Instagram is not slowing down. Now with 400 million monthly active users, this visual social media app just might be the perfect platform for your business!
Instagram is not just for product-based businesses to showcase their merchandise. Any business can use Instagram to increase brand awareness and demonstrate the culture of their company.
Here’s how to easily tell your brand story using Instagram:
Find the balance of fun and business images.
You don’t want to post all product pictures or all informational graphics.
Post a little bit of everything: branded product or service images, pictures of your staff at work or other “behind-the-scenes” shots, inspirational quotes, humorous memes, etc.
For example, check out the diversity of images we have on our own Instagram feed! In this one screenshot, there’s organic staff images, pictures from an event we attended, branded quote graphics, and, of course, the always-popular food pics. 
Inspire potential customers and attract your target audience.
If you want to grow your customer base and drive sales (what company doesn’t?), you can use Instagram to help with that!
What better way to inspire and attract than with FOMO (fear of missing out)!
For product-based companies, set up detailed shots of your products that make viewers wish they have what you’re selling. Instead of showing pictures of just your products, show potential customers how they can use their product “in real life!”
HomeGoods does a great job of this. Here’s their feed, which does a great job of showing practical uses for the products they sell!
Build Brand Awareness.
Everything you do on Instagram has the ultimate purpose of building brand awareness – growing your potential customer base. Here are a few ways to be the most effective at building awareness for your company:
Engaging
- If someone tags you in a photo, like and comment on it!
- Comment on relevant photos!
- Follow relevant hashtags and like the images that pop up in them!
Following
- Follow people back. You don’t have to follow everyone who follows you, but pick the accounts that have a large following. This really helps your company’s account show up in users’ “Explore” tab on the Instagram app as suggested accounts to follow.
Hashtagging
- Hashtags are huge on Instagram. According to Buffer, “interactions are highest on Instagram posts with 11+ hashtags.”
- You can create your own brand-specific hashtags, but you’ll also want to jump on popular hashtags to maximize your reach.
- Hashtags like #TBT, #MCM, #MondayMotivation, and #TransformationTuesday (et al) are popular hashtags that you can easily use in your content.
Instagram is a social media powerhouse that is not going away anytime soon. If your business is not taking advantage of it yet, what are you waiting for?