Social media has evolved dramatically over the past few years. 

Often, we do not know where to begin when it comes to choosing a social media marketing strategy for our businesses. 

Lately, the question on everyone’s lips has been whether Instagram is the new business site of choice? With over 1 billion active users on Instagram, you could potentially be missing out on an audience that could be a perfect fit for your business! 

How do we use Instagram for business:

Instagram for business has slowly evolved over the years. 

Whether you want to build excitement for a new product launch or simply create more brand awareness for your business, Instagram has business-specific features that can help you get your brand name out there. 

Let’s look at a few ways you can use Instagram to create more awareness for your business:

1. Use the tools that they offer your brand:

Instagram is a great way to build more brand awareness through social media. 

Business profiles set up on Instagram allow for an immediate call to action option. Add your address and contact information for consumers to immediately call, email, or visit your website or business. 

Other tools that they offer include analytics to evaluate your brand reach, engagement, and additional insights that can help you make data-driven decisions to reach your business goals. 

2. Instagram Influencers:

There is a misconception that influencers are only paid to recognize your brand, possibly be a celebrity and have a big following, which is why sometimes a business overlooks an influencer. 

Influencers generally partner with brands they trust and believe in! Most audiences like to follow influencers because they trust in their authenticity. Just like an influencer needs to believe in your brand, finding the right fit for your business is essential. 

Putting together an influencer strategy can aid you in a seamless approach to reach a very specific audience with the right message. 

3. Collaborations with other brands:

Brand collaborations are often confused with influencer marketing. Collaborations are two or more brands that essentially team up to create a product or awareness that works for both audiences. The collaboration helps brands become super engaging, grow their following and most importantly, promote their brands online. 

Let us take Ben & Jerry’s brand collaboration with Nike as an example. They partnered to run a strategic competition that brought awareness to their brands by posting a photo, image/drawing or a video to Twitter or Instagram using specific hashtags.

4. #Hashtags:

You’ve seen all those hashtags on Instagram posts and couldn’t understand why they are there, right? Hashtags are a great way to organize your content, but more importantly, they are clickable and allow your posts tagged with hashtags to appear in that search of the relevant phrase a person searches for. 

People can follow different hashtags, which means if you have a particular one on your post, it could possibly come up in their feed. 

That is why hashtags are a fantastic way to have people engage with your brand! Some well-known hashtag uses include location, phrases, social issues, etc.  #brandengagement #instagramforbusiness – see what we did there?

5. Why stories work:

Instagram for business users have had a debate over the years, which is better – posting a post to your stories or having more feed posts? Believe it or not, there are positives in having both uses of content posting! 

Stories only last for 24 hours and are an excellent way to capture your audience! They have engagement boosting features that can add more value to your brand by encouraging people to interact with you immediately: 

• Get feedback from your followers with polls.
• Encourage followers to DM you for quicker assistance.
• Add links to your Instagram stories that people can click directly on to browse your products or services – this can also create leads or close sales!
• Use different stickers to ask questions to create engagement or to give informational feedback.
• Go live to really capture your follower’s attention – using the feedback from your polls and questions can create the content you can use in your live.
• Create beautiful short stories to tell your story! 

6. Posts for increased engagement:

Posts can be just as engaging as stories! Posts can create just as much engagement and allow you to get your message across to your followers. Posts last forever and do not have an expiration date, so it’s always great to keep in mind that your posts should be impactful and make an impression.

Here are the benefits of posting and what features Instagram for business has to offer:

• On your post feed, you can set the feel for the theme you want to build. Depending on your business offer, you can create visually appealing feeds that give people a sense of humanization to your brand. 
• Connect your Instagram to your website and allow for cross-channel engagement. Think of it this way – a customer may have found your website but doesn’t follow you on Instagram yet – It’s a win-win situation!
• Showcase your products with Instagram for Business shopping. Instagram has some great integrations with eCommerce platforms! Once you are connected, all you need to do is tag your products and share your masterpiece with the world. 
• By posting photos and videos on your feed, trust is created between your brand and the customer, showing your authenticity while still showing off your products and services – this is why Instagram is quickly becoming a business site of choice!

To Recap: 

Let’s list some benefits of using Instagram to drive your business to tap into an audience you might not have:

1. Instagram tools can help you make data-driven decisions.
2. Influencers can build trust in your brand and allow you to make a human connection with your customers.
3. Collaborating with other brands can set you apart from your competitors and allow you to reach a wider audience.
4. #Hashtags for who? Unleash your creative mind using hashtags to attract new followers, create awareness, and categorize your most essential products and services. 
5. Use stories to add value to your brand with Instagram for business engagement boosting features. 
6. Posts are just as important as stories and allow you to showcase your brand, products and services as a whole!

We have only touched on a few of the amazing ways Instagram for business has really stepped up its game to get your business the engagement and visibility it deserves. The power lies with you to make your brand stand out and use Instagram as a business platform. 

Using your website and social media platforms together to create a compelling marketing strategy is a way to reach your business goals and climb the stairs to success! As much as you may ask if people are only using Instagram and its business tools instead of a website – the short answer is that social media is great to create a following and have even more reach to your target market. Still, your website is your digital footprint to a permanent mark online. 

Feeling Overwhelmed?

This information can be overwhelming to take in and not knowing where to start is normal! If you have any questions and need advice, speak to an inbound marketing expert or contact us today for a free quote.