In the last few years Instagram has gone from being a fun photo sharing app and now it is one of the strongest social media platforms for businesses. Instagram is known for its big brands, but it’s also a fantastic place for marketing local businesses also.
Here are some great ways to garner maximum effectiveness from your Instagram account without paying for advertising.
Hashtags are one of the best ways to get found on Instagram. Whenever you feel it is appropriate add location hashtags to your post. For example here at 3B1 we would use #CorkCity #Douglas when relevant for our Instagram posts. Posts with 11 or more hashtags get a whopping almost 80% more engagement than those without. A great place to get some ideas for hashtags is on Display Purposes. This website lets you search for hashtags but also has a map feature to show you what is trending locally.
It’s important that your location is clear from your bio. If you have a business account you can go to Edit Profile and scroll down to Contact Options to add this alongside other details to your bio. If you are using a profile that isn’t for businesses you can just add it to your bio. We would recommend that any business using Instagram should use a business profile as it has the additional benefits of having insights into your accounts performance.
Partnering with other local brands is a great way to boost visibility alongside increasing your local awareness. Finding a brand that compliments your business is a great avenue. This could also be an opportunity to partner with a charity. For example here in Cork, Earth Cafe partners with Edel House by hosting Yoga on the Boardwalk on Sundays to raise money Edel House. The partnership is great because it creates great content alongside a local partnership doing good for the community. Partnering with local businesses can be as unique and outside the box as you want it to be and is a great way of increasing your reach both on and off Instagram.
Social proof is undoubtedly a very powerful tool. If you’re able to find ambassadors that praise your brand on Instagram it will inevitably boost your brand equity. This doesn’t have to be paying local influencers for their time. Encouraging regular people to post images of themselves using your products or visiting your business is a great way to get started. It’s also a great way to garner additional content by resharing the content shared by your clients about your business.
Part of getting increased visibility and engagement on Instagram is timing. If you have a business account you can check when your audience is most active in your insights.
If you are new to Instagram or haven’t done some self experimenting around times to post. The most active times in according to research is when people wake up and before bed. These are great times to post as this is when people are checking their phone.
Everybody loves a good story. Businesses are constantly evolving and showing how your growing and developments in your business is a great way to get your story out there. If you’re already established a great way to do this is by sharing old photos of before when the business was just starting out. If you’re a new business you can share your story as you go.
All in all, Instagram is one of the best networks for local businesses. If you have a good game plan it can be a great way to market organically. If you’d like more information on advertising on Instagram feel free to contact us here.