- HoneyHat

What Is Instagram?

Let’s start with Instagram for beginners. It is a visually-focused social media platform and app that allows users to share photos and videos with their followers. It began as a simple photo-sharing platform. Since then, it has evolved to a multimedia platform that includes paid advertisements, Stories self destructing messages, live broadcasts via IGTV, and multimedia platforms with paid advertisements.

This is a great place to connect brands with consumers. It leverages a platform with over 1.3 million users around the world .

Instagram’s demographics are also interesting. The audience is almost equally split between male and female users. However, most of them are 25-34 years old. This is the channel to use if you want to reach this group.

How To Download Instagram

Go to the Google Play Store, or Apple App Store depending on the operating system of your device. The app is free to download. You will be asked to create an account when you first open the app.

Types Of Instagram Posts

It’s important to be familiar with the types of content that you can post on Instagram if you want to promote your business. You can include a variety of Instagram posts in your content mix.

Organic: These are photos, videos or galleries of visuals. This will show up in your followers’ feeds and on any hashtags that you use in the copy. It could also be visible in the Explore section (Instagram has this ).
Stories: Stories are used by 500 million Instagram accounts every day. One-third of all Stories viewed on Instagram come from brands and not individuals.

Influencer posts: Although consumers seem to have gotten wise to the influencer marketing methods, it is still a viable tactic. These posts can be shared on the influencer’s feeds, or your brand’s, allowing you to reach new audiences and adding credibility through social proof.

IGTV: IGTV, one of Instagram’s newest features, is now available. This feature is for long-form video content. You can broadcast live, and the video will be available on your profile once the event ends.
Ads One million is a lot of people, so it’s likely that not all who are on Instagram will be your target customers. You can specify the parameters that will show your ads to ensure they are relevant to your profile.

How do I create an Instagram Business Account?

A company account is the first step in learning how to use Instagram marketing to your business. These are the steps you need to convert your regular Instagram account into a corporate account.

Tutorial for Instagram Profiles for Businesses

Open your Instagram account and tap the menu in the upper right corner.
Select “Settings” to see if it is possible to switch to a professional account using this menu. If you can’t, tap Account > Business.
Follow the instructions to sync your Instagram and Facebook accounts.
Select a business category to enter your contact information.
Enter more information about your business in these fields and then click Done.

Congrats! Congratulations! You have created an Instagram page for your business. You now need to optimize it for your target audience so it can attract them towards your business.

How to Optimize your Instagram Business Account

Optimize your Instagram Bio

There are many ways to market your company on Instagram. Your bio is a little bit of text that tells people about you, your brand and who created it.

In your Instagram bio, you’ll see your brand’s description and profile photo. (Use your logo to increase brand recognition.

To increase trust and convert more customers, it’s a good idea for your bio to include some of your unique selling points. If you have a brick-and mortar location, make sure to include your address so that shoppers can find you easily.

Have a look at High-end Jewel Brand Claurete ‘s Instagram bio.

It is extremely important to have a profile link. Unlike social media channels, Instagram isn’t link-friendly. You can only have one link in your bio. Links cannot be created from individual photos. Paid is an exception.

Your bio link can be updated as often as necessary. Your website, landing page, product page or another page should be where it is located. For example, if you are linking to a page about a sale on your website, upload a photo and change your bio link. This is a very common practice among brands on Instagram.

Create an Instagram Shop

You can launch your Instagram store if you sell online. Your Instagram Shop allows customers to purchase your product directly from the Instagram interface. It’s easier to convince them to buy your product because they don’t have to leave the app and visit your website.

An example of an Instagram Shop is The MVMT watches :

How to Post on Instagram: Building Your Content Strategy

Branding is the key to Instagram. You need to create a cohesive Instagram feed that includes product photos, lifestyle images, UGC, shoutouts, and other visuals that reflect your brand’s personality. You can post pictures of sunglasses-wearing people on sunny beaches, or even place your product among other outfits and accessories that are appropriate for the adventures your target audience may want to take.

Prior to getting into the details, it is important to have a strategy-first, goal-driven approach before you start any marketing efforts for your business. Your Instagram strategy should be clear:

What are your Instagram goals? (Make sure they support the overarching business and marketing goals)
You’ll be looking at specific KPIs to determine performance.
Who are you targeting on Instagram
What content are you going to post on Instagram
Who manages the account and creates the content for Instagram

You’ll gain a lot of knowledge over time, including how to select content for Instagram. This will help you reach your goals. You can ask yourself “Why do people use Instagram?” as well as why they follow brands. Then, you can create a strategy that is centered on your audience and not your sales goals.

How to get followers for your Instagram business page

Keep the primary goal of growing your feed in mind when you are trying to grow it. This is helping to generate more sales. This requires a strategic, long-term approach.

You can grow your audience by following other accounts that may be interested in your brand. You can find Instagram accounts to follow in the “Discover” section of the app. You can also follow brands that are similar to or complement yours on Instagram.

Continuing with the sunglasses example, you may want to expand your network by following influencers and beach clothing brands that might be wearing sunglasses similar to yours. You can also siphon followers away from your competitors by being strategic about who you follow. Go to their accounts and add some of their followers.

You can build relationships with your audience by following back accounts you follow. Don’t forget that a simple follow doesn’t suffice. Make sure you comment and like other profiles. Engagement is just as important as the initial act.

You won’t see results in a matter of hours. Keep looking on Instagram for the best accounts to feed your networks. You will eventually see results.

What and How Often to Use Instagram?

As we have already mentioned, Instagram has its own strategy, unlike other marketing channels such as Facebook.

At least one post per day is . This is a good benchmark span styling=”font-weight 400 ;”>,, but any number between 4-5 and even a few posts per day is acceptable. The important thing is? It should be consistent and focussed on high-quality content.

Data suggests that there is no limit to how many times you can post to Instagram. It’s best to experiment and find what works for your needs. It’s a good idea to start by posting once or twice per day, and then adjust as needed.

When is the best time for you to post on Instagram? It all depends on where you are located, what your audience is doing, and how they use Instagram. It’s a good idea to post in the afternoon (between 11 and 1 p.m.), and at night (between 7 and 9 p.m.). Monday, Wednesday and Thursday are the best days to post. Sunday is the worst day for posting.

How to promote your business on Instagram

Upload Photos and Videos

Consider how you want your photos or videos to look. What are you trying to capture in the frame? What will the image look like on a smartphone? Is it able to display the product details you desire front-and-center on a mobile device? Is it consistent with your brand’s aesthetic? It’s important to remember that you are curating a whole feed.

If you only sell t-shirts it will be difficult to post photos of coats, shoes or accessories. You can also exclude items you feel are not appropriate for your account. You can see the connection between all of American Giant’s Instagram photos:

Choose a Color Palette or Font

A color palette can help you achieve the synergy that we are referring to. You don’t have to post content in only approved colors. However, all posts should have a common aesthetic and complement one another rather than being a random collection of posts.

Instagram offers built-in filters to help you adjust the appearance of your posts. These include sepia and black-and-white effects, as well as many other effects. It’s best not to use filters in the app. Instead, you should use your photo-editing software to add these effects to visual assets.

Also, you should choose a font for your posts. This includes font style and point size. To create brand synergy across channels, it’s likely to be the same font as your website.

Captions

Visual content is only half the story. Instagram allows you to add a caption to each post. You have up to 2,200 characters, or approximately 330 words, to use. This is where you can get creative.

Captions should be clear and consistent with your brand. Your captions should be humorous if your brand uses humor. Elegance is important if you are a luxury brand. You shouldn’t be afraid of using emojis. These emojis can be fun and conversational, which is great for social media.

Like your visuals, captions should be consistent and on-brand. Although your tone may change, it is important to keep your brand voice consistent. In today’s multichannel world, consistency is essential.

Use Hashtags

Last on the list #Hashtagsspan-style=”font weight: 400 ;”>. A key strategy to increase engagement is to include hashtags in your post’s description or comments. Users click on a hashtag to go to a different feed that contains every post with that hashtag. This makes your posts discoverable by new audiences that may not have interacted with your account before.

Find out which hashtags you should use by comparing your competitorsspan styling=”font-weight 400 ;”>, influential people in your niche and the hashtags they use.

Toysmith has hashtags in their posts:

Instagram Paid Ads

You can also use Instagram to create paid ads. Your targeted audience will see the ads in their newsfeed, just like photos and videos from other accounts. You can choose a single image or video to promote a product or a group with a gallery. You can also promote ads on Instagram Stories.

To create your Instagram paid ads, all you need is a Facebook Ads account. You can add the channel to your Business Manager page. The same process applies to Facebook ads.

Tracking your progress on Instagram

It’s essential to monitor your marketing progress and adjust to improve performancespan styling=”font-weight 400 ;”>.

Here are some KPIs to consider on Instagram:

Followers: total, growth, etc.
Engagement: likes, comments, reposts, views, etc.
Visibility: impressions, reach, etc.
Conversions: Clickthroughs, referral traffic and sales.

It can be helpful to know how many people view your profile compared to how many followers you have. This will help you decide if you need to increase your engagement to get more followers from the people who only view your profile.

Summary – How to Start an Instagram Business in 2023

You now have the foundation for how to use Instagram for your business. Take your time and be patient to make your account a revenue-generating machine.

Create an account by entering your username handle, profile picture, and Instagram bio.
To help you plan your Instagram content strategy, including publishing schedule, hashtags, targeting, and targeting, create a content strategy.
Keep in touch with other accounts and be sure to engage, especially at the beginning.
You can build a following organically, then try targeted Instagram ads to reach the right audience.
Track your performance over time. Optimizing is the key to ensuring you get the best ROI from your efforts.

Share your comments, questions or experiences with Instagram in the comments section below.

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Author: Paula Borowska

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