How To

Language:

How to Grow Your Business with Instagram

By Alison K Plaut

Published on 28 Nov 2023 5 min read

Social media and Instagram offer huge opportunities for business growth. Instagram currently has over 2.35 billion monthly active users, and it’s projected to reach over 2.5 billion by the end of 2023. The majority of marketers now use Instagram, along with other social media platforms like Facebook, to build reach and engage target audiences. 

Instagram offers unique marketing potential in which users like to connect with brands. In other words, your target audience is probably already looking for your company on Instagram. Read on to learn how to grow your business with Instagram.

10 Best Practices to Grow Your Business with Instagram

Here are some of the best practices to use Instagram for business growth. 

1. Create an Engaging and Visually Appealing Profile

When setting up a company Instagram account, start with a great username that’s relevant and easy to remember. You don’t want to be @company_A102834. 

Remember to select a business account to take advantage of some of the features we have outlined below. And don’t overlook the bio! A compelling bio and a link to your website can intrigue potential customers and send them organically to your site.

Finally, remember that Instagram is a visual platform, and the old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words holds true. Choose a company profile picture that reflects your band offering. If you don’t already have an LLC, consider opening an LLC as a creator. 

2. Post Regularly and Consistently

A consistent posting schedule is essential. Plan to post daily or weekly. How often you post is less important than consistency. There are numerous apps and online resources to suggest the optimal times to post based on your target audience and location. 

You could use an Instagram scheduler like Tailwind to schedule posts ahead of time. However, if posting at 10 am each day works for you, and you’ll stick with it, that’s more important than hitting “optimal” times. 

3. Use Relevant and Popular Hashtags 

Relevant, popular hashtags can help your posts organically reach new audiences. You can use up to 20 hashtags per post. While marketers’ opinions vary on how many hashtags you should use, you should use hashtags!

You can research relevant hashtags for your niche or use an app that generates hashtags for each post. It’s also worth looking into banned hashtags or those that are considered spammy, as that could hurt your account’s reach. 

4. Engage with Your Followers 

The power of social media is in building organic engagement to establish trust and credibility with potential clients. Consider posting behind-the-scenes reels and fun content that shows your company’s culture and values. Other important ways to engage with followers include:

• Like and respond to comments
• Respond to DMs and questions
• Collaborate with other businesses and users, including liking and commenting on their posts
• Host a giveaway or contest for users
• Respond thoughtfully to negative comments or criticism

5. Collaborate with Influencers

Influencers with either a large or engaged audience can help increase your company’s reach. While influencers with millions of followers will charge a lot for collaborations, product placement, or advertising, smaller micro-influencers with an engaged audience can drive traffic and offer strong returns for a modest investment.

Consider offering influencers a percentage of each sale driven by their link or joining an affiliate network to work with multiple influencers.

6. Utilize Instagram Stories

Instagram offers several features to increase audience engagement and grow your audience. 

Instagram stories are a powerful way to engage your audience. However, they’re limited to 15 seconds, so if you want to post a longer clip, you’ll have to split the video into 15-second segments. 

However, Instagram Reels can be up to 90 seconds long, forming a sort of in-depth Stories that allows companies to provide greater insight and potential engagement. Instagram Reels is one of the best ways to build engagement and creatively showcase your company’s products or services with short videos.

Consider also:

• Instagram Guides to curate valuable content for your audience.
• IGTV to share longer-form videos that tell your brand’s story.
• Instagram Shopping, where you can tag your products in posts so customers can purchase directly from your page.

7. Promote Your Instagram Account on Other Marketing Channels

You can cross-promote across social media channels. Promote your Instagram handle on your website, newsletter, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, or other channels. These various brands can help you grow. 

8. Leverage Instagram Shopping and Instagram Ads

Instagram Shopping and Instagram Ads allow you to direct customers to your products or services from your page or through targeted advertising. With Instagram Shopping, you can post products on which customers can click to navigate directly to your site. Likewise, Instagram ads allow you to create target ads that specify niche, market, and location. 

9. Explore User-Generated Content

One effective way to expand your company’s presence is to leverage user-generated content (UGC). When customers share photos and videos related to your brand or products, repost them with permission to build trust and brand recognition.

This authentically showcases your products while fostering a sense of community. You can also consider using user-generated content to advertise or showcase real people using your products. UGC can build meaningful connections with potential clients while expanding brand awareness, trust, and reach.

10. Analyze Your Instagram Insights Regularly

Analytics are essential to understand what works and what doesn’t. Instagram Insights helps you track follower growth, engagement, and the performance of individual reels, stories, and posts. Analyzing your performance on the platform can help optimize what’s working and capitalize on posts that receive higher engagement. 

Engagement is almost more important than followers. It shows you how your audience engages with the content and what receives return views or shares. The more you understand how your audience interacts with content, the more you’ll be able to build engaging content while promoting business growth. 

Building Your Instagram Marketing Strategy

Whether you’re planning to start a business with no money, or are already running a successful business, Instagram can drive growth. Consistency, research, and trial and error, all factor into a successful marketing strategy. However, any Instagram presence is better than no Instagram presence to increase brand reach and engage with your target audience.

As a small business owner, focusing on so many details can leave you feeling understaffed or overcommitted. Consider hiring a part-time social media manager online to outsource some work, even for a few months. You can also get help for other areas, like bookkeeping. doola bookkeeping services are designed for busy founders like you. Get doola books for stress-free bookkeeping to get more time to focus on your core business!

FAQs