Using Instagram for Business in 2020

If you are new to Instagram or you are planning to convert your personal account to a business account, this is your complete beginner’s guide for 2019/2020.

A good Instagram marketing strategy for your business complements your content marketing strategy to generate high-quality inbound leads.

Instagram has been around since 2010 and especially in the last couple of years, new features and functionalities have been sprouting up.

If you are a newbie, it will take a while to figure out the ins and outs of tapping into this social media tool.

Nonetheless, this back-to-basics beginner guide is a great resource to navigate you through the Instagram maze.

I’ll be covering the basics like getting you familiar with the terminologies and how to use Instagram posts, Stories, and Instagram TV to tap into the power of this visual social media network, attract qualified leads and turn them into paying customers.

Anatomy of an Instagram profile

On your Instagram profile page, users will see your profile photo, a profile description, highlights, posts, videos posted on Instagram TV and the posts where other people have tagged you.

These are the main parts on your profile page that you would be updating on a regular basis.

The optimal size of your Insta profile picture

Upload a minimum image size of 110 x 110 pixels for your profile photo. If you want your photo to look sharp, the ideal photo size is 180 x 180 pixels.

Anytime you want to update the photo, click on “Edit Profile” on your profile page. You’ll be able to change your profile photo, name, username, your profile description that includes a bio and a link, business information and private information.

Updating your profile description

When you click on “Edit Profile”, a page pops up where you can update your bio. The character limit is 150 and you can include a mix of words, hashtags or emoticons.

In this bio, think about what keywords people will look for when they search for products or services you have.

If you put in emoticons, it adds on a fun element to your brand.

On your Instagram profile, you are allowed to add a link. It could be a link to your blog post, video or your website or the link to your e-commerce store.

If you want to spruce up your bio by having more than one link, there are services like Linktree where you can create a bio link that comprises multiple links.

You can also set up one simple landing page on your website with link buttons to a number of pages you want to share with a profile visitor.

What you can include in your business information

There are three parts in this section namely Page, Category and Contact options.

Page

If you have an existing Facebook page, you can connect your Instagram account to that page. This will help you to create Instagram advertising campaigns through your Facebook ad account.

Also when you create Instagram stories, you can also share the same stories with your Facebook Stories.

Category

Category refers to the industry of your business. When you select the right category, this makes it easier for Instagram to place your content in the right group on the Explore page.

Contact options

What you select in this section will determine how a prospect will contact you when they find you on Instagram. You can either add your email or your telephone number or both. If you have a physical store, you can key in your address too.

There is also the option of adding an action button where you connect your Instagram profile with other online services.

Example: You can connect and sync with your Acuity Scheduling software for someone to book an appointment or sync with your Eventbrite account if you are selling tickets for an event.