Instagram Tips for Small Businesses and How to Action Them
With all the changes to Instagram last year (see you later likes), we want to reassure you that there is still plenty of scope for small business to see real success on Instagram in 2020. So we’ve put together our top tips for small businesses who want to be seen and found on Instagram. We’ve also included action points for each tip, so that you can execute to build your Instagram profile.
Before we do, a word from us on this whole removal of seeing likes on Instagram:
It really doesn’t matter at all. Never did. Removing the likes does not mean that you are not being noticed or found. It does not mean that engagement and reach are any different. It is literally the removal of a vanity metric that had little to no meaning. So that, my friends, is that!!
Now, onto how your small business can really make an impression on Instagram:
KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
Who are you trying to attract? Who are you speaking to? Make sure that you curate and create content that is relevant and of value to that audience. Don’t try to be everything to everyone. It looks messy, the messaging is unclear and it doesn’t look authentic. Try creating one key personna. This is the person you should be speaking to when you write your posts and create your content.
YOUR ACTION PLAN:
Try and create your key persona now (make it one person). The more detail, the better you will understand your key persona (audience).
Name?
Gender?
Age?
Where do they live?
Job?
Family situation?
Who influences them?
Where do they shop?
What troubles them?
What do they enjoy doing?
CHOOSE YOUR INSTAGRAM TOPICS - WHAT WILL YOU POST ABOUT?
Successful small businesses on Instagram stick to their topics directed and relatable to their target audience. They post about the same 1 to 5 topics and if they go off topic it is something relatable and topical e.g. the Australia Bushfires were a huge topic recently on social media and Instagram.
The 1 to 5 topics your business posts about are the reasons why people follow you. If you post about too many different topics or to too many audiences, your followers get confused and don’t know what you are about. They will unfollow and stop engaging with you.
YOUR ACTION PLAN
Think about what you specialise in and what value you can provide your target audience
What do you want your Instagram profile (not your business) to be known for (nb. this could be different to what you are known about on LinkedIn)?
What are 1 to 5 things you can talk about / share that will appeal to your target audience - remember who you are talking to and what will attract them. Is it motivation? Education or entertainment - what do they think is funny? How will you capture their attention?
How will you segment your topics? Will you focus on one topic each month? Or make Monday for one topic and Tuesday for another. Plan this out.
CHOOSE YOUR PATTERN OR THEME
On Instagram, it is all about a pretty profile with images that appeal and attract. Your pattern or theme needs to have similar style of images or photography, colour palette, imagery, etc. You can also include a pattern such as white borders, or alternating colours.
This article from Preview app has some really good examples of different patterns you could try for your Instagram profile.
YOUR ACTION PLAN
Choose a pattern that you like and you can realistically execute.
Create a library of extra images that suit this pattern to have ready if you need to use e.g. if you are using quotes, have a few in the bank that you can use in case you need to post a photograph but the pattern needs a quote first.
SAVE YOUR HASHTAG GROUPS IN YOUR PHONE
I cannot tell you how much this is a game changer! Research the relevant hashtags for your business. Then create four or five different versions of hashtag groups (Instagram lets you post up to 30 hashtags with each post). Post the groups in your notes section on your phone. Copy and paste with each new Instagram post, make sure you are switching the groups with each post and check back in your insights to see which groups perform best.
YOUR ACTION PLAN
Research relevant hashtags to use
Create 4 or 5 separate bundles or versions to be used
MAKE SURE YOUR BIO CAPTURES YOUR AUDIENCE
According to research, it takes less than two-tenths of a second for an online visitor to form an impression of your brand. You need to make a good first impression and you need to make it snappy!
YOUR ACTION PLAN
Include your business name as your name. While this might seem obvious...you’d be surprised. And there is a good reason why you need to do this. You want people to be able to find you and your name and username are the only fields that Instagram considers in searches.
Accurately explain what your business is and what you do. What sets your business apart from your competition. Include any unique set of skills or experiences that might be of interest to your followers.
Keywords. While keywords in your bio won’t improve your searchability (remember it’s just your “name” in your Instagram bio that can be searched) it will give you more clarity, quickly about what you are about and why someone should follow you.
Include your website link. Other than products you connect for ecommerce, this is the only place you can link your website on your Instagram profile. (TIP - if you don’t want to link products or have products for shopping directly from Instagram, you can use a third party app like LATER and use their Linkinbio function. It takes your followers to a website that mimics your Instagram feed but all images have a different clickable link that you select)
Add your email to your bio. This is becoming increasingly more popular. It gives followers a direct way to contact you out of Instagram.
Use emojis to break up the text
You could choose to use a different font for your name. Look at Textizer. It’s a font app that lets you access different fonts for Instagram and other apps!
Add line breaks to make bite sized info (type your bio up in your phone notes and then copy and paste it across).
Add your brand hashtag
Include your physical location.
And that’s it! Hope you find these Instagram tips for 2020 helpful. Here’s to optimising your Instagram profile for the win this year!