Whenever we think about social media, some names that instantly cross our minds are Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Billions of people across the world visit at least one of these platforms once a day and spend hours on it.

While Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. have been super important marketing channels for businesses for many years now, Instagram has caught up remarkably in recent years. As per the latest statistics, over 1 billion users visit Instagram every month in 2020, and on average, each user spent 30 minutes daily on Instagram.

With 3.5 billion users all over the world, Instagram is rapidly outshining other platforms.

If you own a business, then Instagram can be a very potent marketing channel for you. Especially if your company is in the B2C segment, then go ahead and create an Instagram Business Account for it. You can use it to give your business more credibility, and visibility and build loyal followership.

Having an Instagram Business Account has several benefits, one of the most important being getting access to Instagram Insights – the business analytics dashboard that Instagram provides.

Instagram Insights

Instagram Insights provides businesses with all the statistics they need to know about their activities on Instagram. They can get vital information like how their follower base is growing, how the Instagram posts are performing, reach, the number of profile views, link clicks, etc.

By going through Instagram Insights, Social Media Managers can know what is working for them and what is not. They can use this data to optimize their posts and decide on how future posts should be.

Ways to promote an Instagram Business Account

Creating an Instagram Business Account is just the beginning of your Instagram marketing journey. However, a critical step in ensuring success with Instagram marketing is to promote it effectively. Remember that you are not the only one who is competing for the attention of Instagram users. There are thousands, if not millions of other business owners who are vying for a piece of the cake.

So, let us now talk about some ways to grab the attention of the users, build a loyal following and get tangible business results from Instagram

1. Write A Killer Bio

Your bio will be one of the first things people will notice when they visit your Instagram profile. Thus, you must pay extra attention to writing a bio that clearly explains what your business is about, what it does, and why people should follow and listen to it.

Instagram bio can only be 150 characters long. Thus, make it as interesting and catchy as possible.

Among other things, mention the industry your business belongs to and include a link to your website so that traffic can be generated to the site.

Remember that you have a fleeting chance to catch the attention of your users within the first few seconds only. Hence make your profile short, crisp, and attractive enough for the visitors to decide that they want to know more about your business and follow your Instagram Business Account.

2. Create Engaging Content

Your target customers will follow you on Instagram only when they find the content you post to be interesting. However, this is what troubles many businesses. They find the prospect of creating content to be a mammoth task and shy away from it.

If you also face problems in generating the content, then it is a problem. Without useful content, you will not be able to generate traffic and leads for your business.

Hire a professional graphic designer or/and video creator to help you produce visual content regularly. You can easily hire graphic designers and video creators from a platform like Upwork or Fiverr. Another great option is to hire a digital marketing agency that can not only create content for you but also help you in promoting your Instagram Business Account.

Tip:
Always plan your content well in advance to avoid the last-minute rush.

You can use a content calendar to plan the content that will be posted on a particular day. At Inovaticus we plan our content one month in advance so that our social media and content creation teams have enough time to ideate and develop the Instagram posts and videos.

HubSpot has an excellent Social Media Content Calendar that you can download and use for free.

3. Post Regularly

To be successful on Instagram, businesses must find a way to consistently create content that resonates with the audience. Since Instagram relies heavily on visual content you will have to find out ways to create engaging graphics and videos consistently.

Ideally, every business must post at least once daily on Instagram. We recommend posting more frequently if your follower base is large. Many businesses prefer to post 3-6 times a day, with some going up to even 10 posts a day.

Though there is no upper limit to how many times you can post every day, it is best not to over-post. Otherwise, your followers may feel that you are spamming them and unfollow your Instagram Business Account.

As a thumb rule, post only when you have something interesting to say. Do not post just for the sake of posting.

4. Use Hashtags

Adding Hashtags to your Instagram Business Account is an absolute must, as it can increase its visibility remarkably. It will enable your Instagram Business Account to be found by people who look for those hashtags.

Using Hashtags, therefore, is an excellent way to increase followers and build your tribe.

Make a list of the desired keywords that are relevant to your business and make sure that you include the ones that your current clients are following. Search for each hashtag on Instagram to see which ones are most popular. Then include the top 3 – 5 hashtags for maximum impact.

5. Add A Call to Action

As funny as it may sound, most users do not have a clue about what to do after they view your posts. Hence you must add a compelling Call to Action (CTA) to every post telling the users clearly what to do next.

Include the link to your website in your bio so that the users know how to visit your site. Deep links to specific blog posts and site pages can be added to the bio, and you can keep changing the links occasionally.

You can reference this link in your posts, comments, etc. by including some text like “Link in Bio”. Some other ways of adding links to Instagram posts are mentioned in this article by Social Media Examiner.

6. Instagram Stories

Posting Instagram stories is an excellent way to keep your followers engaged and give them updates about what your business is up to. You can also use Instagram Stories to make your followers engage with your brand willingly.

If your customers are like me, they might also find Instagram Stories to be highly addictive. Many customers eagerly look forward to Instagram Stories being posted by businesses daily and actively interact with them too.

Instagram Stories for business allows you to amplify your brand messaging, build traffic and generate sales and leads in a fun and powerful way.

7. Instagram Live

An extremely useful recent addition to Instagram Stories is Instagram Live. Individuals and businesses can now use it to do a live broadcast to their followers and get real-time engagements from them.

Millions of users are already watching the Instagram Live sessions being conducted by thousands of companies daily, and I strongly suggest that you try it out too.

8. Instagram Reels And IGTV

Instagram lets its users post videos in two main formats: Instagram Reels and Instagram TV (IGTV).

Instagram Reels Allows you to post videos that are up to 15 seconds long. Brands can use Instagram Reels to post quick updates regarding anything. These may include telling users about what is happening in their company, product offers upcoming product launches, etc.

IGTV on the other hand is meant for posting longer videos. It is ideal for posting more professionally produced videos.

We recommend that you use IGTV Whenever you have something more important to communicate with your followers. The longer duration of the IGTV videos will enable you to communicate your message more effectively and get better results out of your Instagram marketing efforts.

IGTV is now available as a separate app, so tell your users that they can also find content from your brand on it. Hence, they should download it if they do not already have the IGTV app.

9. Instagram Advertising

Instagram also has a robust advertising platform that includes a multitude of features and precise targeting options. Businesses can promote text, image, and video content to reach out to the exact people whom they want to attract

Instagram ads appear on Instagram Feed, Instagram Stories, and Instagram Explore. Users can be targeted based on their location, demographics, interests, behavior, etc.

Explore our Instagram Advertising Service to know how we can help you to achieve your business goals with Instagram Ads.

Other Strategies to Promote Your Instagram Business Account

The key to successfully promoting your Instagram Business Account is to ensure that your target users find you and stay engaged with your brand for a long time.

Thankfully, Instagram gives us ample ways to do that very effectively.

Apart from what we have already discussed, here are some of the other strategies that you can adopt to attract followers and keep them engaged.

10. Influencer Marketing

You can get celebrities and influencers to promote your brand using Instagram Stories for Business. It will give your Instagram Business Account more exposure in front of its fan following and will eventually increase your follower base and business results.

Just make sure that the influencers you choose to tie up with have a sizeable following, and that the followers are genuine. You can assess this by going through their posts to see how many likes and comments they have received.

11. Polls

Polls can be especially useful for collecting feedback and ideas from your followers and keeping them involved with your brand.

Ask questions to your followers through Instagram Stories that they can quickly answer by either tapping Yes/No or by selecting one of the multiple answer options that you have provided. You can use Instagram polls to find out various things like what kind of content they want your company to post, take product feedback, etc.

When done correctly, polls make the followers feel valued and their loyalty toward your business increases.

12. Giveaways

We all love to receive gifts and freebies, isn’t it?

Encourage your followers to participate in a competition or perform a certain action to win some goodies from your company. The reward can be a product of your company or any other gift with a high perceived value.

Giveaways are a massive hit on Instagram and many brands are also using influencers to conduct these giveaway contests to reach a wider audience.

Be Persistent to Get Consistent Results

Growing your Instagram Business Account is going to be a long-term game. Follow the methods mentioned here, consistently post good and meaningful content that resonates with your followers and keep putting in efforts consistently to get impressive results.

Have some more points to add? Post your comment below and let the discussion go on.