Instagram for Small Business: How to Grow in 2024

Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms in the world, and chances are, your ideal customers are there every day. A good Instagram presence will give your small business a huge advantage over your competitors. At the heart of any social media marketing strategy lies one goal: to create a community of followers that will engage with your content.

Engagement translates into more followers, and it’s an important step towards building a lasting and strong relationship with your customers, as well as gaining customers’ trust and loyalty. In short, it’s a great way to increase your revenue. There are many things you can do to grow your Instagram in 2022, and here are some of them.

Aim for Organic Followers

The only way to truly reap the benefits of Instagram is to have a large following and offer relevant content. Building a community on this platform, however, takes time and knowledge. And aiming for quantity over quality is a big mistake. To create an illusion of being popular, some businesses decide to use tools that may increase their number rapidly but will do more harm than good.

This is why, instead, you should work with professional marketers. A social media expert has in-depth knowledge of social media and can help you increase the number of Instagram followers organically. This way instead of having fake followers and bots, you will have real instagram followers and real engagement.

Share Quality Content

Millions of people use only their social media for consuming content, whether it’s reading or watching videos. The only way to tempt someone to start following you is to offer content that is valuable to them. And the only way for this to make sense for your bottom line is to offer content that is relevant both to you and your ideal buyer.

Remember that when people research for products or services they need, they often use social media to conduct research. If they find poor-quality or irrelevant content on your account, visitors may deem your business untrustworthy. Being present across several social media platforms is a great way to present your content in several formats, and this diversity can help you reach more followers.

Instagram users prefer visual content, so make sure that you take advantage of every sharing function it offers – images, reels, stories, live streaming, and so on. Offer educational, informative, and fun videos, infographics, images, to promote your products or services. Also, make sure that your content is visually pleasing and clear, and that you only share high-quality images and videos.

Create a Content Schedule

Not posting enough or posting too much can be just as harmful to your brand as creating poor-quality content. Aim to post something at least 3-5 times per day, and try to create a schedule and stick to it. Moreover, determine what is the best time to post. The best way to be sure is to have a professional take care of your Instagram strategy.

Encourage Engagement

Valuable content will hopefully result in increased engagement. This means your audience will comment, like, or share your posts. However, to encourage more engagement, you should show them your appreciation by replying to their comments, even if someone is criticizing you.

Another smart strategy is to inspire user-generated content. The easiest way to do this is to simply ask. You can create challenges, contests, surveys, ask for feedback, and much more.

Also, don’t forget about hashtags. Using hashtags relevant to your posts can help you increase your reach, as well as encourage engagement. However, don’t overuse them because too many hashtags can be irritating.

Work With Influencers

There are millions of influencers around the world, and there are surely some that can help you grow your Instagram. The right person with the right audience can make your brand more visible, and help you attract even more organic followers and potential clients.

The right influencer is someone with the relevant niche, and who shares your values. When you are choosing you should research to determine whether they are right for you, learn about their audience, their engagement rate, etc.

Track Your Progress

Keeping track of the success of your posts can help you learn what inspires engagement and what doesn’t, what brings you conversions, and what doesn’t. There are different tools you can use for this, or you can rely on the agency you hire to optimize your profile and help you grow.

In Conclusion

If used right, Instagram can be very beneficial for a small business. It can help you make your brand visible and recognizable, and prove you are a trustworthy business. And growing your Instagram account can be an important step in growing your business, building customer loyalty, and increasing your profit.