Your business is established and is starting to grow; phase one complete! Time to bring out the champagne. But before you can start successfully cashing in and properly begin the celebrations, there’s one crucial ingredient needed to ensure you stay relevant: digital awareness.
A good product or service is great, but it is not enough. People need to meet you, or should I say, meet your brand. So you need brand awareness. And the most cost effective and efficient method is via social media.
With 300 million daily active users, Instagram is a hive of activity. The right branding on Instagram will attract the right audience, so let’s run through setting up your brand’s ‘gram the right way.
- Download the app and create your account:
The first part is fairly self-explanatory – Instagram is app-based and therefore requires your smartphone. For the second part, as this account is for your business, create your account using your business email address.
- Choose the handle:
Keep it simple. Keep it recognizable. Your business name is the most obvious choice.
- Pick an icon:
Make sure it represents your brand i.e. your logo, brand name or colour palette. This will be the association to your brand before customers make their way to your page, so make sure it stands out.
- Edit your profile and biography:
Again, keep it simple. You only have 150 characters of flexibility. There are more characters in an episode of Game of Thrones. State your purpose, link to your website or current digital activities and make sure your brand personality shines. If you’re cheeky, be cheeky. If you’re feminine, show it. If you’re formal, suit up.
- Identify your audience:
Before you start posting, you need to know whom you want to post to? What images are they interested in? What language do they use? What fresh content can you provide to make sure they don’t just love and leave?
- Know your competition:
Before you begin posting, it’s also wise to know what brands you’re up against. Who is your strongest competition in the digital landscape and what is their social strategy? Is it working for them and are they engaging with customers? What can you do that is different? Better?
- Develop your post themes:
It may be tempting to launch straight into the aesthetics of your Instagram. But, before you do, take a second and think about the images you want to post. Your visuals are important, as is the copy that accompanies it. You want to show your brand personality in each post, as this is one simple – and often overlooked – step that can convert a follower into a customer. Nobody wants to see the same subject matter repetitively posted. So mix it up. Post unique content and if reposting other users images, make sure to credit them. Text posts are also good for visual variety. Your image captions are another opportunity to display your brand personality and speak not at, but to your audience. Soon, they will become excited and #thirsty to see what you post next.
- Social sharing:
When on your profile, tap the gear on the upper right hand corner and click on Linked accounts. This will push your posts onto your other social accounts and maximize your exposure.
- Grow your following:
Patience is critical. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither will your Instagram following. The key is consistency. Hashtagging will also help. Engage with other Instagram profiles by liking and commenting on posts, and follow individuals that you identify as your target audience to get a response. When your following does begin to grow, a good idea is to have a competition to further expand. Also, don’t be shy in reaching out to digital influencers to collaborate with and promote your brand.
- Get creative:
Instagram is nothing if not fun. Now the foundation is set, you can experiment. Take risks and don’t be scared to try new things.
- Insights:
Your business profile now offers Instagram Insights that can be accessed by tapping the bar graph icon at the top right of your profile, next to the settings wheel. After you post a pic, you’ll get details on the impressions and reach from your posts, plus the number of website clicks from your business profile. When you tap on the See More link, a range of information is offered to you, from the number of engagements, impressions, reach, and a breakdown of your followers by gender, age range, location, and the times/days they’re most likely to be online.
You now have all the tools you need to successfully set up your Instagram Business profile so start getting social!