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How to use Instagram for Business: 4 Key Steps for Beginners
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Instagram is one of the top social media channels in terms of growth. According to Global Web Index, almost 50% of the Internet users between 16 to 64 are on Instagram? Should you use Instagram for Business? Absolutely. You should read my earlier post "Excellent Ways to Use Instagram as Effective Marketing".
Instagram’s uniqueness:
Instagram is different and unique in many ways compared to other major social media channels. (You might interested to to read the 5 Ways to make money on Instagram)
- It is mobile driven. You can post only using the mobile app; no wonder it has taken off in a big way in this smartphone-dominated internet era.
- It gives you only one link (URL) for marketing your business. There is no provision for adding website links or URLs in the posting text. The only link you can post is the link in your profile (bio).
- It is a visual channel focused on images (and short videos). Visual component is more prominent than the written description.
- It has filters and sophisticated inbuilt editing options that capture good photos and videos
- It is driven by hashtags and geotags (location tags)
- It has a user-friendly UI with a magazine layout for the news feed
- The simplicity and ‘instant’ nature of the channel is designed to keep users highly engaged.
- Instagram is owned by Facebook. So, it leverages the user-base and reach of the world’s largest social media channel. For example: You can run your Facebook ad campaigns in Instagram with a single click, right within Facebook ads dashboard. That is how closely integrated the two channels are. So, if you use Facebook for marketing and your business can be represented visually, then Instagram should be a natural choice for you.
Also read: How to Build a Branded Instagram Feed
As
a digital marketing consultant, I have seen businesses jump on to
Instagram enthusiastically but as time goes, they get stuck. They do not
know how to move on. They do not know what to post, how to create a
workflow for this unique platform and how to keep the momentum going.
That is why it is important to start right. To start right you need to
think right. To think right you need to ask yourself the right
questions.
Here is a list of 4 steps with 4 questions to help you get popularity on your Instagram strategy!
How to use Instagram for Business: 4 Steps for Beginners
Step #1: List down your objectives – Why do you need to be on Instagram?
As
I mentioned earlier, Instagram is different and if you are going to
make it work for you, you need to know what you expect out of it. In
what way will it help your business?
Instagram can be your ‘Visual Brand Building’ platform: Each channel has its own strengths and weaknesses. Instagram’s strength lies in its ‘visual-centric’
approach to marketing. It is a powerful platform to build a visual
identity of your business. Instagram can become the one place where your
audience can come and check out or validate your business’ visual
identity. By spending just 60 seconds on your Instagram account your
audience can judge you by quickly swiping through your images or videos.
Then they decide whether they want to work with you or not. So, ‘visual brand building’ can be one of your top objectives for Instagram.
Some of the other objectives could be:
- Increase in website traffic
- Building a loyal audience and following
- Instant announcements to your audience
- Showcasing your best products
- Launching new products and services
- Promoting new deals and offers
- Showcasing your company culture
- Attracting partners by showcasing your business values, etc.
Step #2: Create a content strategy – What will you post on Instagram?
Even though Instagram is ‘instant’
in nature, as a business, it is good to plan ahead and come up with a
content plan before you start using Instagram. You can still capture and
share some of the moments ‘instantly’ but it helps to have a plan, so that your spontaneous photos are in alignment with the content plan.
Broadly
write down the type of images and videos that you will create to
achieve the objectives listed above. You could create an excel sheet and
have a column for each objective and under each column, list down the
type of visual content that you can create to achieve those objectives.
Creating a content plan also helps you determine what type of tools you need. For example : There are design and image editing tools like Wordswag and Canva. There are video creation and editing tools like Magisto and Videohance.
Your content plan will help you decide what tools you need to get
started. Researching and selecting the right tools in the early stages
will save you a lot of time and resources later.
Also read: 15 Reasons Why You Should Use Instagram
Step #3: Create a posting schedule and calendar – When will you post on Instagram?
How
many times should you post on Instagram? The answer to that depends on
your audience. Post how many ever times they are ready to see, enjoy,
engage and share your content. There are no hard and fast rules. The
frequency of post could also be season or event dependent.
For example:
If you are a retailer, then the holiday season might be a peak season
for you to promote your special offers and new line of products. Or if
you have a special event like a new store launch you may decide to post
multiple times.
The
posting timing should be based on the geographic location of your
audience and the probable time when they might check their social media
newsfeed.
For example: If you are a brand with a specific
focussed on working professionals, then you may want to choose lunchtime
to post your content.
Research shows
that lunchtime is one of the best times to post on many social media
channels. I guess that’s simply because people like to check their
social media to help them take their mind off work.
Step #4: Organize your tasks and checklists – What is your Instagram workflow?
Being
organized is important to succeed in social media. And it is more
important for a channel like Instagram because of its various unique
requirements like mobile-only posting, more hashtags than any other
channel, no URL in description, etc. Businesses with good products, good
ideas and good intentions struggle to succeed on Instagram because they
do not have a good workflow.
Creating
the right workflow starts with thinking through the entire process and
mapping it out step-by-step with the overall business objective in mind.
Whether you are a solo-preneur doing all the tasks by yourself or a
small business with a support team working remotely, you can reduce
stress if you think through the entire process in advance and delegate
the right tasks to the right people. Selecting the right tools at the
right stages of the workflow is also important.
For example: Using a
good editing tool can help you quickly create good looking images or
videos in less time. And including research tools like the ‘discover’
tab of Instagram app within your workflow could help you find the best
hashtags for your post.
A must read: Snapchat vs. Instagram: Which platform is better?
Create Checklists:
Personally I am a big fan of checklists. Checklists ensure that you do not miss important elements while posting. For example:
Let’s say you are sharing an image of your product on Instagram. What
if you forgot to include the trending hashtag that is relevant to your
product? Even though you may have a good visual content and you took the
effort of sharing it, just because you did not include the trending
hashtag the overall effectiveness of your post comes down. By creating a
checklist, you can ensure that it is added every time you post.
It
takes a bit of time and planning initially, but in the long term it
will help you be more effective. In our agency, we spend huge amounts of
time fine-tuning our workflow and reviewing them in regular intervals
using various checklists. This helps our team be more efficient and
enjoy the work they do without getting stressed and concerned about
missing any important element in the multiple posts that go out each day
for various clients.
So, take time to ‘work on your workflow’. It will prove to be a good investment in the long run.
Use
these 4 simple steps to get started on Instagram marketing for your
business. Share your thoughts, experience with Instagram and feedback in
the comments section. All the very best!
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