Instagram is the hottest tool out there for businesses of all sizes to reach an ever growing and actively engaging audience. We know there are many of you out there that don’t think this applies to your business, well let me be the first one to tell you-you’re wrong. All social media platforms can be utilized for business, Instagram just happens to be the best one to engage directly with your audience.

Hashtags

Hashtags are your friends, the more relevant the better in my opinion. Do your hashtag research! Start with a base word and then use a tool on your web browser called hashtagify.me. This website will help you get better suggestions for hashtags for Instagram and Twitter (if you’re into that kind of thing). But there are many tools out there that are free and paid for. To start though use Instagram’s suggestion box to find some related hashtags. Then delve deeper, in the search bar on Instagram start digging away and look what you find is using for hashtags. Follow brands you already know and are within the print (or any) industry and see how specific you can get.

Formatting a post

If you’re fresh to Instagram posting isn’t as simple as writing a quick sentence and adding some hashtags. The best way to format your text is to use a serious of periods and then placing your hashtags after that, see below for an example.

Collaboration

Interacting with your community and working with people that utilize your prints and media will yield nothing but great content. Working together with those out there that are already involved and willing to help will do nothing but benefit your Instagram account. The artists you print for, they have an Instagram account and usually are posting amazing content. Feature them within your feed and hashtag accordingly. Be sure to credit and tag them properly so they are notified.

Engage

You need to be actively liking and commenting on the all posts that are relevant to your companies’ niche whether that’s print, design, wide format etc. start hunting down those influencers within your industry and engage with them, if they don’t have an Instagram, you’ll more than likely find them on twitter. Always engaging, always drive that positive conversation

Creating content

So now you have your Insta all set and ready to go but you’ve got no clue what to post. First, look at your industry and see what they are posting. Copy that and do it better. But more importantly, post what you are DOING. Use that Instagram STORY, showing your day to day, the back end of the process. Create videos and photos showcasing what you are doing, it might seem mundane but if you put some thought into what you are posting with a little intuition you can make something fantastically interesting. Your feed is just the same but with more effort, create a style, a voice, your very own aesthetic, this will establish your brand equity within the Instagram. Professionalism along with a little bit of down to earth appeal will help your audience relate.

I hope these tips give you some great ideas to start out off and hopefully build on. Instagram is a great tool for marketing, and we will revisit how to keep growth going in future blogs.