Instagram for Business
Wed. 26th September 2016 - Blog by Florence Henriot
Instagram is an inexpensive and super effective marketing tool that can help grow your business and your brand awareness.
As a small business owner you feel that you need to have a social media profile and therefore an Instagram page for your business but you do not know how to get started. So you’ve already created your business Instagram page, you’re trying to post regularly on Instagram and you are hashtagging your heart out, but you aren’t getting the results you are after and you want to take your business to the next level. Can Instagram help you?
Well creating an Instagram marketing strategy isn’t easy, but it is effective. In fact, Instagram has the highest engagement out of all the social media platforms! And when well executed, an Instagram marketing strategy can really be successful.
This blog will give you a non exhaustive list of what you need to know about Instagram for small business to get yourself started: from setting goals to selecting the right hashtags. So let’s find out how to run a killer Instagram page:
Why Instagram for small business?
An Instagram business page is a great way to share content with your current and prospective clients on your Instagram feed from your new product or service, your current range of products, some business insights or advice, and a few inspirational or funny quotes.
Your Instagram feed needs to showcase what your business is about and communicate it clearly to your potential customers without over selling. Here are a few steps on how to create an Instagram marketing strategy:
Step 1. Set Goals for Your Instagram Business Page
Before you dive into posting all your cats and staff photos on your Instagram business page, it’s important that you have a plan and clear objectives. For an Instagram marketing strategy to be successful, it’s important you are very clear about what you want to achieve:
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do you want to raise brand awareness?
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are you trying to sell your product online?
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are you trying to bring more customers to your shop?
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are you trying to increase your web traffic?
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or maybe build your email list?
Your Instagram marketing strategy like any other business marketing strategy needs a purpose and some goals. With clearly defined and achievable marketing goals, you will be able to analyse the success of your Instagram marketing strategy.
Step 2. Research Your Instagram Audience
Who are you trying to reach and target through your Instagram business page? This is an essential step. If you’re spending a lot of time, effort and eventually money on your Instagram business page, it makes sense to create a strategy around content that your audience actually wants to engage with.
And the best way to get to know your audience is to follow them on Instagram. That’s why Instagram is such a great marketing tool because you can find out a lot about your audience by following them and by checking what kind of posts they like seeing on your account; what kind of posts they enjoy posting on their own feed.
This will be a great way to get started on what type of posts you can create for your Instagram business page.
Step 3. Plan Your Instagram Posting Strategy
As you can see, many different aspects need to be considered when planning a successful Instagram marketing strategy. You have to have a well-defined purpose, measurable objectives and a clear understanding of exactly who you’re trying to reach. But how do you actually implement any of this?
Start by organising a roadmap: How many posts a week are you going to publish? Are you posting original content that you will create (photos or graphically designed posts) or user-generated content?
If you are planning to go with original content, do you already have professional imagery you can use? will you be hiring a professional photographer? will you be taking photos yourself?
How many posts should you publish per week?
This is a question I’ve often been asked.
At Rufus & Flo, we believe that 3 posts a week is the minimum you should post a week. We focus on quality over quantity.
3 quality posts a week is the correct balance between posting enough to best communicate with your followers without overwhelming them by too many posts.
It’s as well a number that allows you to be consistent week after week
Something you’ll need to keep in mind for a successful Instagram management strategy: you must share high quality and interactive content that will inspire your followers to like, share or comment. And if you’re stuck for ideas, you can contact us. We create unique graphically designed and branded Instagram posts that engage and showcase your products and services.
Step 4. Schedule your Instagram Posts
One of the hardest aspects of managing your Instagram page is to take the time to publish and monitor your posts, especially when you’re busy running your own business…that’s why it’s important to schedule your instagram posts in advance.
At Rufus & Flo, we create, plan and schedule Instagram posts ahead of time so we can focus on engaging with your audience, replying to comments and monitoring your social media campaigns success. This allows as well to create an Instagram feed that will showcase your business, your brand and your voice.
To conclude, Instagram is an incredible social media marketing tool for businesses to achieve their marketing goals. All it takes is a bit of planning and organising, and a lot of passion and creativity.