Can Instagram Really Boost Your Business?
Do you spend your day thinking about whether or not what you’re doing is instagramable? Maybe it’s your brunch, your BFF or your trip to the beach, we take pictures of everything nowadays. What started off as an app to showcase the food you were making has morphed into an app used to promote your business as well.
BNL Media Consulting is an Instagram-forward company, so we know the benefits of using Instagram for business. We absolutely love helping businesses of all sizes thrive on this platform. So, today, we wanted to take you behind the scenes and let you know how you can use Instagram to boost your business in 2021!
Start with a strategy.
Everything you do for your business should have a strategy. You probably have a sales strategy, so marketing through Instagram should be no different!
Consider the type of content you want to post on your account and then create content pillars. Pillars are the main content themes of your content and then you can dive deeper into each post. For example, say you’re a hotel - one of your pillars should be talking about the city you’re located in and another should be the amenities of your hotel.
Once you have your pillars, start deciding what topics to post and when. You should actively be on Instagram daily uploading stories, reels and grid photos. You can always check out our Instagram as an example.
Optimize your bio.
What you put in your bio matters so much. Let me say that again… what you put in your bio matters SO much. If you’re not going to optimize your bio, you’re losing out on valuable space to market your business. Plus, your bio is the one place that someone can click on a link through your profile. Make it count.
So, what are the main things to add to a bio?
A description of what you offer
Where you’re located
A call to action
Emojis to get people’s attention
A link for them to click on that will take them to your offerings and/or products
Add a bit of your personality into your bio. Make it fun, playful and resourceful for your ideal customers.
Think about brand consistency.
While the days of having a perfect “theme” for a feed are pretty much over, it’s still super important to think about brand consistency. Instagram is a visual platform, so you’re going to want to stay on brand.
You can easily do this by featuring your brand colours in graphics and other imagery. If you notice on BNL’s feed, we showcase all our bright colours throughout. Another way to stay consistent with your brand is to pick a voice and tone. Are you conversational? Are you more educational? Are you punny?
Make sure your captions stay similar to help your audience know what they can expect from you.
By creating a clear visual brand on Instagram, you’ll reach more people and grow your business at the same time. Visit a company’s Instagram that you love and you’ll see that they stay on brand. Big box companies are really good on this tip!
Connect genuinely.
People want authenticity and people want vulnerability. Gone are the days of perfected feeds, only uploading photoshoot photos and pretending like perfection is possible. It’s not! We love being real and enjoy sharing our real lives and behind the scenes on our profile.
We know that people want to see real things. I guess we could call it real-stagram nowadays.
What does this mean for a business? Share the behind-the-scenes moments. They can be what coworkers are doing at the office, what you’re doing for team building days and different projects you’re working on.
Be genuine in your captions and talk about real things. Don’t be scared of a longer caption! If you haven’t noticed, BNL loves a long caption and we believe it grabs people’s attention.
When you’re replying to comments (always reply to comments), be genuine. Be thankful. Be appreciative. These followers may already be a customer or may become one depending on how well the interaction goes.
BNL can help you boost your business.
If you’re looking for some help implementing these tactics, we’re here to help! We have a team of incredibly talented social media managers and writers who are ready to help boost your business through Instagram.
We have a proven track record for success and have worked with some incredible businesses to show up online. Visit our portfolio page to see the work we’ve done and reach out to us today to learn how we can work together.
Online is the way in 2021, so let us help your business grow through Instagram!