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How to Grow Your Business Instagram Account

Don’t know where to start when it comes to growing your Instagram business account? Here’s our breakdown on how to grow fast.

Posted 1 year ago

Written by

Julia Cohen

Posted 1 year ago

Don’t freak out! We have the 5 ingredient recipe that can help you grow any Instagram business account.

We know the feeling. Growing an Instagram profile is hard enough, but what if you’re asked to grow your business Instagram account? And, what if the business is *gasp* not very easy to visualize on a platform that is completely image-based? Maybe you’re selling software or an app? But don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.

Growing a business Instagram account doesn’t have to be difficult at all. Just make sure you have a strategy and stick to it. Not sure where to get started? We do! And we’re sharing it with you below.

Instagram Analytics

Grow your account with best-in-class Instagram Analytics.

Understanding your audience👀

The secret to growing any Instagram business account is to deliver the type of content your audience wants. Sounds simple in theory, but how do you know who your audience is and what they want?

There are many ways to get the information that helps you figure this out. Here are some suggestions:

👉Ask the marketing team for a rundown of their buyer personas.

Who are they targeting when they are running ads? Who shows up for events? Try to find out what type of content that audience normally consumes. What publications do they read? How are they on social media?

👉Ask sales staff who they are selling to and how they are finding those people.

What do customers have in common? What questions do they ask? What are their concerns? This gives you an idea of what things they may be looking for when they stumble across your Instagram account.

There are many different methods you can follow to define what your audience likes and how it behaves.

👉Document your findings to ensure you draw correct conclusions

We find Hubspot’s (free) persona template simple and sweet. It’s a great method to document all the information you gather in a way that makes it easy to make sense of later – and draw the right conclusions.

When you’re thinking about creating relevant content later on, you may come back to the different teams with more advanced questions such as “What do our customers love most about our brand?“ to help you figure out what things you should highlight on Instagram.

View this post on Instagram

BREATHING LIFE INTO BRANDING THROUGH ANIMATION WITH BELLS & WHISTLES Bells & Whistles (of Bells Of Lazonby Bakery) have created a range of indulgent, dairy-free and gluten-free vegan snacks which we’ve had a hand in launching on social. To celebrate Bells & Whistles’ vegan cake slices arriving in Sainsbury’s superstores, we’ve created several animations that showcase the three flavours in all their glory. The final animations, a kaleidoscope of colours, shapes and textures, align with Bells & Whistles’ ethos of standing out against a backdrop of bland packaging and brands. Instagram is the home of flawless foodie content, which is why some traditional FMCG brands struggle here. That’s the opposite for a vibrant brand like Bells & Whistles—especially when the creative is well-executed, snackable and social-first.

A post shared by Social Chain (@socialchain) on Jul 24, 2019 at 6:12am PDT

Note – if your company is really small, roles may not be clear or the information could not be available altogether. In this case, you can gather some of this information yourself by checking out your local and global competitors, or by asking existing customers a few questions. There are relevant data everywhere. You just need to be willing to put it all together.

Developing your strategy📊

Now that you have a lot of information about your business’ audience, it’s time to translate that into social media content. Start off by looking into your competitors. What content creates the most engagement with their audience? Take notes. Here are some things you may want to look for:

Tone of voice
How they structure their bios
What they choose to highlight within their bio
How they visually represent their brand (grid design & aesthetic)
How they engage with their audience
What call-to-actions they use in their captions

Now go broader. Look at a non-competitor Instagram business account and see what they are doing that helps create engagement. Is there anything you can “steal” and adjust to fit your offer? Just because you’re selling a service doesn’t mean you can’t have a lively grid with amazing pictures. Maybe you can highlight your employees and tell their stories or let followers in on how your business works behind the scenes.

View this post on Instagram

Get in to know about Alia Khan the Founder and Chairwoman of Islamic Fashion and Design Council (IFDC), an organization established for the development of the Islamic fashion and design industry worldwide. @ummahmagazine

A post shared by ᑌ ᗰ ᗰ ᗩ ᕼ 🧕🏻 (@ummahmagazine) on May 2, 2019 at 9:35am PDT

Timing matters⏰

Now that you have an idea of what to post, it’s important you keep an eye out for when to post. Depending on your audience, there are certain times that will result in better engagement than others. When are your followers most active? If you’re selling a service, it may be best to post new content during lunch or the early afternoon. Are you selling retail products? Likely the evening works best for you. The good news is, you don’t have to guess out of the blue. You can simply evaluate how your posts perform in terms of likes and comments via Instagram analytics.

Simple and effective: the perfect hashtag(s)#️⃣

Using the right hashtags is one of the most important things you can do to grow your Instagram business account. However, it takes effort to find the ones that work for your content. It’s difficult to find the best hashtags on your own but hey, we at Flick know a little something about hashtags. And, it doesn’t matter if you’re a total newbie or consider yourself a hashtag pro – we make finding hashtags as easy as it gets.

Flick lets you filter hashtags by size and engagement or link your Instagram account directly, to have our algorithm do the work for you. This helps you discover relevant hashtags in seconds while filtering by engagement. Pretty sweet, right? The best thing is that you can sign up for our free trial right now (no credit card required).

Consistency is key🔑

Now you know everything you need to grow your account. But there’s one more thing: consistency! The best strategy and hashtags in the world won’t get you anywhere if you don’t post regularly. But consistency is not just about how often you post, it’s also about what you post.

📆 Schedule: aim to post at least once a day (ideally twice a day) at the right time. You can prepare the content beforehand to reduce the workload.

🌅 Pick a grid design: when new users see your post and enjoy it, they will likely go to your Instagram profile page. This moment is when they decide if they will follow you or not. A professional grid goes a long way in aiding that decision. You could work with different colors or content styles. The rule is to ensure your most recent 12 posts look good together. VSCO is a great app to help you plan your grid.

👍 Favorite filters: You may be tempted to use different filters and styles for your posts, but be mindful that most followers follow you for a certain type of content. Try to stick to it. Pick 2-3 filters that match and use them consistently. You may even want to choose a specific color scheme to make your image and video content fit together. Again, VSCO lets you save filter sets to help with this.

View this post on Instagram

Disclaimer: pictured sunscreen does not smell like pictured watermelon or pictured ice cream or not-pictured watermelon ice cream. But possibly a good idea?

A post shared by Everyday for Every Body® (@geteveryday_) on Jul 30, 2019 at 12:32pm PDT

Let’s recap!🔄

Worried this is all too much? Take a deep breath and let’s recap the 5 simple steps you can follow to get you started on your growth journey:

🕵️‍♀️ Gather information! Try to learn about your target audience and what they like.

📈 Develop a strategy. What kind of content do you want to post and why?

🕐 Figure out the right timing. Post when your followers are most active.

#️⃣ Nail hashtags! Discover the most relevant hashtags to grow your account with Flick.

📆 Be consistent. Ensure you post regular content that fits well together.

That’s all! To ensure you learn from what you’re doing, keep an eye on your account analytics. This is also a great way to show your boss what’s working later on. Monitor engagement metrics, such as followers, likes, and comments.

It doesn’t have to be more complicated than this. Ready to get started on your Instagram business account?

And feel free to contact the Flick team if you need more advice or a pat on the back for a job well done.

Thinking about trying out the Instagram hashtag strategy?

Hashtags & Analytics

Find, manage, and analyze hashtags for Instagram.

Content

Understanding your audience👀

Developing your strategy📊

Timing matters⏰

Simple and effective: the perfect hashtag(s)#️⃣

Consistency is key🔑

Let’s recap!🔄

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