Instagram is currently used by 150 million people monthly. Businesses can target Instagram users as a market to promote and sell their goods. It’s also a vehicle to find prospective employees. Likewise, job seekers can explore Instagram to scout companies’ social feeds for possible positions.
Here are some Instagram techniques to boost your business:
Create leads
- Take advantage of Photos of You and @mentions. At Photos of You, add potential customers to your photos. It’s like the Facebook tag: just add users to your Instagram posts and Instagram sends notification that you’ve added the photo to the Photos of You tab on their profile. This is one way to get exposure. Put simple caption @mention on your photo. It sends a notification also to the user’s phone.
- Use hashtags. The same as Twitter where you use hashtags so your content is searchable and accessible to users. Many Instagramers flood their captions with hashtags in order to generate likes – something you should never do. Regard hashtags as a competent way to understand your photos. Hashtags adds context to your post. What’s in the photo? What will be your audience’s reflection on it? In what special location or industry event was the photo taken? Hashtags gives this info fast.
- Comment on target customer’s photos. Hashtags are complementary. While you use them to facilitate people to find your photos, hashtags also help everyone to understand the content. List topics pertinent to your company, and search for them through hashtags on Instagram. Comment on the best posts that you find, citing their authors (contributor @username for your information).
Instagram is all about photos. But earlier this year, Instagram announced that some of the business ads may soon be done through videos. Now, Instagram posting of video ads, with a maximum of 15 seconds, is becoming one major source of video traffic on the Internet. A 15-second limit on running time has been set. Within this year, Instagram gets ready to start selling ads.
Nurture relationships with existing customers
Instagram, like Twitter, gets personal compared to other social media for your business. But it’s a bit like Twitter. Your tweets may primarily be industry news relevant to your followers, while others may be personalized to specific groups or individuals. In Instagram, all your photos are publicly seen, but you can alternate between posts catering to your viewers on a worldwide magnitude and messages for your existing client base to keep their trust.
In posting content for customers, always ponder on its possible effect on them. What would it do for your brand? Would it make your market more comfortable doing business with your company? Aside from just directly promotional work for your products and/or services, also post photos showing your employees working, your important meetings, awards received, new concepts, and so on. You should also consider videos in creating an emotional link.
Foster customer service on Instagram
Use Instagram for status updates of your plan. Mention when things aren’t going as smoothly as expected. Respond to comments on you photos. Addressing each comment on each post is ideal.
Post a photo a day. When flooded by the number of comments, set up rules to help you address most of them. About 90 percent of exchanges on Instagram happen during the first few hours after posting. Assess what’s best for your account. Frequently check for comments on your photos until they’re too old to yield more. You‘ll receive notifications for new comments, anyway, so it will be easy for you to reply promptly.
Get ready to use Instagram to your advantage. You’ll be amazed at how people will start following you. In return, follow them, too, and give attention to what interests them. Their interests can be your inspiration for your next topics for posting. Those attracted to your posting will potentially be attracted to your business. And that will only be the beginning.
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See also: Using Instagram to Boost Fan Engagement
