Why Your Business Should Be on Instagram

Today, one of the most popular strategies in marketing is to promote local businesses on Instagram. In short, local business on Instagram refers to businesses located within a short driving distance of the business. As a small business owner, one of your goals is to be on top of your audience’s minds as much as possible, making Instagram a perfect place to showcase your brand. Instagram revealed that 81% of Instagram users use the platform to research products and services. Instagram is one of the most populous social media platforms, growing to 2.3 billion active users in 2023, with more than 200 million brands making up that number. Instagram leverages the exciting fact that humans process and retain images 60,000 times faster than texts.

Strategy 6: Partner With Instagram Influencers To Gain Credibility And Grow Your Small Business Instagram Quickly

This example demonstrates the power of inventive social media strategies in yielding tangible benefits for local businesses. By analyzing this data, you can identify trends, patterns, and areas for improvement, allowing you to refine your social media strategy and optimize its impact. Content from your customer base can be just as powerful as paid ad content, if not even more. User-generated content (aka UGC) includes posts made by real customers. If you sell home decor, this might include photos of your products in someone’s home.

Instagram Marketing: The Ultimate Small Business Guide for 2024

• For small businesses, this means huge potential for discoverability.
• These appear between users’ Instagram Stories in the form of a single image or video.
• Rather than trying to juggle all of your accounts manually, take advantage of social media marketing tools that can save you time.
• We’ll show you how Hootsuite can help at the end of this post.
• Small businesses or local business clients can leverage substantial benefits by implementing social media marketing strategies.

These clips can be up to ten seconds long, and there are currently no limits as to how many you can post. However, a massive follower count means nothing if these people aren’t interacting with your brand or following through to the checkout. All of these questions can help you zero in on your ideal customer and help you to craft great content that will appeal to them. It helps to have one main long-term goal and a combination of smaller short-term goals that can rotate based on internal and external factors. Try to keep the username the same across various platforms if possible.

A good place to start from is what content topics you’re already creating in your feed. Go behind-the-scenes on your process to demonstrate what you do for the client. As helpful as Instagram can be for local businesses, there are also some potential disadvantages to consider. Waterloo Sparkling Water keeps its tone fun and human in the post below.

Create and organise Story Highlights

Just be sure to only contribute useful information and advice. Let your expertise speak for your business, which members can discover when they go to your personal profile. Whether shoppers are browsing social media in discovery mode or searching specifically for a business like yours, they have a short attention span. You have a limited amount of time and space to capture their attention.

Even if your brand isn’t comedic, you can take advantage of image macros. Think of memes that bring a hard truth to light, infographics, or quotes to encourage and inspire your followers. Image macros are incredibly effective when used in a timely and relevant manner. You can use third-party apps like Canva to help you create videos.

Doing so will ensure that customers can easily find you on the platform. If your small business perfectly aligns with one of these interests, that’s great! With so many Instagram users, there’s a niche audience for any small business. Also, if you tap into the hottest, most current video trends and sprinkle in a bit of spice from your brand, you could develop followers organically. Jenn Chen is an SF-based digital strategist, photographer, and writer who works with specialty coffee companies to make them look awesome online. SED is a part of Megistron Media – one of the leading digital marketing agency to provide inbound marketing to clients across the globe.

One of the best ways to organically grow your Instagram account is by hosting a giveaway. Something that people love more than a good sale is free stuff. Depending on how you structure the giveaway, it could create additional post engagement for you. Beyond asking people to follow your account, add requirements like saving a post, commenting on a post or sending it to a friend. Instagram contests are low-hanging fruit for small businesses. You can also pair up with other small businesses that share a similar audience to further your brand awareness.

Laying out three main goals and sticking to them will help drive your strategy forwards and keep you on task as you create content. Instagram marketing is the process of using the Instagram platform to promote a brand, engage with an audience, and grow your business. Marketing on Instagram involves creating and sharing visually appealing content like photos, videos, Stories, and Reels. And, because of its extensive reach, it offers opportunities for businesses to market their products and services in a friendly, authentic way without engaging in hard selling tactics. By incorporating these social media marketing strategies into your local business’s marketing plan, you’ll be well on your way to achieving success and driving growth in the digital age.

Opt for a clear and high-resolution image that represents your brand well. Typically, businesses use their logo or, if you are a personal brand, a professional headshot. Take a close look at what your competitors are doing on Instagram. Examine their content types, posting frequency, and overall engagement levels. As you consider your audience, think about the types of content that would resonate with a particular persona. Are they looking for educational content, inspirational posts, or behind-the-scenes glimpses?