You use Instagram in your private life, but how do you crack the code for your company profile now that you've become an entrepreneur?
Through my work in Nordic Social, I have had the pleasure of meeting a substantial number of companies wanting to make noise on social media.
I have gathered considerable insights into the mindsets, concerns, and of companies, when it comes to incorporating social media into their marketing efforts.
The goal of this article is to help you understand if Instagram is the right platform for you (at this very moment), and if so, how to get started properly with “as little effort as possible”.
Note: whether you choose to go "all-in" on Instagram or not, I recommend that you, at the very least, jump in and create a company profile with your company name, upload your logo, write a sharp bio and add your website link.
This way, you make sure that your name is not taken by someone else and that your company can be found on both Instagram and Google's search results - more results about your company create more authority around your brand, and that’s what we want.
Let's get started.
Why be on Instagram at all?
Back in September 2019, I wrote an article about 5 overall reasons to be present on Instagram.
A short summary would be something like this:
- Instagram has grown
- Instagram is fantastic branding
- You get increased brand awareness
- You can interact with your target audience
- Instagram can create revenue growth
Like everything else when you are an entrepreneur, it's about prioritizing your time.
When it comes to social media, you should therefore also choose 1-2 primary channels to which you dedicate most of your "social time".
The choice should of course fall on the channels with the largest numbers of your target audience, and where you can capture them in the "right mindset".
In my experience, with Nordic Social, our customers are other companies. That's why we spend a lot of time on LinkedIn, and hardly as much time on Instagram (which is increasingly used for employer branding), because we know that it is on LinkedIn that they are most active and receptive to our messages.
How to get started
- Set a direction
Find your "why" - it will determine the direction of your efforts.
What do you want to achieve with your presence on Instagram?
Here are some examples:
- Showcase your products or services
- Showcase your company's culture, employees and values
- Share company news and updates
- Build a community
- Increase brand awareness
- Increase brand loyalty
However, one thing is what you WANT to achieve, another thing is what you CAN achieve.
For example, if you are selling sustainable ostomy bags for hospitals, you probably will not achieve much success in showcasing your products on Instagram.
So, it's about finding out what makes sense for your particular business, and then letting that direct your efforts.
Be ambitious, but realistic.
- Set up your profile
I assume you already have Instagram installed on your phone.
You need to begin by creating a new company profile (or turn your personal profile into a company profile if that's the one you want to work with).
The reason for this is that the company profile gives you a selection of options that you do not have when operating a non-commercial account.
You get access to Instagram Insights that can help you analyze and adjust your efforts according to what works and stay away from what does not - a bit like a compass, among other features.
You can find a step-by-step guide to creating a company profile here.
Setup
There are 5 elements you need to be aware of:
- Name
- Profile picture
- Biography
- Link
- Highlights
Name
Your "name" is the bold text placed above your biography.
You can call it exactly what you want, but I recommend that you do NOT call it exactly the same as your username.
Your profile performs better in searches and looks more professional if the name and username are not exactly the same.
Choose a catchy name that briefly and accurately explains exactly what your business is about.
Profile picture
Most brands use their logo here and it also makes sense. You can also choose an image of your product, your café or yourself - if it's an entrepreneurial profile.
It's up to you what it should be - the most important thing is that your profile picture is of high quality and is not pixelated or blurred (must be in 1: 1 aspect ratio and displayed in 110 x 110 pixels).
Bio(graphy)
Your biography is the heart of your profile.
This is where you need to outline your purpose and reason for being here - you need to pitch your business.
New visitors need to know what you stand for and what to expect if they choose to follow you.
It is often a good idea to make an overall "title" followed by a series of bullet points.
It gives the visitor a quick and easy-to-read overview of your company profile.
Bonus tip:
Remember to keep your target audience in mind when writing your bio.
Feel free to write what they can expect and / or what they get out of following your profile. Do you regularly share tips and tricks within your niche? Do you hold competitions?
In other words, give them an incentive to follow you.
PS: it can be a maximum of 150 characters, so choose them carefully.
Link
The link at the bottom of your profile (below your biography) is (almost) the only place on Instagram where you can add a link and thereby continue traffic directly from the platform and on to your website, blog, or sign-up form.
Since most of your posts will appear in your followers feed (homepage) and not on your profile, your posts will not contain your link.
Therefore, it is a good idea to constantly remind them of it. You can e.g., share a teaser for a "larger piece" of content you have on your website and ask your followers to follow the link via your profile to access it. You've probably seen "Link in Bio" a billion times as you scroll around the platform.
Bonus tip:
Can't manage with one link? Then you can make use of software like Linktree, which allows you to get a digital residual space for all your traffic from Instagram.
Highlights
Your highlights are something new visitors first see, and thus also presents a unique opportunity for you.
Here you can get them in advance, by presenting product explanations, reviews, Q&A, tips and tricks and other relevant content.
You should have some nice highlight icons made that are true to your brand's visual identity. It creates a nice profile and shows that you have come to stay.
Before you can set up highlights, you should have posted at least one Instagram story, which you can then attach to your profile as a highlight.
Now that you have a clean & razor-sharp profile, let's get started on ‘Instagramming’!
- Set the tone
Before you start creating content and writing texts, you need to establish your company's tone-of-voice.
In other words, you need to figure out how you want to communicate on Instagram.
Do you work in an Old Nordic and bureaucratic B2B company? Then you should probably not patch up your Instagram with colorful emojis and humorous language - your tone should match your company's identity.
So how do you determine your tone-of-voice?
Bonus tip:
Choose 4-5 core emojis that suit your brand and business and use these going forward.
For example, if you are working with sustainability, you can use 💚🌱🌳☘🌏 and if you work as a writer you can use & 💭📖📚 🤔 - be creative!
- Make a content plan
Now it's about creating content for your profile, and lots of it!
Instagram is a visual platform, so it's not necessarily an easy task to produce great visual content that can cut through the noise.
Your content MUST be of high quality, mediocrity does not (anymore) have a place on the pedestal. There are A LOT of companies and A LOT of content out there - you will have to set aside time and resources to make appealing and suitable content.
I often talk to companies that have lots of old and mediocre content on their profiles and have now finally realized that they need to keep up with the new kids on the block.
If this is the case with you, then do yourself a favor and delete everything you have lying around and get a fresh start. Are you in doubt about whether your content is good enough? Reach out to me, and I'll be happy to make an objective assessment 😎
What kind of content?
"It depends on"…..
One thing is to know what you want, another thing is what you can do in practice.
If you have DKK 0 in your budget, and have no clue about photography and video, then you are in a pickle.
You have two options here - either you pay for it, or you learn to do it yourself.
Fortunately, today's phones can take absolutely amazing pictures, and you can edit most of them via various (free) editing tools, but it requires you to put time and energy into doing it properly.
In a sense, it's kind of irrelevant how you make your content, the most important thing is that it is sharp (good quality and the right format), visually captivating (eye-catching and inviting) and creates value for your target audience.
Content examples:
- Product images (showcase your product or service).
- Tips and tricks (usage scenarios for your product).
- Customer stories (showcase happy customers).
- Beautiful and/or funny pictures "behind-the-scenes" (from your office, production or similar).
When should you post?
I also recommend that you lock in recurring days and times when you will post (which makes sense for your company and target audience) e.g., Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 12:00.
It creates a common thread that has both a good effect on your followers and on your own efforts as it gives you a guideline and keeps you in your ears to post on the set days.
Bonus tip:
I recommend that you invest in an application that can help you post automatically. That way, you can set all your postings up for the coming month at once, and then let your profile take care of yourself. I can personally recommend Apphi.
- Be consistent
Last, but not least, like everything else good in life, it's about being consistent.
It's not enough to just throw in a post every now and then when it suits you.
Instead, you need to set up some good framework for your efforts and stick within it over an extended period of time before you can expect results.
You don’t become successful by doing nothing, as an entrepreneur, you know that already.
We recommend that you post between 3-5 times a week, but it depends on what is realistic for you and your company.
Find a rhythm that suits you and stick to it!
Bonus tip:
At the same time, it is essential that you continuously monitor your activity and adapt your efforts to what your followers respond best to.
What types of posts get the most likes, comments or clicks to the website?
I have written an article about the use of data through Instagram Insights - it should give you a good understanding of how you can use the data to your advantage.
This article was just the tip of the iceberg, there is MUCH more you can dive into once you have gotten a little further on your Instagram journey - but first you need to get a handle of the very basics.
The post is written by Peter Klit, Nordic Social, coach at Startup Central.
