6 Reasons Your Business Should be on Instagram

Instagram is thriving and it's great news for business. Are you on Instagram as a business yet? If not, you should capitalize on this. Recently, I was at a convention speaking to business owners about social media platforms and I was shocked when no one raised their hands for Instagram. I believe this is important for all businesses, so here are 6 reasons why your business should be on Instagram:

1. You can link your Instagram and Facebook business page

This is great news! You can link your Facebook business page to Instagram. (FYI: Facebook owns Instagram.) This means, everything you post to Instagram can also go to your Facebook page. In addition, any ads you run on Facebook through ads manager can also be advertised on your Instagram page. Very easy!

2. Your customers are on Instagram

This should be a no brainer! Instagram is consistently in the top 5 social media platform ranking for users. I would almost guarantee that your customers are posting about your business on Instagram, if you're a location they're checking in and tagging you on Instagram, and the millennial customers you have are talking about you in their stories (we'll get to that part later). It's a great platform to engage with your customers, respond to their posts and promote their experiences.

3. Easily show what experiences you have to offer

You never want to tell your customers what they should be doing. Instead, you should show them. If you're a family entertainment facility of any kind, you should be posting visuals of what you offer like birthday parties, company events, and different attractions. If you're a service provider like a CPA or lawyer, you should be posting visuals of all the work you do for others so they don't have to. You can also highlight customer experiences. There are a variety of ways to show the experiences you offer.

4. It helps with Google and SEO

Here we are again talking about Google and SEO. The more places you have activity for your brand with those key words for your business, the better ranking you're going to have on Google searches. Incorporate your key words for your business in your about section of Instagram. Remember to be consistently active so Google recognizes you as credible. Plus, your Instagram page should link to your website and vice versa.

5. Incorporate stories to drive "The FOMO Effect"

On Instagram, you can create stories that only show for 24 hours and then they disappear. These stories can also be sent to your Facebook stories if the accounts are connected. This creates what I like to call, "The FOMO Effect." FOMO stands for fear of missing out - mainly generated from social media platforms. Over 56% of social media users are impacted by FOMO. Posting stories that are only up for a limited amount of time drives that FOMO effect. Your customers will have to tune in daily to see what they're missing. This could simply be highlighting those user experiences again and the viewers will want to be part of it. It could also be offering a coupon, discount or early registration information for followers only.

6. Hashtags create visibility

Adding in hashtags to the description of a posted image, or on stories, allows you to be seen by more people. I always get asked, "do hashtags actually work?" The answer is, yes. Hashtags are keywords that summarize what your post is saying. People search by hashtags to discover businesses, products or experiences. Think of hashtags as category labels. Ideas for hashtags include your brand, product, city or town, trending hashtags associated with your post and any key words that you have for your business.

Now it's time to get on Instagram for business. Click here if you want my help.