5 Instagram Tips for Growing Your Small Business

Instagram is a great tool to let you share your photos and videos with family and friends but did you know it can help boost your business too?

Instagram doesn’t have lots of things going on at the same time, such as in Facebook and it is much easier to navigate. It’s all about photos and short videos, no memes etc. There are limitations with how you can interact with other accounts but engagement tends to be higher than that of other social media apps.

If you’re not using Instagram for your small business yet then you’re potentially missing out on a lot of opportunities.

1. Make sure you have an account specifically for your business. Keep your family pictures and videos for your personal account. Use your business account to create and build engagement among your followers. Instagram is a great way to build and extend your brand.
   
   
2. Be Active. This doesn’t mean constantly posting random photos but instead posting photos and videos that are relevant to your brand and that your followers will be interested in. The best posting frequency is one that you will be able to keep up with consistently, whether that’s 4 times a day or once a day.
   
   
3. Hashtags. It’s now possible to follow hashtags so your posts could now show up in the feeds of potential new followers. Use hashtags that are relevant to your business/ brand and audience and avoid hashtags that are solely trying to gain followers such as #followme as these attract spammers, bots and users who are not looking to engage with you. Research what hashtags your competitors are using, it may give you ideas of hashtags to use for yourself. Make a list of ideas and think about what you are trying to achieve.
   
   
4. Try Short Video Clips. Video will help personalise your brand which in turn will increase engagement. Short video clips can be created easily using apps such as Boomerang. There are loads of things you can video to promote your brand and increase engagement; filming messages to your followers, announcing any promotions or special offers, testimonials from customers, videos of you working in your office etc.
   
   
5. Share your Instagram filtered pictures on other networks. It makes sense to share your pictures and videos to your other social network accounts and Instagram allows you to configure your account so that your photos are posted to Facebook and other networks.
   
   

Once you’ve got your Instagram account up and running you should make sure to set up notifications on your app so you don’t miss any interactions. Using Instagram can introduce you to potential new customers and promote your brand in a way that is not pushy or sales focussed. It’s different to Pinterest because the photos and videos you share should give a more personal and authentic impression of your business where Pinterest is more about curating pictures. Make your Instagram account part of your daily marketing checklist!

Follow Creative Remedy on Instagram here: Creative Remedy ​