Instagram has more than 500 million daily active users. It’s one of the fastest-growing social media platforms and is full of opportunities for your small business. Instagram’s features offer a clean, distraction-free user experience and allow you to create a consistent visual brand that your customers will recognize.
Instagram’s story feature (which was launched in 2016) has also encouraged users to stay on the platform longer and check it more frequently. This means more opportunities for engagement!
Let’s go over the 3 key Instagram features that you should be taking advantage of while marketing your small business:
1. Instagram Insights
First things, first: make sure your Instagram has been converted to a business account. This opens you up to a whole new world of Instagram features. Now you have access to audience insights with the capabilities to look deeper into your post engagement and what type of people are interacting with your content.
Instagram offers a few different categories of metrics:
- Account-based metrics: These focus on your profile (profile visits, likes, website clicks).
- Audience-based metrics: These focus on who is engaging with your content (demographics, popular times, etc.).
- Post-based metrics: These focus on impressions for individual posts (likes, comments, reach).
- Stories & Live: These show how many people viewed your stories and live videos and dropp off statistics.
2. Instagram Stories
This is a guaranteed way to make sure your account is featured at the top of your followers’ feed. When you post a story, your account gets featured at the very top of the Instagram feed for the next 24 hours. Sixty-eight percent of marketers surveyed plan to create more Stories in 2018.
The benefit of Instagram Stories is that it allows for more organic, less planned, content. It comes across as more spontaneous and authentic, which viewers perceive as more trustworthy. And since your viewers know it’s going to disappear in 24 hours, they’re more inclined to interact with it quickly before they miss out.
Stories and Live are also a great way to easily answer questions without having to make a formal post. You can include polls, tag other users, and accounts with larger followings even have the ability to include links.
3. Locations Tags and Hashtags
Research and pull together a few hashtags that are relevant to your brand and the content you’re posting. Instagram allows you to post up to 30 hashtags at a time, but it seems like 9 is the optimal number for engagement. However, make sure you’re using quality hashtags! Instagram has recently allowed users to follow hashtags in addition to accounts, which has amplified their power.
It’s also helpful to tag your location to increase the chances that your account will be suggested to people who are local to the area. This is a way to increase the chances that your account will be featured on the explore page of people who are in your area and have shown interest in similar content. Location tags can be used in your Instagram Stories, as well.
Ready to Get Started with these Instagram Features?
Instagram is a great platform for businesses and brands to deliver visual content for its followers. You’re probably already implementing some of these strategies, which is awesome! However, if you’re not, it might be time to start reviewing your social media strategy to see how you can fit them in. Whether it’s a Story shared from your archives, live video, or a branded or community hashtag, you can select the formats most relevant to your audience and your message!