Using Instagram Posts to Promote your Small Business
Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service that allows you to connect with friends, celebrities, and brands. In the past several years, Instagram has become a hub for social media marketing, and small businesses are taking advantage of Instagram posts to promote their brand on a small advertising budget. If you are a small business owner and want to take advantage of Instagram’s marketing benefits, this article is for you.
What are the Benefits?
The most significant benefit of using Instagram to promote your small business is customer retention and growth. Instagram is a service where users build and maintain relationships with one another, and by building relationships with buyers through meaningful posts, you are improving your customer loyalty. This customer loyalty boosts your sales because it keeps your customers willing to buy from you again and again. Furthermore, forming relationships with your customers through Instagram increases engagement with your brand. If a customer has a question about a product or a promotion, for example, they are comfortable writing a question in the comment section of your post. Your customers are also able to send your post to their friends, which increases awareness of your brand.
Increased brand awareness is important because that means more people know your brand exists and what type of products your small business sells. In other words, increased brand awareness stimulates growth. And of course, using Instagram as a platform for marketing also reduces your advertising costs because it is free to post on Instagram, as long as you are not creating sponsored ads (posts that businesses can pay to serve to Instagram users).
How do You Create a Meaningful Post?
- Create Captions that Complement the Visuals
An Instagram post consists of two main parts: the visuals (images that sell your brand) and the caption (written copy that promotes your brand and is linked to the visual). To create a meaningful post, your caption should complement and enhance the visual by sending one cohesive message between your caption and your visual to your customers.
For example, this post by Nuun Hydration connects the flavors in the visual to the idea of having more than one favorite flavor in the caption. The emoji’s they use also relate to the flavors featured in the visual.
2. Use Links, Hashtags, and Emoji's
Other components of an Instagram post might include links, hashtags, and emoji's. Links (short for hyperlinks) allows users to jump to a new location when they click it. Use links within the caption to create a meaningful Instagram post that allows your customers to jump to your business’s website to view the products in more detail.
Hashtags (a word or phrase preceded by the pound symbol) is an indication for users and algorithms that a piece of content relates to a specific topic or belongs to a specific category. Use hashtags in your Instagram captions to make your content more discoverable on platform searches to reach more potential customers. Emoji’s are small digital images or icons used to express an idea or emotion. Use emoji’s to give your post personality. Be careful not to overdo it.
3. Include a Call-To-Action
A call-to-action is a stimulus to do something in order to achieve an aim or deal with a problem. It is also another important element of a meaningful Instagram caption because it guides your customers to do something such as to visit your website, watch a video, share your post, or attend an event. Make sure to write your caption in a way that makes it is clear what you want your audience to do.
A good example of a small business using Instagram posts to promote their brand is Olor Coffee Bar who creates a meaningful post through their use of hashtags and inclusion of a call-to-action. This is because the hashtags connect the post to others categorized as “Chicago” and “coffee shop” and the call-to-action tells the audience to visit their shop.
4. Use Short, Casual, and Positive Language
Another quality of meaningful Instagram posts is the use of short, casual, and positive language. Writing in a way that is accessible to all and that grabs your audience’s attention is important because people aren’t going to spend large amounts of time reading your captions. Furthermore, use pronouns such as “I,” “we,” “me,” and “you” to build a more personal connection to your customers. Another way to build connections with your customers is to reply to their comments on your posts in a friendly and positive tone that reflects your brand’s values.
Conclusion
If you own a small business, you should be using Instagram to your advantage to grow your brand, boost your sales, and reduce your advertising costs. All you have to do is create meaningful posts with captions that complement the visuals; use links, hashtags, and emoji’s; include a call-to-action; and use short, casual, and positive language. It’s really that simple.
