Instagram Marketing Strategies for Small Business

Instagram is undeniably one of the most important social marketing sites for businesses. And guess what, 82% of all B2C marketers are already using this platform. Among B2B businesses, a whopping 71% choose Instagram.

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While these numbers indicate the importance of Instagram among businesses, they also suggest that there’s tough competition.

So, as a small business owner, you need to think out of the box and beyond great Instagram posts and pictures to win. As you’re investing your resources, time, and emotion into Instagram marketing, you sure want success with it. The question is how to do it.

And this article answers just that—Instagram marketing strategy for small businesses like yours.

1. Research Your Market

If you're new to social media marketing and wondering if Instagram is the right platform to invest in, do market research. The idea of solid market research is to help you test the waters and set the right goals and expectations.

By doing this, you put two important things in perspective—the demand and your target audience. You can also run experiments to generate more actionable insights. Ultimately, it’ll help you allocate budget and estimate returns.

2. Research Your Competitors

Instagram competitor analysis is often the part that gets left behind. By analyzing the Instagram of your competitors, you can learn from their strategies, and set targets and key performance indicators.

Analyze content—posts, videos, stories, text, hashtags, frequency of updates and posts, and Instagram shop features among others.

3. Set up a Business/Creator Account on Instagram

Setting up a business account on Instagram is free. Take advantage of this and create your business account.

Another benefit is you can link your Instagram creator/business account with Hashtag Expert and get personalized hashtag suggestions. Read point #5 to know more.

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Instagram only allows 150 characters for the bio, so be creative and succinct.

Don’t forget to add a link to your website or online store. Some choose to shorten the length of URLs using software tools, you can do it too.

Here’s an example from Roaster Daily. Their account is strikingly different and attractive with the right amount of information. Pay attention to their branded hashtag in bio and great quality, detailed visuals.

4. Create an Instagram Content Calendar

If you handle multiple social channels, it can get difficult to manage.

Create a content calendar for Instagram and plan your content for next 2-3 months. This way, you can free up time to do more work and run both organic and paid social campaigns with ease.

5. Sort Your Hashtags

Hashtags are one of the most important elements in Instagram marketing. Each social media platform has its own best practices and the recommended number of hashtags. On Instagram, you can use up to 30 hashtags.

Research your Instagram hashtags to create a list and strategically select hashtags that fit your campaign goals and objectives.

Or if you are clueless about where to start or which hashtags are best for your profile, sign up for Hashtag Expert.

Hashtag Expert is by far, the best Instagram hashtag generator tool in the market. Connect your Facebook/Instagram account and add as many accounts as you have. Now open app configuration and tap on Instagram icon. Go back to the 'Generate' tab and type your base hashtag, then tap 'Generate Hashtags'.

It's more likely that our community members have already generated best hashtags so you may want to check that too (and use them if you like). Go to the 'Trending' tab and browse through trending, top, or recent hashtags.

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6. Use Instagram Stories

Instagram stories are a great way to show your business, attract new followers, and generate leads. More than 500 million accounts use Instagram Stories every day.

This is a great opportunity to truly establish a connection with your audience and tell your story using images and videos, take them to their receptive mind, and provide compelling content they appreciate.

With these tips, we hope you can create an effective Instagram marketing strategy for your small business and get maximum return on investment.