Instagram for Business - Tsunoda Stylings

The Benefits Of Using Instagram To Grow Your Business

When starting a business, you might be wondering how to both grow your audience and build a strong community. Figuring out how to do that may be a challenge, especially for an up-and-coming business; however, there is a way to get a head start in your career: through an app that you most likely already have on your phone. You guessed it, it’s Instagram!

While Instagram can be a fun way to keep up with your friends and family, it can also be a great tool to grow your business. Using Instagram for your business has many benefits, and here are some reasons why:

1. Boosting Brand Awareness

Instagram has over 2 billion active users worldwide, and using Instagram can attract potential new customers who can get to know your brand on a deeper and more personal level. Instagram has many features which allow its users to discover your brand, such as the ability to use hashtags along with location tags on your posts. Features such as the explore page and reels section allow for your posts to be discovered and viewed by people who may not have discovered your brand yet. Since Instagram is a visual-focused app, it is easy for a business owner to share images and videos of ways products can be used or paired with other products.

Let’s say, for example, that you are starting an all-natural protein powder company, and you want to promote your brand and boost your reach and engagement levels with your audience. This can be achieved by posting reels of recipes that include your protein powder or sharing the health benefits of your protein powder in comparison to your competitors. There are many ways to go about your brand strategy, depending on your target audience or the products and services that you are selling. In this case, Instagram is a very effective way to find people that are interested in your content, and this can create brand recognition and increase sales.

Ways to increase brand awareness:

1. Setup Your Business Profile

This is something that you should have set up on your account, but if you haven’t already, set it up right now before reading the other tips! Having a business profile allows you to view insights into your posts and stories by showing you your reach, profile views, and demographic, which include where the majority of your audience resides, their age group, and their gender. Instagram insights also allow you to set up an Instagram shop that can let your audience purchase your items or services directly from the app itself, along with being able to run advertisements on Instagram (which I will discuss more in the next step). Setting up a business profile on Instagram is quite easy as well. All you need to do is go to your settings and tap on the icon labeled “account.” Once you select “account,” at the bottom of the page will be a text in blue saying: “switch to a professional account.” The next step will be to choose a category that best suits your business (i.e., clothing, skincare, artist, etc.), and once you have that selected, you are all set!

2. Utilize Instagram Ads

When you have a business account set up, it is possible to run an advertisement on any of your posts from your account to reach new followers. Based on your insights, you can choose which post would be the best to promote to your target audience.

Instagram Ads is also very flexible as you can select your budget along with the duration of your ad. Once you submit your ad, Instagram will share your ad with various users who fit your demographic, and you are able to track the progress of your ad throughout the duration.

Another tool that is really useful when wanting to boost your brand awareness is Ads Manager. Ads Manager is similar to Instagram ads in that you can select a photo or video to advertise to increase engagement and gain potential new followings. However, the difference is that Ads manager allows you to create multi-platform campaigns through platforms such as Facebook, Messenger, and Audience Network. If you have Instagram, there’s a good chance that you at least use Facebook as well, and being able to manage your ads through one platform is a lot more convenient and useful in comparison to tracking each ad campaign separately.

3. Instagram Reels are 👏🏾your👏🏾best👏🏾friends

Instagram Reels is a relatively new concept but one that is highly effective in increasing engagement. Reels are videos that can last up to 60 seconds, similar to TikTok videos.
With the rise of TikTok, Reels have become very popular and have a higher chance of appearing on people’s explore pages in comparison to the standard images and videos that Instagram users typically post.
Uploading reels is similar to posting a standard image on Instagram, and it is common to re-upload Tiktok videos onto Reels to garner more attraction.

2. Instagram Can Increase Web Traffic

When your marketing strategy is planned and executed correctly, Instagram can allow users to discover your page, which drives more web traffic.

One of the best ways for users to find your site is by adding a link to your profile page. This can be your own website, a blog post, or a specific YouTube video; the sky’s the limit! The downside to this is that Instagram only allows creators up to one link on your profile which can be a challenge, especially if you want to share multiple links.

However, it is easy to add a link in the bio tool, which is a tool that has the ability to store multiple links all in one single URL. This is especially helpful for a business owner who wants to share their other social media pages along with their website.

Other great tips include adding website links to Instagram stories (available if you have a business account), setting up and using the Instagram shop feature if you are trying to sell tangible goods (which was mentioned earlier), or categorizing your stories and adding them to your highlights tab which appears at the top of your profile and lasts forever on your page.

3. Opportunities to engage with your followers and content creators/influencers

Instagram is a great way to connect and engage directly with your followers. Additionally, you have the ability to reach out and work with content creators, which can help spread awareness of your brand.
There is a chance that people who know about or follow your page will tag your products or services on their stories and posts or tag your location if you have a physical store. As a business, and especially as a small business, liking, re-posting, or commenting on the posts that you are tagged in are great ways to interact and build good relations with your customers. Along with this, networking and collaborating with content creators is an excellent way to get more traction for your business.

In 2021, a study conducted by Civic Science found that 14% of 18 to 24-year-olds purchased an item within a six-month period because a content creator recommended the item. These days, people are more likely to trust content creators or online reviews written by customers in comparison to traditional media so having a good reputation and building strong relationships with your audience and content creators is vital if you want to build your business on Instagram.

4. Cost-efficiency

In comparison to traditional media (such as print, radio, or television), building your business on Instagram is a lot more affordable and easier to set up.
For instance, setting up an Instagram account is completely free, along with creating a business account for your page, using hashtags, and geotags, and posting pictures, videos, and reels. Instagram ads are the only aspect of Instagram that requires you to spend money but the price range is quite affordable and you are able to budget how much you want to spend in ratio to the duration of the visibility period of the advert.

One factor that’s very important to mention is that you shouldn’t spend your money buying followers, likes, or comments. As a business, it may be tempting as it would create more ‘clout’ and possible recognition, but building your brand organically will lead to higher engagement rates and users who are loyal and active on your page.

It is against Instagram’s terms and services to buy followers and engagements, and oftentimes, the accounts that do follow you are bots and will not engage with your content in any way. Moreover, if you get caught doing this, you’ll lose the credibility and trust you built with your genuine audience.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Instagram has many great tools for businesses, and it is an excellent platform to get started or grow your business. Instagram is an extremely popular platform, and not having an account can likely lead to missing out on many new potential customers.

To be honest, a large engagement and following won’t appear overnight, but being consistent and authentic to your brand is the most important, as users can easily spot when a page isn’t genuine.

Want more tips and tricks to increase your business's success? Don't forget to follow Tsunoda Stylings on Instagram, too, at this link below, and subscribe for more blogs and newsletters just like this!