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Instagram is now a powerful marketing tool for businesses. In the last few years, many companies have started using this mobile platform to promote their products and services.
Make sure you have an Instagram business account
Before you start attracting more people to your Instagram account, make sure your Instagram account is that of a business profile. If you’re using a personal-use Instagram account for your business, switching to a business account is actually very easy. At the bottom right of your home screen select the person icon, then the wheel in the screen’s top right corner. This will take you to the “Options” screen where you can select “Switch to Business Profile.”
Ramp up your content production
There’s no shortage of Instagram content you can publish to fill up your feed.
Customer photos. Memes. Bite-sized videos.
And that doesn’t even scratch the surface of what’s available to you.
To figure out what performs the best among your audience, you’re going to need to experiment. That means ramping up your content production and posting more frequently.
Publishing to Instagram at least once a day is within the platform’s best practices. Heck, major brands like TopShop and H&M post up to three times per day (if not more often).
As you roll out more content, it’s crucial to squeeze more engagement out of your following by understanding the best times to post on Instagram.
And speaking of which, that’s also why Instagram Stories are so valuable. Off-the-cuff content via Stories essentially allows you to “skip the line” and appear front-and-center in people’s feeds. Not only that, but you can freely post Story after Story without worrying about spamming your fans.
The takeaway here is that Instagram moves much quicker than it did a year or two ago in terms of content. Brands should ramp up if they want to keep up. To create content that your audience will love, make sure you have a comprehensive strategy in place and are using data to create more successful content. Download our Instagram marketing strategy guide to learn more.
Make yourself visible
You can’t promote your Instagram account and earn more followers if they can’t find you! So just run a double-check to make sure your profile is public. Otherwise, only those who are already following you can see your posts.
Okay, now that we have those fundamentals taken care of, it’s time to discuss how to promote your Instagram account effectively, without spending a dime.
With email
It may be helpful to include the social media icons of your most-used platforms in the footer of your marketing emails—or even in your signature for regular emails. This of course does not outwardly promote your Instagram account, but it gives your audience yet one more point of access to your profile. Plus, I’d imagine that there are certain segments of your email list that are either loyal customers or highly qualified leads, so the chances that they may arrive at your Instagram account through one of your emails are higher.
You can also send out marketing emails that do directly promote your Instagram account. If you’re running a contest, giveaway, or event, you may want to direct readers to your Instagram profile so they can participate.
Use Instagram to Engage with Customers
It’s important to engage with followers on Instagram because your followers could become your customers. Connect with followers by responding to their comments and DMs (direct messages).
People are increasingly using Instagram’s direct messaging feature to reach out to businesses and ask questions about products and services. Monitor your Instagram inbox regularly for customer questions.
Instagram Business accounts that are also Professional Accounts come with two inbox tabs: Primary and General. All direct messages come to your Primary inbox first. You can move less urgent messages to the General inbox. You’ll receive notifications about unread messages in your Primary inbox, but not about unread messages in your General inbox. The two-tab inbox system for Instagram Business accounts helps professional Instagram users organize their DMs.
Cross-promote your Instagram posts across other networks
Instagram is not only a marketing tool, but also a customer service tool.
The effort it takes to snag the perfect snapshot and craft a clever caption isn’t something that should go to waste.
Cross-posting your content to other social platforms is a no-brainer to get even more of an ROI out of your Instagram presence.
For example, you can promote your Instagram content across the likes of Facebook and Twitter to maximize your content’s reach.
Use Instagram to Engage with Customers
It’s important to engage with followers on Instagram because your followers could become your customers. Connect with followers by responding to their comments and DMs (direct messages).
People are increasingly using Instagram’s direct messaging feature to reach out to businesses and ask questions about products and services. Monitor your Instagram inbox regularly for customer questions.
Instagram Business accounts that are also Professional Accounts come with two inbox tabs: Primary and General. All direct messages come to your Primary inbox first. You can move less urgent messages to the General inbox. You’ll receive notifications about unread messages in your Primary inbox, but not about unread messages in your General inbox. The two-tab inbox system for Instagram Business accounts helps professional Instagram users organize their DMs.
Instagram is not only a marketing tool, but also a customer service tool.
Use Instagram to Engage with Customers
It’s important to engage with followers on Instagram because your followers could become your customers. Connect with followers by responding to their comments and DMs (direct messages).
People are increasingly using Instagram’s direct messaging feature to reach out to businesses and ask questions about products and services. Monitor your Instagram inbox regularly for customer questions.
Instagram Business accounts that are also Professional Accounts come with two inbox tabs: Primary and General. All direct messages come to your Primary inbox first. You can move less urgent messages to the General inbox. You’ll receive notifications about unread messages in your Primary inbox, but not about unread messages in your General inbox. The two-tab inbox system for Instagram Business accounts helps professional Instagram users organize their DMs.
Experiment with branded and industry hashtags
Be an Active Participant on the Platform
Rule #1 of any social media strategy is to be more than just a publisher of content. You need to be involved.
On Instagram, that means a few things:
- Follow other people, brands and influencers
- Engage in the comment section of your posts and other’s
- Publish the awesome content of prospective customers and @mention them
Here’s an example from Pure Barre women’s gym (74.6k Instagram followers). Note the request for high-waisted leggings from one of their followers and the social media manager’s immediate response, “@Kristynellen all over it!” —
Conclusion
Instagram might seem like an intimidating social media platform to advertise your business on, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll realize that it’s not only easy and fun – but effective.