QA’s tips for using Instagram for your business
Have you created a brand profile on Instagram yet to make your brand visible to a whole new market?
You could be using images and short videos to enhance your customers experience and even improve results.
Getting started on instagram is fairly easy. Simply sign up for an account, (we recommend using the same name as your Twitter or Facebook accounts), add a profile photo (such as your company logo) add a link to your website, then connect your account to Facebook and let any existing followers on your other social media platforms know that they can now follow you on instagram.
The next step is where many brands realise they don’t know what to do. So here are a few of QA’s tips to help you along the way…
1. Learn how to use ‘Instagram for Business’. Instagram has started an ‘Instagram for Business’ blog which offers tones of useful tips and informs you any updates or new features.
2. Balance fun and entertaining images with photos from your business.
3. Cultivate a following. You can do this by connecting to your Facebook account, using relevant and popular hash tags on your photos, and by engaging other followers by following them and liking their photo and even starting conversations with others.
4. Utlilise instagram video. Instagram has only just recently enabled 15 second videos. Instagram videos can be a more engaging and entertaining way to cut through to your customers.
5. Keep up a steady by laid back posting plan. You don’t need to post a photo on instagram every day, if you start posting too much people will unfollow you. It’s a good idea to also track what is working and what is not by how popular different photos are.
6. Inspire your potential customers. Post photos that are relevant to your brand and potential customers. For example, a fitness centre could post photos that promote not just fitness but a healthy lifestyle, healthy eating, sport, success stories, store events, staff etc.
7. Change your perspective on Instagram. Forget trying to sell and share a distinctive view of the world. Capture images that are of interest to your brand and your followers.
8. Run photo contests. One of the most common ways to do this is to ask followers to repost one of your photos (which could be a logo or a poster) with your official instagram name and a tag back to you, which allows your instagram to be put in front of a new audience in the hope that you will gain new followers. Another way to run a photo comp is to simply ask followers to use a unique hash tag that can group all of their photos together… you of course normally need to entice them with a valuable prize!
9. Reward your followers. You can do this by offering followers not just prizes but discount codes, special sales and exclusive previews of products.
10. Showcase photos of your employees. This not only shows your employees at work but offers a behind the scene view of your company.
11. Use industry related hash tags. If you are at an event or a certain location hash tag it!
12. Engage with other brands. It’s a good idea to follow other brands that relate to your business.
We hope you enjoy reading the Sunny Media blog. For more information please visit our full website www.sunnymedia.com.au