Instagram is a great resource for small business marketing, but in order to most effectively represent your brand image, you need to post high quality and visually appealing pictures. The most important thing to remember when using Instagram for your business is to post captivating visuals. But how do you do that?
Clients are always asking us what they should post on social media sites like Instagram. If you’re secretly stressing over what types of pictures you should post, we’ve got you covered! Here are 11 photo ideas for your business’s Instagram account to help you grow your following and find more customers.
1. Products or Services
Most importantly, share your products or services in store or in action. Interactions with your product or showing examples of your service can encourage user interest. Feature your product in pictures for holidays or seasonal events. Of course it’s okay to post other pictures, but make the theme of your profile relevant to your business. Don’t post pictures of your cats or favorite food if it’s not relevant to marketing your specialty.
2. Behind the Scenes
Not only can you share your products, but you can show behind the scenes pictures or videos inside your store of the products, or even making them. This works especially well if you are a food establishment as you can show the process of baking or cooking as well as the finished creation. These are always an attractive item on one’s feed. Interior designers, for example, can post a behind the scenes picture of a home project they are working on. Another idea is to feature employee bios so customers can get to know the people behind your business better.
3. Customer Interactions
Why not take pictures of customers inside your store with your products and post them?
A great way to attract
customers is to show pictures of other customers interacting with your business. If you run a service, show customers using your service.
If people post pictures inside your store like the photo on the right or with your products and tag you, re-post those pictures and give them credit! This is a friendly approach of interacting with other users that promotes a personable connection with them. Make sure you get their permission before taking the picture and posting it online.
4. Instagram Giveaway
A great way to increase engagement on Instagram is to host an Instagram giveaway! Depending on the nature of your business and rules for users to enter, there are a variety of ways you can promote this in an enticing picture.
Promote your giveaway with a unique custom hashtag to help facilitate the filtering and discovery of your post. Creating a custom hashtag to build engagement for your business is easy to do. In addition, include hashtags that are relevant to the giveaway post to generate new, organic participants and potential customers. It’s important to research these hashtags ahead of time to ensure that your target customer audience is reaching your pictures.
5. Daily Posts
Some businesses post a specific type of picture each day to engage their audience. Fitness centers can post a workout of the day, while restaurants can post a featured beverage. Real estate agents and interior designers can show daily home staging inspiration for their customers and lovers of home decorating.
Businesses often post daily inspirational or motivational pictures to not only brighten their customers days, but to motivate them to use their services. Pick a tranquil nature scene image from a stock photo site and add a quote on top through a picture editing site like PicMonkey.
Another daily idea is to hop onto the trending hashtag bandwagon and promote certain pictures using one of the days of the week phrases. Some popular ones are #tbt (throwback Thursday), #transformationTuesday, #Sundayfunday, #motivationMonday, and #flashbackFriday. This is a fun way to engage users on a different level, like posting old pictures and showing how your business has changed through the years.
6. Sneak Peeks
You can post sneak peaks with new arrivals or new offerings on Instagram. This excites and engages users, because everyone wants in on the newest, coolest thing available. Show pictures of the service or item in action by an employee before it’s available. Not only does this notify followers about the new item, it lets them know what to do with the new product before it’s available.
7. Upcoming Events
Promote your business for upcoming holidays or seasonal events with specials you plan on offering. For example, a bakery could post a picture of a pie for Thanksgiving and mention that they will soon be taking orders. A restaurant can change their menu seasonally and share a sneak peak of what to expect in the coming weeks.
If you’re hosting an event, let customers know with a countdown to the event or registration for it. You can also generate excitement for the event if it was held in the past with a #TBT post.
8. Tutorials
Be crafty and share a favorite DIY project related to your business. If you’re a spa, post a video making an at home natural hair mask. If you’re a restaurant, share your favorite go-to snack recipe! Tutorials are also good to link to a blog post for a full version of the how-to. You can tease a picture of the outcome instead, and say the steps are online.
9. Holidays
Always make sure to recognize holidays on Instagram. Not only can you post a quick pic wishing everyone a Happy 4th of July, but you can tie in a sale or special and promote that too. Customers like it when companies acknowledge the world around them and tie it into their marketing efforts. Pick holidays each month and plan out the content of pictures to include. We post monthly marketing guides with ideas in case you are having trouble.
10. Trending Events
Every season is full of random, but fun events to capitalize on. Fan of Shark Week? Post a picture about Shark Week and relate it to a special deal in your store. Trending events give you a fun and creative way to break up pictures you’re posting and engage customers from all interests.
Finding trending hashtags is easy once you get the hang of it. You can search websites like Websta to find trending events and hashtags to use that are relevant to your business.
11. Videos
Videos are great for showing services, behind the scenes, tutorials, and tips for users. Video marketing can be expensive, but the Instagram app has this function built in and enables users to capture, edit, and post visually appealing videos. Instagram Videos are beneficial for marketing in that they drive engagement through a different and unique media channel.
What types of pictures help you find customers on Instagram?
