Why do you use Instagram? Why are people constantly looking at their phone, exploring Instagram? Well, those questions are no longer questions nowadays. The majority of us may already know the influence of social media and what it does to our society. We can’t deny the fact that most of us can’t leave social media, even though there are negative influences coming from it. In fact, social media is not all bad, fellas! Why? That’s because it is a platform to connect us with friends and family that can also bring us benefits, only if we use it properly. Let’s take a look at Instagram. As of June 2018, this social media platform has reached 1 billion active users. This is not just for personal use; businesses can also benefit from this. If you own a business and has a business account on social media, it is important for you to understand the use of social media before implementing your social media plan. In this article, we are going to tell you how to master Instagram in order to reach to your potential customers. Keep reading to find out!

First, understand Instagram itself

I know this is the easiest part, but so many people, whether using Instagram for personal or business use, still uses Instagram the wrong way. For example, your name is Anna Lie, your username is @annalie, which is correct, but since you are a police’s wife, you write down what’s supposed to be your full name Anna Lie, into “Police’s Wife”, which is the wrong way to use Instagram, even if it is for personal use. Can you imagine if you are using the same method for your business profile? Well, let’s not make the same mistake. Below are the explanations of each function on Instagram for business:

• Profile photo: Use your company’s logo for this. You can change it anytime if you are doing seasonal social media campaign, but make sure it is still your logo. For example, if it is Halloween season, your usual logo will be filled with spooky design and different from usual, but when the season is over, go back to using the original logo of your company until the next season’s social media campaign comes.
• Username: This is your company’s name without using space. For example, your company’s name is “Beauty and Spice,” then the username should be @beautyandspice and make sure you spell it correctly.
• Account Name: This is also your company’s name. DON’T change it into something like the description of your company. That has its own part as well, so don’t worry about it. If your business’ name is “Beauty and Spice” and the username is @beautyandspice, then your account name should also be “Beauty and Spice.”
• Bio: This is where you should put a description about what your business is all about. However, this part is also a part where you have to catch people’s attention. You can use “short but worth” approach if you want to catch attention using only few words or one sentence, or you can also use longer words or sentences – whatever you deem necessary for your business. Make sure it is still relevant to your business.
• Website: This is where you put your website to gain traffic from your social media followers. However, since Instagram only allows one website, you can change the URL when you are promoting seasonal events and go back to the original website URL when the season is over.
• Hashtag: Back then we couldn’t use hashtag to be put into our Bio, but now Instagram has enabled this feature. This will let us reach to more relevant audience on Instagram.

Use “Tribe” mentality approach

Have you ever heard the term “old but gold” which is something may be old in terms of age, but is still considered as great? I think the same thing can also apply to numbers. Nowadays, people are chasing numbers instead of quality. On Instagram, both personal and business accounts are after the number of people following their accounts. In reality, none of that really matters when it comes to quality. Say, you have 1800 followers on your personal Instagram account and you don’t put your Instagram account into private mode, but every time you post a photo on Instagram, you put every relevant hashtag included in that post, but you only get 40 likes. On the other hand, your friend’s Instagram personal and private account which only has 450 followers, gets at least 120 likes whenever they post a new photo or video. What does that mean? Yes, on social media, the only thing that matters is engagement and interaction. Numbers are good, but it is not what defines your business. Simply put, having millions of followers is not the real definition of a success story.

If you adopt the “tribe” mentality approach to your business profile, you may start small, but your focus is on establishing relationships, engaging and interacting with others one-on-one and building good reputations for your business. While it is good to get millions of followers, the quality of your relationship with your followers should be the focus.

Use proper hashtags for your posts

Hashtag is the one that connects you with your relevant audience…only if you use it properly. When you use hashtags in your posts, you are searching for audience – the kind that is also looking for your products or services. For example, if your business is a salon business, you are looking for beauty enthusiasts who go to salon as their weekly or monthly routine, at the same time, those beauty enthusiasts are also looking for salons in their current area. It doesn’t necessarily mean their living area, it also means wherever they are in at the moment. They might go on vacation to other cities and they are looking for salons nearby their hotel. It can be any situation. Therefore, using the right hashtags can also mean including specific city or region, or you can use specific item of your product. The key point is; just explore the relevant hashtags. If you own a salon in Jakarta, try these hashtags:

#SalonJakarta #SalondiJakarta #Beautysalon #HairTreatmentdiJakarta #Beauty #Hair #HairSalon #HairSalonJakarta

There are also keys in choosing hashtags to reach to the relevant audience:

1. Use common hashtag but is still relevant to your business. Common hashtags mean that those hashtags are followed, posted or explored by many people. For example, the hashtag #beauty itself has over 250 million posts, so it is safe to say that the hashtag has been seen by million people as well. However, since #beauty is a common word, the people who see those posts may come from different countries, which can mean that not all of them can be your potential buyers. Therefore, you use this hashtag only to gain audience. If many people see your posts, then it will also boost your posts’ online visibility, which can also lead to your relevant audience.
2. Use regional hashtags that describes your business location so that it will reach to more relevant audience residing in your location.
3. If you want to create your own hashtag, make sure you get the right number of audience who frequently interacts with your business profile (whether it is in the comment sections, likes, or DMs). Once you build strong relationships with your followers, you can create your own hashtag.

Be respectful and follow social media etiquette

This is the most important aspect in managing social media account. While there are so many ways to manage your social media account, following etiquette is number one. You can’t expect your followers to keep interacting with you when your posts contain negativity. Also, following social media etiquette will keep good reputation for your business.

That’s the keys of mastering Instagram. This also applies to any social media platforms you are using for your business. The point is that you have to be polite, keep interacting and focus on your audience. A business with good reputation will increase reliability, and when that happens, the chance of increasing brand awareness is also high. If you are still confused with social media, feel free to contact us and let our social media team help you further.