How to create a successful Instagram account for your business?

One of the most popular social networks today is Instagram, which is why more and more companies decide to be present on this platform to increase their brand's sales. In addition, advertising through Instagram continues to grow, as evidenced by the rise of influencers. What are you waiting for to create your company account?

Instagram has many advantages, leaving aside the visibility it can give to your company, it is an easy-to-use social network that allows you to create content in many ways, from ephemeral stories that last 24 hours, to permanent posts or short 30-second videos.

If you are a company, you can create a specific profile that allows you to advertise and even sell your products or services directly from the application, as well as have control over the viability of your account and the interactions of potential customers with it.

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Why use Instagram to promote your business?

Instagram offers companies a great opportunity to achieve their brand goals, as well as increase their visibility among potential consumers. Currently, there are more than 200 million business profiles on Instagram and over 2 million advertisers use the app to boost their sales.

As if that wasn't reason enough, more than half of Instagram users discover new products through the app and 75% of these interact with the product after discovery - this can make all the difference in creating a competitive advantage with your rivals.

It is clear that Instagram is an excellent tool to develop a digital marketing strategy, but to do so you must have some basic knowledge. In this article you will discover the keys to business success and increase your sales through the application.

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How to create a business account on Instagram? Step by Step

• Go to "Settings"
• Look for "Account"
• And click on "Switch to Professional Account"
• Now, you must choose the category that best describes your company and select "Business"
• Then, fill in the contact information so that customers can easily contact you; you can include the phone number and email address
• If you wish, you can connect your business account with your Facebook page, if you do this, you can use all the available functions for businesses
• You have now created your business account!

Some of the main advantages of a business account vs. a personal one is access to insights or statistics. This way, you can see who interacts with your Instagram profile, track your performance on the app, and access tools only available to professionals.

Click here to learn more about business profiles on Instagram.

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7 recommendations for success on Instagram

Here are some of the best techniques for success on Instagram with your business profile:

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Prepare a communication plan

To achieve a successful communication strategy on Instagram, you must start with a communication plan. To structure the document, you can follow these steps that will help you organize the first steps of your company on the social network.

• Define the objectives: before starting, you must ask yourself what you want to achieve with it, this is important as the reasons will determine the strategies to be used. The SMART methodology can help in setting them. For example, if you want to be more popular, your SMART objectives could be:
  • Specific: get more followers.
  • Measurable: have at least 300 followers in a month and 3 positive comments on each post.
  • Achievable: attract followers aged 40 to 60 interested in home decoration.
  • Realistic: have 10% of Instagram users aged 40 to 60 in Spain.
  • Timely: achieve it in the first month.

• Who is your buyer?: knowing and defining your potential buyer is essential for success, so you can know which tools work with them, for example, what vocabulary to use, what type of content to create, etc. Implementing a CRM software in your company may help you understand your buyer.
• Analyze the competition: benchmarking to know your competition is essential, so you will know what is working and what is not. Of course, do not copy, just use it as a reference.
• Define the editorial line: the editorial line are the rules that must be followed so that the content you publish is consistent with your goals, generates trust, and credibility to your potential consumers, it is what is known as a feed. Define the format of posts, colors, typography, images you will use, and the tone in which you will refer to consumers.
• Analyze results: use the tools that the business profile provides you; it will help you know if you are growing in the app and, therefore, if your digital marketing strategy is working or not. Some analysis that the app does for you includes:some text
  • Number of gained followers in the time you determine
  • Age, gender, and origin of your followers
  • Number of clicks on the profile link or the one you included in a story
  • Number of times a post or story was shared

Here is an article to help you plan your social media posts.

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Create quality content

To start, you must set the days and times of publication. To do this, you should upload posts and once you have gained the type of audience you are interested in, review the app's statistics, there you will see when they are most connected, divided by hours and days of the week. Keep in mind that Instagram's algorithm makes posts have more engagement during the first hour of publication.

Regarding posts, many companies use the 4:3:2 rule. Draw a square with 9 smaller squares, write a 4, then a 3, and then a 2 in each square (you must write the sequence 3 times to fill the 9 squares) and distribute the type of post you will create according to the number. For the 4 you can opt for content of interest for your customers, in the 3 with content that generates interaction with your audience, and in the 2 with content that promotes your product. This way you will have valuable content, conversation with your customer, and self-promotion.

Use stories for different functions: you can recommend techniques or provide tips, tell a story or show your team, and create anticipation about a new product or service you plan to launch. All this through videos, gifs, emojis, and different typography. Also, you can highlight those stories that belong to the same group to make them last more than 24 hours.

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Automate publications

Automating posts can help you not be connected all day and have the app do it for you. There are tools available where you can schedule the post and the time you want it to be uploaded to Instagram.

One of the most popular tools is Facebook's Creator Studio, which allows you to create, publish, and manage your content through the computer. It is intuitive and simple, and also provides you with inspiration and statistics about your benefits, all from one place.

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Generate engagement with your audience

To generate engagement with your potential clients, in addition to publishing on the days and times they are connected, you can enhance your posts appearing in the first positions of their Instagram if you get them to interact with you.

To do this, you need to use polls, countdowns, or question boxes. In this way, if they participate, you will have created a bond with your potential clients that the algorithm will take advantage of in your favour to make it stronger each time.

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Use influencer marketing

Influencers are a fundamental pillar for Instagram and thousands of companies use them as their main advertising channel. Collaborating with these individuals can be one of the keys to growing your business, as people trust what others tell them, and this type of advertising seems much more honest than what we see on television.

Influencer marketing can help you reach more people, so it is important to choose an influencer whose followers are the ones you need. Additionally, these professionals usually create conversation in the network and will help you get potential customers to interact with your brand through likes, contests, giveaways, comments, and more.

On the other hand, as influencers are usually considered a reliable source of information for users, having one of them endorse your product can improve your company's branding. Acting as a bridge between the brand and Instagram users, showcasing a product, in addition to all the benefits we mentioned earlier, will surely increase your customer base.

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Instagram ads

Instagram ads are a good feature for your products and services, as well as your own account, to reach potential customers who do not know you yet. However, to make successful ads you need quality and something else:

• Use hashtags: tag your sponsored posts with the most popular hashtags, this will increase interactions.
• Write short, clear, and concise texts: the time we spend reading Instagram ads is very limited, so be clear about what message you want to send and how to do it attractively.
• Modernize: your ads (whether through posts, stories, or videos) must follow the trends of the social network; try different styles and use statistics to see what works best. But, above all, seek inspiration.
• Quality photographs: if you want to demonstrate quality and seriousness, your images must be professional, for this, you can use those offered in image banks, or if you want to invest a little more, hire a photographer.

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Hold sweepstakes and contests

Sweepstakes and contests on the app are becoming more popular, helping other people to get to know you, follow you, and, most importantly for the algorithm: interact with your content.

These are some of the benefits of creating sweepstakes and contests on Instagram:

• Attract new users: consider who your buyer is, then select an influencer or another brand (not your competition) to collaborate and hold a contest together. This way, and thanks to the conditions to participate in it which will be to follow you, you will get followers and, likely, new customers. Besides, the more followers you have, the more potential customers you will reach.
• Promote products or services: one of the best ways to promote your products or services through the app is by generating that interest through a giveaway. In this type of marketing strategy, you can ask the winners to provide a review afterward and share it on your profile, so other customers will see what a person like them thinks of your product.
• Foster your community's loyalty: you can give away discount coupons to your customers, thus you will make them loyal and turn them into the best advocates of your brand. This also strengthens the relationship between the customer and the company because it generates trust and the customer is satisfied.

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How to sell on Instagram?

Selling products or services through Instagram is simple, you just need to have created your business account and follow these steps:

• Go to "Settings"
• Select "Shopping"
• Click on "Continue"
• Select the products or services you want to connect to your Instagram profile
• And you're done!

However, to sell on Instagram, you need an e-commerce, if your company only sells products in person, you will have to make some changes to take advantage of this functionality.

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How to tag products to sell on Instagram step by step

• Choose a photo and add text
• Click on the product you want to tag to sell
• Write the name of the products you are tagging
• Select it in the search box that will appear
• Then click on preview, so you will see how the final result looks before posting it
• Publish it

Instagram allows tagging a maximum of 5 products in each image and, if it is a carousel, up to 20.