How to Promote a Local Business on Instagram

Like any other social network out there, Instagram does offer countless opportunities to local businesses. From the promotion of hard selling, you can do every bit of marketing using this platform. However, there is always a caveat associated when you use a social media platform to promote your local business. Instagram isn’t an exception either.

Succeeding on Instagram is not just a simple matter of huge brand followers, it’s about engagement they create; it’s about the value they drive. For local businesses, the major challenge is to earn loyal followers and produce worthy content that generates engagement.

The following Instagram marketing guide will help you unleash ways to successfully promote your local business on Instagram to stimulate sales.

Engage and Participate:

As you have created an impressive Instagram community, it’s time to engage them with fabulous and outstanding content. Sharing awesome content will help you showcase yourself as a reputable and valuable member of the Instagram community. Sharing great content will further help you earn followers eager to engage with your content.

But, only shareable content is not enough. Instead, you should focus on establishing a reputation in the Instagram community. It’s highly recommended that you should follow influencers and other brands and join the ongoing conversations. More you interact with the content they are producing, the more you will be able to create a lasting relationship with the members of that Instagram community.

Similarly, if your followers create conversation with one of your posts, actively join the conversation and respond to questions, praise and other sentiments.

Repost Local Content:

Another way out to empower your brand’s reputation on Instagram is reposting content published by your local followers who run business in the area. If it happens, your followers will feel great that their content is being featured by your brand. And it will eventually push more of your followers to take notice of it.

If you value them, they may revert by giving your brand a mention on their Instagram page. It will help you get in touch with their followers and create more followers in your local community. The fact is that when you share content that’s created by real people, your brand looks more approachable. The strategy above seems very impactful when it comes to creating a stronger reputation in the community. It also helps you save your time consumed in creating original, unique content.

Keep Your Brand Identity Consistent:

Have you ever thought what it means to join Instagram with your business? This is simply a way to give your brand an extension and a push further. Therefore, you need to be consistent with your brand voice and its tone on Instagram. It should be in sync with how you’re being perceived on other social platforms, say FB and Twitter.

Have you ever thought what it means to join Instagram with your business? This is simply a way to give your brand an extension and a push further. Therefore, you need to be consistent with your brand voice and its tone on Instagram. It should be in sync with how you’re being perceived on other social platforms, say FB and Twitter.

Therefore, the way you interact with your Instagram followers / customers, needs to be aligned with the tone you set in the captions of your posts.

Don’t Copy Tone across Channels:

Consistent brand voice across social channels doesn’t necessarily mean too much similarity can be damaging. Your content shouldn’t look similar across all channels. They must contain a sense of uniqueness wherever they are posted. The danger of being similar or blanket across all the channels is that your followers find you spread this exact same message multiple times. It stops your audience from connecting with you. Do note that every social network is different and should be treated as such.

Cross promotion isn’t merely to copy and pasting your content from one platform to the next, but to promote themselves across the channels as per their audience’s demand.

Follow Trends:

While creating content for your brand on Instagram, include the popular and current local trends in mind. The idea will always rock as it will surely garner some local attention since it's interesting to your local followers. Go through the portals and online resources to find trending hashtags around the news and local events. It’s always recommended to follow other businesses, local celebrities, and other community leaders for inspiration on trending and local keywords to use.

Use Localized Hashtags:

Localized or area-specific hashtags allow people in your area to find your posts and your business through area-specific hashtags. It’s always recommended to use Instagram hashtags that include your area and the type of business you run. To have a better idea about how to use localized hashtags for maximum exposure, you can use third-party tools such as Hashtagify or Focalmark. They allow you to enter a keyword/hashtag to produce related words and phrases.

Include a link in your Bio:

On your Instagram business page, the author bio section is the only place where you can include a link. It’s absolutely unmissable. Without the link, your customers won’t be able to visit your website, buy your products, and engage with your brand elsewhere.

In addition to your brand link, you may also want to include information about your other social media accounts, like your company’s Twitter handle. And, as a local business, it’s also crucial to include your address, so followers know where to find you!