How to grow an instagram business account from scratch

How to grow an instagram business account from scratch: 11 tips for beginners

How to grow an instagram business account from scratch? This question is important to answer! Especially if you want to reach customers online.

Instagram is one of the most popular media today. At least it ranks third. After Facebook and Youtube. Where monthly active users reach more than one billion. Meanwhile, Facebook is more than 2 billion and Youtube 1.9 billion.

Forbes.com: Is Instagram The Social Media Service For Business In 2020?

Whoever is a business person, will clearly see a huge potential in Instagram’s monthly active user numbers. We’re sure you thought the same.

We know that Instagram is one of the most widely used social media applications. Every day millions of people open this application for various purposes.

Some just upload photos or videos, do live streaming, search for various information, and so on.

The application, which was introduced in October 2010, was actually only for uploading images or videos. Instagram is also growing with various features to make its users more comfortable using this application. You can now create stories and take advantage of various filters to enhance your photo posts.

This application has now also become a medium for promoting goods and services. There is a recent innovation from Instagram, namely, Instagram business in 2016. As the name implies, the Instagram business makes users easier when they want to promote their products.

What is Instagram Business?

Instagram business account

Instagram business is an account that can be used for online business needs. If you want to use it, you only need to prepare a contact number as well as a Facebook Page. These two things are one of the important factors for running the Instagram business account.

The Instagram business account was introduced in 2016 and immediately received a good respond for Instagram users. For those who want to start a business or introduce products and services on Instagram, they should first create a business Instagram account.

Why is Instagram So important for My Business?

Instagram business account

Why do we need an Instagram for our business? One of the reasons why Instagram is the best places for business is because they have lots of users. The number of Instagram users has reached tens or maybe hundreds of millions all over the world. So, when you promote your business, you know that not only Indonesians people but also other people from a different country will be interested in your products.

In addition, based on research that 60% of people find new products through Instagram. This further confirms that Instagram is indeed effective for doing business. What you have to offer doesn’t take long for many people to see. Besides, doing business on Instagram is free for good.

How to Convert your account to Instagram Business?

Here are some steps that you need to know when you want to convert your personal account to an Instagram business account:

  • First, log in to Instagram using an account that you already have
  • Second, click the three-line icon so that you will enter to the Settings
  • Third, you have to click on Switch to Professional Account
  • Fourth, you need to determine the type of profile that you will use. Since you want to create a business account, please choose a Business profile
  • You have to determine the business category as needed. Just search in the keyword category in the search bar. After finished, click Next
  • Now, you have to fill in the business location and also a number to call. You just have to fill in according to the instructions listed. After that, click Next
  • Connect your account to Facebook Page. However, this step is optional so you can skip it if you don’t need to connect your account to Facebook Page
  • Last, you have to complete the information on the profile according to the instructions. Make sure that your username, photo, name and website address (if you have one) have been filled in. After finished, click Done.

How does Instagram Business Account Work?

Instagram business account

1. Instagram Insights

Insights is one of the features and advantages of having an Instagram business account. Insights is an analytics tool that will later show data from all activities that occur on your account page. You will be shown clearly what your business account is doing.

You can see the number of followers, the impression scale, and you can even see the favourite times of visitors to your account. Of course, you won’t be able to get all these advantages while still using personal Instagram. When using Instagram for personal use, you can only see who has commented or liked your status. Therefore, take advantage of business Instagram to get all these advantages.

2. Instagram Ads

Instagram Ads are also a mainstay feature of business Instagram. By using this feature, you have a greater chance of reaching your consumers. You can target consumers more specifically based on demographics, age, interests, behaviour, and so on.

Your ad can also appear automatically in several sections when the audience scrolls the timeline. In addition, you can also display advertisements on the sidelines of their story.

How to grow an instagram business account from scratch?

How to grow an instagram business account from scratch

These 11 tips for growing your Instagram business account from scratch allow you to tap into the potential of this great social media. If you are interested, keep reading..

  1. Create instagram account for business

    How to grow your Instagram account from scratch? This is the first step.

    If you are still using Instagram for personal, then immediately change it to Instagram business. We have also described the steps above. By using business Instagram, you can take advantage of many features that you cannot get on personal Instagram. So, switch your Instagram account to a business account immediately.

  2. Optimize your bio

    If you have done the process of switching your personal account to a business account, now you need to optimize your bio.

    Maybe you already know that you can only fill out an Instagram bio with no more than 150 characters. It means you have to be smart about using this limited space to introduce your business.

    Indeed, this step is quite tricky. However, you must be able to make a pleasant impression on visitors who want to know about you and the business you are running. You can include information about product descriptions, values, advantages, promos, and others that will be able to attract visitors to know more about your product.

    You can also include branding in the form of a hashtag that you put in your Bio. The purpose of providing this hashtag is to make it easier to obtain user-generated content. In addition, you can also track the extent to which your brand or product is known to many people.

  3. Post great, unique content

    Another step of growing an Instagram business account is that you must post great and unique content. Having a quality product is mandatory. However, there are actually other things that you must do.

    In order to make your product to be widely recognized by consumers, you should have an accurate strategy for introducing it. You can do this is by creating content about your product. Of course, the content that you create must be interesting, both in terms of images and captions that you include. Besides, there are still a number of other things you can do as below.

    Post audience photos: there are distinct advantages you get when posting audience photos. This shows that you are paying attention to them. Apart from that, they can also promote back your business

    Making IGTV / video: Instagram always brings out interesting innovations. One of them is IGTV. With this feature, you can share your video with a very long duration of 1 hour. You can display videos about behind the scenes, tutorials, endorsements, and so on

    Announcing giveaways and discounts: discounts and giveaways are two things that the audience is eagerly awaiting. There are many advantages that you get when you take advantage of these two things. Some of them include increasing followers, brand awareness, engagement, and user-generated content. You can also create specific hashtags to make your content viral

  4. Get on a consistent posting schedule

    There is research that shows that the best time to post content on Instagram is around 9-11 pm. Even though the research is not 100% true, not a few also believe and apply it. Actually, not all content targets using the same treatment. Then how do we know when is the best time to share content? The answer is that you need to do the trial run several times.

    After testing it, you will get answers about when is the best time to post your product. That way, your post will get satisfying results through the Insights feature. Once you know when the best time is, feel free to schedule a posting. You can use the tools to make it easier to create posting schedules. Then let these tools automatically publish your content. We recommend some of the best tools, namely ScheduGram, Hootsuite, ViralTag, Later, and others.

  5. Play with Instagram Live and Stories

    The fifth tips to grow your Instagram business account is to post Instagram stories and do live streaming. These features become Instagram’s mainstay features and many users enjoy using it.

    Some even regularly post on Instagram stories. This is the reason why you need to take advantage of this feature to introduce your product. You can share content live with your audience for a period of 24 hours. Then what content can you post on Instagram stories?

    Actually, there are many choices of content that you can upload. You can post about testimonials, discounts, promotions, tutorials, behind the scenes, Q&A, and you can even make a CTA or Call to Action. These are ways that are proven to be effective in increasing the number of your followers.

    For a CTA, you can add a link in your story using the swipe up command. Through this command, the audience will be automatically directed to the page that you have inserted earlier. This feature is very useful to help increase traffic or leads in a short time.

    Regarding the swipe command, you must know that this feature has certain conditions. The condition is that you must have a minimum number of followers of 10,000. So, make sure the number of your followers matches that number, then you can use that swipe up.

  6. Tap into your industry’s hashtags (but not too much!)

    Posting content with at least one or two hashtags has the potential to reach more engagement than none at all.
    Use hashtags according to your business niche wisely. Instagram does allow you to create up to 30 hashtags per post. However, you shouldn’t make too much of it. It’s not beautiful to look at.

  7. Track your analytics

    You need to do this analysis regularly. The goal is to see what kind of influence each content and campaign has. You can do this analysis by using the Insights feature. If you want more detailed results, feel free to use tools such as Iconosquare, Hootsuite, Bitly, Sprout Social, Keyhole, and so on. In order for your results to be consistent, please do A / B testing.

    This step is necessary to test which strategy you have successfully implemented. There are several steps for performing A / B testing:

    Determine which elements you will use, it can be photos, IGTV, videos, captions, hashtags, or stories.

    Create content variations (at least 2) based on the concepts you have defined.

    Do both and then choose the one that has a high conversion.

    Create innovations based on the results of the already successful content. Look at the progress that is happening.

    Please re-analyze and share the results with your team.

    Repeat these steps from the beginning.

    When you reach this point, then you can maximize your business Instagram account using a better strategy. Of course, the results will not disappoint and will meet your expectations.

  8. Bring in guest posters or post to another account

    Making guest posts on Instagram is an easy and fun way to unite with like-minded people. Both accounts can support each other. And this can reach a wider audience.

    We will write separately about the strategy of creating high-converting guest posts for Instagram. So, just wait.

  9. Host a giveaway

    Who isn’t interested in a giveaway? Giveaway is an effective way to get a lot of followers. This method can also be the best choice to make people familiar with your product. So, you can hold a giveaway that you post on your Instagram story or live streaming.

  10. Offer “followers only” promotions

    About 40% of Instagram users reveal that they follow a certain account looking for benefits and advantages. So you have to be creative to give something of value and they can’t refuse. Like gifts, free consultations or whatever.

  11. Be attentive

    Think of your business’s Instagram account as the entity that represents you. You have to build an emotional connection with your audience. So, after posting don’t just leave. Build interactions with them. Like answering questions, liking what they say, or anything else that describes you as human, not a robot.

Conclusion

To sum up, an Instagram business account has many advantages compared with an Instagram personal account. This business account will make you easier when you want to promote your products anytime and anywhere. In addition, through the features of Instagram business, the business you are running will be more famous. So, you have to switch to using Instagram business right now.

In how to grow an Instagram business account from scratch, it’s not easy. You are required to be creative in finding new ideas in creating content. Interesting and smart content is one of the keys to attracting more audiences.