Preliminary information
Before actually seeing how to use Instagram for work, allow me to illustrate, briefly what, are the work activities that it is actually possible to undertake on this platform, so that you can have an overview of how to make the most of it. .
- Being an influencer - the role of the influencer is to act as an intermediary between the users who follow him and famous companies and brands that want to reach a wide audience to promote their products and services. Those who decide to undertake this activity have a serious responsibility: to recommend to their public only products / services that actually work and are useful, not giving in to the temptation to look only at their own economic interests. More info here.
- Promote your business - those who have a business in the "real world", such as a shop or a physical business, can use Instagram to gain visibility and reach a greater number of potential customers, as I illustrated in this other guide.
- Advertise your blog / website - to try to increase incoming traffic to your blog or website, you can try to take advantage of the photographic social network and, in this way, become a blogger on Instagram.
- Give more visibility to your works - those who intend to give visibility to their works, for example the manual ones, can use Instagram as a "showcase" in which to publish them, trying to attract the attention of new potential customers interested in their purchase.
Create a business profile on Instagram
When using Instagram for business purposes, it is practically essential to use some ad hoc functions of the photographic social network, such as those that allow access to statistics of your account, to sponsor the contents created, insert link with "swipe up" in the Stories (function available only if you have at least 10 thousand followers) and so on. To use them, however, one must necessarily create a business profile on Instagram: now I'll explain how to proceed.
The first thing you need to do, of course, is to launch the Instagram app on your Android or iOS device, log into your account, press the symbol (≡) located at the top right and tap on the item Settings from the opened menu. Subsequently, in the screen that opens, presses on the items Account> Switch to a professional account, select the type of professional account you want to switch to (eg. Creator o Company) and follow the instructions given to you.
To go into more detail, if you have opted to switch to an account Creatorpigia sui pulsanti NEXT e Continue, choose one of the category among those proposed and indicates whether or not to show the label of the chosen category by moving on ON the appropriate switch. Now, press the button end and, if the account was set as private, make it public by clicking on the item Make the profile public, by means of the box opened.
If you have opted to switch to an account Aziendale, instead, presses the button Continue four times in a row, tap one of the category available, press the button NEXT and confirm the operation by pressing OK. Afterwards, give the public business information of the company, such as e-mail, business phone number e address, using the specific form. If you had set the account as private, then, move to OFF l'interruttore situato accanto alla voce Private account, confirming the operation using the button OK present in the opened box.
Now, tap the blue button NEXT, located at the bottom, select the Facebook page . to be connected (I remind you that, if you wish, you can also skip this step by pressing on the item Don't connect to Facebook yet) or create it at the moment, by tapping on the appropriate wording relating to the creation of the same. Finally, click on the item end And that's it.
From this moment on, you will be able to take advantage of Instagram's analysis, statistics and sponsorship tools. If you want to know more about the other additional features of the Instagram business profile and especially the statistics tool called Insight, you can follow my advice: read the guide I dedicated to the topic in which you can find more explanations about it. Using Instagram Insights will come in handy if you want to know who saves your photos, trust me!
If you wish to have more detailed information on how to put your company profile on Instagram, instead, do not hesitate to take a look at the in-depth study that I have linked to you, because it will certainly be useful to you.
Increase followers
Increase followers on Instagram it is of fundamental importance to be able to take advantage of the social network for work. If your account is not very popular, in fact, you will hardly be able to bring home significant results, whether you want to promote your website, your company or collaborate with famous brands. Try to implement the suggestions listed below and you will see that, if you are constant and patient in following them, you will be able to obtain some positive results.
It's all about quality
Since Instagram is made up of purely visual content, the quality that's all. Therefore, do not publish the first photo or video that happens to you: rather, try to create good quality content, which has no obvious defects and is beautiful to look at.
In this regard, I advise you to read up on how to improve your skills as a photographer and videomaker by taking a look at the insights in which I explain how to look good in photos, how to take professional photos, how to take perfect selfies, as well as those on how to shoot and edit video.
However, consider that sooner or later you will happen to create some content containing defects. If these are errors that are not very pronounced, you can try to correct them before going online by using apps to retouch photos (such as Snapseed, for Android and iOS) or, even better, to photo editing software, such as Photoshop e GIMP.
As for videos, however, I suggest you try the apps to edit videos and programs to edit videos that I told you about in the tutorials just linked.
Create your own style
Instagram is used by billions of users and, for this reason, the risk of creating content similar to those of other profiles is very high. Seek, therefore, of create your own style, so as to produce original and captivating contents, which are able to positively affect users who see them, to the point of encouraging them to start following you on the social network.
How can you create your own style? Maybe you could try to apply the same crop to all the photos, use a particular filter, use the same shooting technique, make photo montages perhaps using apps or programs for photomontages and so on. In short, try to give vent to your creativity and create, at the same time, a work routine that is efficient for you and effective for the public.
Analyze your profile stats
If you want to increase followers on Instagram, you have to regularly analyze statistics of your profile, so as to be able to understand which contents are appreciated most and by which groups of users. To access the statistics of your profile, access Instagram through its app for Android or iOS, tap the button (≡) posto in alto a destra and selects the voice Statistics give the menu check if you press.
In the Contents, you can check which contents have been most successful (to expand the menu and see them all, select the item Show all). Therefore, try to understand which contents are appreciated most by users by checking those that have obtained the most interactions and views and take this data into account to choose the contents to publish in the future.
If you would like more information on how to analyze the statistics of the Instagram profile, do not hesitate to consult the in-depth analysis that I have just linked to you.
Use hashtags correctly
Using hashtags correctly is not a negligible detail, since these words and phrases, all preceded by the symbol #, have the important function of cataloging the contents posted on the photographic social network, facilitating their retrieval by users.
By choosing the most popular and relevant hashtags for your posts, therefore, you will increase the chances of being able to show them to a wider audience and gain new followers. How can you find the most popular hashtags? You can use online tools that are free and easy to use (eg. Top Hashtag e All hashtag), or to applications for mobile devices (eg. HashTags for Instagram for Android and Top Tags for iOS).
Clearly, don't just pay attention to the popularity of the hashtags you intend to use: rather, try to also pay attention to their relevance to the content they describe. If you want to have some other indications on how to increase followers on Instagram, I invite you to read the in-depth study that I have entirely dedicated to this topic.
Advertise your site or business
If you want to leverage Instagram for advertise your site or business, you can do this by making gods post and Stories able to strike the interest of the public: let me give you some advice on the subject, also explaining how to sponsor your content to increase their visibility.
Post
If you intend to create gods post to promote your website or your business, try to make photos or videos dedicated to the latest articles you have published online or the latest products / services you have created.
To publish a post, log into your Instagram account from the Android / iOS app, tap the symbol capacitor positive (+) lead located at the bottom (in the center of the screen), select the content you want to publish by tapping on its preview, and presses on the voice NEXT located at the top right.
In the screen that opens, apply one of the filters available to your content, presses on the voice NEXT (top right) and, in the text field Write a caption ..., enter the description of the content you are about to publish, trying to write captivating content and remembering to insert hashtags that allow you to increase its visibility.
If you want, you can also tag other people and add a place using the buttons Tag people e add location. As soon as you are ready to do so, then, press the button Share to publish the post on your account.
After publishing a post, you can sponsor it by creating a paid ad, so as to increase its visibility: to do so, press the button Promote / Highlight that appears below the content, indicates the destination to which to send the people who will view it (eg. Your website, Your showcase, etc.) and follow the guided procedure to choose thecall to action, public, budget duration and the payment method with which to finance the campaign. Finally, tap the blue button Create promotion And that's it.
For more information on how to create effective posts on Instagram and how to sponsor them, please read the guides I have just linked to you.
Stories
Since the Stories are a type of content that is increasingly in vogue on Instagram, I recommend that you make them regularly to advertise the contents of your website, your business and the same posts published in the Instagram feed. If you want some ideas, you could create Stories in which you show photos and videos of the "behind the scenes" of your work or content aimed at advertising new articles (if you want to promote your website) or new products and services (if you want to promote a "physical" company).
To create a new Story on Instagram, log into your account from Android or iOS, tap the blue button capacitor positive (+) lead place on your profile photo (in the section The tua storia present in the main screen of the app) and select, from Gallery of your smartphone, the photo or video of your interest, by tapping on his preview (if you want, you can also create content at the moment by selecting one of the available modes and pressing the button shooting / recording at the bottom center of the screen).
Then, to make your content eye-catching, put some text and decorations on it. Then tap on the symbol ofsmiling sticker to add stickers (some of which are interactive and allow you to insert GIFs, surveys and questions), press the icon of pen to draw "by hand" on History or press the symbol Aa to add text.
If you have an account with at least 10.000 followers, you can also enter some "swipe up" link that link directly to your website, your e-commerce or any other online content. To add this type of link, all you have to do is click on the symbol of chain placed at the top, press on the text field located under the item URL (in the screen that has opened), enter the link you want to include in the Story in the appropriate text field, tap on the option Link preview (to verify its operation) and press on the item end, top right. More info here.
In the absence of the aforementioned function, you can publish a link in your biography (to do this you simply need to tap the button Modification place on the main page of your profile and paste it into the text field Website) and advertise it in History with a arrow indicating your profile photo and perhaps a written or animated sticker "Link in bio". In any case, to publish the Story, then remember to tap on the item The tua storia, lower left.
If you want to increase the visibility of your Story, please sponsor it. To do this, press the button Other… located at the bottom right and, in the menu that opens, select the item Highlight. Then follow the instructions that appear on the screen to choose the budget duration destinazione (Eg. Your website, Your Profile, etc.) and the payment method with which to finance the campaign and, to confirm the operation, tap the button Create promotion.
For more information on how to create Stories on Instagram and how to sponsor Stories on Instagram, consult the insights I linked to you, containing further tips on how to make the most of this type of content.
Offer collaborations to famous companies and brands
If you have managed to build a good following, perhaps because you have already implemented the suggestions in one of the previous chapters of this tutorial, you can propose collaborations to famous companies and brands and get paid to promote their products and / or services on your account.
To contact a company you intend to collaborate with, go to its Instagram account and send a direct message in which you express your desire to start a commercial collaboration. Alternatively, go to the company's website, in this case the contact page, and send a message to the email address dedicated to commercial collaborations. In any case, remember to include yours in the message name and surname,Instagram account of which you are the owner, the number of followers you currently have ei your contact details.
If one of the companies you contacted has decided to work with you, strictly follow the instructions they will give you regarding the promotion of their products or services. Be that as it may, be honest with your followers by not advertising things you haven't actually tested just because you can get a financial advantage and, another thing not to be underestimated, warn them when a content is sponsored by marking it with hashtags like #ad, #adv, #advertise, #sp o #sponsored.
For more information on how to collaborate on Instagram, I suggest you take a look at the guide that I linked to where you will find other useful "tips" in this regard.
Using Instagram to find work
I conclude this guide by giving you some advice on how to use instagram to find work. Yes, because the famous photographic social network can also be used for this purpose. Clearly it does not integrate ad hoc functions for participation in job interviews (it is not LinkedIn, so to speak), but it is possible to take advantage of the popularity of this platform and the potential visibility offered by it to advertise your projects.
Just to give you an example, you could create another Instagram account in which you regularly post photos and videos concerning your projects, especially if they are manual works (eg sewing, paintings, wooden objects, etc.), which on this social networks could certainly be highly appreciated by users.
As for how to promote content, you can refer to the advice I have already given you in the previous lines. I am sure that, if you commit yourself to putting them into practice, over time, you will be able to greatly expand your reach and reach many new potential customers. Good luck!
How to use Instagram for work
