How to Use Instagram for Digital Business
Last week, Alice Reeves (Director & Co-Founder of The Joyful) joined us for a Breakfast Session, where she shared with us the key ways that you – as business owners and individuals – can use Instagram effectively to build your profile, reach your ideal customers, and generate meaningful conversations that lead to more business.
Check out the recording of the session below, with her top tips for building your profile, making the most of Instagram's features, and how you can reach and engage a wider audience.
How to Build your Instagram Profile
When you create your profile, make sure to:
- Use the same username across all channels
This helps your customers find you across multiple social networks, and is especially useful if they want to tag you or your product in future. - Choose an appropriate profile photo
This can be a professional headshot if you're a freelancer, or a high-quality version of your logo - bear in mind that this will be cropped circular. - Describe your business in a compelling 150 character bio and include a link
Instagram only allows you to have one link in your bio, so instead of listing your website, be sure to set up a landing page such as Linktree to include instead - that way, you can include multiple links depending on the content you share.
Watch Alice talk through building your profile here
Using all of Instagram's Features
Instagram has multiple ways you can post content, allowing you to:
- Share images
Instagram was originally just for square images, which have now been expanded to alternate ratios, which show up in followers' feeds and on your profile. - Share videos
Instagram allows you to post videos, in the same way you'd share images, as long as they are less than 60 seconds long. - Share longer-form content on IGTV
This feature allows you to post videos up to 15 minutes long - Go Live to your followers
Instagram Live allows you to broadcast a live video lasting up to 4 hours (though half an hour to an hour is plenty) - and, your followers will get a notification that you have gone live. - Share Reels
Reels allow you to share engaging, high-energy, 15-30 second video clips. - Share Stories
Stories are quick-fire, disappearing content, which are only viewable for 24 hours. Perfect for behind-the-scenes content, or for telling a story about an event or trip.
Watch Alice talk through these different content forms here
Reach and Engagement
- Use Hashtags
Instagram hashtags are essential for visibility as you grow your audience. - Post consistently
Post consistently, but try to vary content - experiment with reels, IGTV or Live - as this will help Instagram to share your content more widely across these different features. - Be proactive and social
Be sure to comment on interesting posts from those you follow, to raise the visibility of your page. Encourage your teams and networks to like, comment, save and share your posts to their stories, as this will highlight your posts as more engaging, and make them more likely to be shared by Instagram's algorithm. - Think about your captions
Create engaging captions, longer-form content here will be hidden by 'read more' - so aim to entice and engage your audience to click to read the rest of your content.
Watch Alice talk through her top tips for improving reach and engagement here
Watch the Full Breakfast Session
Thanks to Plus Accounting for sponsoring this Breakfast Session.
These events are run exclusively for Wired Sussex members. Learn more about the benefits of membership and sign up here.