Promoting small businesses through Instagram

Social media marketing has helped businesses gain traction for less marketing dollars spent compared to other marketing channels. One platform that has seen a meteoric rise and offers consistent growth for business applications is Instagram. 

Instagram is the third-most-popular social media platform in the world with 1 billion monthly active users and 500 million daily active users.

The social photo-sharing app is especially popular in India and the United States, which have 201 million and 157 million Instagram users each. It is also the most gender-neutral of the social media platforms, at 50.9% female to 49.1% male, which means that your promotions are useful for connecting to both segments of your target audience. Instagram has created an algorithm that re-organizes people’s feeds so they would theoretically see more content that is relevant to them.

Steps to create a business page on Instagram:

•  Before you can set up a business profile on Instagram, you need to have an active Facebook Page
•  Connect Your Facebook Page to Instagram

• Switch to a business profile on Instagram and Facebook 
• Make sure your profile is set to Public, or you won’t be able to switch to a business profile.

• You need to add your contact information, including a phone number, physical address, or email so that customers can get in touch.
• Set up your Instagram business profile the right way. Use your logo or brand icon as your profile picture. Your bio should represent your business and show new followers what you do as a company. Lastly, add your link.

Posts on the Instagram app come in five forms:

Regular Instagram posts are evergreen. They will stay there unless you delete them. These show up in your followers’ Instagram Feeds.

Instagram Stories are fifteen seconds long and vanish after 24 hours. Stories lend themselves to more casual and in-the-moment content. It is a great place to showcase the more raw and transparent content that helps to make your business relatable.

Instagram Live appears in the Stories feeds of your followers, but is recorded in real-time, so you can see people as they join and read comments as they come in. Be sure to let your followers know ahead of time that you will be running a live session, so they can help spread the word, and you can boost your number of viewers.

Instagram Reels is a short-form video up to 60 seconds long, similar to TikTok in that you can edit together multiple clips and add music and sound effects.

IGTV is similar to YouTube. You can upload long-form videos up to ten minutes long (or sixty minutes if you have a verified business account with more than 10,000 followers). It is perfect for product demos, tutorials, or guided workouts. Uploading your IGTV video will automatically create your brand’s unique channel. Plus, you can repurpose or even repost Facebook and YouTube videos you’ve already created—getting in front of potentially an entirely new segment of your Instagram following.

Here are some basics to help you start using Instagram for business:

Define your target audience

An effective social media strategy starts with a sound understanding of your audience. Research Instagram’s audience demographics to get a sense of who uses the platform. 

Create a content calendar:

With your audience and goals defined, you can plan to publish on Instagram with purpose. A well-planned social media content calendar ensures you don’t miss important dates and allows you to allot enough time for creative production.

Optimize your Instagram profile to do business:

An Instagram business profile gives you a small amount of space to accomplish a lot. It’s where people on Instagram go to learn more about your brand, visit your website or even book an appointment. 

Instagram is a photo-sharing social media platform, so it’s essential to share visually engaging content. Generic photos won’t cut it. Take photos- edit them, and take time to ensure you’re creating a cohesive grid on Instagram. Incorporate Trending Topics In Your Posts. 

Going with what’s trending is a best practice. If you can tap into what people are already thinking about, you can get a substantial leg up on social engagement.

Include Video Content. It gets more engagement than images. Give People a Behind-the-Scenes Look. People love to get a peek into how their favourite businesses run.

Interact with your followers:

As with any social media platform, it’s crucial to engage and interact with your followers on Instagram. Respond to followers’ comments. When people comment on your photos, be sure to reply. Interacting with customers and followers shows you pay attention and care about what they say.

Also, ask questions in your posts.

Using captions or polls to ask a question relevant to your niche is a great way to increase engagement, gain more exposure and boost your Instagram growth. Think about questions that will be fun to answer or topics that matter, but steer clear of anything too personal or controversial. You could also run a Simple Instagram giveaway.

Recording Company Milestones is a good strategy as people like to celebrate.

Use Instagram influencers to promote your business:

Influencers can serve as brand ambassadors for your business. Influencers are people with a significant following on Instagram. Find influencers who are a natural, organic fit for your business and who will be genuinely enthusiastic about promoting your products. The best strategy for identifying influencers is to use a tool. You could use the search bar or “Explore People” feature on Instagram.

Use hashtags:

Hashtags are an excellent way to help users find content on Instagram. Hashtags can include letters and numbers, but they can’t contain any non-numeric characters. Use relevant hashtags but avoid using an excess of them. You want your fans and prospective customers to be able to recognize the campaigns or brands they’re interested in, and campaign-specific hashtags are a great way to do that. 

Advertise on Instagram.

Like on other social channels, businesses can advertise on Instagram. The targeting is the same as Facebook’s, and you can get really very reasonable costs per click. To create a new Instagram ad, you choose from three basic formats: photo, video, and carousel ads.

Run giveaways and promotions: Post an image advertising your giveaway, sale, or contest. They allow your customers and followers to market your brand for you by talking about it on their profiles, driving more people to your profile. 

Track results with analytics tools:

When you’re using Instagram for business, it’s vital that you track your progress in achieving your goals. You can map your brand’s marketing, content, and sales strategy using this instant analysis

Use Testimonials as they are a powerful element of any marketing funnel.

Instagram has a distinct advantage over other social media platforms:

• It is totally free.
• Connect with customers across multiple channels
• Re-use marketing materials: Work smarter, not harder
• Better Target Market Penetration
• Instagram users are active and they spend a lot of time on it.

Many small businesses have used Instagram to develop their startups into known brands through strategic marketing. 

Follow STEP’s Instagram Page for gender-focused content on the Startup/ entrepreneurial ecosystem.

https://instagram.com/shaktitheempathyproject?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=