This is a wide field for doing business online – many people are here simultaneously, and these are different target audiences. However, for an account on this platform to be profitable, it needs to be managed properly.
In this article, we’ll look at what you need to do to succeed in developing an Instagram business page.
What types of businesses are best suited for Instagram
The success of a business on this social network depends on several factors. First, you should try to sell goods and services from the B2C category, especially those that are well-visualized. These include, for example, clothing, accessories, beauty treatments, various weight loss programs, tourism, and much more. Don’t forget that Instagram is dominated by a female audience, which also affects the success of a particular type of business.
If you’re wondering how to make a business account on Instagram, it’s an essential first step before starting any promotional activities.
Instagram is a visual and entertainment social network, so it is quite difficult to promote serious topics, goods, or services from the B2B category here. Spending time and money on promotion is unlikely to pay off.
6 proven tips to help you create a successful account
Every day, many personal and business accounts are created, so the competition is quite high, as is the chance to get lost even with a unique offer. Before starting to work here, you must understand that this works: daily, serious, and planned. You shouldn’t expect a miracle and think that as soon as you create your profile, orders will pour in like a bounty. To create a successful account, you should pay attention to the following points:
Proper design is part of the win
The first thing a visitor to your page sees is your profile photo (avatar), name, basic information, and description. All of this should immediately answer the questions: what do you do, where are you, how can I contact you? To understand how to keep Instagram engaging for your audience, start by ensuring your design is visually appealing and aligned with your business goals.
You should put a personal photo on your avatar only if you are promoting a personal brand — yourself, or your loved one (for example, as a cooking or beauty industry guru). In all other cases, a logo will be appropriate for a business profile, possibly against the background of a photo that will explain the direction of activity. The size of the avatar is also important, so you need to work hard on the logo.
The name should also make it immediately clear what you do. For example, if you sell lingerie, then ‘Bustier’, if you are a catering business, then write ‘Cipollino’s Pizzeria’. Photographers, make-up and manicure artists, also sign the field of activity. The main rule here is simplicity. The name should be easy to remember.
The description is a block of up to 150 characters in which you should briefly describe what you do. For example, a balloon company can list the types of its services: helium balloons with delivery, holiday decorations, and photo zone design. But you need to do it as a list using emojis.
You need to provide contacts so that a potential client has a choice of how to contact you, and such accounts are more trustworthy. This can be a phone number, a link to the main website, or the ability to write a message in any messengers. Knowing how to run a business page on Instagram means offering multiple options for communication to ensure clients feel confident and valued.
These 4 main parameters are the clothes by which they meet your account and evaluate whether it is worth looking further or not to waste time and leave.
Plan the content
You need to plan your posts, their topics, type, and text. And at least 3-4 weeks in advance. They should not be spontaneous, otherwise it will be an information mess. To know how to keep Instagram fresh and relevant, focus on a variety of post types, mixing product showcases, educational content, and entertainment. This will help maintain audience interest and engagement.
- Product/service ‘face’. This is especially true for online stores. It is imperative to post what you are selling and describe it.
- Training. Yes, you can teach here too: talk about how to choose the right product, how materials differ, and what are the trends. A photographer, for example, can explain how to prepare for a photo shoot – there are many options.
- Entertainment. It’s boring to be serious all the time. Organise promotions, and giveaways, and post humorous posts.
Using new content formats, such as Reels, is essential for engaging the audience, as these formats are actively promoted by platforms like Instagram and Facebook. Short videos allow for quick attention-grabbing and effectively convey messages in a dynamic and engaging way. Additionally, Reels have the potential for wide reach, which can significantly increase a brand’s visibility.
Each of the points can be expanded by adding sub-points – it all depends on the business.
When the topics are formed in a strict order of placement, you need to write a text for them. The product description should be specific, answering all the questions: material, size, price, etc. It should be interesting, simple, and accessible. No one will read boring long reads.
A few more tips:
- Ask questions to establish interaction with the audience;
- Use comments to add some information;
- Post posts with feedback from customers (real ones).
Posting rules
It’s not a good idea to post whenever you want. Business accounts on Instagram have statistics. You can see in detail which days of the week and at what time most of your followers are online. There are also some rules here:
- It is recommended that an online store post several posts a day, but you should not spam;
- For the service sector, you can limit yourself to 3-4 posts per week;
- On weekends, there are fewer posts from other users, so the chances of seeing yours are higher;
- On Fridays, most of the target audience is preparing for the weekend, so commercial posts have low performance, but this is the time for announcements of cafes, bars, and restaurants.
Do not look for universal answers somewhere that it is best to post on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 7 to 11 am or from 3 to 5 pm. It’s all individual, depending on your business, niche, and target audience. It’s better to experiment with your posts for a couple of weeks, study your statistics, and make adjustments.
Prepare a photo
Don’t forget that Instagram is a visual network, where people first look at the picture and then read the text. Therefore, you should pay special attention to photos. You should not forget to do this:
- Photos must be of high quality, and it is unacceptable to use unattractive images in a business account;
- A modern smartphone is enough for high-quality photos;
- Use only 1-2 filters when processing, but they should be the same filters;
Keep in mind that Instagram photos are square, not rectangular.
Use hashtags
Many users don’t even realize that hashtags are not just words written together. They are the basis for social media searches when visitors seek someone or something. Therefore, you should get at least 1 branded hashtag, and use the rest as you wish (you can insert up to 30 at a time).
To prevent the social network from blocking your post or profile, you should not use a constant set of words in the same order. However, the more search queries you use, the higher your chances are that people searching for, for example, manicurists in Zaporizhzhia will find you.
More activity
Everyone loves gifts, and your subscribers are no exception. Hold various contests and promotions and give away prizes. You can also hold joint events with other accounts. Instagram offers many options for activities, including posting information in stories and live broadcasts.
And don’t forget that you won’t get far without advertising you can’t do without it even here. Place advertising posts, track statistics, adjust input data and budgets. And do not believe those who say that you can promote your business online quickly and without investing in a paid advertising campaign.
The main mistakes to avoid when working with Instagram
Entrepreneurs often simply do not understand what and how it works here, why they need to do something all the time, and earn likes, comments, and reposts, so they do not take account management seriously, ignoring the rules described above. And this is one of the main mistakes.
A business profile should be regarded as a kind of website that also requires promotion. The social network uses these criteria to select what users are most interested in. And if you don’t constantly remind yourself of yourself your place will quickly be taken by others, and customers will go to them.
Other common mistakes include:
- Bots in the subscribers. On the one hand, pages with more subscribers are more trustworthy. But on the other hand, you need real people to make purchases. The use of bots has long since exhausted itself as a content tool. You can also get into the block for this.
- Mass following. This is when you start subscribing to everyone in a row, waiting for a reciprocal subscription. But the situation here is about the same as with bots. Nowadays, less than 3% of users reciprocate. Social media rules do not allow you to send more than 60 invitations per hour (by the way, there are also restrictions on unsubscribes).
- There is no understanding of who your target audience is. And if you do, you don’t position yourself in any way. This means that you have a lot of ‘strangers’ among your subscribers, and your advertising budgets are being wasted.
And finally
At its core, in terms of content requirements, a business Instagram account is no different from a regular website. Therefore, it requires constant attention, which means daily work on planning, preparing content, answering questions, and maintaining stories and live broadcasts. At the same time, don’t forget that the form of presentation is as important as the content.
Instagram is constantly improving, offering new tools, and removing or blocking old and ineffective ones, so don’t be afraid to try — there are no universal recipes, only general recommendations.
