When it comes to building a business image, there are crucial steps to take to succeed. Many times, businesses tend to skip steps, which ultimately leads to reduced reach and profits. That is why itâs essential to focus on specific aspects of a company before attempting to market products or services.
The most important strategy is to focus on user engagement and building a brand account. Without these two aspects, a business will likely fail to be marketed on Instagram. Hence, itâs essential to know what factors can influence a company before it even starts.
After a business builds a core brand image, it can continue to boost that image on social media. For Instagram, there is a set method of steps that can help boost a companyâs image, gain many followers and boost engagement similar to FollowersID. This article provides a detailed breakdown of what elements impact a brand image and how they can affect engagement and get real followers.
Why is Building a Brand Important?
Building a brand is vital to do before marketing its products or services. How else will potential clients be able to find what theyâre looking for if a business doesnât even know its brand? A brand and a niche are necessary as they also ensure that a company is advertising to the right consumers.
Building a brand is crucial because it can help do the following:
- Help find a niche
- Attract a target audience
- Gets picked up in Instagramâs algorithm
- It helps create a brand aestheticÂ
- Narrows down which market to advertise in
- Draws attention to the brand
- Becomes sustainableÂ
- Improves advertising
- It is cost-efficient
Not building a brand image causes a business to lose consumers. Consumers generally look for products or services in niches. So, not having a brand image or direction can cause potential consumers not to find your product or service.
Why Is User Engagement Important?
User engagement or product engagement is a term that describes how consumers interact with your product, service, or brand. Engagement via Instagram is slightly different from user engagement on other platforms. There are limited ways a user can interact with a company. However,Â
User engagement is crucial to understanding how to boost a business account on Instagram. Before setting up a shop and selling, itâs best to do an in-depth analysis of the businessâs current following. Once that analysis is completed, a company can then move on to improving its user reach.
Engagement is crucial to any business because Instagram uses an algorithm that prioritizes what it pushes to users. If a company has poor user engagement, itâs less likely that Instagram will display a business on a userâs feed. Therefore, itâs crucial to invest in spreading business engagement.
How to Boost Account and Business Image
Building an account and the business image is vital to success, especially when Instagram has over 1 billion users. Without it, a company can get lost in the many other start-up brands. Each company should focus on adjusting the following if they want to succeed in Instagramâs business marketplace:
1. Analyze and Track User Engagement
Instagram has a built-in free analytic tool so that a business can track its analytics. The tool is called âInstagram Insightsâ and provides valuable information about interaction data.Â
Insights provide vital data about interactions such as:
- CommentsÂ
- Profile shares
- Total impressions
- Number of follows
- Etc.
Tracking user engagement can help map out how a business is doing. The engagement score will also determine a companyâs place in Instagramâs unique algorithm. Knowing the numbers can help a business track its progress throughout the year.
2. Learn When to Post
The time of day is also another crucial aspect for getting the most attention to your brand. Posting during âdown-timesâ can lead to less traffic on a profile and minimize a businessâs reach. Brands that want to excel at its post-time should consider their target audience and when users will likely be online.
For example, if a target audience is young Americans, itâs best to post in the evening. It may be more beneficial for college students to post on weekends, early morning, or night. Changing up and experimenting with the posting time can help a business expand its reach to the right audience.
3. Prioritize Captions
While a picture or video post can speak a thousand words, a caption also helps boost user engagement. Instagram allows businesses to write up to 2,200 character words for each post on their account. Not taking advantage of this can likely reduce user engagement such as shares, comments, or messages.
Captions shouldnât be full of emojis but also shouldnât be redundant. A simple call-to-action post can help entice users to share their opinion or views on a product or service. This alone is an excellent way to get publicity and spread a company brand by word of mouth.
4. Optimize Profile
A profile draws in potential customers by providing users with a breakdown of a businessâs ethics, morals, products, and services. Without a completely filled-out profile, a business can expect to get fewer followers due to the businessâs mission or goal being unclear. Consumers need a reason to follow a company that aligns with their interests.
Using Instagramâs business profile, a company can create a 150 character description on their main profile page. In this description, a company can also embed one link and a few action buttons. Using the linking feature link to the product or service webpage.
Listed below is the following information a profile should include:
- A brief description of the businessâs mission or goal
- What niche the company is trying to cater to
- Contact informationÂ
- A link to the store webpage
Taking advantage of the linking feature in the bio is the most crucial part, as you canât post active links anywhere else. The link will direct users to the business homepage and allow them to shop in-app. Itâs been found by the Facebook Earnings Report that more than 50% of users use the Explore tab to make purchases.
5. Create a Visual Aesthetic
One underrated tip of advice that businesses donât take advantage of is creating a visual aesthetic associated with the brand. Imagine Mcdonaldâs and what colors are representative of their brand. Anyone would easily be able to distinguish them based on their aesthetic alone.
Creating a unique brand image can help users identify a brand without much thought. It also sets the business apart from competitors and allows the company to shine. However, brands should not copy another brandâs aesthetic.
A brand does best when it takes inspiration from other companies but doesnât copyâcopying a brand aesthetic only crowds the market, which leads to less publicity and traffic. If the goal is to get a brand to stand out, itâs crucial to avoid being similar to others.
Now, that doesnât mean that a brand canât follow a trend. Following trends are encouraged and will help reach more users. However, a brand still needs a primary aesthetic that follows branding guidelines.
6. Start Posting Consistently
Consistent updates to an Instagram profile can help ensure that more users see the businessâs content. Not posting can cause a business to miss out on potential followers and lose current followers. No one wants to support an inactive company, which is why itâs crucial to keep updating on a regular schedule.
Users want to see not only updates but consistent updates. Plan a schedule for posting regular updates. Updates can include information about services or products. But they also can consist of call-to-action posts or shoutouts to current customers.Â
Instagram has a special algorithm that uses machine learning similar to Google or Ads. Users will be displayedÂ
7. Use Hashtags
Hashtags are essentially a âtagâ or search term that a company can use to attract new consumers. These tags are a method to categorize content posted on Instagram and allow users to search through posts that use specific tags. If a business uses tags in their post, there is a higher chance for a new user to see the companyâs post.Â
Spreading a businessâs reach is critical for its success, especially on Instagram. So, utilizing as many sources to get a business more publicity is a must. Hashtags often have trends or top trending phrases. For example, posts with the word âmemeâ in 2020 had more user reach than ones that did not.Â
To utilize a hashtag, find one that corresponds to the businessâs niche. From there, a business can also include trending hashtags that relate to the company. For example, suppose a brand is a makeup company that creates vegan products. In that case, they can then use a â#veganâ or â#crueltyfreeâ hashtag.
The more relevant hashtags a company uses, the more likely they will appear in usersâ feeds and searches. Potential customers will see the product and service and will likely engage with the company by appearing more frequently. Even creating a business hashtag can help boost reach.
8. Be Genuine
Instagram is a bit different from other social media applications as, according to Business of Apps, more than 70% of Instagram users are under the age of 35. The users appreciate authenticity more so than they do great marketing pitches. Of course, a company should still create a brilliant marketing pitch. However, the pitch shouldnât be the main focus.
Instead, show users a genuine side of the brand. Be a bit more personal and showcase what goes on in the business. Honesty and authenticity will draw in users and strengthen a connection with them.
In the long run, creating an authentic brand will gain more followers than a sales pitch. There needs to be a good balance between promoting products and user engagement. Showing followers a âbehind the scenesâ or sneak peek can also be an excellent way to establish authenticity.
9. Get Creative
A brand that molds to the times is much more successful than one that sticks to one marketing method. As an Instagram shop, the market will always have an influx of new businesses trying to follow the âstandardâ or âpopularâ trends to sell. What can set a company apart from others is to experiment and see what users enjoy.
On Instagram, there are a few different types of content a business can post. Consider using a few of these methods as limiting a brand to only one can do more bad than good.Â
Here are a few methods companyâs can use:
- Posting videos
- Add story quizzes
- Include polls
- Post carousels
- Use IGTV
- Host giveaways and coupons
- Use Instagram Ads
See which styles work best for the audience and adjust accordingly. Even if the results are good, it doesnât hurt to experiment with what posts attract different audiences. The reason for this is that it expends and deepens its reach.
10. Utilize Carousels
Carousels are Instagramâs way of describing a slideshow with multiple videos or images stringed together in one post. The audience is allowed to swipe left and view numerous pieces of content in a post. The maximum amount of content in one post that is permitted is up to 10 images or videos.
Using carousels is an excellent way to get more user engagement and is more effective than regular picture posts. EMarketer has found that the average Instagram user only spends 29 minutes a day on the platform. A carousel can advertise multiple products and services in one go rather than just detailing whatâs available in the captions.Â
Furthermore, the more a business shares with its followers, the more time it takes to look at its content. The longer a user looks at content, the more likely it will boost the user engagement score. Thatâs why companies should focus on utilizing carousels when they post on their timeline.
Conclusion
Instagram has a straightforward platform that allows businesses to sign up and make profits. However, the minor technicalities are where many companies fail because Instagramâs algorithm is constantly changing. Companies will need to adapt to the algorithm to keep up with trends and keep user engagement boosted.
Using Instagram insights and pairing that with user engagement, a business shouldnât struggle that much to keep relevant. As long as a company tracks its scores each week, itâs possible to stay consistent and grow its following. Hopefully, youâve found this helpful in learning how to manage and set up a brand image.