While you may already be used to scrolling through Instagram on your personal page – whether you use it to follow your favourite celebrities or catch up with old friends – running a business account is slightly different. This is due to the simple fact that you must approach it from a professional mindset. Your online presence often sets the tone for your company’s reputation, meaning you should upload quality content and engage with your followers in a professional yet meaningful way.
However, running a business Instagram for your business can be a lot of fun – and it’s also a great way to bring in some extra cash while improving your business. With that in mind, here are some top tips to get you started.
Set up a business account, not a personal one. When signing up to Instagram, you are given a choice between two different styles of account; personal or business. While they may not seem too different, the latter allows you to study your analytics (i.e. views and engagement), which is essential if you are going to be marketing your brand on your social media pages. In short, you’ll be able to use this data to figure out if your posts are performing well (and whether or not they are generating sales).
Edit your photographs before uploading them. When running a business Instagram account, how your feed looks is more important than ever. As a result, you may find it easier to upload your photographs to your computer or laptop and edit them in the same style each time. For example, you could set each photograph to the same backdrop (such as a white frame) for a clean, aesthetically pleasing feed. Alternatively, you can use the same filters or preset on each photo so that they blend together cohesively. While you may be used to using social media via your smartphone, don’t worry. It’s easy to learn how to post on instagram from pc.
Use hashtags creatively. Using hashtags underneath your posts is a great way to increase the number of views or engagement your posts receive – however, you must know how to make the instagram algorithm work for you. For example, while you should use hashtags relevant to your company, brand and industry – you should ensure that you do not use the same hashtags each time, as Instagram will limit the amount of time your posts are pushed under these hashtags. However, as there are multiple variations of each hashtag out there, you simply need to be creative.
Write captions that provoke engagement. Engagement means far more than getting the occasional like on your posts – in fact, comments are often the most useful measure of success. If people are commenting on your posts, it shows that they are interested in your content and are therefore much more likely to check out your company or head over to your website. Therefore, you should try and write captions that provoke or encourage viewers to comment. For example, you could finish captions with a question or ask for customer feedback.
Don’t leave your DMs unopened. The key to a successful relationship between customers and brand owners is good communication. Therefore, if you leave your DMs unopened (or on read), you could be hindering your relationship with your customers. After all, nobody likes their messages to go ignored. While this does not mean you should engage in hours of conversation with your customers, you should ensure they receive a response to any queries in a timely and efficient manner. To do this, you may want to assign a member of your team to work as a social media manager – or outsource somebody to carry out this work on your behalf.
Post consistently. Finally, another way you can guarantee success on social media is by putting together a consistent posting schedule that never over or underwhelms your followers. For example, they probably do not want to see a post from you every day, but they also don’t want you to disappear from their feed entirely. Ideally, you should post around four or five times a week if you want to see positive engagement and watch your follower count rise. However, it’s also important that you only post when you have interesting or meaningful content, especially if you want to generate interest for your brand. Remember, your page should not appear like the sales’ section of your website (i.e. as a series of adverts); you should also share other brand-relevant content your customers may enjoy.