Social Media Series: How to Leverage Your Instagram Business Account

With social networks continuing to change the way people act and make decisions, business leaders need to determine how best to connect with their customers and shape their perceptions. Hootsuite claims, “If you’re not taking advantage of social, you’re missing out on a fast, inexpensive, and effective way to reach almost half the world’s population.” In this blog post, we will be sharing ways to leverage your Instagram business account to not only raise brand awareness but also increase engagement.

1. Optimize Your Bio

Your bio is one of the first things users see on your page. It is a snapshot that relays the most important information someone should know about you. It sets the brands tone by quickly highlighting who you are, what you do and how to get in touch with you. Strategic marketers may even include a call-to-action (CTA) to entice followers to focus their attention on the next action you want them to take. This CTA is generally a “link in bio” which is a clickable URL that your visitors will use to visit what is your most important online space. This could be your website, a product page, your blog post or podcast. By using a service like Linktree, you can put a URL in your bio so users can access relevant links. The Hoyt Organization, for example, uses Linktree to include links to agency blog posts. Crafting an Instagram bio may sound tedious, but it is crucial for establishing your brand presence.

2. Post Regularly

To keep your followers engaged, you should create a social media schedule.  Determining your social media schedule is critical for strategically planning the content you’ll create and share.  Whether that means you post once, twice, or even three times a week, you should be consistent. This will help your followers learn when to expect fresh content. The Hoyt Organization sticks to a regular posting schedule by highlighting an agency blog post every Wednesday. That way, The Hoyt Organization’s followers know when to expect a new blog post in their feed. If you only have time to post once a week, that is perfectly acceptable. Just make sure your post brings value to your followers and keeps them coming back to your page for more.

3. Share Quality Content

Posting quality content is equally as important as posting on a regular basis. You have to create posts that resonate with your target audience, as this will ensure that they interact with your content. For this reason, you should keep your target audience in mind when crafting posts. You should also create a visual aesthetic for your page with consistent colors and filters so that followers will recognize your brand. Tools like Planoly allow you to engage in “aesthetic planning,” which involves uploading photos and videos to see how they look in a particular order before actually posting them. You can learn more about what Planoly has to offer by reading our blog post,The Next “It” Tool: Planoly.

We hope these tips help you leverage your Instagram business account. If you would like to learn more ways to reach your customers through Instagram, feel free to send us a message.

Stay tuned for our next blog post on how to leverage your Twitter account.