Four Things You Can’t Ignore on Instagram
4 Things You Can’t Ignore on Instagram
More than ever digital trends are leading consumers to interact with businesses online. With Instagram Business accounts, brands can promote their products and services to a wider audience. However, maintaining a social media presence on top of managing a business is no small feat. We’ve identified four areas of Instagram that often go overlooked by business accounts that, done correctly, can significantly improve results.
Account Bio
The majority of people viewing your Instagram profile don’t follow you yet. Your bio is a way to introduce your brand and let your personality shine. With only a 150-character limit, this section should briefly summarize your business’ purpose and be compelling enough to drive people to want to learn more. Share what makes you unique, what services you offer, or a demonstration of your expertise. Additionally, this is the only place on Instagram where you can include a clickable link, so your bio is prime real estate for your website URL or a call to action link.
Insights
Business accounts offer a significant amount of audience data through Instagram Insights. Reviewing these reports can be a road map to better understanding your followers. Think about how much more efficiently you can communicate with your audience if you know their interests, age, the time of day they are active on the app, and the types of posts they’ve liked in the past. But how do you make the most of these insights? Consider what your goals are for your social media accounts. For instance, if you want to drive traffic to your website, consider including a call to action in posts that you know will receive high engagement. Or, if you’re seeking audience feedback, create a poll and post it during the peak times your followers are active
Stories
Video is expected to make up over 80% of internet content by 2024. Viewers love to see videos in addition to pictures posted on your feed. With Instagram Stories you can post 15 second clips that are displayed for 24 hours on your profile. Because the shelf life of stories is short, they tend to be less formal compared to content on your feed. So have fun! Add stickers to poll your followers, create a quiz, or host a Q& A. The options are limitless when it comes to Stories, making it a tool you can’t skip when it comes to engaging your audience.
Community
A common misunderstanding is that more followers guarantee a more successful account. We would argue that a smaller number of loyal followers is more important than millions of ghost followers. Instagram is a social platform! Focus on ways you can build a community around your brand by interacting with accounts of similar or complementary interests. You can find similar or new accounts through the Explore page or try:
• Researching and using hashtags that relate to your account
• Reposting images that feature your brand
• Mentioning another business or followers that add to your message
Understandably, an Instagram business account serves to increase brand awareness. However, focusing solely on producing content to outdo your competition can limit you. Shaping a community around your brand will deliver a far greater return on investment.