7 Instagram Tips for Businesses
You’ve created an account for your business on Instagram. What’s next? I sat down with our own social media manager, Emily Salshutz, to glean some tips for getting the most out of Instagram for your business. Here they are!
1. Location! Location!
Emily suggests, “Always tag the location if it’s relevant. Users frequently look through images and videos tagged in their favorite locations, or when they’re planning a trip. If your business is in a tourist destination you can take advantage of this traffic.”
To add your location, simply tap “Add Location…” when editing your image. You’ll be shown existing locations in your area, or you can search to find the location you’re looking for.
2. Celebrate your customer
Emily also suggests celebrating your customer. “Encourage them to show off what they’ve purchased or how they’ve used their product and reshare! Resharing and sharing fan content goes a long way. Not only does it make your customers feel happy, but it encourages engagement going forward.”
3. Gain an edge with video
“Video is huge,” says Emily (and she’s not just saying that because we’re a video company). Not only is it great for capturing attention as your followers scroll through their Instagram feeds, but video will also help you get discovered, as Instagram now shows featured videos when you do a search.
4. Partner up for takeovers
Want to grow your follower base? Team up with an influencer in your space and have them take over your Instagram account for a day. You can also team up with similar-sized businesses that are complimentary to yours — have them share images with your followers and you with theirs. Clickin Moms has a lot of great examples of this. Here’s an example where Cyndi Greenwalt took over the Clickin Moms Instagram account.
5. Get noticed with #hashtags
Hashtags are a great way to get discovered on Instagram too. When people search for a particular hashtag, your posts will appear alongside other images and videos that use the same hashtag. Looking for good hashtags to use? Emily’s got a tip for that: “When you search ‘Tags’ for a hashtag that fits your brand or the image or video you’re sharing, ‘Related’ hashtags will show up. For example, I just searched for #dogsofinstagram and it showed me the related tags #dogsofig #dogslife and #dogs_of_instagram.
6. Link in the bio
Remember that links included in Instagram posts won’t be hyperlinked, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use Instagram to drive traffic back to your website, a specific product page, blog post, or any other online destination. Just update the link in your bio to whatever you’re currently promoting and let your followers know in your descriptions that they can find a link in the bio!
7. Advertise
Advertising on Instagram can be a great way to reach potential customers that aren’t following you. Emily explains, “You can easily create Instagram ads through Facebook’s ad manager. Not many small businesses are utilizing this resource, but it can be very valuable if you need to reach a local audience. Set your audience location, think about some basic demographics, and you’re good to go.” Learn more on Instagram’s website.
If you’re using Instagram for your business and have some tips of your own, we’d love to hear them! Reach out on Facebook or Twitter, or leave a comment below. Oh, and don’t forget to follow us on Instagram!