8 tips for a successful Instagram business profile

95 million. That is the number of photos and videos that are uploaded to Instagram every day. Most from private users and influencers. But more and more companies are also using this social media platform because it offers numerous options. On the one hand, as an entrepreneur, you can give your customers insights behind the scenes, but on the other hand, the contributions can also be used to shape the brand image by presenting your products. Instagram also serves to strengthen the relationship with the customer, as your company is presented authentically and very close to the user. Of course, the focus here is on the Instagram post. To strengthen customer loyalty and also attract new customers, we'll show you 8 tips for a successful Instagram business profile.

Define research and strategy

Before creating a business profile on Instagram, you should first do research and set a strategy. Therefore, ask yourself beforehand whether you have the personnel capacity to regularly keep the account up to date and whether you also have appealing and interesting content, images and videos with which you can generate new followers. The first step is setting goals. What goal are you pursuing with the help of Instagram, how much time and money do you want to invest in it? Would you rather increase the profile of your company, improve your image or just promote your products? These are all the questions you should answer before setting up the channel. You should also think about designing your profile. Because it is important to plan in advance whether you just want to show photos or even quotes and graphics. What formats should the images have, should certain colors appear again and again? After setting a clear goal, you should find out about your target group. To get a feel for the users of the platform, knowledge is Instagram demographic data very helpful. We learn that over half a billion users worldwide log in to Instagram every month. As of 2021, 26 million people in Germany can be reached via Instagram ads. Accordingly, this social media platform is one of the most popular in Germany. Instagram is particularly popular with younger people, meaning that 24 to 34-year-olds form the largest audience. We will now show you how to find your suitable social media target group in a short guide:

• The first step is to collect data about your existing customers. Pay particular attention to factors such as age, location, language, purchasing power and patterns, interests, challenges and stage of life. Understanding who has already bought from you helps you estimate who is most likely to be interested in your social channels.
• Use the analytics tools on your other social media channels to see who's already following you there.
• Competition on social media platforms is very high. Conduct a competitive analysis and find out how you're doing against others in your industry. Such an analysis also highlights new opportunities and potential threats.

Quality of images and videos

At first glance, it is the visual content that dominates this platform. Because of this, you should make good use of Instagram to visually present your company or brand. It is very important that your content is self-explanatory and understandable even without a lot of text. Therefore, you should attach great importance to the quality of the photos and videos. Decide in advance what content you want your photos and videos to focus on. Do you just want to present your product or would you rather present your own corporate culture? To find out, you can take a closer look at your followers' profiles. You can then transfer the information about trending topics and popular forms of presentation to your own content. Your content and the design of your Instagram profile should of course always be in line with your planned strategy. Since the images represent the heart of the platform, it is important to follow the following rules: The optimal image size is 1080px x 1080px. Instagram is a mobile-first platform. This means that your images and videos should look good even on a small screen. If you don't have enough access to photos, you can also include graphics tiles in your feed. You can easily do this using free tools such as Canva create. When designing, make sure that you use your branding colors, create recurring elements, and also use the appropriate font size. To keep your posts recognizable, you should create templates that you can change a bit over and over again.

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Using hashtags

Hashtags are used to communicate on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. By using hashtags, the reach can be increased, as they are clickable, similar to links. Followers can also search for specific hashtags. Therefore, use the appropriate hashtags that are relevant to your company with every post. You should also make sure that the hashtags are selected in the respective language of the users. In this case, there are three types of hashtags:

• Brand and campaign related hashtags: You can use these hashtags to promote products, slogans, campaigns, or your brand in general.
• Trending hashtags: These hashtags are based on topics that are particularly popular. If you come across a hashtag that's consistent with your company or corporate psychology, you should definitely use that.
• Content-related hashtags: This allows you to categorize your post in a specific category.

When using hashtags, the same applies as when posting a post. Find out what your audience is talking about.

Keep it short

What is it called so beautifully? The spice lies in the brevity. Instagram posts are often read on the side. For you, this means that you should write texts that are as short yet informative as possible. Avoid long sentences that are nested one inside the other. The use of complex technical terms should also be limited. Paragraphs should not be missing for a good structure of posts. You should also try to place all important information right at the beginning. Grammatical and spelling mistakes look very unprofessional, so you should have someone else read your contribution before you post it.

First line of image caption

We're scrolling through our news feed and the first thing we see is the pictures and the first words of the caption. If those first words aren't interesting, we automatically ignore the post and keep scrolling. That means that you should attach great importance to this caption. The reader's interest must be aroused directly. The best way to do this is through figures, questions and direct addresses. The reader must immediately know what it is about.

Regular posting

Posting regularly is very important. However, that doesn't mean you should flood the Instagram feed with your content. As a rule, you should write two to three posts per week and publish them. The right time to publish depends on your target audience. Studies show that the interaction of postings is higher during the week than at the weekend. Detailed research into your target group also has a positive effect in this aspect. For a good overview of your published or pending contributions, it is very useful to prepare an editorial plan.

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Advertising for mail

Since the Instagram algorithm was updated, postings are no longer displayed chronologically. The algorithm selects which posts it shows to whom. Accordingly, it is very important that you draw attention to your post. Try to be particularly active in the first hour after publishing. That means you're responding to incoming likes and comments. You should also leave comments and likes on other accounts. Another important aspect is that you post the post again in your story and thus promote it. You can also mark other accounts in your post. However, this should be kept within limits, as this can quickly become annoying for followers. We see that posting alone is not enough. The steps after that are extremely important.

analysis

To find out what is and isn't well received by your followers, it's important to keep an eye on Instagram profile development. Continuously analyze the performance of your contributions. In the business profile, under “Statistics”, they can find out important key figures, such as reach or the number of subscribers.

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conclusion

With the right tips and tricks, you can gain wide reach on Instagram. It is important that you combine the professionalism of your company on the one hand, but also the personality and easiness of your company on the other. It is very easy to do this using the methods mentioned above. You can find more information about Socialwave's marketing package here.