Instagram: Tips for Business Owners

The Joinery, abundant with beautiful handcrafted furniture, was the perfect “Instagrammable” setting for the second marketing presentation in collaboration with Travel Portland (if you missed this one, there’s still one more left in the series next month!). This workshop, led by marketing and PR superstar, Hannah Kang of LemonadePDX, focused on giving makers the tools to take their Instagram presence to the next level.

Everyone knows how impactful social media can be, but how do you make sure you’re getting the most out of your Instagram presence? Kang emphasized the importance of starting with a look at your profile management. Your bio should be a quick way to give people an understanding of your business. What do people need to know? Where are you located? What are your hours? How can people find your products? Kang mentioned that making sure your account is set up as a professional account is essential. Through a professional account, you’ll have access to crucial metrics such as the top locations and age ranges of your followers, which help you pinpoint your user base and insights into where to expand your business next.  

After accomplishing these essentials, Kang outlined the next step: getting your content planning organized. She stressed the importance of building an asset library, in order to have photos and videos organized into key categories and ready to go when you need them. An asset library is a great way to have content at the ready and ensure consistent, targeted, and on-brand messaging.

We appreciated her laying out the anatomy of a post, where she showed that a good post has a compelling image that displays the brand or a product paired with engaging copy to drive home relevant messaging or actionable items for your followers. A good post also always includes 8-10 relevant hashtags, tagging for any additional businesses or individuals who may be involved, and geotagging for your location. 

“Using at least one branded hashtag can increase a post’s engagement by 12.6%,” Kang pointed out to participants. Similar to your asset library, it can be handy to have a categorized list of hashtags at the ready. Your hashtags should be a blend of branded hashtags as well as ones that are location, industry, and event-based.

If you are worried about your photography skills, Hannah assured the room that pristine, perfect photos are not necessarily the key to a successful instagram page. “If a feed looks too curated, it can sometimes come across as inauthentic.” She emphasized that successful photos tell a story. “Be authentic to your brand and connect your personal passion to the business,” she says. 

The presentation then shifted focus to a topic many of us may feel lost about: best practices for working with influencers. Hannah began by pointing out that working with influencers can be incredibly beneficial. In effective partnerships, businesses can earn as much as $6.50 for every dollar that they spend on influencers. They’re also a very effective way of reaching key demographics. 22% of 18-to-34-year-olds made a large purchase after seeing an online influencer endorsing the item. 

Kang then emphasized the importance of evaluating the influencer’s personal brand and their engagement with their followers. When you’re looking at a potential influencer to work with, ask yourself what they are “influential” in and what are their key markets. Who is their core following and what do you accomplish by reaching them? How often does the influencer post about brand partnerships? Are they actively and frequently engaging with their followers? 

After you’ve answered these questions, Kang explained that influencers shouldn’t define your Instagram strategy, but instead be incorporated into your existing content calendar. Ask yourself when and why you’re activating an influencer and make sure to decide on partnership criteria beforehand. Kang also drove home to remember that working with influencers is a partnership, so make sure to make it beneficial for you and them!

Interested in learning more about managing your marketing and PR? Make sure to sign up for next month’s Email and Newsletter Deep Dive! 

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Words by Rachel Dutton