Social media is now the third-largest channel for advertising investment in the world. At present, Instagram alone has over 2 billion monthly active users and more than 200 million business accounts (Omnicore Agency, 2024). This platform has become indispensable for businesses, enabling them to reach new customers, promote their products and services, and build a community with their audience. If you have, or are planning to create, an Instagram business account, here are 5 essential tips to help you make the most of the available tools and maximise the reach of your Instagram business account:
1. Have a content strategy
Developing a content strategy is crucial for growing your account. The content you post on Instagram should be relevant, engaging and visually appealing. Here are some tips for creating high-quality content:
– Follow the AIDA model
This model consists of five sequential stages in the consumer’s purchasing decision-making process: Attention, Interest, Desire and Action. When posting on Instagram, you should first and foremost grab the audience’s attention through eye-catching images or compelling headlines. You should then generate interest through your copy by, for example, providing relevant information or highlighting benefits, with the aim of sparking desire in the consumer and creating an emotional connection that leads them to take the desired action in response to that post.
The AIDA Model
– Structure your content
You shouldn’t just focus on your Instagram feed. The platform offers other channels, such as Stories and Reels, where you can connect with your audience in an authentic and immediate way. Explore these channels and tailor your content to their features. For example, you could create:
- Provide informative content and deliver value to your audience through images accompanied by text;
- Subtitled video content, as most people watch video content with the sound turned off (for Android, we recommend the AutoCap app; for iOS, Clips or Clipomatic);
- Storytelling designed to engage your audience.
– Draw up a schedule
It is essential to draw up an editorial calendar featuring dates and events relevant to your business, including topics and the corresponding content formats to be published. This will enable you to stay organised and maintain consistency in your posts, thereby keeping your audience interested and engaged. We recommend using Google Calendar for this purpose.
– Create relevant content
Coming up with ideas for content all the time isn’t always easy, and sometimes you might hit a creative block. With that in mind, here are a few tools you can use to find inspiration for new content:
- AnswerThePublic displays results based on actual Google searches;
- KWFinder analyses keyword search volume;
- BuzzSumo highlights which content is trending on social media.
2. Interact with the audience
A major mistake made by many business accounts on Instagram is simply posting content without interacting with their audience. This interaction – known as ‘engagement’ – is essential for building a community on Instagram and developing a close relationship with your followers. Don’t ignore comments – reply to them! This will simply show that you value your followers’ opinions and that you’re listening to what they have to say. Another simple way to interact with your audience is to ask questions, either in your Stories or in the captions of your posts, to encourage your followers to actively join in the conversation.
3. Use the features of an Instagram Business Account
Instagram offers a range of tools specifically designed for business accounts. Through Instagram Insights, you can access metrics that allow you to assess the performance of your posts, in other words, to understand reach, impressions and interactions (likes, comments, saves), and to gain insight into your target audience, as well as the best times to post based on your audience’s behaviour.
In addition, you should also make use of Instagram Shopping if you wish to sell products, so that your customers can make purchases directly on the platform.
4. Create adverts
If you already have a business account and aren’t advertising yet, don’t waste any more time! Instagram ads are both an effective and powerful way to reach and convert customers, and to help brands drive their business success. Here are some tips on what to include in your ad to maximise your reach and performance:
- The title should be concise and eye-catching;
- Choose an eye-catching image, as the image is what grabs the user’s attention and is therefore the most important element of the advert;
- Use emojis in the text of your posts. It’s been proven that using emojis can generate up to 30% more clicks on your ad!
- Use hashtags strategically. Bear in mind that hashtags aren’t the be-all and end-all of a successful Instagram post, but they do increase its reach and visibility. Start by searching for hashtags on Instagram and check the number of posts associated with the ones you want to use. Then alternate between more specific hashtags (fewer than 500k posts) and more general ones (more than 500k posts). Ideally, you should choose between 12 and 20.
5. Review your strategy regularly
Finally, it is essential to monitor and analyse your business account regularly. This will enable you to assess the performance of your posts and adverts on Instagram, making adjustments to your strategy as and when necessary. We recommend that you promote your posts if they warrant it. To do this, you should analyse the metrics after the post has been published – that is, analyse the reach, impressions, interactions, profile visits generated, new followers and the post’s engagement rate. This rate is calculated by adding up the likes, comments, shares and saves, dividing this total by your number of followers, and multiplying the result by 100.
Only after this analysis can you decide whether you want to promote the post. If you wish to promote it, you must do so for a minimum of 7 days.
In short, a successful Instagram Business account requires a combination of strategic planning, creativity, high-quality content, consistency and regular data analysis. By putting these five tips into practice, you’ll be well on your way to developing a strong presence on your Instagram Business account and building a community around your business.