The Power of Instagram
By: Emma Blankestijn
What is one of the most popular apps of 2019? You got it, Instagram! With over one billion active users, Instagram has become one of the top apps for engagement. Instagram users spend an average of 28 minutes per-day looking through their feed. Also, an average of 63% of users log in at least once every day.
Why use Instagram for a business?
Instagram is all about visual marketing. The phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words” comes into play with Instagram. Instagram is all about visual stimulation. By creating an Instagram account with great content, you will pull in more viewers and clients.
Having an Instagram account for your business gives you the opportunity to put a face to your brand. Not only does this mean more business, but it also gives your business a chance to build personal connections with current and potential clients.
Instagram is useful for engaging with users which can produce feedback and help you collect data to improve areas of your business that maybe struggling.
Does Instagram really increase business visibility? How do we know?
Instagram uses different algorithms to help target the users that are interested in content similar to what you have posted. When a post gets a high number of likes, comments and saves, this signals to Instagram that your post has quality content and is engaging people. This also means that other Instagram users would enjoy it as well and that can improve your chances of a post going viral.
Instagram has tools like hashtags. Using hashtags that are relevant to your business will help boost your business’s visibility by helping to reach your target audience. Hashtags are used to promote events, sales and projects that a business has completed. Hashtags are therefore a great way to help you connect with followers.
There is also a tool that is connected to Instagram business accounts called “insights”. These “insights” keep track of how visible your account is, how many people are engaging with your content, and how much your account has grown. This is a great tool to keep track of how well your posts are performing.
The Importance of Posting “Quality Content.”
Why should you post quality content? In order to compete with your competitors on Instagram your posts must be of top quality. To post quality content you must have a
strategy in place and allow time for editing and posting your content.
Planning Instagram content plays a huge role in having quality content. It is very important to know what your brand is about and how you want others to view your
brand. Knowing this will help with planning your content to create a coherent feed.
Why have coherent content? Your Instagram feed is the first things visitors see when they visit your profile, so it is important to make a good impression. Having a consistent feed helps attract new followers and potential clients. If a visitor sees what they like, they are likely to follow you. An Instagram account that is aesthetically pleasing is the key to turning visitors into followers, and followers into potential business. Not only does consistency help gain more business, but it also helps to show off your brand and your unique style.
Organizing Instagram with Story Highlights
What are story highlights? Instagram stories generally vanish after 24 hours. Instagram highlights will allow your stories to stay permanently on your profile. As the highlights show up right below your bio on your profile, it is a great place to organize information that is important to your business. Highlights allows you to set up different categories such as Company Reviews, Career Postings, About the Company, Blog Posts, etc. to store important content.
The Highlights tool is beneficial in helping you organize your feed. Any extra photos or
information that doesn’t seem to fit well with your feed can be organized into one of the
story highlight categories that you created.
Example of an Instagram account that has been redesigned:
After
