In the past few years, Instagram has transformed from being a highlight reel of vacations to a hopping hub of business marketing and sales. If you are a small business owner trying to learn to use Instagram to help catapult your company’s reach, there are a lot of things you should know. Here are a few of the benefits of using Instagram for your business and a couple ways that you can use it to your advantage.
Showcase Your Products
Instagram’s photo post layout provides a great way to showcase your products. When planning out the content that you’ll be posting on Instagram, try to envision the aesthetic that you want your posts to have as they advertise your products. Once you’ve made a plan for how you’ll post your content, try to be as consistent as possible in posting regularly to attract your ideal audience. For example, if your products are aimed towards a younger audience, try using clear photos, trendy edits, and modern color schemes. You can also use the caption features on posts to include important information about your products in a way that interests your audience.
There are also lots of different ways that you can promote the products that you’re showcasing in your Instagram content. You can use posts, stories, reels, and saved story highlights to document the different services and products that your company offers.
Sell Your Products
Although you might already have a website for your company that you use to sell your products, you can now also use Instagram to sell your products. There are plenty of features that will help you sell your products on Instagram in whatever way fits your needs. There is a process on Instagram that allows your viewers to view your products on your page or under the shopping feature and add them to their cart. They can even order your products and check out through Instagram. This facilitated process encourages your followers to buy your products since they don’t have to try to maneuver a different website.
Communicate with Your Customers
Instagram is also a great way to communicate with your customers. It has a direct message feature that your customers can use to contact you if they have any questions or want to make inquiries about your products. These messages are completely private between the involved accounts. If you want your customers to message you through direct messages, you can say so in your Instagram bio. If you’d prefer that they email you, you can also attach your email or phone number in your Instagram bio info. As far as more casual communication, you can interact with your customers and audience through post captions and comments, which will help them to feel a sense of community with your company.
Network with Other Businesses
One great benefit of using Instagram as a business is that you can network and connect with other businesses. Recently, small businesses have found a lot of success in collaborating with businesses that have similar or related products. These collaborations have involved giveaways, spotlight features, and products that have been jointly produced and inspired. This kind of networking can greatly benefit your company because the businesses that collaborate with you may have followers that would also love to buy your products. These collaborations can expose you to new customers and help grow your audience.
Find Product Inspiration
If you’re looking for new popular products or marketing techniques, Instagram can suggest similar accounts for you in ads, reels, and your suggested connections. These accounts can help you to think of new ideas for products that would be popular and attractive for your audience. For example, if your company provides decorations for weddings and events, you may want to follow popular wedding accounts that are in your area to see the trends in event decorations. This will inspire you to think of new, creative products that your customers will love.
Monitor Your Engagement
While using Instagram, it is important to track and monitor your page’s engagement, or the rate at which people interact with your Instagram account. You can track engagement through likes, shares, tags, comments, and saves, all of which can be found on the Instagram Professional Dashboard on your business account. One great way to interact with your audience and boost your page’s engagement is to post about some of your behind-the-scenes processes. Try filming some reels as your products are being made to pull back the figurative curtain and show your followers the time and effort that goes into delivering their purchases.
Remember to try different techniques as you’re starting to use Instagram for your business. Doing so will help you to make important connections with new business, grow your audience, and find inspiration for future products. Once you’ve started creating successful Instagram content you’ll find that your business will never be the same!