Instagram is one of the places where people discover new products or services. Businesses can make themselves known to more people via paid ads. This is one way you as a user could find out about a new product or service. Another way is when someone you follow tags a brand you have never heard of in their post.
Social media is a great way to connect with people. You want to get these connections to your business. To turn them into customers for your business. Creating and managing an Instagram account for your business is difficult and a lot of work. It takes so much effort to be able to make it work and drive sales. However, it’s worth it and it can help you really scale up your business.
According to The Retail Touchpoints Network, 72% of users use Instagram content to make purchasing decisions. This is huge. The platform boasts 1 billion users per month. Instagram for business should be a top priority when it comes to social media marketing for your business. Here are a few tips to help you market your business using Instagram.
Use Local Hashtags
Hashtags are essential when you are using social media to market your business. They are very popular on Instagram and Twitter. The hashtags are a way to put a label and categorize your content. There have been several debates about the appropriate number of hashtags to use. Also, whether to place hashtags on the caption or comments section. Instagram has suggestions on the do’s and don’ts when it comes to the use of hashtags on the platform. The best thing to do though is to find out what works best for your particular business.
For a business that provides local services and products, local hashtags are a gold mine. It’s a great way to target a specific area where your business operates. Using local hashtags is a way to make your business known to people within that particular area.
How To Find Local Hashtags
- Start With General Hashtags
With general hashtags, try not to focus so much on hashtags for likes or for followers. For example, #likes; #like; #follow; #likeforlikes; #love; #instagood; #instagram; e.t.c. Use hashtags that represent your business and content. A clothing store in Nairobi for example could use #Narobifashion, #Nairobifashionblog, or #Nairobifashionstyle.
- Suggested Tags
Instagram will give you suggestions as you are looking for the standard ones. You can find a few good ones that are relevant to your business. The clothing business could get suggestions such as #ootd, #beauty, #fashionista e.t.c.
- Check Out Local Businesses.
Find hashtags similar to your brand. Check out accounts belonging to local radio/and tv stations. Look for accounts belonging to local food restaurants. You can also check out accounts for tour and travel businesses in your local area. If they are using slang, make sure you know what they mean before adopting them.
Use Tools To Find Hashtags
If you don’t know where to start you can use tools. The following tools can help you find and display hashtags for your posts.
For local businesses check out the map to see trending hashtags by location. This tool allows you to find hashtags to use on Instagram. It also filters out banned and spammy hashtags.
This tool allows you to find all the trending hashtags that you can use on social media.
With their smart hashtag finder, you get the best recommendations for hashtags as you write your caption.
Tag Your Location
Geotag your location to gain more exposure. If your local area has fewer posts, you can tag the town. For example, if you have visited a restaurant that has few posts on their account, tag the town you are in. However, if the restaurant has thousands of posts, you can tag the specific business location.
Using Geotags on Instagram is a great way to market your business via engaging with your local audience. Instagram and Facebook are integrated. You can create your geotag on Instagram using Facebook.
Tips To Use GeoTag To Boost Engagement On Instagram
Partner With Local Influencer
Nano influencers. These are influencers that focus on an audience in the region they live in. They could have fewer followers, but they only post content for their audience. Working with these influencers can boost customer engagement with your brand.
How to work with influencers for your local area.
- Ask them for honest product/service reviews.
Many people make purchasing decisions based on recommendations by small influencers. Since you expect the influencer to produce content for you for free, be sure to build a good relationship with them first. Gifting your products does not give the influencer an obligation to market your product/service. Therefore, you should learn the ethics of influencer gifting.
- Get them to be brand advocates
The influencer can fall in love with your product. Their followers may be able to see and trust your products or brand more. Their followers will be motivated to buy your product/service. They may buy your product/service just because they trust the influencer.
- Get them to create product tutorial videos.
For service, for example, in a salon, you can take a video making the influencer’s hair and probably do follows up to show how they are doing with the hairstyle. It will bring trust to their followers and more people will want to try out your services. Similarly, a video of them using your product may cause them to want to try them out.
Encourage Your Customers To Use GeoTag
Promote your geotag and encourage users to share content to your location. Your customers can create content and post, and then tag you with your location. As they, for example, do an unboxing video or a nice picture of them with your product and post, they should check-in your location as well.
Post content for Local Interest
- Quality Content
Content is a way for you to communicate with your customers. Create quality content that will be valuable for your customer. This is content that your viewers can’t find elsewhere. Be as unique as you can. You should give what your audience wants, not what you want to give. Remember, the customer is always right.
- Well-Defined Location Strategy
Focus on a small clearly defined geographical area. If your business provides services, partner with local businesses. You can promote timely offers to individuals living in that geographical via partnerships with these local businesses.
- Understanding Google
On Google, you will find Google Business Profiles, Google Maps and local review information. Rich valuable content will help you rank well on Google. Having your Instagram business listing is very important. It will increase your audience, views and eventually more opportunities for backlinks. Posting useful content on your Instagram shows your expertise and authority. It increases trust with your audience. This will consequently make Google find you more credible.
- Local Search Ads
There are more than 200 million businesses on Instagram. They use Instagram to reach a target audience and promote their products and services. There is competition here, every business is trying to be seen. To cut through the noise and achieve your goals faster, use ads and campaigns.
With your location clearly defined, you have increased your likelihood that your ads will be shown to the right people. This means your ads will be more relevant. It will consequently increase your click-through rate (CTR) and keep your costs down.
- Keyword in Your Handle Name
An Instagram business account can help you promote your local business. Ensure you add a keyword on your Instagram handle. This will include a business name and your location. When a user searches for a keyword in your location, your business will appear in the search results. It will have key information like; Business category, opening hours, price range, website and contact information. The user will be able to know where exactly they would physically locate you.
Engage Engage Engage
Actively engage with your followers. When you put your geotag on your Instagram posts, it increases your chance for people that live in that area to be able to find you. Respond to your customers’ comments are feedback. This makes them feel heard. It is a way to tell them you care. If your content is engaging to your customer there is a level of quality that you are giving.
When people share your content it enables you to reach a bigger audience. Consequently, more people will get to know about your brand. When people engage more with likes, comments and shares other people will trust the post and want to explore and know what you offer.
Google will also drive more traffic to your posts if a lot of people are interacting with your posts. Your customers offer valuable feedback and suggestions. And finally, you build a relationship with your customers and they feel like they are interacting with a human being and not a robot.