Navigating Instagram
With all the social media apps out there and new apps emerging every other day, Instagram remains the queen of beautifully curated content. New features are constantly rolled out to ensure that you can keep up with marketing your brand in the most innovative of ways. It’s important for your brand to have a presence on Instagram to reach a visual audience; we’re going to look at why, and if you’re just starting out with social media marketing, which kind of profile account you should choose to best suit your objectives.
Why your brand should be on Instagram
As mentioned above, Instagram is a visual platform and therefore the perfect place for you to showcase your products or services in an aesthetically pleasing way. The app is a great platform for people to share their experience of your product/service through stories and their own curated content. Influencer content on Instagram is huge right now and an exciting tool for you to use to get your brand out there in a different kind of way and to larger audiences, already in place.
Features like the ‘Swipe Up’ on stories (which are only available to accounts with 10 000 followers or more) and tagging your products in your posts so that they’re shoppable, are clever ways to get information about your product/service to your potential customers, quickly. Instagram posts should be carefully planned out as the images are what’s essentially the “thumb-stopping content”, the copy should be short and punchy and remember to use appropriate hashtags in your posts. Best practice would be to post between 4–8 hashtags per post! Instagram enforces a limit of 30 hashtags per post. Keep the user’s experience in mind when adding hashtags to your post. Hashtags should be relevant. Fun fact about hashtags; you’re able to save them or follow them, which means that you’ll be served content which uses your saved #.
So, once you’ve decided to join Instagram as a brand, let’s get down to profile accounts and what each one can do for you.
Personal Profile
When you create an account this is the default profile that automatically gets given to you. The personal profile is meant for people who love to browse the beautiful images posted by brands or by their friends and family. You don’t have access to the analytics or audience data that brands tend to value, it would be best not to go for this type of profile if you’re looking for more than just engagement feedback. You are limited to the basics; which includes posting content and stories, adding a website link to your bio, accessing your direct messages and connecting to a Facebook profile. Posts tend to get limited reach but high engagement as your followers will be friends and family primarily, who love to like and comment on everything you do. We can all relate to the mom who logs on every few days and goes on a liking spree on all of your posts!
Business Profile
The business profile, as it says in the name, is meant for businesses who want a little more from their profile than just posting content and seeing engagement on their posts. If you choose this profile you have access to your posts and audience analytics, you have call-to-action buttons and the possibility of posting promotions. With access to these features, you’ll be able to reach more people through paid promotions. Instagram has a detailed targeting section that you can complete that will ensure that you reach the desired audience for your brand. Engagement might be slightly lower here on posts.
Facebook recommends connecting a Facebook page to your business account, as you can only create Instagram ad campaigns through Facebook.
Example of a business account 👇
Creators Profile
If you didn’t know it yet, Instagram has added a third account type; the creator’s account, which launched in 2019. This account is meant to separate businesses from influencers and creatives, who don’t have a business yet. There are many similarities and small differences between the two accounts. You’ll still have access to analytics and will be able to create paid ads. You have inbox management with three different categories; general, primary and requests. You can categorize your account with multiple new options for example; singer, journalist or photographer and you can choose whether you want this to appear under your name or not. You have call-to-action buttons, but your options are slightly less than the business account.
The perfect mix of creative and analytical, this kind of account is perfect for influencers who embody their brand.
Example of a creators account 👇
As in true Instagram fashion, their account features are constantly changing and being updated. Choose your account based on what your business objectives are; if you’re looking for a creative space to share your photographs go for the personal profile. If you’re a business owner or marketing manager of a brand and you’re looking for data from your posts to present back to the team, go for the business account. If you’re an influencer, the creator account is the perfect fit for you.
Instagram is an exciting platform to showcase your products beautifully and with all of the features, new and upcoming, it’s a space your brand should be in.
If you’re unsure of your digital needs, contact Bangers & Mash and let us help you put together the perfect Instagram strategy!
