Instagram now has over a billion users and is a great social media platform to promote your business, reach new audiences and expand your brand awareness. Assuming your target audience use Instagram then you should include Instagram activity in your social media marketing plan.
Set up your profile
Once you set up your Instagram profile and your bio you can start to share content, to help you attract the right people and increase post engagement. Read these steps on how to post for your business on Instagram. Note you can only post on Instagram from a mobile or a tablet not a PC or laptop.
How to post on Instagram
-
Click the +sign at the top of the screen
This is your starting point.
- Either choose a photo or video
You can then either choose a photo or video from your photo library or you can use the app to take a new photo by clicking on the camera icon. Instragam automatically accesses your photos on your phone. Choose a single image or for multiple images, by clicking the multiple image icon, the icon with the 2 stacked squares. You will then see a number on the corner of each image and this is the order they will appear in. Your image will need to fit Instagram’s specific dimensions so you may need to crop it.
-
Filters
You can choose from 24 filters on Instagram to suit your image and there is a magic wand at the top of the screen which allows you to make more adjustments.
-
Photo editing options
There many editing options within Instragam including:
- Adjust which enables you to rotate the image
- Contrast which can increase and decreases the image’s colour intensity
- Brightness which can make the image lighter or darker
- Warmth which allows you to increase the warms tones of the image
- Structure this can help to give a 3D effect
- Saturation adjusts the saturation of the colours
- Colour offers a number of colour options which can overlay the image
- Highlights helps to manage the intensity of the highlights in the image
- Fade can make your image look aged by softening the blacks
- Shadows controls the shadows in the image
- Vignette darkens the corners of the image
- Sharpen can make your image more dramatic by sharpening certain elements of the image
- Tilt shift can blur the edges of the image
-
Your caption
Once you have completed the effects on your image, type the caption to go with the image
-
Hashtags
Hashtags are an extremely important element of Instagram and many users search and follow hashtags. Make sure you include relevant hashtags in your post.
-
Location
Include the location of your business
-
Emojis
By including a relevant emojis can make your text and post stand out more.
-
Other social media channels
Did you know if you have other social media channels like Twitter and Facebook linked to your account you can share your posts on these platforms too from Instagram? Just slide the relevant social media platform bar from left to right so it is highlighted blue.
If you are considering using Instagram to promote your business it might be worth setting up a personal profile first and having a practice with your family and friends. Then once you feel confident set up your business profile, make sure you follow relevant profiles and make your customers aware you are on Instagram. I hope you find these steps useful and if you require any information about Instagram or any other marketing activity. Please get in touch either call me on 07753941231, email or complete my online form
