The Right Way to Do Business on Instagram

The rise of social media paved the way for a cost-effective marketing for businesses – big or small, start-up or industry pillar. Instagram, popularly known as IG, is a perfect platform for business that allows content sharing, reasonably-priced targeted advertising, and interactive promotional activities. While Instagram offers an avenue for several marketing strategies, some businesses fail to maximize the platform’s potentials or worse inappropriately use IG. If you’re new to social media marketing, here’s how to run your business correctly on Instagram.

First, set up an account for business.

You are free to advertise your shop in your personal account, but for business’ sake, create a separate IG in order to set boundaries, avoid spillover effects of personal issues, and ultimately establish a solid brand identity for your business. Setting up an account is easy and for free. You can even conveniently link your IG account to your existing Facebook account, so that your posts are in sync. Managing two accounts is also hassle-free because of Instagram’s “Switch to Business Account” feature. Once it’s set up, don’t forget to turn your profile public.

Choose your bio wisely

Instagram allows you to write a brief description of your company, along with the business address and operating hours. It’s visible to the public so every word counts. Apart from your logo, your bio is the first to catch the attention of your followers and the public so write it with style.

Start following

What better way to make your presence felt than to start following IG users. But be picky. Follow your clients, friends, relevant celebrities and brands, and suppliers. In short, follow only those that are relevant to your business. While Instagram notifies your existing contacts about your new account, following them creates an intimate connection. And a relationship is key to building and maintaining a successful enterprise.

Start posting

You can start posting stories, videos, boomerangs, and pictures immediately after you set up your account. But remember this is a business account. You need to post only relevant, creative, and high-quality content. You don’t necessarily need a viral content. Just convey the right message to your audience in the most innovative way possible.

Creating hashtags is also one great way for organizing your content. Users will be able to see all your event or campaign photos and videos with one click on the number sign. Use hashtags creatively and do not overwhelm your users with number signs. Two is ideal, but four will do.

Interact, not react

By all means, interact with your consumers. Increased direct communication between business and individuals is one of the perks of social platforms. Your followers are allowed to comment, share, and like your posts just as you are free to comment, share, and like their posts. But when interacting, never react. Be professional in your responses to inquiries, and even to negative comments and nasty direct messages. Consider these as opportunities to practice your PR skills because your followers are your new media reporters. Know when to keep silent and when to respond.

If you have a start-up, avoid promoting your shop via comments in other people’s accounts. You should know by now that hard selling never works with informed consumers.

Paid advertising

Promotions can be done on Instagram, too! You can have the first 100 likers or the post-your-best-photo-using-the-product activities whenever you like. Other brands create event-based promotional campaigns on IG. Truly, the sky is the limit for your creativity in managing your IG content. If you want targeted advertising, you can always contact Instagram to display your ads at a certain time and to a certain number of users with specific demographics. However, this option comes with a fee.

Indeed, Instagram has helped thousands of businesses already. Don’t get behind the trend and consider creating your IG business account today. If you have one, follow the tips above for an effective content management and branding strategy.