7 Ways To Use Instagram For Your Small Business

It’s one thing to have a personal Instagram account, but quite another thing for a small business. Personal accounts don’t often come with the worry of how to optimize, monetize, or do the things that a small business must do on the platform. 

While some personal accounts are used in similar ways to a business Instagram account, most are there to engage and see the next trending thing. If you own a small business, it’s crucial for you to have some guidance when it comes to building and growing your account to get more real Instagram followers. 

The following will describe some ways to use Instagram for small business in the most effective ways.

1) Your Name and Brand

You must first determine the name of your business, if you haven’t already. The name goes hand-in-hand with branding, which holds the key to your marketing strategies.

Tip: If you have already named your business, but have second thoughts, you have one more chance to rename your handle. 

Yes. Your handle should be your business name. Get as creative as you wish to make it catchy, memorable, and meaningful to you.

2) Create a Customer-Centric Bio

In your bio, you get 150 characters to describe your small business. Think of your Instagram bio as a business card. 

Tip: You will need to be creative to get your point across in the most engaging and relevant way. You can do this.

Who you are, what you do, and how you can help your customers should be the focus of your bio.

3) Link Your Website

There is only one space to enter your website URL on Instagram. That is in your profile. You can include links in Stories, but that is covered in number 5.

Tip: The best way to get your message out there is to use a multiple bio link tool that will let you create one link that features all your branches of engagement. 

You can use a service to connect your podcast, website, downloads, etc. to all one link that you can then use on your Instagram profile. 

4) Instagram Feed Posting

When you are posting images to your feed, be sure to view it as your own brand magazine. Everything you post should have a similar look and feel to it,

Tip: Using the same color scheme with your images and adding your logo are part of making your brand recognizable.

Be sure to create unique, quality, and audience-centric content. Your audience will quickly figure out when you are posting, and they will expect you to wow them every time.

5) Instagram Stories Posting 

Instagram Stories are known to disappear within 24 hours of posting, so you can have some fun here. These Stories don’t need to be perfect, but they do need to be relevant. 

Tip: You can be creative with it, but try to engage using questions, polls, etc. to get audience/customer feedback.

Include any Story that achieves higher interactions in your highlights, which is on your profile. 

6) Hashtag Strategy

There’s no arguing that hashtags are important. Having a solid and viable hashtag strategy is one of the key elements of getting noticed on Instagram.

Tip: Be aware of using overused or banned hashtags. Try using hashtags with fewer than 10,000 posts if you are just getting started. It will prevent you from getting lost in the crowd.

Always use your business name, and any related products and services in your hashtag game to create recognition in the long term.

7) Direct Messages (DM) Etiquette

The key to DMs on Instagram is not to be intrusive, but instead, passive in your approach. For instance, ask nicely if someone is interested in your offerings.

Tip: Do not spam people with tons of DMs. 

You can also use DMs to connect to influencers within your niche to help you get more exposure. DMs are also very good for inviting people to tutorials, interviews, serial content, and workshops. 

Conclusion

These are just a few of the things to consider when you want to use Instagram for small business purposes. Make sure to create an Instagram business account, because that will matter.

Something you can do to learn and grow is to check out your niche competition. Do not plagiarize their content, but mimic their style to some degree. Make it your own style and create quality content. 

Focus on popular competitor Instagram accounts with thousands to hundreds of thousands followers in the beginning. 

Overall, the aforementioned strategies can be easily incorporated to create an aesthetically pleasing and efficient, effective Instagram business profile.