Instagram has become part of our daily lives. As of 2023, there are over 2.35 billion active users, and that number is only expected to keep growing. Whether you use the app to keep up with trends, find new recipes, or stay in touch with friends and family — Instagram brings people around the world together.
Just like Instagram can keep you updated on your cousin’s latest trip to Cancun, it can also help you discover new companies, shops, and brands. You can use artistic photos, reels, niche hashtags, and more to market your brand and expand your reach worldwide. Our Flocksy team has compiled the 5 best tips and tricks for promoting your business on Instagram, read on to learn more!
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Why Use Instagram For Your Business
Not only is Instagram one of the most popular social media platforms, but most users log in regularly, if not daily — Statista data shows that 63% of Instagram users are active on the app every day. This means businesses across all industries can expand their reach with Instagram’s large and varied population of users.
Not only can you increase brand awareness and reach new customers using Instagram, but you can also make money ON Instagram. One way to do this is through direct sales. Instagram has introduced a “Shop” tab on the home page, encouraging users to buy directly from brands on the platform. Customers can now purchase your products, services and even schedule appointments through your profile, posts, or stories.
Additionally, you can offer consumers shoppable posts. Shoppable posts have tags linked to products, including a product description, price, and the ability to take users straight to your online store. This generates sales and traffic to your site — a win-win! One of the biggest new ways businesses make money through Instagram is by creating partnerships with brand ambassadors. Brand ambassadors can promote your business through sponsored posts and affiliate marketing, helping you generate more leads and increase sales.
Now that you understand WHY Instagram is a powerful marketing, sales, and branding tool — let’s get into HOW you can use the platform effectively.
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5 Ways To Use Instagram For Business
If you want to promote your products or services, Instagram is the best platform to add to your social media marketing strategy. Some goals for your social media campaign could include increasing brand awareness, building a community, promoting your company culture, or simply selling your products and services. Once you have your goals set — it’s time to start posting!
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1. Use High-Quality Photos On Your Feed
Instagram is, first and foremost, a photo-sharing platform. That’s what it started as, and that’s why it remains popular today. High-quality or professional-looking images capture the user’s attention, no one wants to squint at blurry photos or off-center images. Once you have someone’s attention, it increases the chances of your caption being read and your profile being visited — your image must be captivating enough to stop people from scrolling.
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Better photos can convey your message, brand image, and story better. The more effort you put into the quality of posts, the more professional, trustworthy, and competent your business comes across. If you’re trying to tell a story through your posts, make sure the story you’re telling is clear and in high resolution.
2. Interact With Your Instagram Followers
One thing some businesses forget when they join Instagram is that it is a “social” app. It’s important not only to gain followers but to interact with those followers as well. You want to build your brand’s personality and values, and engaging with your audience is one way to continue to grow your brand identity.
Not only will interacting with your followers encourage a connection to your company, but it can also build trust and form a community around your brand. Your Instagram community can not only interact with your posts but also with each other. Followers can share stories, give each other tips and tricks for using your products, and more! There are so many ways to interact with your followers — you could like comments, respond to questions, post surveys, ask for feedback, and even re-post images your brand is tagged in. This crucial step is often overlooked, but a lot can be said for being social on this social app, especially when trying to find the right audience for your business.
3. Use Reels To Build Brand Awareness
Reels are growing in popularity on Instagram. Simply put, they’re short videos (up to 60 seconds) that creators can post using trending hashtags and audio clips. The Instagram algorithm favors Reels now, so a brand that uses them in its content strategy is more likely to show up on Instagram’s Explore page than a brand that uses only static images. Meta’s statistics state about 200 million users visit the Explore page daily — that’s a lot of eyeballs! Reach like that could make or break a small business, so posting a few Reels a week could be worth the effort it takes to create them for that type of exposure.
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4. Advertise On Instagram
There are three main types of ads on Instagram: Photo, Video, or Carousel. You can tailor how Instagram promotes your ad — by distance, topics, user interest, or keywords. You can alter these goal settings and create ad goals for each ad. For example, if your New York-based shop is having a sale on bathing suits, you would probably create a goal called “Bathing Suit Sale” and tell Instagram to push your ad to people interested in swimming, bathing suits, the ocean, pools, and Summer in a 10-mile radius. You could then use this same category of users every time you have a sale on bathing suits or Summer clothes in the future.
Photo and carousel ads are labeled as sponsored and feature a call-to-action button. You get to specify whether the call to action button takes users to your profile, exterior link, or business site. Photo and carousel ads are among the easiest to create since you can pay to boost a picture’s reach without creating a new post. The only difference between a photo ad and a carousel ad is that carousel ads feature more than one image that users can swipe through.
Video ads are a bit more complicated to format. They look like regular reels but have a “sponsored” label on top and appear differently in someone’s feed than they would on your profile or reels section. It’s important to format a video ad carefully within the 9:6 square visible on someone’s feed, or your text and imaging could be cut off. Ensuring your ad looks professional is important since you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression. The best way to ensure your video ad looks great and gets your message across properly is to hire a professional to create one for you.
5. Use Hashtags To Expand Your Reach
Hashtags help users find content they’re interested in on Instagram. Users can search for interesting hashtags like European cities, gold necklaces, and NY happy hours. They can also click on the hashtags they see in posts, so using the right (and relevant) hashtags on your branded posts could benefit your business tremendously.
You can use 30 hashtags on any post or comment, but you don’t want to overwhelm your audience (quality over quantity). Only using popular or trending hashtags won’t create loyal customers, and any interactions you get on your posts will not be from people actually interested in your brand or products. Experiment with different hashtags until you find the right set to attract your target audience.
Photo by Elena Koycheva on Unsplash
There are other creative ways to use hashtags other than bringing in followers. You could create custom hashtags for your company or an event you’re hosting — allowing customers to follow along with the pictures and videos you post online. Knowing which hashtags to use (and how to create original, witty, or engaging hashtags for your brand) can be tricky, which is where a professional copywriter can step in. Hiring a professional lets you worry less about which hashtag sums up your brand best and focus on other important projects, like going viral 😉.
Flocksy Can Create Eye-Catching Instagram Content For You In Just 24 Hours
We know how time-consuming it can be to create content. Not only do you need to post regularly, but you also need to make sure you’re posting high-quality content that represents your brand well and captures users’ attention. Gaining an Instagram following is almost a full-time job!
Our creative team at Flocksy can create reels, Instagram ads, and whatever else you need to up your Instagram game in 24 hours. Need a reel edited? Easy. How about a Father’s Day post doubling as an ad for your laundromat? Done. The more high-quality content you post – the more engagement you will see. We can quickly create the content you need that your audience will love.
It’s easy to create a project on Flocksy. Simply choose your plan, click Start a new project, choose the subcategory “Instagram ad or post” under graphic design, and BOOM, you’ve got your next post the next day. Need an Instagram reel edited? No worries! Simply choose “Instagram reel” under “Video editing” — our creatives will get it done in less than 2 days. Now that you’ve got Flocksy on your side, growing your Instagram following will be a piece of cake (don’t forget to share a slice with us 😉).