BY NICK DJUROVIC

Many people dream of quitting their jobs, starting their own business and becoming their own boss. But that’s just the first step – starting a business is not enough – half of all small businesses in the U.S. fail within the first five years.

If you don’t want your company to become a statistic, you must learn how to grow your business, and a large part of that lies in marketing. Marketing introduces people to your business, spreads the word about your products, and creates a recognizable brand. These days, you don’t have to run a TV ad to achieve success! Instead, market on Instagram quickly and affordably.

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Moon & Arrow, a lifestyle shop in Philadelphia, has a booming Instagram presence with almost 20,000 followers. They post daily, have a profile that’s complete with who they are and their store hours, and engaging Stories.

THE POWER OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Social media has become a massive part of our lives. We spend more time online than we do driving, watching television, or reading. It’s no wonder that virtually all marketing services now include digital marketing and social media engagement. After all, that’s where you find customers. This is good news: social media is mostly free yet instrumental in disseminating information. You can gain a lot of traction by being active on social without investing a lot.

As businesses look for ways to deal with the pandemic, it makes sense to focus on digital marketing. If you’re going to rely on Instagram, you should know how to make the most of the platform.

1. COME UP WITH A GOOD STRATEGY

Before you start marketing your business on Instagram, make a plan. Think about the following questions:

• What is the goal you’re trying to achieve through Instagram marketing?

• Who is your target audience?

• How much time and money can you invest?

The answers to these questions will inform your strategy and guide your marketing efforts.

2. SET UP YOUR BUSINESS ACCOUNT PROPERLY

Instagram has millions of users. If you want to grow your business on such a huge platform, you have to stand out. Here are some ways to distinguish your business:

• Use your company name as your username

• Use your logo as your profile picture

• Write a short, concise description of what you offer 

• Link back to your website or store on your profile

• Get verified if possible

3. CONSIDER INSTAGRAM ADS

Running sponsored ads on Instagram is an excellent way to reach wider audiences, especially when you're just starting and your account isn't very big. Of course, an ad will cost you money while posting to your own account won't. However, social media is always worth the investment, and Instagram ads are not that expensive. So this avenue is at least worth considering.

4. POST FREQUENT AND INTERESTING CONTENT

An Instagram account is no benefit if you're not using it, so try to be as active as possible. Post about your products and services, share news about your business, and introduce your team. The point is to share content regularly. However, make sure that your posts are relevant for your business and interesting to your audience. Since this is Instagram, you want visually appealing and impactful posts such as photos of your products and videos of satisfied customers. 

5. DON'T FORGET ABOUT STORIES

Posts aren’t the only way to share content on Instagram. You can also use Instagram Stories to promote your business. The benefit of stories is that you can get very creative with them, adding video, sound, stickers, and more. They’re also a great way to engage with your audience because you can make them into polls, quizzes and questions.

6. USE HASHTAGS

Hashtags are how people discover you on Instagram, so cleverly using hashtags will help your business grow. Start with a general topic hashtag such as "makeup", "food", "wedding", or whatever broad category your business fits in. Then look at the top posts in those categories and what other hashtags they use. These are the hashtags you want on your post as well.

7. WORK WITH INFLUENCERS

You can gain a lot of followers if a prominent account mentions you. This type of promotion doesn't just help spread the word about you; it's also an endorsement. It can help grow your account and increase your sales. When you want to partner with an influencer, you have two options:

• Pay for a collaboration (anywhere between $20 and $100+, depending on the size of the account in question) or

• Reach out and build a relationship (you can offer products or services for free, suggest mutual promotion, or other mutually beneficial arrangements)

8. ENGAGE WITH YOUR FOLLOWERS

One of the significant benefits of social media is that it allows people to interact with business representatives quickly, easily, and informally. You want to encourage this on your Instagram, especially in the world of consumerism under COVID when other types of interaction (like promotion events, sampling parties, pop-up stores, etc.) are not possible. So encourage your followers to engage with your content actively. Ask them questions, create polls, organize contests, respond to comments. This will make your followers feel appreciated and your posts more popular.

MONITOR YOUR SUCCESS – ADJUST YOUR STRATEGY AS NEEDED

As with every other marketing strategy, there will be things that work for you and things that aren't worth the effort. If you want to market your small business on Instagram successfully, you need to identify strategies that are helping and focus on them. Don't be complacent. Make sure to track metrics such as the number of followers, the number of likes per post, and the number of comments. Identify the type of content that causes increased likes, then add more posts like that to maximize your influence on Instagram. Good luck!