Improve the way you use Instagram for business
The latest blog from Cardiff media agency, The Media Angels.
How can you improve the way you use Instagram to market your business?
1. Personal or business account?
There are two different types of Instagram account; personal and business. With a business account, you can get analytics into your followers and posts, promote Instagram posts and have a more professional profile. You can also link your Instagram profile to your Facebook page, allowing you to quickly post photos onto Facebook. Your Instagram business profile also has a “Contact” button, here you can choose to include directions, a phone number, or an email address. Most of the advantage of switching to a business profile is the ability to learn about your followers. Here you can see what posts work best, generate the best interaction, where your followers are and when they’re online.
2. Using Instagram scheduling
There are a lot of mobile apps available which allow you to schedule Instagram posts, like how you can schedule posts on Facebook. We use Apphi for our account. It’s easy to set-up and link your account, and from the app you can set filters, hashtags and a caption before setting a time and date to post. We find this app helpful as our analytics show our followers are most active during the evening, when we’re out of the office. By using a scheduling app we can make sure our posts reach our followers at the right time.
3. Which posts generate the best reactions?
This is all about trial and error. Have a quick look through your Instagram analytics and you can filter your posts to see which ones have created the most engagement. Is there a theme? Are the photos of your work, your clients’ work, of your team? For us, we find pictures of us out and about do well, alongside photos of our clients work in-situ.
4. Use hashtags and create a conversation
We have a “bank” of hashtags we use frequently as we find these get good engagement. We also tailor these to what we’re posting, and we’ll also try to tag the client in the post if they have an account too. It also helps to ask a question in a caption, prompting a response from your followers. Even something simple like “What do you think of this?” can generate a conversation.
5. Using Instagram stories
Stories are a helpful way to include your followers in your day if the content doesn’t warrant an actual post. We find them helpful for more light-hearted or time-sensitive events, such as the rugby for example. They are just another way of engaging with your followers.