How to Use Instagram to Promote Your Business3 min read

How to Use Instagram to Promote Your Business

You might think of Instagram as a platform used by Millenials to post selfies and pictures of their food and pets. But Instagram is much more than that. Businesses across the world are using this photo-friendly social media platform to drive sales and convert leads. Don’t miss out on what Instagram can provide for your business. This article will help you understand how to use Instagram to promote your business and make you more profitable. 

Instagram users are looking to buy

Instagram users are consumers. They are looking to follow brands related to their hobbies and interests. Users come to social media platforms to look for recommendations for products and services. If their friends are posting positive pictures about a certain company, they too will be more likely to buy from them.  

Use a soft-sell approach

With Instagram, it’s the picture that does the selling. You don’t need lengthy captions telling users why they need your product. Actually, the hard-sell approach turns leads away. It’s all about using a high quality photo or video to spark leads’ imaginations. 

High quality media

It’s all about your images on Instagram. Take time to frame your photo and think about the details. Most smartphones work fine, but if you are looking for a really professional look invest in an SLR digital camera. When composing your shot make sure to consider:

  • Lighting
  • Color scheme
  • Placement
  • Tone

Your image is your selling point. Take as many shots as you need to get it right.

Don’t use a personal account for business

Maybe you already have a personal Instagram account. It’s tempting to want to use it for your business too. But this isn’t a good practice. Personal accounts are for fun with friends. It’s always best practice to create two distinct and separate accounts. In fact, it’s best not to personally appear on your business Instagram account at all. 

Don’t forget to link

When you are posting on Instagram for your business, you’re going to need to include a link so your potential customers can buy the product they are viewing. On this social media platform, putting a link in your bio is your best bet as Instagram doesn’t allow for hyperlinks directly in the image description. Just remind your followers that the link to your website is always in your bio. 

Be consistent

With personal accounts on social media platforms we are always changing our profile picture and updating our bios. While that works for personal accounts, you want to keep your business account consistent. Use your logo or a picture that represents your brand and don’t change it too often. You want to begin to build brand recognition, and that can’t happen if you are changing your profile picture every week. 

Utilize geo-tags 

If your business is running a special event or holding a sale at a specific location, make sure you use geo-tags to show where things are happening. Geo-tags use GPS tracking to mark your specific location and can serve as incentives for nearby Instagram users to drop by your location. 

Use hashtags

Using hashtags helps bring new followers to your profile. Essentially, hashtags allow users to search specific tops of interest to them. If your post is hastaged with a tag that other users are searching, your photos will come across their individual feed. But don’t go overboard with your hashtags. Three to four per post are a good target number. 

Instagram can be a great tool for businesses, and by utilizing it correctly you’ll be able to capture leads that weren’t available to you before. Using the above suggestions will get your business Instagram account started. You will be on your way to the multitude of followers you seek.