1. Create a professional business Instagram account
You can create an Instagram business account via Facebook or an email address. However, it is best to create a business account via an email address. This way, you ensure that it is not linked to personal Facebook accounts (which can become complicated if a colleague also wants access or is leaving the company).
Make sure that your account name and biography clearly show what your company does. This can help with the discoverability of your company in the overcrowded Instagram platform. It also immediately shows the user what your company stands for when visiting your account.
As an additional step, you can convert the account to a professional account. This provides a number of options: faster contact possibilities, access to statistics, the ability to plan posts and of course the ability to advertise your content.
2. Regularly post high-quality content
Regularly share content that is interesting for your target audience, such as product photos, inspiring quotes, and behind-the-scenes images of your company. Ensure that the content is of good quality, as it represents your company.
It is good to create a schedule for posting your content. This provides you with insight and ensures a good regularity for updating the Instagram account. It also provides insight into when you need to have high-quality content ready. After all, you do not want to post hurried – not yet completed – content.
3. Use hashtags
Use relevant hashtags to categorize your content and make it discoverable for people interested in your industry. You don’t have to come up with thousands of hashtags, just find the right hashtags from communities that you can use.
It is good to occasionally alternate hashtags and search for hashtags that are not used too often. You don’t want your posts to be overwhelmed with other content using the exact same hashtags.
Instagram allows a maximum of 30 hashtags. Keep this in mind: if you use 31 hashtags within your caption, your entire description disappears while posting your post. To avoid this from happening, you can also place your hashtags within a comment. Better safe than sorry.
4. Invest in visual branding
Create a coherent and consistent visual style that suits your brand and appeals to your target audience. This not only provides recognizability on your account (or Grid) itself, but also on the feeds of users. They can see at a glance that this post comes from your company.
In addition, beautiful and consistent visuals also provide interest and more followers and likes.
5. Use Instagram Stories and Reels
Use Instagram Stories to show behind-the-scenes footage, introduce new products, and encourage interaction with your followers. This content does not have to be perfect, but it often leads to quick and fun interactions.
Stories also signal to your followers that you have uploaded a story, as you appear at the top of their feed with your profile photo. Out of curiosity, many will click, and it can still be inviting to take a look at your profile.
Stories now generate more interaction with your followers than posts do. This is because posts are sometimes removed by the Instagram algorithm. Therefore, it is also wise to share your post immediately in a story.
In addition to stories and regular posts, also use Reels. It may take a little longer to make a Reel, but it will pay off. A Reel has much more reach than a regular post. Reels are used much more often, so your reel has a great chance of reaching your target group.
6. Collaborate with influencers
Collaborate with influencers in your industry to promote your products and increase your brand awareness. This can be interesting if the budget is available and there are indeed influencers who have the same target audience as you.
Send a product once (with permission) to be tested, or have them make an ad with an introduction to your services and products.
One advantage of working with the right influencers is that they have a specific target audience. So you know exactly what to focus on for the promotion of your service or product.
7. Use Instagram Ads
Use Instagram Ads to advertise to your target audience based on location, interests, demographics, and more. These ads can have a specific goal, such as generating more likes, directing people to a specific page with a link, or generating more followers.
You can advertise through reels, stories, and regular feed content. See which option works best for your target audience and try different options.
8. Respond to comments and direct messages
Stay in touch with your followers and quickly and personally respond to questions, comments, and messages. This is the first step to increasing interaction with your followers. Trust in your brand will increase, and you’ll have a more loyal community.
It’s also good for interacting with Instagram. The more interaction on a post, the more valuable it becomes, appearing more frequently in overviews and feeds.
9. Organize an Instagram contest
Organize a contest to increase engagement with your followers and gain more exposure. By encouraging your followers to participate in the contest, you increase interaction with your brand. It’s also possible that your followers will share their participation with friends and family, resulting in more brand awareness.
Contests can also help create new and creative content for your Instagram account. This can be valuable for your brand because it can provide new ideas and perspectives that may not be available otherwise.
Contests can also help build a stronger relationship with your followers. It is often appreciated when companies take the time to engage with their followers and reward them for their engagement. This can lead to more loyalty and engagement with your brand in the long run.
10. Use Instagram Analytics
Use Instagram Analytics to gain insight into your target audience and measure how your content is performing. It also provides many different insights that can help you better understand your audience, their interests, and their behavior on the platform.
All of these insights can be valuable in analyzing the performance of your Instagram account and understanding which types of content and activities generate the most engagement and interest from your target audience. This can help you adjust your social media strategy to achieve better results and reach a larger audience.
Did you know that Toomba just launched an Instagram account? Take a look behind-the-scenes, stay up-to-date on our progress, and follow us at @toombadigitalagency
