In the ten years since Instagram launched, it has become a global platform that is a necessary part of a social media strategy. It is a great platform to help an organization strengthen its relationship with its audience and extend their reach.

We have many social media platforms available these days, so trying to focus on all of them can make you overextend yourself. Instead, it is ideal to focus on just a few that have your target audience, so you will need to determine if Instagram is a good fit for your business. If your company sells physical products, is community-oriented, has photography as an important part of the business, or has an informal approach to your audience, Instagram may be a good platform for you.

Interacting with your audience

Instagram has several ways that you can interact with your audience. You can post photos or short videos with messages for your clientele; they also have the Stories feature, IGTV, and shopping. Stories is one of the most popular features; last year, there were over 500 million daily active Stories users. Since the Instagram Stories disappear after 24 hours, this is a direct competition with Snapchat, but Instagram’s daily use far surpasses Snapchat’s 238 million daily active users in the same timeframe (1).

Does my audience use Instagram?

According to Statista, there are over one billion users each month on Instagram, making it the most popular social media platform in the world. Of those billion, 140 million are in the United States, which is where the app is the most popular. The highest demographic groups for Instagram are 29 percent of 18 to 24-year-olds, 33 percent of 25 to 34-year-olds, and 16 percent of 35 to 44-year-olds (1). If your only target audience is out of these age ranges, you may want to put the bulk of your focus on other social media networks.

Tips for Instagram Posts

Once you have decided to use Instagram for your business, you may not be sure of what strategies to use to get the most out of your business’ Instagram account. These strategies can help you get started.

Add Value

This is a highly visual platform, so you will need to create quality and thoughtful content. Instagram has a high engagement rate, so posting compelling content that encourages engagement is an excellent way to help your business thrive on Instagram.

While sharing photos of your products can be a good thing, you do not need to stick to just those. You can also share memes or quotes to appeal to your audience, often through humor. This will ultimately depend on your business and the relationship it already has with the audience. Try not to stray or completely change your brand voice, though; that can have the opposite effect.

Engagement

Engagement is always one of the most important things when it comes to social media for a business. To engage with your audience in your posts, you can reply to their comments and hold giveaways or contests; you can tag your contest winners in your posts to engage with them too once a contest ends. You can use the poll feature in Stories to engage or tag followers in your Stories, especially if they post something that is relevant to the brand.

Consistency

Every brand has a voice and an overall theme that goes with it, and it is essential to stick with that voice and theme once you have found it. Maintaining this consistency will help you build trust and loyalty with your audience.

Every post and story needs to be its own individual thing, but everything from your tone to your photos to your hashtags is all part of your brand’s voice, so it needs to be consistent. Some may think that trying to alter their brand voice slightly here and there can help make it more appealing to more people, but that is a significant risk.

Hashtags

Hashtags are an important tool when it comes to social media. They can significantly expand your reach, and you can add up to 30 tags per post on Instagram. That does not necessarily mean you need to use 30 hashtags per post, but you can. Take some time to research hashtags for your product and post before using them so that you can use the right tags for your posts.

Since Instagram is a popular network that has over 95 million photos shared daily, hashtags are vital to helping people find things related to their interests. Users can also choose to follow specific hashtags on Instagram, so if you are in their interests, they might just see your posts automatically because of your hashtag use.

Shoppable Posts

Instagram has a Shoppable Posts feature that is excellent for eCommerce businesses. You can create a post with images and information about your brand and products that will seamlessly take them to that product’s page on your site. These are technically ads, but they have some other features to them, like product tags. One organization that used Shoppable Posts received a 32 percent higher click-through rate, 47 percent lower costs per click, and a 90 percent overall increase in traffic (2).

Conclusion

These tips can help you get going on your business’ Instagram account, but navigating any social media network can be complicated for a company. Seattle Digital Marketing’s team of experts can help you navigate Instagram and increase your reach and engagement for you. Contact Seattle Digital Marketing today to get started!