Firstly, make your profile public and then register for a free business account so you can begin tracking your analytics and engagement. 

 

You need to brand your account using your logo as the profile image, your business name for your Name and Username sections, add your ethos or slogan into the bio and take advantage of links by either linking to your website or using a platform like Link Tree to link to multiple websites, making it easier for your audience to find you. 

People will type keywords into the search bar, so you need to use a primary keyword that matches these searches. You can do this by putting your keyword alongside your business name, for example if you’re a fashion business, you can use the word ‘fashion’ in your name so that your business pops up when someone searches that word. 

 

A secondary keyword relates to your primary keyword – using our example, ‘clothing’ ‘outfits’ ‘designer’ or ‘luxury’ all would work in your bio to boost your positioning when these words are used to search for a business just like yours. 

 

You then need to create a strategy for your hashtags – treat these like keywords. On your posts, use hashtags that are relevant, valuable to your content and a mix of more general and post-specific tags. This will help people discover you when they look up these specific hashtags, and will show up in feeds if users already follow said hashtags. Instagram algorithms prefer hashtags to be contained within post captions instead of comments, which was previously the best strategy. Make note of this before creating content to post on Instagram and ensure it’s put into practice with each post you upload. 

Beyond hashtags, your captions are still hugely important – even if Instagram is more of a visual platform. Use your secondary key words but don’t over-do it as this can be off putting – consumers still favour authenticity and originality, so don’t switch up on brand voice and the way you market just to ‘fit in’ on Instagram. There are ways of seamlessly working in these secondary keywords into your content and chances are, you’re already using them when creating captions anyway – you just may not be aware of their power just yet. Strike a balance between engaging your current audience and attracting a new audience so you can see a steady increase in the audience that’s unique to your business. 

Instagram will automatically add Alt Text if you don’t use it, but it’s best you take this extra step to accurately describe what’s in your image and help visually impaired users understand your content. Accessibility is a big thing on social media, and you shouldn’t isolate what could be a huge part of your audience by avoiding the alt text feature or allowing Instagram to guess what your image is. You can access the alt-text section by clicking on ‘advance settings’ and selecting ‘write alt text’ under the accessibility section. 

Like with anything on social media, your analytics tell you everything you need to know about your performance. It’s why having a business page is so important, as this gives you access to your detailed analytics. By knowing your numbers, you’ll be able to see the bigger picture about your engagement, what content your audience are most interested in, where your posts don’t make an impression, when your audience are online and how well you’ve performed over specific time periods. Keep on top of your analytics, as they’re telling you vital pieces of information that you need to operate at your full potential on Instagram. 

Instagram is a great platform for marketers who are looking to reach out to their audience, create interesting visual content and becoming a leader within their industry. Try out these tips today and get your profile fully optimised and set up for success. 

 

Firstly, you need to make sure you meet the following requirements stated by Instagram in order to set up a shop: 

 

• Be located in one of these markets - Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine*, United Kingdom, Brazil, Mexico, Canada, United States 

• Have an Instagram business or creator account 

• Comply with Instagram's merchant agreement and commerce policies. 

• Connect your Instagram account to a Facebook Business Page 

 

You can use a site like Shopify or manually upload through Facebook Business Manager to put your products onto Instagram. You should keep your product inventory on these sites updated as you get new items in your store. 

 

You then need to submit your account for approval to Instagram. You can do this by accessing your Professional Dashboard > Get Started > Select Catalogue > Submit For Review. 

When your account is approved, you can then upload photos and tag your products within them. To do this simply upload to the grid as you would usually, and then select the ‘Tag Products’ option. This will allow you to search for a product and select the right one before sharing to your audience. You can go back to your old posts and tag products too if needed to give your feed a more consistent appearance and boost your performance on social media. 

If you have access to Instagram Shop Posts, then don’t change your posting style just because you want to use the features. Keep your posts consistent, tag your products and give them a natural feel on the feed. You may want to change your content strategy slightly when it comes to new product releases or sales, but don’t let these sales style posts take over from your usual social media marketing efforts.  

Influencer Marketing is something that may be possible for your business to take advantage of, even if the influencers you pick aren’t some of the top names in the industry. If you send a product ton them and they ake a post promoting and tagging your brand and what you’ve sent, you’ll be attracting their audience and potentially start making more sales thanks to the power of the influencer you’re working with. Building up industry connections like this can be really helpful in getting your business out there beyond promotional posts or adverts. 

 

When you’ve posted nine shoppable ads on Instagram, you can then open your shop page, which will display all of your products linked on posts in one section, which users can then click to buy. Users can also save these products for future purchase from this tab, making Instagram a great place not just for purchases but also for creating wish lists too. 

 

Selling on social media is a big part of what makes digital marketing so powerful, and you’ll be able to take advantage of all of these features when you get yourself set up on Instagram. Take a look into the benefits of Instagram shop and get started today.