In the past few years, Instagram evolved into a go-to platform for many. No wonder small businesses use it more and more to increase their brand awareness.
It’s visual, it’s social and it lets you discover and reach potential customers quite easily. If your audience is mostly female aged 18-35, you’re doing it right. Instagram might just be the way to go for you. And don’t let anyone tell you Instagram is dead. It’s not. 😉 It’s just changing. A lot. And we need to adapt. 🤷♀️
You probably landed on this blog post, because your business is on Instagram, but you’re not getting enough engagement. Am I right? Don’t worry, nothing’s lost. There are certain things you can do to get your business more visible on this particular platform. Some would even apply to other platforms too, so get your pen ready and make some notes.
Let’s dive into some of them:
Know who you’re talking to
Know who your customer is better than you know yourself. Take some time to understand them, see what they like and where they out. Once you have a good idea of who they are and what they are into make sure you create content that will be attractive to them. Talk directly to them in your posts. Make them feel appreciated.
PS. Just a reminder, the answer to who is your customer is never “everyone.”
Create engaging content
As we’ve already established, you want to create content appealing to your audience. Inspire them and solve their problems. Make sure you use language that’s easy to understand by your customers.
Be consistent
That not only means post consistently, which is very important as well. But also keep consistent brand image. That’s where the branding steps in.
Make sure the language you use in your post is consistent. The images are cohesive, the fonts are always the same and the graphics you’re using
Show your values
If you came across my blog, there’s a huge chance you are a passion and values-driven business. And your customers want to see it! Show the values your brand lives by to your audience and make them fall in love with you.
Are you really passionate about social justice, the enviroment or animal rights and your business values reflect it? Let it shine.
Be social
Don’t treat your Instagram only as a gallery of pretty pictures where you can post and go. You need to spend time every day engaging with your audience.
You can do so by 1) replying to all comments under your posts. It will not only show your audience that you care about them. But also add extra engagement to your post!
But that’s not it. You shouldn’t sleep on step 2. Talking to your potential customers. Make a connection with someone. Visit their profile. Comment on their pictures. Like their posts. Make friends!
Use hashtags
They work magic. Trust me. You can tag up to 30 #s per post. So why not make use of them? It costs you nothing but you can gain extra exposure.
But be wise with your hashtags.
What ones to use? Hashtag research is a topic for another post, so stay tuned. 😉
Be the SEO queen, or king
Yes, you read it right! SEO is not only applying to websites.
With one of the latest updates, Instagram lets users search key phrases beyond just the name and hashtags. Now you can search for anything you are interested in, and Instagram will show you the post based on keywords used in the body of the text. Game changer if you ask me.
What does it mean? The use of keywords in your Instagram posts is getting more and more important! But please, make sure you prioritise the quality of your copy over throwing in the keywords only for the sake of it.
Last but not least, the best piece of advice I can give you sums up in two words: consistency & being social – well, that’s technically three words. But these are the basic two secrets to shine on Instagram.
Hopefully, you found these 7 tips helpful. More content on how to help your small business get more visible online is yet to come. So stay tuned! Meanwhile, you can find me on Instagram @nataliakaluza_ for more social media related tips!