Launched in 2010 as a simple iPhone application, Instagram reached 1 billion users worldwide by 2020 and achieved a record success. As of 2020, there are 25 million businesses all over the world on Instagram. This number also shows that businesses prefer to open an Instagram business account as a first step for digital marketing. Also, 130 million Instagram accounts tap on a shopping post to learn more about products every month.
200 million Instagram users visit at least 1 business profile every day. According to Instagram’s 2020 data, 80% of Instagram users follow at least one business account. In other words, 8 out of every 10 users are interested in sharing their favorite brands by tracking their business accounts! The key here is to reach that target audience of your business on Instagram and to be among the favorite accounts that your potential customers follow. In fact, the way to increase your brand awareness and sales can also pass through here.
How to Optimize Your Account
1. Choose a Username
Consider the concept that you will create when choosing your username, the brand image that you will create. Make sure that your username is a clear name so your potential followers can find you. Since the Instagram search engine is not capable of showing the alternatives, such as Google, there is a risk that users may not be able to reach you if you use parser signs such as dots and dashes.
2.Profile Picture
Now it’s time to choose the right profile picture. Your profile picture is your first impression on new visitors. For this reason, keep your image consistent with your branding and visual markers. Consider using your logo or another familiar image. Instagram profile pictures are automatically cropped into a circle, so leave room around the corners of your image.
3. What is a Business Account?
By converting your account into a “business account”, you will make it easier for users who visit your profile to perceive you as a business profile and to make it more convenient to communicate. Link to your Facebook page to Instagram account. When you integrate these pages together, the Contact button will appear next to the Follow button. This feature will make your business management easier especially on the e-commerce side.
Facebook Instagram campaigns can also be created through the business account profile, you can also access Analysis Reporting Tools.
4.Bio
Use keywords. Add them into your description, use special fonts and emojis. The idea is to do something to stand out and make your purpose clear. Add a call to action to your bio. The key is not to make it too cluttered. Your bio is one of the first things people read about your brand, make it count.
5.Link/Website
This is the only area where you can redirect until you reach 10,000 followers. Therefore, you can refer to this area through your post or story. You can direct them to this link to participate in a campaign or let them get more information about your website.
6.Contact
This part is very important for those who want different communication methods after creating the audience. In addition, having a phone number and email database allows you to make impressions only to the target audience by making matches while advertising. Therefore, we recommend that you configure the contact button as an email and telephone collection tool.
7.Instagram Stories Highlights
Instagram Story Highlights are Instagram Stories that have been preserved past their 24-hour limit and posted to an Instagram profile. You can find them in the small circles under an Instagram bio. Story Highlights are a fantastic way to showcase your best stories and post them semi-permanently to your account for your followers to see. They are also useful ways to showcase products, services, and promotions.
8.Set some goals
The first step you can do in this regard is to find the most popular pages which have posted on the hashtags you have determined on your topic. What do user profiles look like? Do they match your target audience? Find pages popular in the world that does the same job as you do and keep a close eye on all their interactions.
9.Set Concepts
Identify concepts for your brand as well as for your goals and stick to your concepts. You can choose different concepts according to your audience and brand.
10. Prepare Social Media Posts
You should show your brand identity in the best way and using high-quality images is the key to this.
If you are an e-commerce site, you can provide information and publish about the benefits you offer within the scope of the products you have. According to the research conducted by Shopify, 93% of users say that visually affects their purchasing decision. 85% of consumers cite colour as being the main factor in their decision to purchase a product.
11.Post Sharing Time
You need to test and experiment to find the sharing schedule that will attract its users. Examine the times you get the most interaction between your trials and find the best times for you by sharing during those hours.
12. Use Thoughtful and Playful Captions
Emojis are a fun way to up your captions and help more people to stop and take notice. Don’t go overboard, but a few well-placed emojis that are relevant to your photo and caption can help to increase your Instagram engagement rate.
13. Use Hashtags
If you are using a campaign etc. interactivity, use a hashtag specific to it. According to the research of Simplymeasured, shares using hashtags get 12.5% more interaction. Use the basic hashtags of your brand and related it to your concept.
14.Location
If you are a business and you are posting an image of one of your products or services, you should tag your own business location in your post. Posts with a tagged location result in 79% higher engagement than posts without a tagged location. Others who are seeing that post will likely be more inclined to visit your location to try that dish out if they know upfront where you are located, versus having to look up that information on their own.
15.Sharing to Other Social Networks
The posts you share on Instagram can also be shared on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and Swarm. You can link your Instagram to use these alternative channels as well. Therefore, you can become visible to different users who follow you on other applications.
16.Partner with Similar Brands on Instagram for Giveaways
While giving away products or services for free may initially seem like a counterintuitive way to earn revenue, Instagram giveaways are a great way to increase your followers and gain exposure. Ultimately, giveaways and similar promotions should result in product sales which helps you to make money.
17. Use Instagram Story
Another thing you should pay attention to while managing your Instagram account is the stories. Your stories will be visible to your followers for 24 hours and then disappear. During this time, the best way to share a message, a product or service you want to sell with your followers is stories.
18.IGTV
Instagram TV or IGTV is the YouTube of Instagram. It allows you to create a channel and post your video content to be shared with your followers across the platform. The IGTV feature is a great way to interact with your followers in a longer video without taking people away from your Instagram account.
19. Use Instagram Stories Poll
If you are looking to engage with your audience and grab their attention, Instagram Stories polls are a great way to stop your followers from swiping past your story! Instagram Stories polls do not only grab your audience’s attention, but they also create an opportunity to hear directly from your followers and customers.
20.Mentions
When sharing a photo or video to your story, you can mention someone. Instagram is one of the strongest social media channels for highlighting collaborators and sharing customer success stories. Even if you don’t officially partner with a non-profit organization, you can give to charity or do a fundraiser a couple of times a year. It’s all good as long as the cause aligns with your brand values and mission. Take into account that not everyone is monitoring hashtags on social media, so tagging an account is usually a better choice if you want to get noticed.
21.Direct Message
DM is a great tool when it comes to product and update announcements. In a message, you can tell your customers what is new and what is to come. People love to hear on updates because this gives them a feeling that they are interacting with a live and dynamic business. Keep their interest in your brand alive!
22. Go Live
Using Instagram’s Live feature is going to benefit your profile. The algorithm is set to favour a user when they go live, notifying its followers and trying to get you seen by the highest number of people.
How to Promote Your Account
You can promote your Instagram account in three primary ways — through engagement marketing, via influencers, and with Instagram ads.
You may also like: How to monetize Instagram?
23. Engagement Marketing
Engagement marketing is simply a term for attracting more people to your business through genuine connections — it is a lot like networking. You can harness the power of engagement marketing by simply spending time interacting with your ideal followers. Engagement marketing is a cost-effective way to help your account see growth. It is essentially the strategy that an Instagram growth service would use.
24.Influencers
You can reach out to influencers through emails. Find some influencers who seem like a good fit and then send them an email, offering them some kind of value and treating them as a colleague in your Instagram for business.
25. Instagram Ads
The final way you can use it when you are promoting your Instagram for business is through Instagram ads. Choose an ad format (such as Instagram stories, a video ad, a carousel ad, etc) and then use consistent branding as you create your ads; always try to include a strong call-to-action which drives people toward a specific goal, whether that’s visiting your website or tapping the “Follow.” button.
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