These days, it’s hard for a brand to thrive in a world without social media. And if you had to choose just one platform to help launch you into the social sphere, there’s no question Instagram is where it’s at. We know it can be overwhelming to frame your business for social media success. But we’ve got you covered! You’re just five steps away from creating a coveted Instagram business account.
1. Create a bio that effortlessly sings
This is your chance to tell your company’s story in a nutshell. You have a short window of opportunity to capture your audience’s attention. That’s because the space is packed with attention grabbing images. A few ways you can make your feed stand out:
- Link your website in your bio. This will give your target audience access to more information without filling up your bio with unnecessary content.
- It’s also important to have a captivating profile picture. Some businesses prefer to have their logo as their profile picture, but you can also have something bold like your brand mascot or a colour that represents the brand.
- If the name of your business is widely known or used, or if you’re a public figure, there may be a few Instagram accounts with the same name. You can request a blue tick on Instagram for your business account to let your audience know that you’re the authorized brand or seller. Keep in mind you cannot request to get a verified tick. This decision is strictly up to Instagram. You can make a case for receiving a tick if you have a large follower base and you can prove that someone is trying to impersonate your account.
2. Identify your tribe
Next, take some time to identify your target audience and social community. In essence, the question you should ask yourself is, ‘who do I want to follow?’ and ‘who do I want following me?’ Of course, we all want to be popular on Instagram but the initial goal is to gain followers who are truly invested in you and your brand. You are more likely to experience audience engagement if that audience is truly interested in what you want to say as a brand. Always remember that you’re on Instagram to get your brand’s message heard
3. Aesthetic matters
This is especially true for brands as opposed to personal profiles! The aesthetic of your feed should capture your brand’s theme, colours and overall feel. A few things to consider:
- High quality, original photography tends to perform better than stock images. But if you don’t have high resolution original pictures there’s no harm in using stock. There are a number of great sites that offer free photography including com or pexels.com
- Many successful feeds tend to follow a colour scheme. Colours can be in line with your brand identity, logo, products, etc. It is essential to make sure all photos that you post create a colour and filter flow, and also look good as a grid.
- Refrain from posting anything random. It will disrupt the flow of your feed if you’re not paying attention.
- If you’re using stock photos make sure they’re relevant to your brand and content.
4. Create a content calendar
This is one of the most crucial functions of running a successful Instagram feed. Everything you post will convey your brand’s message and showcase your brand’s theme and knowing what your feed will look, sound and feel like in advanced can make a huge difference. It is also important to take into consideration what kind of content attracts your desired target audience. If your demographic falls within the millennial generation, references to pop culture in your content will engage the audience more. To know more about what your demographic prefers, look up brands similar to yours on Instagram who have grown followers, and analyze what their content plan is like. This will help you build a strategy for your daily content updates.
The number of posts you upload and how often you post is also essential in growing followers. Make sure you have a regular posting schedule.
5. EXPLORE.EXPLORE.EXPLORE
Instagram has come up with a lot of updates in the past few months and there are just so many features to explore. Our favourite is IGTV which allows for video uploads as long as an hour! Second in line is shoppable posts which allows brands to put price tags on products showcased on their posts, leading directly to their website. There’s also the ‘Ask Me Sticker.’ If you’re a small business, It’s always nice for the company to provide your customers an opportunity to ask one-on-one candid questions to the founders or even your brand mascot.
Have some tips to share with the On Q community? Let’s get the dialogue going in the comments below.
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