[Updated February 2024]
Updating your social media profiles can seem daunting. However, there are some simple things you can do to make an immediate impact.
Use your Instagram name (not handle) to help outline what you do. For example, if you are a local business, add your town to the name (e.g. If your business name and handle is ABCPlumbing, update your Instagram name to be ABC Plumbing Sunshine Coast.
Do some competitor research, what are other businesses in your industry or your geographical region doing well on Instagram, and what do they include in their bio? Some things to consider are:
Location (e.g. Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore, Noosa)
Emojis
Who you are
What you do
Current offers
Links to your website or other platforms
Call to actions
Is your Instagram profile picture your business' logo, and does it match your profile on your other social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter? Keeping a consistent image across all of your customer touchpoints is essential! Ensure your social media profile pictures, website, newsletters, in-store signage and business cards are all aligned. You can use online apps to make consistent content creation easier. Read my post about three social media design apps here.
Instagram allows you to pin three posts to the top of your feed, giving you the power to have your key messages easily accessible to profile visitors.
Similarly, you can also save stories as highlights so that page visitors can quickly access important information.
Video has become an important medium on Instagram. Look to use Reels or short form video in your stories to engage your audience.
Some video content ideas include current offers, daily specials, new staff members, upcoming events, completed jobs, and the list goes on! Videos are an easy way to engage with your audience regularly. If you are looking for an app to create some Instagram stories, check out my post on social media design apps.
Instagram is continually adding new stickers to its stories for businesses to leverage. In between the long-standing Location, Mention and Hashtag stickers also look to use Questions, Add Yours, Pool or Quiz for increased engagement. The Link sticker is also great for a direct call to action off Instagram onto your website or online shop.
Staying on top of your posting schedule can be exhausting! Facebook and Instagram have creator studio built into business manager where you can schedule posts on these platforms for free. However, if you want to include other platforms in your scheduling, then you might need to look into a paid tool.
There are so many paid tools out there and all offer different platforms. You can read my post on various tools available here.
If you didn't already know, having a sound hashtag strategy is a large part of your social media strategy for growth. This has been the case for years now and is still a way to improve your reach and relevance. Instagram used to use hashtags to show your content to a broader audience than your followers. Quality over quantity is key.