When it comes to Social Media in 2023, the first step for any Small Business is ensuring you have an active presence on the channels most relevant to your business. Simply having a Facebook page, for example, helps with creating an additional digital touchpoint for your business and another link driving back to your website where conversion & communication are possible. However, just because you have a Facebook page doesn’t mean it’s being utilized in the correct way. As we explored in a recent Tips & Tricks post, the same can be said for Instagram which operates entirely differently despite being another Meta-owned platform. In this Harv Communications Blog post, we’ll take a look at some of the Instagram best practices you can apply to help your small business stand out online. Contact me today if you have any questions or are looking for any additional support with your online strategy!
Instagram Best Practices: Grid, Stories, Reels & More
Instagram offers a variety of ways for your business to showcase what you do, how you do it, and how a potential customer or client can convert either directly from that platform or to the channel most relevant to your services. You can use the Grid to post branded updates, offers, and templated posts that remain static on the page (with a bit of scrolling, depending on volume) and help define your brand image. Reels help demonstrate “how it’s made” or take a “behind the scenes” look at your services with engaging video content. Stories last 24 hours which can be great for sales, promotions, or daily updates while Highlights can live on the channel long-term. In these examples, using a consistent posting strategy including time of day, creating a call-to-action, and utilizing branded colours can create a unified message that can “stop the scroll” for users.
When posting to Instagram, you also have the option to share directly on Facebook. This has pros and cons. The one-touch posting makes it easy to share the update with an entirely different audience, however, Facebook content does not (and should not) look the same as what you do on IG. While Instagram content can be more about engagement with the content doing the heavy lifting, Facebook is about creating conversation. Simply sharing a post from IG to Facebook does not guarantee it will resonate the same way as Facebook users may want to be asked a question or see an update they can directly engage with rather than scroll past an image. The same can be said about the hashtag strategy which groups similar content together for discoverability. Conversely, URLs themselves function directly on Facebook and do not work the same within Instagram posts. This can often lead to inconsistencies or severely diminish conversion opportunities.
Social Media & Small Business Marketing
When it comes to Social Media Marketing for any Small Business, it all starts with having a plan. Being consistent is paramount while also diversifying content across each respective platform to maximize audience reach and create engagement opportunities. Your Social Media page is a reflection of your brand and should proudly feature your voice and purpose while sharing content that accurately reflects who you are and what you do in a way that isn’t just promoting your products or services to create sales. That’s what running an effective Search campaign is for. Instead, utilize Social Media to share what you’re doing that day, that month, what to expect in the near future, or to share non-business updates. Users often follow brands online partially for news/updates, yes, but they follow small businesses online to learn more about the people behind the brand.
Instagram is one Social Media channel available for Small Businesses. There are other channels to consider including YouTube which has many significant benefits for online visibility & interaction. The trick is to balance what you’re posting, where you’re posting it, and why you’re posting it. Simply having a presence and posting to that channel isn’t as valuable as posting with purposeful regularity when it comes to staying on the right side of that platform’s algorithms.
Contact me today for more information and to strategize on a custom solution to help grow your small business in the Hamilton area or beyond! Always happy to chat and discover how we can work together.
