Instagram is a platform that has increasingly been helping retail businesses expand their reach and increase revenue. People across all demographics are generally aware of Instagram and use it regularly. For that reason, Instagram has become a main element in the social media marketing strategy for most retail businesses. It’s currently on the brink of becoming the largest marketplace online. Present day, Instagram has over 25 million business profiles and 2 million advertisers.
How You Can Use Instagram To Promote Your Retail Business
Use an Instagram Business Account
If you haven’t made the switch to using an Instagram business account yet, it’s about time that you do. A business account offers access to features that cannot be used through a personal account, like Instagram Ads, Instagram Insights, Secondary and Primary messaging inboxes, Instagram Shopping, Contact Information, and most importantly, a Call-to-Action button on your account.
Creator accounts have their own share of benefits for content creators and influencers. However, from the perspective of a digital marketer, the business account provides the most utility and provides the most value for your business.
Optimize Your Business Profile
Keep your Instagram profile optimized at all times. Your Instagram bio is one of your initial opportunities to create a great first impression on your visitors, convince people why they should be interested in your account, and promote the personality of your brand. Most importantly, you need to do all this within 150 characters.
Even though this is a pretty significant character limit, this is where the benefits of a business account comes in. Business accounts are alloted 30 characters for a name and handle, and are also provided with a space to present a clickable and customizable website URL, a business category, contact information, and a call-to-action button. The space provided for a bio is best utilized through the addition of keywords and hashtags relevant to your business.
Use High-Quality Images in Posts
You might not be a professional photographer, but picture quality is no less important for your brand. If you’re not good at taking pictures yourself, let someone else do it for you, or read some tips and tricks that can improve your skills. This is one of the most important Instagram marketing tips for beginners and accomplished users alike.
Since Instagram is primarily a photo-sharing platform, the best results will always come from high-quality and preferably original images. Make sure your photos do not have a lot of text, and ensure that your designs are professional and free of errors, since you won’t be able to edit the pictures after posting!
Use the Reel Feature on Instagram
Brands can also benefit from the use of Instagram’s latest feature, Reels. The home for short-form video content on Instagram, Reels are Instagram’s way of catching up to TikTok. Reels, however, are more than just a place for posting and tackling dance challenges. Brands are using Reels to stand out from competition and differentiate themselves from their competitors online with original content that contributes to brand awareness and recognition.
For example, Second Shot Coffee, a London-based café, used Instagram Reels in both paid and organic posts. The video received about 40,000 impressions overnight and helped the Second Shot Coffee brand grow significantly.
Partner With Influencers
We recommend that you partner with influencers who can help create credibility for your business while sharing your products with their audience. A survey conducted by CivicScience revealed that over half of Instagram’s daily users have bought an item because of a recommendation received from an influencer.
An easy way to get started with Instagram influencer marketing is to host a takeover. To do so, you invite a known influencer to literally ‘take over’ your account for any set period of time or special event. This can be exemplified through the digital media company Tasting Table, who invites home cooks and chefs to host frequent takeovers on their Instagram account, sharing new recipe posts on their Stories and news feed.
Optimize Your Instagram Account and Grow Your Retail Business
There’s so much to learn and explore on Instagram. Remember, your brand’s success on Instagram is largely due to cultivating quality interactions with customers, building an actionable strategy, and posting consistently. Once you come up with a posting schedule and stick to it, your business should be able to grow its audience and see boosted content with more shares, more website and page traffic, and ultimately, more sales.
