why have a company instagram
Instagram is one of my personal favourite social networks, and I spend ALOT of my free time on it. It’s great because it’s so easy! Photo-based, super-simple to navigate, and free from heaps of irritating adverts, for me it’s the perfect social network.
And for a business, it’s one of the prime networks at the moment for engagement and exposure. Not only can you craftily promote your services or products for free without boring your audience, but it’s a really great way to show a human side to your business. In fact there’s quite a few great ways you can use Instagram as a business...
Build trust...
Building customer relationships and getting conversions is largely about trust. If someone trusts that you’re a legitimate business selling a quality product or service, they will buy from you. A company Instagram is great for giving customers and perspective customers a glimpse of “behind the scenes”, with photographs of your staff, offices or factories. Customers LOVE this. I know this because I do! I love catching a peep of my favourite products in production, or seeing the face behind the company, and so will your customers.
Hashtag...
In the same way people use hashtags on for searching twitter, they are very, very popular on Instagram. I regularly search a hashtag of a product before I buy it online to see what other people think of it. If someone has hashtagged an item and put a picture of it up with a positive caption I will feel more confident in buying said product. It’s also a great way to engage new customers. For example if you run an interior design company, hashtags such as #interiors, #interiordesignideas’, or #instadesign’, can help to attract Instagram users to you page, and if they like what they see they’ll give you a follow and look at your site. This is a great way grow your client base!
Competitions...
Everyone on social media loves a good giveaway, and Instagram is the ideal place to host one. You can ask people to follow you, repost your picture with a link and a specific hashtag, with the chance to win a little freebie. This is a fantastic way to share your product, get your name spread and generate traffic to your website.
Be creative...
Instagram is the perfect place to get creative. On your website you may need to stick to professional shots and images, but on Instagram you let loose a little. This will allow you to see what kind of posts and images attract you target audience more than others.
Get local...
If you are a local business this is really important! You need to find your local audience and connect with them. The best way to do that is on Instagram is to search via geo-tags or hyper local hashtags and engage with potential customers in your area! You will have a much better chance of bringing them to your website by interacting with them this way.
Not all companies with benefit from an Instagram account, and generally its product based businesses that will do well on it – especially if your product photographs well! All the same, it’s another social outlet to take advantage of and try out! These are just a few hints we have regarding Instagram, but please feel free to comment with you own or tweet them to me at @ISD_eimile. I’d love to hear your tips!