Social media has become one of the biggest ways that most people advertise their business. With the explosion of social networking sites, anyone can create an account with someone else’s service in order to promote themselves or their product/service. This is very popular way to market your business as it does not cost anything extra to use these services!
By having more people see your business’s advertisements, they are able to spread your brand name much wider than if you were going up against other businesses in the area for customers.
It is also easy to use social media to keep tabs on what others like about a company so that you can determine what works and doesn’t work for them and then make sure to implement those things into your advertising.
There are many different types of accounts that people use to promote their business, but none of them require you to put ads on every picture or video. By using some features on this app, you can easily add some flavor to your business’s image. These additional features include “stories”, which are similar to blogs, and “check-ins” at certain places.
This article will go over how to use Instagram for business, what kind of companies should consider adding this tool to their marketing arsenal, and some tips and tricks to get the best out of this platform.
Personalize it
This is one of the most important things you can do when using social media as an entrepreneur or business person. Your followers, potential clients, and customers want to know who you are and what your service offering is.
By being yourself and incorporating some personal touches into your account, this will show!
Your username, profile picture, and cover photo all play a major role in defining your account’s image. Make them stand out by trying new ones or doing something unique with yours.
Take time to read through other people’s accounts to get inspiration and learn how to tweak and improve your own. You may also need to take down some features to make your account more private, or secure.
Start advertising
After you have logged into your account, you can start looking around to see what types of advertisements are available. You may want to consider creating an advertisement or finding one that is already made and changing it to fit your business or brand.
This could be done by taking pictures of yourself using the product or putting together your own with products you use regularly. If there is no ad like that, you can create your own!
You can pick a theme, find photos you feel represent the theme, and add those to the ad. It does not need to look professional grade, but should depict what you plan to promote.
There is an option in the settings where you can include links in your posts. Add a link to your website or place some direct messages (DM’s) onto IG so people can contact you directly from the app. This way they know they will get their reply through the social outlet instead of just email or message apps.
Create engaging videos
A well-crafted video can do wonders for your business’s popularity online. Creating funny, motivational, educational or inspirational videos is a great way to draw in new followers and increase engagement with your existing ones.
You can make your own videos using free software like YouTube or another popular social media site. Or you can use a third party tool that has all the features you need covered.
Many of these have rich feature sets which offer easy ways to edit, add music and effects, upload pictures and more.
Read about: How to Make a Photography Website
Offer your service
A great way to use Instagram as an business tool is to offer your services or products through an IG profile. You can pick any niche, but making sure your target audience has access to your expertise is key.
By offering your expertise, you will gain new followers who are looking to learn more about your field. Your followers may even be willing to buy what you promote if you give good recommendations.
Your goal should be to grow your community of loyal followers by providing quality content that other people find helpful. By giving them advice and tips, they will keep coming back to you for more.
You could also do sponsored posts for companies in your area or outside areas depending on your budget.
Encourage commenting and sharing
One of the most important things you can do as an entrepreneur is encourage comments and shares. This boosts your followers’ confidence in the company, which may influence them to make purchases or refer you to someone else for help.
By interacting with others’ posts, you draw attention to the content, yourself, and the other people involved. Your followers will feel appreciated and connected to!
If you are too busy to leave comments or like something, ask whoever commented if there was anything they could do to help you out with your business. If they say yes, then do it! Or at least send them some kind word or compliment about their work or picture.
Join groups and connect with other businesses
One of the most powerful ways to use social media to promote your business is by joining groups and connecting with people in the industry. You can do this through dedicated apps, via chat programs like Slack or Discord, or even just creating your own group using Facebook or Google Plus.
By adding yourself as an organizer or participant, you can gain access to all the information and resources available to learn more about your market, find new vendors and partners, and eventually reach out to them to see if they’d be willing to work with you.
This is especially helpful if you’re trying to source products or services from others in your field that could help grow your business. By introducing yourself to someone else, you have a chance to develop a relationship first before asking them to partner up with you.
Distribute your content using Instagram ads
Another way to use Instagram as an advertising platform is by creating and distributing engaging, entertaining, and informative content. You can do this through posting pictures and/or videos of your products or services, supporting materials such as blogs and articles, and/or direct messages to your followers.
By distributing high quality content, you’ll attract new followers, boost engagement, and promote your brand. Yours will be focused on marketing, but it won’t feel like that!
You can also create sponsored posts to get more attention and traffic. By introducing sponsors into your feed, you reward them for their contribution while still promoting yourself and your business.
There are several ways to advertise on Instagram. The most common one is to spend money on a paid advertisement (a banner ad). There are additional options including popularly used apps like Mixx and Snapseed that offer free tools to users to edit photos and upload new ones.
Connect with your audience
A great way to use Instagram is to connect with your followers, create conversations that are meaningful and engaging, and showcase your business through your pictures and/or videos.
Running an account isn’t just about taking pretty photos or posting weird jokes – it’s being interactive and communicating with people!
Your comments should be thoughtful and relevant, and you should strive to say something every day. Your comments don’t have to be very long, but they should add value to the conversation.
You can also direct message (DM) someone or contribute to a thread in the form of a comment. By interacting with others, you’re creating opportunities to talk to new people while reinforcing relationships you already have.
Instagram is mostly text so there’s no need to overdo it. Try starting off simply by commenting on other posts and building from there.
Don’t forget to check out the Settings section as well. You can find more tips here.
