Dos and Don’ts of Instagram for business

With over 500m people hooked on the photo sensation that allows you to share creative snapshots with people in all corners of the world, Instagram is certainly an app worth investing some time in.

It can be used to create a strong brand, increase the visibility of your business online as well as engaging an audience of potential customers or clients.

DO – Regularly update

Marketing through social media is a big commitment, but the business will reap the rewards from injecting a bit of personality into the brand. To make the most of your Instagram account, ensure you regularly share relevant content to keep the audience interested – start with three a week and increase it as your audience grows.

DON’T – Spam your followers

There’s nothing more off-putting than having to trawl through posts from the same account, even if it’s a friend, nobody has the time for that. So keep it to at most 1-3 posts per day unless your audience are engaging with the photographs particularly well – in which case this can be increased.

DO – Include a link in the bio

Instagram provides one space to include a link so add your main website link in here and update it where possible. For example, if you have a new product, service or page on your site, pop the link in your bio and create posts with a call to action to click on the link. If your audience are as engaged as they should be, this will be a great way to generate a little more traffic.

DON’T – Automate your engagement

The whole idea of having an Instagram account for your business is to create some personality for the brand so don’t defeat the object of it by using followbots to grow your audience or using auto-commenters to reply to all the comments.

You want to grow your audience organically through innovative and interesting posts that people can share and relate to, so that you will be targeting the right audience.

DO – Engage with others

Don’t just wait for others to comment on your posts, engage with other businesses and people too by liking their photos and commenting. Get into the habit of tagging relevant people too as this could increase your following and help to get the brand out there.

Using appropriate hashtags will also help you to get seen on Instagram, so always include as many as possible on each post.

DON’T – Forget to plan

Your Instagram post is an extension of your brand, so treat it like any other part of the business and make sure you have a plan in place. Carefully choose and edit your pictures, vary your composition and test out how different captions work with your audience.

Click here to sign up to receive our new South West business news...
Close