Instagram As A Marketing Tool - 10 Tips for your Business Profile

Today, more than 60 per cent of companies worldwide use Instagram for their corporate communications. And rightly so: Instagram offers a whole range of possibilities and features that you can use to attract a lot of attention to your business. We have 10 helpful tips for you on how to get the most out of your Instagram profile and inspire your followers.

1. Enthusiastic with picture worlds

Instagram is first and foremost an image platform and is there to post, liking and commenting on pictures. Take advantage of this visual storytelling!

With the mass of pictures on Instagram, it can quickly sink into arbitrariness. You should absolutely avoid this: The best way to achieve this through so-called picture worlds. Motives that move out of a familiar environment. Because you get your followers emotionally - and they feel understood.

Image worlds have the power to create a certain mood, open a world and visually support a topic. What these image worlds are and how you implement them is up to you. The important thing is that the content matches your positioning and has added value for your followers. For companies, it is best to post images of products and services. Creativity knows no limits!

2. Increases attention through the use of videos

In addition to posting pictures, Instagram also offers the option of publishing short videos. Use this feature and post product videos, informative movies or short commercials with a maximum length of 60 seconds. You can also edit videos with filters. For this, you can use the built-in Instagram filter.

3. Embed Instagram Feed on website

This is a multipurpose strategy which not only expands the rise of your own Instagram profile but additionally sends user-traffic to your website.

Embedding such user-generated content from Instagram feeds on website aggregates all appropriate content to a single page, expands your social networking attain and publicizes your brand. This technique is exceptional and also a far superior method of advertising that brings truckloads of audience participation.

You can always use a social media aggregator and display tool for this use.  

All these are highly-responsive social-media tools which aggregate content from programs such as Instagram and shows them on a site or display screen.  They provide you choices to customize, curate, change, examine, medium, and depict applicable UGC content in real-time.

Must Read - How to Embed Instagram Feed on Website

4. Increases your reach with hashtags

The nuts and bolts on Instagram are good hashtags. These decide whether and how your postings are perceived beyond your community. We advise you to use the most popular hashtags to make your pictures easier to find.

Adds hashtags that relate to your industry or brand. When looking for suitable hashtags, it is advisable to find out which ones your competitors are using and taking their bearings from. The Instagram search function also helps. Exciting hashtags can also be found at www.tagboard.com or via apps like Huntgram. 

5. Use the stories and highlights to highlight special content

Snapchat was a pioneer in temporary content delivery for a long time. But now the tide has turned, as more and more users prefer the Instagram story. It's a feature that allows you to upload short stories through photos, video clips, or so-called boomerangs. The story is always online 24 hours and then automatically deleted. 

It is, therefore, suitable for short-lived content that should not be permanently visible on your Instagram page. For example, if you are attending an event, you will show it to your followers, providing them with insights into your everyday life. 

Also in the story, pictures or videos can be edited before posting: with filters, stickers - such as the current location or time -, pens or texts. There are also Ask Question and Survey tools to encourage your followers to interact directly. The benefit: You know how your followers tick.

6. Send live and alert your followers to your activities

Closely related to the stories is the feature Instagram Live. The feature is integrated into the stories, but always a stand-alone format. It allows you to start live videos that will be displayed to your followers right at the top of the feed. Additionally, they will be notified if they have enabled push notifications for their device. This feature is especially interesting for companies as it attracts the attention of your followers.

7. Ask your followers to buy through Instagram Shopping

Each month, 90 million people spend shopping spree on Instagram to learn more about the products they advertise. No wonder then that the function is becoming increasingly popular and is particularly interesting for companies.

The online storefront makes it possible to integrate products into the visual storytelling of your Instagram posts and stories. You can tag up to five products per picture in posts in the feed so that your followers end up directly on the Instagram product page. From here you can go directly to your website.

8. Set up a business profile

We advise companies to create a business account instead of the "normal" account. It offers a whole range of features that help to improve your profile. For example, the advanced profile information feature makes it easier to get in touch, as you can add contact information and directions. 

Particularly helpful are the statistics on profile, post and stories. These give you information about your number of subscribers and changes compared to the previous week. Reaches, profile views and website clicks of the last 7 days are also visible here. 

In addition, you will receive information about the gender distribution, the age and the places of origin of your followers as well as times and days when they are online.

9. Find the right time for your posting

Although it sounds banal, the timing of posting your content is hugely relevant to your reach. The right time depends mainly on the following question: When are your followers online? Say: At what time is the highest probability that as many of my followers see my posting? As already mentioned, this is best found out through the Business Manager. Smartphone apps like When to post and Prime for Instagram also help with the evaluation.

10. Organize with the help of an editorial plan

To keep track of your postings, we advise you to create an editorial plan before setting up your profile. Think carefully, when you want to post something and stick to this plan! An editorial plan provides an overview of relevant and promising topics and helps bring new content online on a regular basis. 

Your followers will benefit as well, ensuring that posts are tailored to their interests and do not duplicate.