I believe that all professionals should know how powerful Instagram for business can be.
However, just having an account isn’t enough. I’m here to share 6 ways to improve your Instagram account and help you develop a powerful Instagram presence. It’s important to make your Instagram profile as easy to view and navigate as possible if you’re looking to gain an audience and network on and offline. My goal is to aid you in representing your brand in the best way possible and increase traffic to your profile—and subsequently, your business.
NOTE: Sue B. Zimmerman will be a speaker at my September event, the Doable Social Summit. She's one of a group of trusted leaders sharing practical tactics to grow leads and sales online. Sept. 15-26. All online, includes a LinkedIn private group and video recording of each session. Learn more about the Doable Social Summit.
Included in your bio should be a concise description of what you or your business does. This, combined with your photo content, is how people will decide whether to follow you back or not, so you want your description to be engaging and a strong representation of your business.
Don’t forget to include a link in your Instagram bio. You can change out the link whenever you choose to promote different aspects of your business, for instance a newsletter sign up or your Facebook fan page.
You are allowed up to 30 hashtags in the caption of an Instagram post, so take advantage of it. Create a custom hashtag for your business to curate the images you and your customers share. To get more hashtag ideas, go into your ‘explore’ section (the compass button) and try typing in different keywords to see what yields content that most closely aligns with your brand. To extend the life of your post, add the hashtag as a second comment of your post. If you want to refresh your post, delete that comment and add new ones. Remember to never add a punctuation to your post, because the hashtag will not be live. Use these tips to cure your Hashtag Headache.
Leaving the privacy setting on is like having a closed sign on your front door!
Your account should be public, making it easier to view your content and follow your account. The more accessible you are, the more people you will reach.
Within Instagram you can easily edit your photos. But if you want them to really stand out, a simple filter will not always be enough! Some of my favorite applications for this are Word Swag, Rhonna, Flipagram, Videohance, Diptic, and Canva.
Use Geo tags when posting from your office or business and encourage customers to Geo Tag when they’re visiting your storefront or restaurant.
By clicking on your Geotag, you can see the user generated content that your customers have produced. This creates yet another place to curate photos related to your business and increase visibility of your brand!
Ideally, your Twitter and Instagram handles should be the same. If your Twitter or Instagram name is taken, then try using periods, your middle initial, or a number to keep both handles as similar as possible. It’s also a good idea to have the same or similar profile pictures across platforms so that you are quickly recognizable. Encourage users from one platform to follow you on another by posting a call to action and sharing your link as well.
By using these tips, you should now have an #InstaAwesome and complete profile. Now it’s time to start interacting with your followers. People will repost your content if it is worthy of sharing to their followers, and this will give you a much larger reach. Post interesting and relevant content and don’t forget to hashtag!
Finally, be sure to like posts and respond to comments and messages. Instagram is an awesome place to show a more personal side of your business—Follow the hashtag #InstaGalLive to be a part of my amazing Instagram community and see these tips and tricks in action!
Reminder: Catch Sue B. Zimmerman at my September event, the Doable Social Summit. Learn more about the Doable Social Summit.