Instagram is one of the fastest growing social media platforms in the world. It came into existence in the year 2010 to allow users to share photos and videos and become part of a new social media lifestyle. Since then, it has expanded exponentially to give businesses a channel to market their products and services to the world. Instagram has now reached more than a billion active users, up from 800 million in September 2017. Instagram with every passing year is making business marketing easier and more focused through an extensive list of features and tools that help business owners create unique profiles, build engagement by getting positively connectd , attract customers, and develop knowledge about their customer base. Most importantly, Instagram helps them to sell their products and services with speed and efficiency. Let’s find out how you can optimize Instagram for your Business.
Respect the Limitations
Instagram allows users to follow a maximum of 7,500 accounts, and once you reach that limit, you will be able to follow someone only if you remove some existing accounts that you are currently following. Further, Instagram also has a limit on the number of people you can follow within a certain time period. Fresh accounts have lower limits on the number of accounts they can follow per hour or per day.
The maximum, ‘likes’ you can give is 350 per hour. There cannot be more than 15 recipients for your direct messages. A single post cannot have more than 30 hashtags, and you are not allowed to tag more than 20 users per post.
Create an Instagram Business Profile
You need to ensure that Instagram app that you are installing is of the latest version. Once you get the app, tap your profile photo at the bottom right, and then go on the settings wheel icon at the top right, and click, “switch to business profile” and now your business profile is ready. The next step is to connect your Instagram profile to your company’s Facebook page, which you must create if you haven’t done it yet. Now add all your contact information such as your email address, contact no, Twitter profile, etc.
Utilize Instagram Insights
This is basically Instagram’s analytics tool that allows you to see details of impressions, reach of your posts, and the number of clicks you’re getting from your profile to your website. Such statistics from Insights can guide you in optimizing your Instagram business profile.
Promote your Posts
If you want more followers and ‘likes’, just tap on a particular post and hit the “promote” link. Now, you are free to set the audience, budget, and duration of the promotion, and can also customize your own audience instead of letting Instagram decide who to direct your posts.
Selling Products and Services
After you have set up your business, it’s time to start selling. Instagram is now ready to promote and sell your products and services to the targeted audience of your choice. Your posts that are meant for shopping are identified with a little shopping bag icon. The icon enables users to click when they are scrolling through their feed, and once they click, pop-ups appear along with the details of product.
Instagram’s ads are very helpful for creating your email marketing funnels. It involves activities such as outlining your ad sequence funnel, preparing your campaign details like a landing page or thank-you page, etc.
