Why Instagram
Instagram is becoming one of the most used platforms on the Internet – right behind Facebook. With over 1 billion personal and business accounts live and active, Instagram is a great way to reach large volumes of people. The basis of Instagram is a photo with a caption. This allows you to share interesting photos of your team, your city, your products/services, and local events.
How to Set Up Your Instagram Account
You can sign up for an Instagram account by either downloading the Instagram app or going to www.instagram.com. You will just need a company email address to create and verify the account. If you already have a personal Instagram account, that will stay completely separate from your business. Create your business account just like you would a personal one and we’ll get to how to turn it into a business account later in this post.
How to Optimize Your Account
The most important thing to do is choose an Instagram handle (name) that represents your business and is short, easy to read, and easy to remember. People are going to be searching for and recognizing your account based on its name, so make it easy for them!
Quick Tip: Add a period, underscore, or another symbol in your name. Not only does this separate the words and make it easier to read, but the Instagram software doesn’t like it when your handle is the same as a current website URL.
Add all of your technical account details such as phone number and a website link. Make sure to write a quick overview of your company for the bio section. You are only allowed 150 characters, so make it short and to the point.
Make sure you have a branded profile picture that is clean, simple, and displays your logo. This can be in the form of symbols that represent your brand, the initials of your business in your brand’s font, or just your logo. The biggest thing to remember here is that it should boost brand recognition.
The last thing you will want to do is turn this Instagram account into a business profile. You can do this in one of two ways. The first way is to go into the settings on Instagram, select the option to convert to a business profile and choose the Facebook page to connect your account to, or you can go on your business Facebook page and link your Instagram account through the Instagram tab on there. Either method will link your Facebook Business page to your Instagram account and turn it into an Instagram Business profile. From there, Instagram should pull your business address and any additional information from Facebook, so all you need to do is verify everything is correct.
How to Gain a Following
The only way for your Instagram account to be successful and create an ROI for your business is to earn a following of people that are interested in what you do and will share your business with those in their network. The more people that are seeing your content, logo, and name, the more clients you will get.
Check out our top 10 tips for growing your Instagram following:
1. Post consistently – Every day is ideal
2. Create, post, and share relevant and interesting content
3. Host giveaways
4. Go Instagram Live when you are at an event or working on something interesting
5. Develop a consistent aesthetic for your profile
6. Have a call-to-action in your posts
7. Interact with your followers through comments and direct messages
8. Design original and branded content
9. Include 10-30 hashtags on every post
10. Add to your Instagram stories
Your Social Media Experts
We hope our quick guide to Instagram has helped you learn more about the platform and how it can be a vital tool in promoting your business. Our team at Stingray Branding has created, optimized, and grown hundreds of Instagram accounts, and we stay up-to-date on all of the new Instagram algorithms and updates so you don’t have to. If you would like to sit down with one of our Stingrays and find out how we can help optimize your accounts and grow your social media following, give us a call.
