How to Improve Your Instagram Business Account
If you're a small business owner, you likely aren't new to the world of Instagram. However, as a marketing strategist, I constantly see ways businesses could optimize their own accounts. I've noticed that small changes to your Instagram account can make a massive impact in growing your community and boosting your sales. Here are some easy ways to improve your Instagram business account!
Is Instagram important for business?
If you're thinking that Instagram is dead, click here for a blog post all about my thoughts. Is it important for business? Personally, I think it's important, but not crucial. That's why you need to have a comprehensive marketing strategy before jumping right into all the shiny social platforms.
If Instagram is your primary visibility outlet, then that's great! Instagram is a powerful tool for connecting with ideal clients in your area (or around the world). It gets your message out to the masses and allows you to strategically move followers off the app and onto other platforms such as your website or email list. In order to make those things happen, it's important to optimize your Instagram business profile.
How do I optimize my Instagram business profile?
Here are some simple yet effective updates to make to your business profile to get the most out of Instagram—no pointing and dancing required.
Bio
Your Instagram bio is limited to 150 characters, so be strategic and intentional in the words you select. Utilize keywords so people can find you when they search on Instagram.
In most cases, make your profile picture a clear headshot of your face—especially if you have a personal brand. If you're an agency, brick and mortar, or if you have a large team, using your logo is okay here. On that note, make your name easy to find on your profile if you have a personal brand. Include other items like who you are, what you do, who you serve, where you're located (if you aren't an online business), and what the next step is for people.
Link in Bio
In most cases, the last line in your bio will prompt people to click on the link in your bio. I recommend creating a page on your own website for this link in bio (view mine here) over using another platform like Linktree.
Make sure this link includes any free or paid resources mentioned throughout your content and in your bio. Have clear buttons for people to inquire or shop, depending on what your business is. Ensure this page is optimized for mobile, as most people will be visiting from a mobile device.
Highlights
Your Instagram highlights are categorized story posts on your profile. In order for content to be added to your highlight, it must first go on your stories. Highlights give more context for a stranger who's deciding whether or not to follow you.
Some highlights tips: make them relevant and updated at least every year, but every 6 months is even better. Upload your own on-brand cover graphics to make your profile more aesthetically pleasing, even if it's just your brand colors. Some highlights I recommend having on your profile are Start Here, Services/Offers, Freebies, Resources/Tools, and Testimonials. Click here to view how I updated my highlights.
Pinned Posts
Your pinned posts are the first ones you see at the top of your profile. You can have 3 pinned posts on both your feed and reels tab, but I'll discuss the ones on your feed as they'll be viewed the most.
First, I recommend having an About/Introduction pinned post. Share more information about you, your business, and anything personal that's important for your ideal clients to know. Next, a Work With Me post should have all your free and paid offers—but make sure this stays relevant. Lastly, include an educational post, ideally one of yours that has a lot of saves.
Stories
Instagram stories are less curated, more spur-of-the-moment posts that are only live for 24 hours. If you want to boost engagement and cultivate real connections with your audience, stories are the place to do it. Build trust and share your personality in a low-pressure environment on stories.
Use engagement tools like question boxes, tap react emojis, polls, quizzes, links, and slider bars to get your community involved. Bonus tip if you reply DM to the people who engage with your content!
Close Friends
My very strong personal opinion is that your close friends list is one of the most underutilized Instagram features for businesses. I wrote a whole blog post on the close friends list and how to use it here, but to sum it up, this is an exclusive place for your most engaged followers.
Manually add people who want to be added every 1-3 months and share what they'll get out of it. Some close friends list content ideas include sharing exclusive behind-the-scenes and sneak peeks, Q+As, flash sales, special trainings and tutorials, and more personal content.
Instagram Marketing Techniques
If your head is spinning with ways to improve your Instagram business account and you'd like more marketing techniques, I have you covered. I offer 60-minute strategy sessions for the busy entrepreneur who wants to dive into a strategy they can run with. Click here to book your call!
