Instagram Strategies for Your Small Business

As of 2018, there were 100 million active Instagram users in the United States alone (this is expected to hit 111 million this year). Worldwide, there are 100 billion active Instagram users.

Instagram has emerged to be one of the most powerful social marketing platforms. More than 60 percent of international brands are on it and they are making an average of 4.9 posts per week.

What’s more—80 percent of all Instagram users follow at least one business. So, whether you are a booming business or have gotten a good number of clienteles, using Instagram for your small business is one of the best decisions you could ever make.

Social media marketing is a powerful strategy to promote your brand. Maybe you have allocated a significant portion of your starting capital, which you may have sourced through business financing, fund your marketing initiatives. Advertising on Instagram is a bit more costly than advertising on Facebook and Twitter, with an average cost of $6.70 per thousand views. This all can seem that you need a lot of finances, but the investment is all worth it if you strategize correctly. If you do not have a budget for this, you can consider small business funding and make your social presence more visible. Or in addition to this, you can revise your budget and make room for this.

So, how do you get the most from Instagram?

Check out these strategies:

Create a Clear and Consistent Message

Who are you? What do you offer? Your business profile should answer these questions. Make your Instagram page attractive. Take note that it’s a visual platform. You need to create a visually appealing Instagram page that stands out from the crowd.

How do you do this?

• Build a stunning feed. Instagram is all about beautiful contents—striking photos and videos that are meant to educate, entertain, and inspire. Never post content if you’re not 100 percent happy with it.

• Select an overall theme. It should reflect your brand (color scheme, logo, style) and how you want people to perceive your business. Following a theme makes your page look more coherent and easily recognizable.

• Choose one filter and stick to it.
• Use only high-quality photos.
• Choose a subject. Know what your followers and fans interested in and build upon that.

Create a Clear and Consistent Message

Who are you? What do you offer? Your business profile should answer these questions. Make your Instagram page attractive. Take note that it’s a visual platform. You need to create a visually appealing Instagram page that stands out from the crowd.

How do you do this?

• Build a stunning feed. Instagram is all about beautiful contents—striking photos and videos that are meant to educate, entertain, and inspire. Never post content if you’re not 100 percent happy with it.
• Select an overall theme. It should reflect your brand (color scheme, logo, style) and how you want people to perceive your business. Following a theme makes your page look more coherent and easily recognizable.

• Choose one filter and stick to it.
• Use only high-quality photos.
• Choose a subject. Know what your followers and fans interested in and build upon that.

Leverage Instagram Stories

Talk about the instant hit. Instagram stories are among the app’s latest features. It allows you to string multiple images to create a ‘story’ which will disappear after 24 hours, similar to Snapchat. Here are great ideas for promoting your small business using Instagram stories:

• Take them behind the scenes. This could be a peek in your office “healthy” pantry, a look at how your chefs prepare your restaurant’s hit burrito or an insider’s update on your upcoming product launch.
• Make product demonstrations and guides. This gives you an opportunity to showcase your products in a different light.
• Create teasers for a new product.
• Use it for flash sales and exclusive offers.
• Use Hashtags the Right Way

A very popular feature of Instagram is the use of hashtags. And you know what they are. You probably use them a lot. But the question is—are you using it right?

Hashtags aren’t simply there for fun. Rather, they are used for categorization on social media. They let people easily find you. Instagram posts that have a hashtag has 12.6 percent more engagement than those without it.

Consider these tips to utilize the power of hashtags:

• Use Post Insights to track the success of your hashtags. Instagram has recently integrated the Instagram Graph API to include hashtags analytics.
• “Follow” hashtags. It gives you an opportunity to appear on your follower’s feed.
• Add clickable hashtags in your bio for added traffic in your website.
• Add hashtags in your Instagram stories.
• Find the Right Schedule for Posting

The frequency and time of your Instagram posts are important factors that determine your marketing success in this platform. Many marketers say that there are certain days and time in the week where Instagram posts are likely to trend. Research suggests that the best time to post on Instagram is between 2 PM and 3 PM, CDT. However, what works for others may not work for you. It is still best to tap into data to understand the behavior of your target audience and determine the time and day that they are more likely to capture your Instagram posts.

Promoting your small business on Instagram requires a few foolproof strategies to get awesome results. Make sure to incorporate these techniques the next time you launch a campaign on Instagram.