With over 400 million monthly active users, Instagram is a great network for gaining online visibility and building an audience for your brand. If you have an account you’re just getting started with or need a little guidance, here are my top 7 tips to launch your business on Instagram!
Choose Your Look/Feel/Filters:
Instagram is all about the visuals, so aside from using great visuals – getting the look and feel of your branding across to consumers is essential in standing out on the social media network. Narrow down filters that compliment your company or brand – not only will this give consumers a visual signal that they’ve arrived on your profile but will make your life a lot easier without having to shuffle and decide what filters to use for each post.
Fill In Your Bio/Profile Image:
Your biography is a chance to let people know what your brand is all about. Include a link to your website or any other page you’d like to lead traffic to.
Get Your Current Community or Influencers Involved:
If you already have a following on other social media networks, get them involved in your launch! You can also create an influencer marketing campaign and get a few (relevant) Instagram influencers to help with the process of choosing filters and network exclusive content. In return, they may help with the next step…
Build Buzz:
There are many ways to build buzz around the launch of your business’ Instagram account. Again if you have a following on other networks, get them involved! Post content teasing about the account launch, and when it launches post content with links to the account. You can use the same tactic and send a blast to your email list. Remember those influencers that you recruited to help you launch? Leverage their reach – ask them to post about the launch (and tag everything correctly) – they may be so excited to have been a part of the project that they give you a shoutout with out being asked. You can even coordinate an influencer account takeover (this is when the influencer takes over and posts updates via your account for a specified amount of time). One last way to build buzz is to run a contest. You can use your new Instagram account to get the word out or create a landing page where visitors can drop their emails for launch updates.
Populate With Content Pre-Launch:
Don’t send potential followers to a blank page! Have a few posts to set the tone, and for them to look at. This will get some interaction going right from the start.
Sign Up for Analytics:
Being able to keep track of likes, best times to post and more audience insights will be instrumental in keeping your account growing in the right direction. Analytics will let you know if your strategy is working or not, and what kind of content your audience is interested in. There are many paid, and free tools – at the moment I use both Squarelovin and Webstagram – along with manual excel sheets.
Share Content & Engage:
As with any social media network you have to be consistent with posts and engage with people on the network. Use hashtags related to your content/brand/industry in posts, use videos as well as photos, participate in related hashtag trends (hit the little house icon to see whats trending), like photos and talk to people!. It’s okay to start with sharing content you already have in your content plan pipeline but try to have a little fun and throw some neighborhood, lifestyle, behind the scenes and other Instagram exclusive posts into the mix. This should entice customers to follow your account since they won’t be getting this content on any other of your brand profiles.
As with any other network, building a following will take some work, patience and monitoring. Instagram will give your business (big or small) the opportunity to reach new potential customers, and get a little creative with your content. I hope you found this article useful and use my 7 tips to successfully launch your business on Instagram!
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