Effectively Utilising Instagram For Your Business

For those within the equestrian industry, Facebook and Instagram are generally the two most widely used social media platforms. Whether your brand is your business or product or if it’s a personal brand (#influencer), the use of Instagram is showing rapid growth and popularity and is proving to be an effective tool for increasing engagement.

Whilst for registered businesses of products and services it’s very easy to differentiate between business and personal content, for athletes and influential individuals this line can often be blurred as in many instances, they are the brand. This is particularly relevant to the equestrian industry with many of our top riders and influential stakeholders becoming household names via their social media platforms as they, in their personal capacity, become brands to which others aspire. Much like Facebook provides the option to have a personal and a business profile, Instagram now also enabled functionality for business profiles – enabling you to separate pages for images that support your business versus photos of your pets, lunch and #HelmetHair selfies! 

Instagram Stories

A useful feature on Instagram, is Instagram Stories, which are posts that are only visible for 24 hours, not via the person’s newsfeed. These stories provide followers with a more authentic connection to the brand in question by providing a glimpse into more ‘real life’ as opposed to the curated perfection that can be found on the feed.

Instagram stories themselves also have a lot of useful functionality – such as the ‘swipe up’ feature to be able to click on things, polls to obtain interaction from those viewing your stories or the ‘questions’ feature to encourage engagement.

Instagram Live

On the topic of videos, Instagram also has Instagram Live which, just like Facebook Live, allows you to livestream on the platform. People receive notifications so they can jump on to your livestream, which could include a guest, or just be between yourself and your followers. Video content can be leveraged to provide greater exposure, build stronger connections and reach new audiences.

Instagram Direct Messenger

Instagram also has a Direct Messaging (DM) capability, enabling you to engage with followers one on one through a private message facility. Here they can talk to you, ask questions or enquire as to how they can make a purchase. Direct messaging is useful for building relationships and opening channels of two-way communication.

Once you’ve decided that Instagram is a good platform for you or your business, it is important to ensure that you keep your content relevant, relatable and consistent. There are a few ways once can more effectively promote your business or brand on Instagram:

1. CONSISTENCY

It seems so simple, but it’s one of the aspects that many people struggle with as content creation can be time consuming. Often, we get so caught up trying to get the right photo, at the right angle, with the right light and then create the perfect caption and it can become overwhelming. Show up for your followers every day  -Instagram’s algorithm also rewards those who regularly engage with their audience.

2. AUTHENTICITY TRUMPS PERFECTION

Authenticity beats perfection every time. People tend to buy from people they trust and can relate to, so whilst you do want to make sure you post quality images, don’t be shy to occasionally post a raw, real-life or emotive post to build association. It could be behind-the-scenes footage, bloopers, humorous shots or a ‘not usually seen’ side of a person or business that people can relate ro.

3. USE STORIES

Stories have higher visibility because they appear at the very top of the Instagram app. The story only lasts for 24 hours, so you can leverage things that are in “real time” without having to worry about cluttering up your feed. A good example of this would be if you’re at a horse show, or visiting a tack store and want to share some personal day-to-day content.

4.DON’T ALWAYS BE IN SALES MODE

Whilst we all know the purpose of marketing is for promotional purposes, to support sales and to create awareness of brands, there is a limit to how effective a hard sell approach will be if that is all you have to say. People don’t like being sold to all the time, so ensure your content is conversational, inspiring and endearing to encourage engagement and the chance of developing long term relationships.

5. MAKE USE OF HIGHLIGHTS

Highlights are a great way to focus on certain things as they live front & centre on your Instagram profile. These icons sit above your feed and are a convenient means to categorise themes or topics on which followers may be interested. You can only add up to 100 photos or videos per Highlight, but there’s no limit to how many Highlights you can create.

6. USE VIDEO

Video will always get more attention & engagement than a static image and provides the ability to share more complex, detailed stories.  More engagement also means you’re looking more attractive to Instagram’s algorithm!

Before you plan out and upload your video to Instagram, take into consideration the ideal video length:

• Feed video length = 3 seconds to 1 minute
• Story video length = 15 seconds max per Story entry (if longer, it will just add in the necessary story entries to accommodate)

7. THINK BEYOND INSTAGRAM

Bear in mind that Instagram and most social media platforms are essentially a borrowed playground. Your followers may follow you on the platform but you don’t have email addresses for them and you are at the mercy of the ever-changing algorithms. Be sure to regularly encourage people to sign up to your mailing list by offering incentives as competitions, giveaways or free downloadables.

8. COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Social media is exactly that – social – so you can’t expect followers to interact with your profile if you don’t engage in return. Take 10 or 20 minutes per day to reply to comments, find related accounts to follow, as well as “like” and comment on the posts of others in your industry. Not only does it build your reputation and credibility but Instagram’s algorithm will notice and give you credit.