Rock your Business Instagram with 7 smart tactics

Get the best ways and smart tactics to grow your Instagram for Business account! Learn smart profile tips, how to use analytics and geo tagging to get a bigger bang from your profile.

Instagram is Free. Let’s take a moment to let that sink in. It is an absolutely fabulous platform offering us free tools, on a platter, to meaningfully connect with our tribe. Our job is to engage with, inform, sell to, buy from, share resources & enjoy.

In fact, there is even a winning recipe to make Instagram work for your brand.  

Your Instagram for Business account will grow proportionate to the time and strategy that you invest in it.

In other words, we need to focus on how to Be Social, not on how to Do Social.

It’s projected that the number of Instagram users in the US will reach 125.5 million active users by 2023. With its increasing popularity, an estimated 71% of US businesses claim that they use Instagram for business. It boasts a younger user base & high organic engagement versus other platforms. The median engagement rate is 3.5%, much higher than Facebook, where engagement rates hover around 0.15% depending on the industry.

So if you’re not already on Instagram, then the only question is why?

In reality though, for most small business owners and solopreneurs, Instagram success is more elusive than ever. With constant changes in their algorithms, unexplainable spikes and declines in engagement, and the frequent need for fresh,  quality content, entrepreneurs are often left scratching their heads. They struggle to keep pace, or fail to define an actionable & consistent Instagram strategy. That’s why the next question is an important first step.

What do you hope to achieve with your Instagram for Business Account?

With your Instagram account, do you want to raise brand awareness, generate leads, or keep in touch with your community? Do you want to gain more Instagram followers, acquire new audience for your offerings, drive sales (online or in-store), become an influencer or a combination of these? Instagram is a tool, and in order for you to get the best from it, your clearly defined goals will make a world of difference. If you need help in setting goals for your business, we have a great handbook for that! If you are new to Instagram you can read our post Get, Set, Do – Smart Tips for Instagram!

Beginner or pro, the following Instagram for Business tips will help rev up your Instagram strategy in no time.

Rock your Business Instagram Account with 7 smart tactics – the results will amaze you!

Follow along and step up our game by refining your strategies along some key metrics. Simple tweaks that lead to big gains.

Business Insights

If you’re still on the fence on switching to a business profile from a personal one, this handy Infographic can help you further decide. The key advantages of a business profile are extensive analytics in terms of demographics, location & source of traffic on your audience, insights on specific posts, an ability to promote your posts and (once you reach 10k followers), the option  to add links to Instagram Stories.

If you already have a Facebook sales channel, then you can be eligible for selling directly on Instagram too, with Instagram Product Tags. Understanding your analytics can stop the guessing game and help you modify your strategy, in terms of voice, choice of time, hashtags etc.

Simply swipe up to access insights on specific posts. In the example below, 28% of this post reach was to new accounts and 11 new impressions came from hashtags.

Swipe up to reveal detailed insights on each post.

Also read Does Pinterest for Small Business make sense?

Instagram Bio 

Frequently overlooked, Instagram bios are often a casualty- as their business evolves, most accounts don’t update theirs much. Evaluate & update your Instagram for Business account bio periodically to focus on your USP or the next big thing. A good practice is to have an attention grabbing headline which clearly states who you are and what you do, a call to action and your hashtag if you own one.

Jenns Trends not only uses emojis to stylize her bio, it’s also infused with her authentic, fun, brand personality.

The Link in Bio for Instagram

The bio is also the only place for most accounts where Instagram allows you to share a singular link. Ensure that you update your link frequently depending on the current post and context (to a website, event registrations, blog or sign up to a newsletter). There are also several options to get around Instagram allowing only one url in the bio, especially if you have numerous places to send your audience to. LinkTree, TapLink and Later all offer free options for you to link to multiple page destinations from a singular url. The challenge with third part softwares like these is that sometimes Instagram is rumored to have conflicts with them. In that case, there is one more free option on your plate. You can easily add an Instagram Landing Page on your own website. Add your branding, your multiple links and a mini-bio and get maximum mileage from Instagram’s link in Bio. Jenns_Trends in the example image above does exactly that.

If you want to discover & monitor exactly how many people are clicking over to your website from your Instagram bio, you can also use a link shortener to continuously track traffic leads. 

Maroon Oak’s hashtag #WomeninCareers is part of our bio and we use LinkTree for maximizing our link potential.

Tip: Always remember to direct your audience to your Link in Bio- write it in your posts, have a gif in your Stories and Reels etc.

Go Local

If your business is local, so should your strategy be.

Geotagging allows you to be more granular in targeting your audience for your Instagram for Business account. If you have a brick & mortar location, open to customers, geotagging enables both you and your customers to tag your location. It also helps you appear in local search results. Posts with location have 79% more engagement than those without. It is similar to local SEO, but for Instagram.

A quick search on New York (make sure the places category is selected) yielded the results in Image 1. When I selected  from that list, I could view the top posts that had the New York geotag (Image 2). I took it a step further and added New York Entrepreneur ( Image 3). See, how with choosing locations combined with other words, you can discover or be discovered.

Geotagging & Local hashtags can be a gold mine for discoverability!

Simultaneously, research & include local Instagram hashtags ( #iheartCITY, #visitSTATE, #igersCITY etc) or micro local tags ( #STATEshore, #NorthernSTATE). Follow the accounts of other local businesses, organizations, co-working spaces, teams, clubs and Chamber of Commerce. Interact with their followers and also, for inspiration, pay attention to the local hashtags they might use. Over time, local Instagram hashtags also work great for making connections with your local communities.

Instagram Engagement & Followers

Despite high engagements, 70% of Instagram posts go unseen. There is no shortcut to boost reach and followers –  genuine Instagram engagement and followers take time, effort and consistency. To grow engagement, you have to actually engage- value engage.

Get to know your following. Test different approaches until your audience tells you what they like best.

Wondering how to get more followers on Instagram?

How to succeed at Instagram for business – 10 power tips from the pros!

Utilize every opportunity to tag users. The more people you connect to, mention, and are mentioned by, the wider your net of awareness. When you tag people and brands in posts, its likely they’ll follow you back. Their influence might rub off on you and get your content featured in the Explore tab for people who follow those brands.

On average, posts that include another user handle in the caption net 56% more engagement. Here’s an example of simple collaboration highlighted with multiple tags by Babes in Business NJ.

One post, 7+ tags- Instant new, related audience!

Ever tried cross promoting? Lead your audience from another Social media, say Facebook,  to your Instagram account with a simple “More details can be found on our Instagram.”

Also read An Entrepreneurs Guide to Facebook Pages

In order for the relevant audience to discover you, check out similar accounts (or competition) and see who is commenting/engaging on their posts and in turn engage with them. Considering that you use the hashtags that your target customer is using, click on those hashtags and engage with the search result accounts on a daily basis. Eg: If you were a wedding photographer, then one of the hashtags you use could be #bridetobe. Click on it and engage with the resultant accounts- your customers.

Also keep an eye on the Influencers & potential collaborators in your niche. Their audience is your audience too.

Another tip– If you’ve recently had a great experience at a place (restaurant, store, museum, movie)  and posted about it, search up using the location hashtag on who else has eaten there and then engage with them by leaving a comment. Chances are, this shared interest will make them check you out and lead to a follow.

Jennifer Puno of Instagram Analytics tool PeopleMap.co calls great, authentic, contextual comments the best for growing your engagement. As per her experience, taking the time to write really great comments can get you a 40% follow back.

An Instagram engagement rate over 6% is considered very good. Here is a good resource to measure your engagement.

Instagram Pods

Instagram engagement Pods aim to beat algorithm changes by groups of people joining forces. Typically these are private groups of upto 15 accounts that simultaneously comment and like each others daily posts by messaging the group as soon as a post is up. This high initial engagement ensures that the posts stay longer in news feeds by getting a bump in the first hour of posting.

To form one, identify (typically through word of mouth or Facebook Groups), join or create one with like minded individuals (by messaging people in your niche) and work around the algorithm, one like at a time. Just remember, joining one is a commitment, wherein each time a Pod member uploads a new posts and sends a DM to the group, you have to make the time to engage with meaningful comments. Have clarity on a Pod’s rules before locking in your time and energy- do members post once daily or 4 times etc?

List your Business for Free with Maroon Oak. Learn More.

Shadowban & Instagram Algorithms

Because there is no formal definition or acknowledgement by Instagram that one could find, it’s simply when your images stop appearing in the hashtags that you have used. Reasons include spammy behaviors like using the same hashtags and captions, buying followers, not complying with Instagram’s terms by using bots or external software and sometimes for no apparent clear reason. For more on this, read Alex Tooby’s detailed post .

Enough has been written & speculated on the Instagram algorithm updates, but know that if you’re creating amazing content & engaging with people, your account will be fine.

Algorithms are fickle, businesses pivot their direction on a dime. To stay ahead of the game, why not create your own Instagram algorithm? Embrace a methodology that withstands? Appreciate your 60 second club– people who comment and like in the first minute of a new post & consistently expand your postings to include Stories , Lives, Highlights, Contests and every new offering by Instagram from the get go. Engage with value and create a bank of consistent, quality content that you are proud of, no matter when you look back.

Want ideas on what content to post on your Instagram for Business Account?

Instagram Influencers

With increasing focus on the rate of engagement on an Instagram account, versus the follower count, micro influencers (with about 500 to 10,000 followers) are gaining traction because of their close relationships to their tight, loyal, hyper-targeted communities. Whether you aspire to be one, or already have enough following to qualify as one, you can authenticate your account at Fohr Card, a great “badge” to have for potential influencer collaborations. Also ensure that you definitely add your city and contact email to your profile, as well as location tags in order for companies to discover you as a local influencer.

Whether it’s sourcing and delivering content, managing communities and comments, insights and ad management, Instagram offers a list of partner companies you can work with to maximize productivity & speed up your efforts. With their integration with Hootsuite, business accounts can now schedule to Instagram, keep track of customers, competitors, industry hashtags, and photos tagged to locations—all in one place. Instagram sponsored ads are the next step in visibility and its a good idea to evaluate a few businesses success results and methodology before you take the plunge.

Instagram is not just media. It’s social & often navigated best through trial & error. While you implement what’s been suggested to you, keep in mind that it’s not the only way. Smart businesses don’t take chances. They monitor, learn, implement, iterate and restart the loop again.

Conclusion

A social media presence in today’s digital age is validation & social proof, but there are no shortcuts or overnight solutions to gaining followers & customers on your Instagram account. It might seem overwhelming at first, but small steps and careful strategy can go a long way. If you need more resources, explore our page on everything Instagram for Business.

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Read Part II of this article – Grow your Instagram Brand with Winning Content and sign up for our newsletter( link below) for more updates on winning at entrepreneurship and careers.

Note: While the information above is believed to be accurate and recent, readers are advised to do their own fact finding before making any decisions. Maroon Oak does not endorse or recommend any specific learning institution, nor has the Company been compensated in any way for listing the names above.

Articles by Aditi

You can’t use up creativity. The more you create, the more you have.

A Designer and Entrepreneur, Aditi graduated from a top design school and subsequently started her own design and merchandising business. Co-founder at Maroon Oak, she has over 17 years of business experience with Two Dotts, her design consulting company and an Etsy store which serves as an outlet for her gifts and patented product designs.

A mother to a teen and a tween, she enjoys running, dancing and raising her newest baby, a Bichon named Miltie.