Instagram for a Small Business: Boost Awareness for Your Biz!

Quaint shop signages, eye-catching flyers, and banners at community events are charming ways to promote your small business locally. But for your fledgling brand to make a bigger impact and reach more people, social media accounts are a must. And when it comes to promoting your brand in a creative way, leveraging Instagram for a small business is non-negotiable.

Not confident in your knowledge of social media marketing for small businesses? We’ve got you covered. Learn how to post your way to more profits in this ultimate guide to using Instagram for your homegrown venture. Let’s jump right in!

How Do You Use Instagram for Business?

Gone are the days when Instagram was only a hub for fashion influencers and food bloggers. Today, even brands can use Instagram for business. The platform boasts over two billion active users per month (and counting!). So, if you want to expand your customer base, it’s the perfect place to promote your business.

Business accounts can target audiences at every stage of the marketing funnel, from awareness to engagement to conversion. Here’s how a small business can use the platform for each marketing objective.

Awareness

With eye-catching and exciting content on Instagram, you can grab the attention of millions of potential customers. For many of them, it’s going to be their first time encountering your brand.

You can showcase your goods and services with high-quality, product-centric content so people know what you have to offer.

Engagement

Instagram isn’t just a platform for product promotion. It’s also an avenue for building lasting relationships with your customer base. Unlike traditional advertising, social media accounts allow for two-way communication. 

You can spark conversation with your customers through comments, DMs, and even poll stickers on Instagram Stories. By fostering rapport with your audience, they may become more loyal to your small biz.

Conversion

Turn engaged followers into paying customers by encouraging purchase interest and sales on Instagram. Post content whenever your business has an ongoing sale or discount promo and drive them to your e-commerce site. 

You can even create a digital storefront to let customers buy products from the app (but more on that later!).

How To Gain Followers on Instagram for a Small Business: 4 Game-Changing Tips

Gaining followers for your small biz is important because it directly impacts your overall brand awareness and sales. A bigger follower count means more visibility for your business, allowing more users to discover what you have to offer.

Plus, having lots of followers boosts your credibility. Consumers tend to trust brands with more followers because it serves as social proof that your brand is legit. This makes it more likely for these people to patronize and buy from your brand.

Essentially, the more people see your content on the platform, the more sales and conversions you can drive. That’s why it’s important to put time and energy into getting more Instagram followers for your business.

Don’t know where to start? Check out these four game-changing tips for attracting more followers to your Instagram page.

1. Run Ads To Boost Discoverability Among Your Target Market

The fastest way to get your Instagram small business in front of more people is by running Instagram ads. Paid ad campaigns deliver your content straight to your desired target audience, boosting your visibility and discoverability on the platform.

You can determine the specific audience demographics of the people you want your ads to target, such as age, gender, and location. You can also take it one notch higher and create custom audiences from an existing CRM database or email list. That way, you can serve ads to people who have already interacted with your small biz.

There are tons of creative ads available that you can run across Instagram. There are photo and video ads, Story ads, and even Shopping ads. Be as creative as you can with your materials, and you’ll be sure to catch your target audience’s eye!

2. Post Valuable Lifestyle Content That Isn’t Too Hard-Sell

Many brand owners assume they’ll see significant business growth if they post sales-heavy, product-centric content every single day. But these entrepreneurs forget that people go on Instagram for lifestyle content, not sales-heavy posts. So, it would be a bright idea to post entertaining, exciting, creative content outside of pushing products and services.

Instead of hard-sell, in-your-face type of content, experiment with how-to guides, tutorials, personal anecdotes, behind-the-scenes videos, and more. These can help diversify your content, giving people more reasons to follow your business page.

3. Use the Best Hashtags for an Instagram Small Business

When you use popular hashtags in your posts, you essentially categorize them according to niche. This helps the algorithm serve your content to people interested in that topic on the Explore page and Instagram search.

So, if you want more people to discover your small business on Instagram, use relevant hashtags related to your industry.

You can use generic entrepreneurial hashtags related to small businesses, such as #shoplocal, #shopsmall, #supportlocal, #entrepreneur, #localbusiness, #supportsmallbusiness, and more. But you can also use hashtags within your niche, like fitness hashtags for gym brands and beauty hashtags for skincare.

4. Encourage User-Generated Content Among Happy Customers

Many people on Instagram trust their friends’ content over that of any brand. That’s why user-generated content is super important for small businesses. When real people post content about their products, it appears more genuine and trustworthy. This puts in a good word about the brand to those people’s followers, potentially piquing their curiosity about it.

So, encourage previous customers to post content showcasing products they’ve purchased before. Give out incentives like free discount vouchers and exclusive access to upcoming sales to those who post user-generated content. That way, more satisfied customers will want to create content and spread the word about your business.

Pro tip: Repost these customer photos on your brand’s page for extra exposure for the post!

How To Grow Your Business on Instagram: Drive Sales With These 3 Tips

When you think of growth strategies for businesses, you might think of franchising, upselling, and pricing strategies. And while those are definitely important for any small biz, they’re not as exciting as growing your business on Instagram.

Yup, you heard that right. Instagram isn’t just a place to boost brand awareness and talk to your customers online. It’s also a fabulous avenue for driving actual sales and growing your business. Here are three tips for doing exactly that.

1. Showcase Your Offerings in Visually Appealing Product-Centric Content

Show off your products in stunning, aesthetically appealing content. Remember, Instagram is a visual platform. Eye-catching content will be your secret weapon when trying to sell your products online.

But don’t stop at just pretty pictures of your products. Talk about their features and unique qualities in the caption, too. And through beautiful visuals, show potential customers how your business’s offerings can fit seamlessly into their lives.

2. Set Up an Instagram Shop

Create an Instagram Shop, aka a digital storefront where customers can see your entire product catalog. They can then scroll through your products and then buy them straight from Instagram!

What’s fantastic about having an Instagram Shop is that you can tag your products in your content. For example, say you have a fashion business, and you post trendy outfits on your Instagram page. You can tag all the clothes featured in those posts. That way, anyone who comes across that post can buy the pieces they’re interested in straight from your content!

3. Get Influencers To Promote Your Products

Any influential creator with an established Instagram presence will have a loyal fanbase that listens to every recommendation they make. So, collaborate with influencers who can promote your products on their page.

These influencers can talk about your products in their Reels or post photos with them on the feed. They can even go more in-depth on Stories, explaining what they love about your brand.

Don’t have a big enough budget just yet to tap celebrity-level influencers for collabs? Consider working with micro-influencers instead! These smaller creators might not have as many followers, but they’re known for their excellent relationships with their fanbase. They might just be your secret weapon for driving conversions and sales!

How Often To Post on Instagram for a Small Business

Small businesses should aim to post at least three to five times every week. This keeps your brand top-of-mind for your audience without it being too annoying and overwhelming for them. Remember to play around with different types of content, from Reels to carousel posts to Stories.

Consistency is key when it comes to posting on your business page. If you’re having a bit of trouble keeping at it, try drafting a content calendar you can follow every day. You can also schedule posts in advance to ensure something gets published on your page every few days.

Bonus Tip for Brands on Instagram: Small Business Saturday Is Coming Up!

Small Business Saturday is an annual day of celebration for homegrown businesses and young brands everywhere. It was founded by American Express back in 2010 and has since become a huge day for all entrepreneurs. In 2024, it falls on November 30^th.

On this day, Americans are encouraged to shop locally to support small businesses in their town. According to American Express, 72% of consumers say that this day makes them want to shop at indie retailers year-round.

That makes this “holiday” the perfect excuse to go all-out with your small business’s Instagram promotions. Highlight your unique brand story in your content. Promote exclusive deals to encourage consumers to shop locally.

 Do anything you can to make relevant noise about your business to capitalize on this day. It’s excellent for hyperlocal social media marketing in your small biz’s hometown!

Don’t Sleep on Instagram Marketing for a Small Business—Use It To Grow!

Promoting your small business on Instagram lets you reach more people and put your brand on the map. It’s a must for any brand looking to boost brand awareness, customer engagement, and online sales.

But we’ll give it to you straight—growing a business page on Instagram isn’t a walk in the park. It takes a lot to conjure up a large follower base. If you want to supercharge your social media growth, you must bring out the big guns. That means working with Instagram growth experts like the Path Social team.

At Path Social, we do the heavy lifting. We implement expert strategies to push your content out to your niche audience, boosting your brand’s visibility even further. You’ll get more followers and potential customers without even lifting a finger. That way, you can focus on more important stuff, like ensuring your business operations run like a well-oiled machine.

We’ve done this for thousands of brands, like Modern Fit, which doubled its follower count after working with us. Want to see the same rapid growth when you use Instagram for a small business? Build a community of engaged followers and loyal customers with Path Social!

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