Marketing 8 min read

How to Optimize Your Instagram Profile for Maximum Exposure

Image by Ink Drop | SHutterstock

Image by Ink Drop | SHutterstock

Second only to Facebook in terms of active users, Instagram and Instagram profiles have become the ideal place for new and established businesses to engage their audience and enhance their brand image.

Advertisers and social media influencers all swear by Instagram as a powerful marketing platform. From small businesses to big industries, the appeal of Instagram as a go-to B2C marketing platform can be seen across the board.

Read More: Edgy Lab’s B2C Influencer Marketing Trends for 2018

You should follow suit and build a business Instagram account now no matter the size of your business.

Small retail and pet shops, as well as major brands, including those in the high-tech field, have Instagram profiles followed by millions of fans and customers.

There’s a reason why Instagram is the top platform for social media influencers. In fact, influencer marketing on Instagram is a whole industry worth over $1 billion and is projected to reach $2.38 billion by 2019.

Of the 500 million active daily Instagrammers, 200 million users visit at least one business profile every day. One-third of all Instagram Stories published on the platform come from businesses.

With 800 million active monthly users, it doesn’t come as a surprise to know that  Instagram contains over 25 million business profiles.

Want to get your business off the ground? Have you been struggling a little with your company’s Instagram profile?

Follow These 5 Easy Tips to Optimize Your Business’s Instagram Presence:

1. Make the Most of Instagram: Switch to a Business Profile

To create an Instagram profile for your business, all you need is an associated business Facebook page to start promoting your business on Instagram.

However, keep in mind that a personal account just won’t do it. You have to switch to an Instagram business profile in order to really take advantage of the potential that your Instagram profile has to offer.

Recently, Instagram made major changes to its algorithm. These changes reward user and customer engagement. One of the largest changes: photos, videos, and stories won’t show on a user’s Instagram feed in a chronological order anymore.

Instead, the order is based on how users interact with them and their overall performance.

Keep in mind that your @Instagram Profile can't just be pretty pictures and videos, user engagement is key #InstagramBusiness #InstagramProfile Click To Tweet

Put simply: understand how your content is performing. Monitor user reaction. Use insights to enhance future content. Having an Instagram business account enables you to do this.

With this type of account, you will get access to a set of analytics and insights tools dedicated to businesses, like the Instagram post scheduler tool which rolled out last month.

With a business account, your contact info is displayed for customers who can reach you directly on Instagram.

Promotion on Instagram also becomes as easy as hitting the “Promote” button with a simple paid ad creation process.

2. Make a Lasting First Impression: Your Instagram Profile Photo

Instagram Profile
Your Instagram Profile Photo can often make or break your customer conversion rates | Image by Still AB | Shutterstock

When it comes to your business’s Instagram profile, it’s important to remember that you never get a second chance at a first impression.

Unless you are Tesla or Louis Vuitton, you may want to make your Instagram profile more personal with a headshot instead of your logo. Embrace the visual nature of the platform and present an appealing headshot of yourself. Or, use an intriguing photo of your business at its best moment.

Using a headshot might be a good way for small businesses to inspire trust among Instagram users and connect with them on a more intimate level.

3. Pitch Your Business: Your Brand’s Bio

Instagram Profile
Make sure your Business Bio tells users everything they need to know about you and your brand | Image by iconvectorstock | Shutterstock

Now you’ve converted your account into a business profile. It’s time to work more on the bio of your brand.

This is where people look for links, recent updates, and current special offers.

It’s here that most profiles convert visitors into customers.

Think of the bio like this: you have two sentences to pitch your brand to investors.

You don’t have much space. Users don’t have much time. Be as succinct and as clear as possible. Save the history of your business and its most impressive stats for later.

Right now, you’re trying to present the user with the product or service they’re willing to buy.

Your Instagram bio is a unique touchpoint for this social media platform. Spend some time looking over popular business profiles. Take note of how they use their bios.

Make the bio an attractive statement that’s reflective of your business and brand. Hint that what you’re offering is a good value. You have only 150 characters, so make it count!

Also, make sure you leave room for an effective Call to Action. This CTA can be as easy as leaving a link to your social shopping storefront where Instagram users can discover and buy your products. You can also link the CTA to a landing page that was professionally designed to convert.

Read More: Four Reasons why you Should be Using Instagram as a Marketer

4. Instagram Profile’s New Feature: Bio Hashtags and Links

Instagram just announced it will be making a number of changes to its bios, which will make them a hotbed for innovation, creativity, and opportunity while users adapt to the updates.

After giving its users the ability to follow hashtags last December, Instagram has announced that bios can now include hashtags and links to other accounts.

From now on, if you type a hashtag or mention another profile in your bio, they’ll become clickable links that users can follow.

Click on “Edit Profile”, and in your bio section, type @ or #–you’ll be presented with a list of recommended profiles and hashtags to choose from.

You have to experiment with this one as it’s a new feature. Use Instagram’s built-in stats tool or a third-party service to track the performance of bio links and change hashtags and accounts if they don’t get clicked on that much.

5. Set Your Profile’s Tone: Adopt an Editorial Line

Instagram Profile
Having a consistent and engaging tone is vital for any Instagram Business Profile | Image by Actor | Shutterstock

Before getting to business, start posting and building your fan base. Above all, you must choose a theme and stick to it. This theme may be dictated by the niche where you do business. Whatever you decide, make sure you include a personal touch.

By saying that you need a theme for your Instagram profile, we mean the way your brand is presented. This includes your editorial line that makes your Instagram business profile more of a small universe with its own identity.

Make your Instagram profile a unique place in its own way where you give fans what they’re expecting while also teasing and surprising them from time to time.

In all, the purpose of this is to create and publish visual content that reflects your theme and generates the most likes, comments, and shares. The best way to do this is to make your Instagram profile a unique place where customers look forward to seeing your content.

Speaking of user engagement, you should know that Instagram will be deprioritizing old posts. The best way to get around this is to recycle these old posts so they stay visible and relevant.

Read More: Budget-Friendly Content Marketing Strategies For Your Brand

Both Instagram and your users demand new and fresh content on a regular basis. Not enough fresh content means less user interaction, which means less overall exposure.

If you want Instagram’s algorithm to keep taking notice of your business, you need to publish content more regularly and frequently.

If you take anything away from this, it should be that being unique is one of the best ways to stand out in today’s saturated online sphere. Whether that comes from an honest and simple insight into your business practices or a comedic stance on certain topics, make sure your Instagram profile is one to be remembered for all the right reasons.

Have you already switched to an Instagram business profile? What do you think about the features and tools associated with it?

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Zayan Guedim

Trilingual poet, investigative journalist, and novelist. Zed loves tackling the big existential questions and all-things quantum.

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  2. Gram Genius March 27 at 7:42 pm GMT

    Interesting article and it will make our social media accounts will grow. Thanks a lot!

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