the human side of your brand to evoke interest in your audience.

Once in a while, you can post intriguing behind-the-scenes videos and photos to build brand loyalty by showing your brand culture and human values. You can also show the story of your brand and delineate your vision for the future.

User-Generated Content

User-generated content is invaluable. Not only does it provide content for free, but it is also a great way of engaging your visitors and customers.

For example, you can invite customers to post pictures of themselves with T-shirts that have your brand name emblazoned on them. You can feature the best pics in your ads and other marketing campaigns. You will get amazing photos for free and make your customers feel special too.

5. Analytics

Use analytics tools to see how your profile is performing and the areas you can improve upon.

Analytics data is known as Insights. To find this data, you can click on the hamburger menu on the top right of the app.

The Insights dashboard is easy to use and allows you to effortlessly drill down in detail for more precise information.  

Bottom Line

We hope by now, you would know the power of Instagram. By beefing up your marketing strategies on Instagram, you can take your business to new heights.