Posted 22.04.2021
By Annabel Thomas
With over one billion users, harnessing the marketing potential of Instagram is something you can not afford to miss. Instagram’s simple format of photo and video content makes it a firm favourite for social media users. Instagram has become one of the most popular social apps, and curating the perfect Instagram profile is a necessity in gaining traction – we are all guilty of doing it for the gram!
Competition is fierce when it comes to social media marketing, and for your business to stand out from the crowd you have to make your profile unique. With over 277 million followers, Cristiano Ronaldo is the most followed person on the platform, followed by Arianna Grande with 232 million. Nike has 143 million followers and Victoria Secret has 68 million – when it comes to business profiles, the stakes are also very high. Find out our top tips for creating the perfect instagram profile for your business…
When setting up your profile the first thing you need to do is create a unique username. Your username needs to be easily searchable so that users can easily find your business. Using your business name is the best option. Your display name gives you the chance to add keywords that are relevant to your business into your name. For example, our client Dilmaherbals’ display name is Dilmaherbals skincare.
You only have 150 characters to sell yourself and make a lasting impression on your audience. Think about this space as a pitch – why should people follow you? What do you do? Why are you unique? Keep it memorable, informative and showcase your brand’s personality.
Choosing an appropriate picture helps users recognise your brand. Ideally, you should upload a square image with your brand’s logo in the centre so that the corners can be cut off without impacting your branding.
Instagram allows a clickable link in your bio. We recommend using Linktr.ee as it gives you one link that houses all of your businesses URLs in one place such as your website, booking forms, podcasts, events, other social channels and content! Having a URL in your bio is a must as it keeps things easy for users and it also allows you to add the “link in bio” caption to your posts.
You don’t need a professional camera to take amazing images, smartphones take great pictures that will make your feed look high quality. The most important thing is good lighting, natural light is best for a polished photo but if that fails you can do some adjustments and filtering using apps such as Pixlr.
After taking some top quality photos you will want to establish both a visual and contextual theme to your content. Instagram is a highly polished and curated app so creating an appealing profile is key to gaining a strong reputation. This can be in the form of a pastel colour theme, black and white images, your brand colours or maybe a minimalistic theme. Check out our client Dilmaherbals’ feed for some inspiration!
Growing social media accounts is all about being consistent in your posting. Instagram users definitely prefer quality over quantity but you won’t curate the perfect profile without regular content. Try and aim for 3-5 posts a week without compromising on the quality of your images. You can use tools such as Buffer to schedule posts in advance.
There is no point creating an amazing profile and not interacting with your online community. Like, comment, share and reply to feedback to build a strong online presence. The more interactive you are, the more people will positively engage with your content.
Hashtags give you great visibility on Instagram. You might be tempted to use “#like4like” hashtags in your captions but the reality is they won’t position you in front of your target audience. Doing some research into hashtags can be extremely worthwhile for your business.
To carry out hashtag research, pull together a handful of groups or topics you cover in your content and add them as headings to a spreadsheet. Under each heading add 5-10 keywords that relate to each theme. You can then copy and paste these into the instagram search bar and see a full list of hashtags relating to the keyword. Pick the ones with between 5k and 100k posts. You can then mix and match hashtags from all of your themes between your posts. (Credit @ginnyfears)
Without tracking your metrics you won’t be able to establish what works well and what doesn’t. Tracking engagement is crucial to the process of building an account, this involves metrics on likes, shares and comments. Follower growth is also extremely important, if your followers are going up then know you are doing something right!
Make the most of Instagram’s latest features such as Instagram reels, IGTV and interactive options such as polls on your stories. Not only does Instagram favour accounts that utilise these features, they also make your account, feed and content much more engaging.
If you need any help with your digital marketing and setting up, running and building your Instagram profile then get in touch with us today!
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