Promoting our business through Instagram - Ivory & Pearl
In this guide:
Choose the right social media platforms
Different types of social media platforms serve different business needs - how to choose the best one or combination to reach your audience and meet your goals.
Engaging with your customers online can raise awareness and build your reputation as a trusted supplier. Social media gives your business an opportunity to gain new contacts.
Social media can improve your business in a number of key areas including:
- recruitment
- marketing and sales
- brand awareness
- customer service
- gathering business intelligence
Keep your overall marketing strategy in mind when researching which social media platforms are right for your business. You should think about your target audience and your business goals. You may find you need a combination of social media channels to cover all your needs.
Consider the following before deciding if a particular social media channel is right for you:
- Does your target demographic use this platform?
- Does the nature of the channel allow you to achieve your goals?
- What content could you post on this platform?
- What value could you bring to users on this channel?
- Do you have the skills and time resources to use this platform?
It may be useful to look at your website analytics to see if you are receiving traffic from social media platforms. This would indicate your customers use these platforms and are already sharing your content.
Types of social media
Different types of social media allow you to share content and interact with users in varied ways:
- Social networks allow users to make connections, join groups based on their interests and share content. Some of the most popular include Facebook and LinkedIn. Businesses can share content, advertise and interact with their audience on a company page.
- Media sharing platforms allow video and image based content to be shared. They usually include extra features such as profiles and comments. Snapchat and TikTok are some of the most popular. YouTube and Vimeo are examples of video focused media sharing platforms, while Flickr and Instagram are mainly for images. Businesses can use these platforms to advertise, share content and interact with their audiences.
- Social bookmarking platforms like Pinterest and StumbleUpon allow users to share, organise and save online content. Businesses can use these platforms to curate branded content and encourage users to share their content. There may be opportunities to pay for extra visibility through sponsored content.
- Blogging platforms like WordPress and Tumblr allow users to publish content and sometimes share and comment on other users' content. Twitter is a popular microblogging platform - allowing users to publish and share messages. Businesses can publish their content through blogging platforms as well as engage and interact with their audiences. There are often advertising opportunities.
- News sharing and forum platforms such Reddit and Digg allow users share, vote and comment on links. The most popular links as voted for by users are shown most prominently. Businesses can submit their own content and engage in discussions. There are usually advertising opportunities available.
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LinkedIn for business
How LinkedIn works for businesses and how you can use it as part of your marketing plan to reach your audience and meet goals such as sales leads and awareness.
LinkedIn is the largest professional network in the world. The channel has over 500 million members. LinkedIn company pages allow your business to share the latest products, services or updates from your organisation with your followers. Some businesses use the platform to find staff and list job vacancies.
LinkedIn company pages are free to create. They are a useful way of building brand awareness and driving traffic to your website. LinkedIn profiles are also free to create. They are used by individuals to highlight their skills and experience. If your employees have LinkedIn profiles they can connect with your company page. This may help to highlight the skills and experience within your business.
How to create your LinkedIn company page
To create your company page on LinkedIn, you need to enter your name and company email address then verify that you are eligible to create a page on behalf of your company. Next you add a company description and overview. Include what your company does, its expertise, and what makes it unique.
To make your page more visually appealing you could consider including your company's logo and an image.
Your company page is likely to appear in search engine results. It is important to optimise your company description and use relevant keywords within the copy as you would on your own website.
Posting content
Posting updates is an effective way of directly engaging with your target audience. You need to consider what you are going to post and how frequently you will provide updates. Many businesses share company news and industry articles. It's a good idea to use a mix of rich content such as images, infographics and videos. This can help increase engagement with your followers.
When you share an update from your company page, you can share it with all your followers, or a targeted selection of your audience. For example, targeted updates can be segmented by, company size, industry and geography. LinkedIn requires that you have a specific number of followers before you can send targeted updates.
Posting around once per day should work well for most accounts.
Promoting your LinkedIn company page
An easy and cost effective way to promote your page is by linking it to your other marketing channels eg your website, emails, newsletters, blogs and other social media channels. You could add a "Follow" button to your website. This will make it simple for visitors to click and then follow your page.
Encouraging your employees to engage with your company updates will mean that their network of connections will see them too. This can help to maximise your reach.
LinkedIn paid promotion is another way of reaching a bigger audience. For example, 'Follow Ads' can target an audience and encourage them to follow you. You can also use sponsored updates. This involves paying to boost the number of people who will see your posts. LinkedIn allows you to host and promote video content natively.
LinkedIn groups
LinkedIn groups are topic based forums that allow professionals to share content and discuss industry issues. Groups provide an opportunity to share your company's content. You should take care to avoid posting overly sales-focused content which could be seen as spam. Instead aim to post useful information, positioning yourself as a subject-matter expert.
Analysing your performance
LinkedIn's company page analytics allow you to evaluate the reach and engagement of each of your updates. Monitoring the impact of the content you are posting will allow you to see what sort of content works best, so you can refine and adapt your approach. See measuring social media campaigns.
See how nibusinessinfo.co.uk connects with its followers through LinkedIn.
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YouTube for business
How YouTube can be an effective way of reaching your audience with video content and how to best optimise your videos and manage your channel.
YouTube is the largest social video site in the world with over a billion users. It allows you to create a channel for your videos; embed them in your website or blog; share them on other networks; gain a following; and engage with people.
There are also opportunities for paid advertising.
YouTube channel for business
A YouTube account for uploading video content is known as a channel. A channel page can be customised with your branding and specific videos and playlists can be emphasized.
You can enhance the user-friendliness of your channel by grouping your videos into topic based playlists. Try using custom thumbnails that include your branding for more visual impact.
Users can follow your channel. This means they will be notified when you upload a new video. You can encourage new people to follow your channel by ending a video with a call to action and highlighting the benefits.
See how nibusinessinfo.co.uk presents video content on a YouTube channel.
Creating and optimising content for your channel
The video content on your YouTube channel can be professionally produced corporate videos or a more informal style. Consider what works best with your budget and brand identity.
Try to create content that your users will find entertaining, interesting or useful. Combine this with some more sales focused content.
Remember that YouTube is a search engine for video, so it is important to apply search engine optimisation (SEO) principles to your content. Use the video title, description, category and tags to include keywords that users can search for and find your video.
Optimise your video to encourage users to take an action such as visit your website, make an online purchase or sign up for your newsletter. You can include a link to your website in the video description. You can also add links that appear in the video with YouTube cards. The video itself can include a call to action.
YouTube videos automatically generate subtitles. You can edit these for accuracy. Subtitles can improve the accessibility of your videos for users with hearing loss, or for customers who prefer to watch videos without sound.
YouTube advertising
YouTube also offers a wide range of paid advertising options, including video ads and display advertising. Video ads can appear in search results or play automatically before other videos. YouTube offers targeting options for demographics like age, gender, location and interests. YouTube analytics helps you track the success of your ads.
YouTube analytics
YouTube provides channel owners with analytics data, including reports on:
- video views
- watch time
- subscribers
- likes and dislikes
- comments, favourites and shares
- viewer demographics
You can use this information to better understand your audience and to improve future content.
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Instagram for business
How Instagram works and how you can use it as part of your marketing plan.
Instagram is an online photo-sharing, video-sharing and social networking service. It is used by businesses as a marketing tool. Instagram allows you to create video and photo content on your mobile device and instantly publish it to your audience.
Instagram was launched in October 2010 and now has over one billion accounts that share millions of photos and videos every day.
Set clear goals for Instagram
It is very important to consider how Instagram fits into your overall marketing strategy. Think about what your objectives are, do you want to:
- increase awareness
- change perception
- reach a new audience
Getting started with Instagram
To set up an Instagram account you need to complete two steps:
- Choose an account name - you should ideally use your business name if it's available.
- Upload a profile photo - it's best to keep your profile photo simple. Instagram recommend using your brand's logo or a graphic symbol. Profile photos are cropped into a circle and show as a small 150 x 150 pixel image on most phones.
Using Instagram
Instagram was launched as one of the first 'mobile-first' social media platforms. Once Facebook bought the company it launched a desktop photostream, however, you are still required to take and upload your photos and videos from your mobile device.
Images - It is essential that you use good quality images. If appropriate, you could use the built-in photographic filters on your photos. Consider what your audience will find entertaining, useful or interesting.
Videos - Instagram allows you to share short videos. You can apply filters the same way you can with photos.
Captions - Keep captions interesting. A good way of encouraging engagement with your followers is to ask questions.
Hashtags - Adding hashtags to your content will mean that people searching for these terms will come across your photos and videos. This will help you to build up new followers and share your content with more people. Tags should be specific and relevant to the post - this way you are more likely to target like-minded followers. You might want to explore how businesses that are like your and have a large following, successfully use hashtags. If appropriate, you could consider using popular hashtags such as #throwbackthursday or #eatingout - this will help you appear in the relevant search results.
Commenting and liking - You should engage with your audience by replying when they comment on your posts. You can ‘pin’ up to three comments to the top of a comment thread on your post, allowing you to highlight positive comments about your brand. You can build your presence on Instagram by commenting and liking posts from other brands and influencer accounts.
Link in bio - your Instagram bio is one of the few places you can include a link to your website or online shop. You can make the most of it by linking to a landing page that lists relevant links for your posts. There are online tools available to help you create these landing pages.
Tagging - Consider including the location of your photo or video if appropriate. This helps to promote the location of your business. You can also use the 'Invite Collaborator' feature to tag accounts in your image when they will help you reach a broader audience.
Image tools - Edit your images with photographic filters and other image editing tools available in the Instagram app. These effects give images a distinct look that people often respond to. There are also a number of third-party apps available that can add extra filters or create collages.
Stories - Instagram has a 'story' feature that allows you to upload temporary images and videos that appear for 24 hours. You can add permanent story ‘highlights’ on your profile. There is a range of editing features you can add to your stories such as geolocation tags, text, stickers and filters. You can drive audience engagement by using features such as polls, question boxes, quizzes and sliders which encourage users to interact with your content. Business accounts with over 10,000 followers can add ‘swipe up’ links to their stories.
Live - You can also broadcast live videos. Your followers will get a push notification that you have started a live broadcast. Users can interact with your broadcast in real-time.
Shopping - Businesses can tag products available to buy online in posts and stories, as well as having an “Instagram Shop” tab on their profile to showcase products. This presents opportunities for e-commerce businesses to secure sales within the Instagram app.
Direct messaging - Instagram direct enables users to send private messages, photos and videos directly to each other. It also allows users to respond to stories - this is an opportunity to engage with your audience.
Reels - Instagram Reels allow you to record and edit 15-second multi-clip videos with audio, effects, and new creative tools. They can be shared with your own followers as well as the wider Instagram audience. Reels can help reach a new, wider audience.
IGTV - IGTV allows you to share videos up to an hour long. This is ideal for content such as interviews and tutorials.
Advertising on Instagram
Alongside opportunities for organic content marketing and engagement, you can also pay to advertise on Instagram. There is a wide range of formats and types of placement for Instagram advertising that you can choose based on your goals. As with most social media advertising, you can select specific targeted audiences for your ads.
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Top tips for using Instagram for business
Tips to help you use Instagram in your business including how to set clear goals, build your following, post the right mix of content, use hashtags and take advantage of advertising options.
Instagram is an online photo-sharing, video-sharing and social networking service. It is used by businesses as a marketing tool.
Read our six tips to help make Instagram work for your business.
1. Set clear goals
You should consider how Instagram fits into your overall marketing strategy. Think about what your objectives are, do you want to: increase awareness; change perception; or reach a new audience?2. Build a following
There are a number of ways you can build your Instagram following. These include: linking your Facebook account and cross-sharing photos; engaging with others by following and liking their content; and using relevant hashtags. You should consider cross-sharing selected images to your Facebook page with relevant hashtags or brand images. This will help people who don't know you're on Instagram to find you there.3. Balance business images with fun images
You should aim to use both images related to your business as well as fun images. Make sure to track the engagement on your images to find out what your followers like the most. It is generally recommended that you use the 80/20 rule, use just 20 per cent of your content to promote your brand and dedicate the other 80 per cent to interesting and engaging content that will interest your audience.4. Use industry-related hashtags
Adding hashtags will mean that people searching for these terms will come across your photos. If you're at an event or location that is using a specific hashtag (like #DigitalDNA) you can add it to your photos so that event coordinators and other attendees can find them and join in the conversation.5. Consider paid advertising
Instagram offers paid advertising to businesses. There are different ad formats you can use, including photo ads, video ads and carousel ads. You can use ads to get people to click through to your website, download your app or simply raise brand awareness.6. Don't just advertise
You can use Instagram to showcase photos of your products and services, but be careful - you don't want to turn your feed into a list of display ads. Look to find a creative way to incorporate your products and brand into images that people will want to view and share.Also on this sitePrimary parentContent category
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TikTok for business
Using TikTok to drive brand awareness and engagement, including creating an account, developing content and identifying trends.
TikTok is a video content sharing platform with around 1 billion monthly active users. It features simple-to-use video editing tools that allow users to create video content. TikTok has a younger user base than many other social media platforms - the majority of its users are part of ‘Generation Z’ (born between 1997-2012). If this is your target audience, you should consider TikTok as part of your social media strategy.
Compared with other social media platforms, it is possible to achieve significant organic reach without using paid promotion. There are fewer opportunities for driving sales on TikTok, however the platform has recently launched an e-commerce feature.
TikTok works best to achieve brand-awareness objectives and build an audience. There is a focus on light-hearted, entertaining content. Sales-driven content may not be as successful. A strong TikTok following can spill over onto your other social media channels, such as Instagram, which offer more sales opportunities.
See your marketing objectives.
The TikTok algorithm
Success on TikTok relies on boosting your organic reach through the algorithm. Most users on TikTok view content from accounts they don’t follow on the ‘For You Page’. This feature presents users with content that the TikTok algorithm has determined they will be interested in.
The TikTok algorithm will show your content to more users based on a number of factors, including:
- Watch time - how long users are spending watching your content
- Completion rate - whether users watch your video until the end
- Whether there is an audience for your content
- Trends - content using trending themes is more likely to be shown
Creating a TikTok account
To create a TikTok account for your business, download the TikTok app onto a mobile device. You will need to use an email address and create a username and password. Try to use your business name for your username. When setting up your account, ensure you select a business account rather than a personal one, as this will allow you to use the platform's analytics features. Chose a profile image – your business logo is ideal. Create a short bio about your business and include a link to your website.
Creating content on TikTok
Consider the following when creating video content on TikTok:
- You can select 15-second, 30-second or 3-minute lengths. Videos that users watch to the end perform better so try to keep it short.
- You can create a video from a single clip (eg a ‘selfie’ style video of someone speaking to the camera) or a video of multiple clips edited together (eg ‘montage’ or ‘transition’ style videos).
- You can film in-app or by using your device’s camera. Content filmed and edited in-app may be treated more favourably by the algorithm. However, you might find it easier to capture better quality video clips with your device’s camera.
- Film vertically rather than landscape so your video fills the screen.
- Good lighting is important.
- Add sounds to video – this is an important part of TikTok content. You can select music and ‘trending sounds’. You can add your own voiceover or use the text-to-speech feature to generate a voiceover.
- Write a caption with keywords relevant to your business and include hashtags to help your content appear to more users.
Your business could try working with a content creator or influencer on TikTok. A content creator would develop content for your brand to share on your account. This could help build your own TikTok audience. Alternatively, you could pay for influencers to talk about your product or brand on their account. This is a good way to reach a new audience. See influencer marketing.
TikTok trends
Getting involved in TikTok trends is a key way to reach a bigger audience and drive engagement. Trends change all the time and can take the form of:
- sounds
- dances
- challenges
- songs
- features
You can identify current trends by spending some time using TikTok.
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Snapchat for business
How to use Snapchat to reach your audience with real time video and image content, including the basics of using the app and opportunities for businesses.
Snapchat is an app-based social media platform that allows users to share temporary image and video content. Content can be edited with a range of filters, text and other tools. Images and videos sent directly to specific users can only be viewed for a few seconds. You can also upload a Snapchat story which is a series of images and short videos which can be viewed by your followers for up to 24 hours.
Snapchat has a younger user base, with most users in the 12-34 year old age group. Businesses can use the platform to reach this target audience with engaging visual content.
Basics of using Snapchat
To set up a Snapchat account for your business, you will need to download the app on a mobile device such as a smartphone. Then register a new account and pick a username - preferably your business name.
Snapchat will automatically scan your contacts for other Snapchat users, this will help you add your first friends (who will hopefully add you back so you can share content). You can also encourage your audience to follow your account by sharing your username or 'Snapcode' (a QR code users can scan) across your other communication channels.
To take a picture tap the circular button on the app's main screen, for a video hold the button down. You can then edit this content with captions, stickers, doodles, filters and geofilters. When your content is ready, add it to your story or send it directly to specific users.
Make the most of Snapchat for business
There are a number of ways businesses can use Snapchat to engage with their audiences:
- Events - the real-time nature of the platform makes it ideal to share events as they happen.
- Product launches - the temporary nature of snaps can help you create buzz around new product launches, offering teasers and glimpses of a new offering.
- Offer exclusive content - grow your audience and keep them engaged by using Snapchat to provide exclusive previews or discounts.
- Partner with influencers - grow your audience by partnering with a popular content creator whose audience is in line with your target market.
- Connect with your audience - give an authentic insight into the day-to-day life of your business, for example showing how your products are made.
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Pinterest for business
How to use Pinterest to reach your business’ target audience, including the basics of using the platform and delivering business benefits.
Pinterest is a social media platform that allows users to upload, save, sort and manage images, links and other media (pins) in collections called pinboards. Pinboards are normally organised by topics such as weddings, travel and recipes.
The platform supports business pages as well as personal accounts. This allows businesses to showcase their products through pins and group them on pinboards. Running a Pinterest business page can help drive online sales. Pinterest also offer paid advertising.
Creating a Pinterest business page
There are a number of steps to creating a Pinterest business page:
- select 'join as a business' on the Pinterest app or website
- complete the registration details and agree to the terms of service
- upload a profile image - preferably your logo
- choose your username - preferably your business name
- add your bio - include keywords as this is searchable
- add your location
- add and verify your website - to do this you'll need to add a HTML code to your website
Once your account is ready you can start to set up new pinboards based on particular topics, adding pins and interacting with your audience. Share your Pinterest page across your other communication channels to start building your audience.
Make the most of Pinterest for business
There are a number of ways you can make the most of your business page to grow your audience and drive traffic to your website:
- Rich pins - by adding a special code to your website you can use 'rich pins' which include extra information such as price or a map. These can be used for articles, recipes, products, movies and places. This can help users save your articles or buy your products
- Optimise for search - by using the right keywords when you name your pinboards, you can help users who might be interested in your business find you. Think about the kind of terms that your target audience might search for.
- Add buttons to your website - you can make it easier for your website visitors to follow your page on Pinterest with a 'follow us' button. You can also encourage users to share your content by adding 'pin it' buttons to your blog or product pages.
- Share quality content - you will get more interaction and shares by sharing content that users find engaging, interesting and useful.
- Measure and monitor - check your Pinterest and web analytics to see what kind of content is popular and pushes users through to your website. Use this information to plan new content.
Pinterest advertising
You can pay for your pins to be promoted to help more users see your content. The platform offers a range of options focused on different marketing goals such as awareness, engagement and website traffic.
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Social media platforms
Promoting our business through Instagram - Ivory & Pearl
Kate Speers, owner of Ivory & Pearl, explains how they promote their business through Instagram
Ivory & Pearl is an award-winning bridal boutique in Northern Ireland established in 2013. The business is based in Comber and sells wedding dresses to brides across Ireland that have been sourced from wedding designers around the world.
Kate Speers, the business owner of Ivory & Pearl Bridal Boutique, explains how they have promoted the company through Instagram.
Marketing strategy
"Our target audience is females who are engaged - we are a niche business which makes it easy to identify our audience."
"When I first opened Ivory & Pearl, I promoted the business through bridal fairs in Donegal, Dublin, and countless shows in Belfast - a lot of work goes into bridal fairs."
"Therefore, Instagram is a resource-saving platform for me - as I can promote our wedding dresses for free from the comfort of my home."
"We have been in business for nearly ten years, so much of our business comes from word of mouth. We get lots of sisters or friends of brides who have bought their dresses from Ivory & Pearl coming back to buy their wedding dresses. We also use Google ads, Facebook, Pinterest and Tik Tok."
"I attended lots of seminars on social media at the start and absorbed as much information as I could. They gave me the knowledge to be able to manage my social media."
Content creation and evaluation
"We try to post on Instagram every few days and are very lucky as our suppliers often do stunning photoshoots in destinations such as Santorini. Therefore we have access to great photography to use on the channel."
"We set aside dedicated social media days to create content, whether this is a professional photographer/videographer coming to the boutique or ourselves creating reels."
"There are many free social media graphic design tools available to help you create professional-looking posts - we use Canva."
"Me and two staff members have access to social media accounts. We will all try to come on to Instagram stories and say ‘hi’ when we are in the boutique, as we like our brides to know us when they come in. It can be daunting trying wedding dresses on, so it’s nice to see a familiar face."
"I also do glimpses of behind the scenes, glimpses of dresses, glimpses of my home life - I want the channel to be as natural as possible."
"I have a company that looks at my google ads and social media activity every quarter. This assistance helps us to identify ways of increasing appointments in the boutique."
"All appointment bookings come through our website, but we know that most of these brides-to-be have already seen Ivory & Pearl on Instagram. We have a direct link to Instagram on our website."
Business challenges and successes
"The main benefit of using Instagram is cost-effectiveness. It contrasts significantly with our marketing channels when we first opened - paying for magazine advertisements and exhibition space at bridal fairs."
"It is a full-time job, as I am always thinking of what to post on Instagram daily - even when I am on holiday!"
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