Did you know that nearly 1.393 billion people use Instagram?
The popularity of this photo-sharing app keeps growing, and it’s not hard to see why. It gives people the opportunity to personalize their accounts and make them unique by discovering new and exciting content.
If Instagram is a place where you’re looking to expand your business, this platform can be a goldmine. While it’s easy to enjoy your own custom photo feed, did you know there are Instagram benefits for business?
Today we’re going to talk about the most important ones, which you can use to start attracting more customers or a wider base of followers.
Read on to learn more!
1. Utilize Hashtags to Expand Your Reach
Having an Instagram account is ideal for any business because it gives you the opportunity to have increased engagement. Instagram is known to generate more engagement than other social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. One way to boost your engagement is to use hashtags.
Hashtags are one of the more common Instagram trends, but not everyone uses them in the correct manner. It’s essential you do your research and use hashtags the way they’re intended. Otherwise, they can have the opposite effect on your account.
How can your business use hashtags on Instagram? You’re only allowed a certain amount of hashtags per post. Before selecting those hashtags, you can see how many other people use those hashtags.
Try to select the ones with the most users. Then, be cautious and only use hashtags that directly relate to your content. Using random hashtags will hurt your engagement.
They need to make sense for your post. Follow these steps and your post will receive more traffic! You can include hashtags in the caption or in the comment section.
2. Take Advantage of User-Generated Content
User-generated content is content that’s created by other accounts that are about your business in some way. When other accounts create content about your product or service and are tagged in the post, story, or reel, this is known as UGC (user-generated content) and can help you get more reach. Some followers/customers will create this content on their own after purchasing your product or service to spread the word to others.
However, you can also take advantage of UGC by asking your followers to tag your business page when sharing your product or service. In return, you can offer them a discount or enter their account into a giveaway of some sort.
3. Use Instagram Stories for Business
Instagram isn’t only about posting awesome photos on your page. It’s also about creating capturing and intriguing stories. Although Instagram’s algorithm works well when you don’t post more than once a day, the same rules don’t apply to your stories.
Feel free to post several stories each day to help bring traffic to your page. Your stories might include various updates for a remodeling project or the behind-the-scenes process of creating a new product. When you create stories for your business page, you want them to link back to your product or service and keep your followers intrigued.
For example, if you own a food truck and are located in a specific park for a food truck event that day, then be sure to share this on your story. Take videos of the park, the other food trucks, and all the fun happening to convince everyone to head out and join in on the fun!
4. Create a Business Profile
If you don’t already have a business page on Instagram, then now is the time to make the change. Instagram gives you the option of creating business accounts that offer you plenty of insights. These insights are only available when you make the switch and are much-needed for any business.
Here are some features you can expect to see when switching to a business account.
- Information on accounts reached, accounts engaged, and total followers
- Your posts and stories with the highest engagement
- Information about your followers such as their location, gender, age range, and most active times
These are just a few features you can expect to see when making the switch. Use all of this information to help you create the best content for your followers and make changes as needed.
5. Use Paid Advertising
Another benefit of switching to a business account is having the option of creating paid advertisements. Paid advertisements on Instagram look similar to regular posts with a small indication at the top letting users know it’s an ad. Instagram allows you to choose which post you want to be advertised.
Then, you can choose who you want to see this advertisement or allow Instagram to choose for you based on your followers. These advertisements show up in the regular posts feed, stories, explore page, and more places. After paying for an advertisement, you’ll also then see how well the advertisement does.
Paying for advertisements and even likes can help your page grow. Be sure to check out more info on how to buy likes from real and active accounts.
6. Connect Instagram With Facebook
Does your business have a Facebook page as well? If so, Instagram now allows you to connect your Instagram page/content with your Facebook account. It’s an option you don’t have to accept, but it can come in handy for businesses.
Each time you create and post content on Instagram, you can have it automatically post that content on your Facebook page. This lets your Facebook followers know that new content is posted on your Instagram. Doing this can help grow both your Instagram and Facebook following.
Take Advantage of These Instagram Benefits
As a business owner, you shouldn’t hesitate to take advantage of these Instagram benefits. Using Instagram for your business is a must because so many customers now expect to find an Instagram page when researching a business. Before using Instagram, make sure to read through all of the helpful information listed here in this guide.
Then, continue to check back here for more business, marketing, social media, and many other similar topics!
