Instagram is a brilliant platform for any business.

The formality is pretty balanced, so it works for casual, brand personality-enforcing content, advertisements, and more ‘proper’ posts.

It’s a flexible and diverse platform where a business can thrive.

Using Instagram for your brand and using it personally doesn’t have to differ too much, but here are 5 tips for using Instagram for your brand.

1. Create user-generated content

 Everyone is tired of seeing the same stock images and basic content circling Instagram.

You need to create something unique that stands out, so creating content specific to you is the best plan.

Upholding professionalism constantly isn’t Instagram’s vibe, instead, post something fun and casual.

A selfie with your co-workers, fun office pics, live streams, you get the gist.

You don’t need high-quality imagery and designs every day, showcase your personality and have a little fun.

You want to make your brand look human, coming across as genuine will build a more personal connection and trust with your customers.

2. Stay on top of trends

Following trends blindly isn’t the best plan, as not all trends are relevant to your brand, and may not appeal to your target audience.

Another way to humanise your brand is using trends and memes to connect with your audience but doing this well isn’t easy.

We’ve all seen a brand try and make a meme or join in on a joke, and it doesn’t land.

Often brands will join in too late, and it seems so corporate and lifeless for people to even give it a pass.

Join in quickly and make jokes that make sense for your brand.

Instagram’s algorithm will promote content that it thinks will do well, this includes trends.

Just keep an eye out and be careful.

3. Don’t focus on vanity metrics

You’re human, and in a social media landscape, vanity metrics mean everything.

You catch yourself getting excited over views and likes, but what’s the benefit of this?

Likes are always good and help the algorithm, but the metrics you want to watch out for most are comments and follows.

One new follower from the niche you’re trying to appeal to will mean much more than 10 likes from people you don’t want to reach and will likely not interact with again.

Comments are always a good sign, as it shows that viewers care enough about the content to give feedback or ask a question based on it.

Empty interactions, such as likes, may look better when you look at your account, but bring less benefit.

4. Interact with your niche

This doesn’t mean following every other business or person interested in your market and niche, but making a name for yourself is always a good thing.

Simply liking and following accounts with good content related to you may lead to a follow back, and it looks good for your business.

Again, it’s all about humanisation.

Your brand will gain visibility within the niche, and eventually, this will build trust.

Just ensure that you aren’t coming across as too desperate, commenting on every post and asking people to follow back, that kind of stuff doesn’t look so great.

Just…act natural? (Easier said than done, we know.)

5. Make use of the link in your bio

“Link in bio” is a phrase that you will see on Instagram pretty much daily.

The reason for this?

It works!

You can’t link to your website or any content in an Instagram caption, so you have to make use of your bio.

It’s good to have in any situation, one-click whenever anyone views your account and they can be taken straight to your website, products, or any information.

The link section on your Instagram should never be blank, if there’s nothing new to showcase, then just have it linked to your website.

I mean, what’s the harm in having something there?

You always want to direct your social media audience to your website or store.

For more advice on social media marketing, contact our chimps.