Social media - Instagram
1. Setting up an Instagram (Business profile)
You will be learning how to set up an Instagram business account, Instagram is one of the most engaging social media platforms and has proven to be a powerful tool for marketing businesses and ideas. The first step is to download the app, you will have to go to your google play store (if you are using an android device) or the apple store for ios devices and it is absolutely free. Once the app is downloaded, you open it, you sign in with your Facebook account, as it is a more ?productive? way. Once you?re in, you go to the profile and click on this gear icon on the top right. It takes you to the settings, scroll to the bottom of the page, and click on the add account option. Then you go to the sign-up option, add the phone number and email address you will like to be linked to the account in order to get updates, be contacted, a password reset, and the likes. Click next and move to the next page, here you add your name and password, Then you go to next and the account is created but with a default name given to you by Instagram, the option to change username is available, you can change it to whatever you deem fit. After you change the name you click next, now you?re given options to connect with other social media platforms, Facebook, your phone contacts, add a profile picture, in this case, your business logo, save and you?re in. click done, click cancel and now you can really see what your page looks like, go to the profile, one final step to make this a business account, click on the gear icon again, go to the option switch to a business profile, this allows you to have access to your insights, profile views, shares as seen in the overview. so you move onto another important step when you have to choose a Facebook page to link it to like both of them are owned by the same group so there is a merger going on, now you can link the Facebook page if it already exists or creates easily right here. You add your email, this will be visible and accessible by your followers/ customers so put inaccurate information, click on done and now our profile is set and ready. Why it was set up this way is because now I can switch from my personal profile back and forth and also I can set up five business profiles with this one account. so now you can set up your Instagram business profile, you can watch the video again if you missed any step, and get a business page for yourself or a client.
2. Which Instagram accounts to follow
A way to grow your Instagram account is to follow the top accounts based on your target audience or niche of your business. You can study their content and look at the posts that give them a lot of engagement. So you click on the search icon and Instagram will give you suggestions of posts you might be interested in but if you really want to find the accounts in your niche, let?s say you?re into cooking, for example, what you want to do is type keywords like bake, cake, pastries and so on. Then you can go through the top suggestions, see their amount of followers, the way their bio and business information is written, and most importantly the type of content they are putting out. If that account isn?t quite doing it for you, go to the arrow just beside the follow button and click on it, and then you?ll see suggestions for similar accounts. Some of the accounts have blue ticks so that means they are verified accounts and they might be popular, typically has more followers, more engagement so these are the type of accounts you should be looking to follow and model, so you follow and you can still click on the dropdown arrow and you?ll see more popular accounts. So you just take your time out and look through them and this will really help you grow your account cause you?ll have an opportunity to model the people that are already established on the platform in your niche. So basically come to the search button on Instagram, type in your keywords or any profile you might already have in mind, and follow, their post and updates automatically start appearing in your timeline which you see when you click the home button. Now you can study their content, model it, and grow your own account.
3. Set up an Instagram profile photo
You are going to learn how to add a profile picture to attract your audience or represent your brand, if you?re promoting a product; a logo or picture that represents it, is perfect, if it?s a person you can use an use a picture that is compelling and dressed appropriately depending on the message you want to send out and you have to be careful to pick one that is still visible when people are viewing your post cause it becomes a bit smaller and almost just lost in the background. You can go through the Instagram pages you want to mimic and see what they did. Once a decision is made you come to your profile, click on edit profile, change profile picture. You are given a couple of options on where you?ll like to import your image from, Facebook, Twitter. You can easily upload it from a picture already saved in your gallery, make sure the picture is centralized, click on done and return to your profile. The difference is noticeable, adds a bit of color and life to your page. And that?s simply how you add a profile picture to your Instagram account.
4. Adding your Instagram Bio
Here we are going to look at how to add your Instagram bio, this is quite important because it gives a brief summary of the kind of good/services you provide or what you?re about. Some people just keep it simple with a sentence describing their services, provide a link to their website for other information, some outline their services, location as well if you click on the address provided you?ll see map can show you directions on how to get there, some people just stick to the company?s slogan, website or where their services can be accessed. So you will go back to your profile, click on edit profile, you can add your website, youtube, wherever you want to redirect people to. You add whatever bio you deemed fit for your business, you can go to the contact information and edit it if you want to. Then you click done and your Instagram bio is updated.
5. How to create content for Instagram
We are going to be looking at creating original Instagram content for free, this is something you want to learn if you do not want to use stock pictures or videos for yourself or your client. It?s just, basic simple design skills that allow you to produce original content. How to get started on this, you download a design app, for this tutorial we will be using the canvas app, because it?s simple, easy to navigate, has a lot of preset templates and you can download it on your phone or desktop, whichever one you feel more comfortable designing on, it also allows you to share directly to Instagram. After you get the app and open it up, you can see there is an Instagram section, here you?ll see preset templates to design your content and you can browse through, today we want to look at designing quotes so you can just search for quotes or any template type you have in mind. So some templates are free while you have to purchase some, so we?ll just use this one and we want to say something about cake, so I?m going to change the image to something that represents that. So you tap on the image and your camera roll is going to come up, you can also take a picture here but if you already have a picture in mind, you just click on it, it inserts right in and you could just align it to fit. Then it?s time to edit the text to match with the image, you click on the image and type in the quote, if there?s space left you can resize by clicking on the number here, double click, and make adjustments till you are okay with it, then click done. If you want to change the author of the quotes, you double click on the previous author and do that and make the necessary adjustments, might be confusing at first but after repeated practice, you?ll get the hang of it, you can review the image, check for errors. Then you click on the download button on the right corner, it finishes up your design and allows you now to share, click import to Instagram, publish directly to your feed, you can add a filter, and just get creative with it. Then click on next, here you can write your caption, tag people add location, share also with other social media listed, then you click on share and it appears directly on your timeline and other timelines of accounts following you. If you go to your profile, you?ll see it right there and you?re done. You can always go back to the app, try out the templates and just get creative with it and let your imagination run wild, look at what your competition is doing and add your own twist and create your original content.
6. How to repost content on Instagram
You are going to learn a quick and simple way to repost other people?s content on Instagram. It?s a way to get free content to publish on your own Instagram feed and also connect with other Instagram accounts as Instagram is all about engaging with other people. So you want to go to your app store and download any app to ?repost for Instagram and it?s absolutely free. Once you open the app you can see the Instagram logo on the top right corner here and click on it, it takes you directly to Instagram, now you can just go ahead and look for any post you want to post. Once find the post you click on the three dots by the right-hand corner, you?ll get a couple of the options so you copy the link, as you see it on your clipboard now. Other repost apps may work in different ways. You come back to your repost for the Instagram app and as you can see it's already copied there, now you can just click on it to go ahead to repost right here. It shows you how to copy the original caption which is easy but it?s actually already copied on your clipboard also. So just share it to Instagram, you can add your own filter and go to next. Here you can now add your caption and just long press and paste and you?ll now get the original caption for the post, you can decide to add your own comment. You can also see that the hashtag repost is there and the app you used is mentioned, then share and it?s now on your timeline as your own post. This is a great way to share something you like and agree with and also possibly start a conversation or relationship with this account. If you go to your profile you can see that it's part of your posts and that is simply how to repost on Instagram and the major key is to download the Repost for the Instagram app.
7. Instagram followers hack
In this video, you are going to learn how to get your first followers on Instagram with one, simple strategy. Some people chose to buy Instagram follows but it?s not recommended because the number of followers doesn?t really matter on Instagram but the engagement and interactions you get on each post. Most of the time when you buy followers you end up having what is called ghost or fake followers, that don?t really interact with your posts and help push your brand or product. It also distorts your statistics so you won?t have a clear indication of the age, demographic of your audience, although the options are available online if you want to it isn?t advisable. To get organic followers the first thing you want to do is find big accounts that have the audience you would love to attract, so you go to one of their posts that had a lot of comments and you go through it. What you start to do is follow the people that have engaged with the content, they get a notification of who just followed them and they will go through your profile to see what you?re about and if you have a good bio, profile picture, or post that interest them and it should cause you followed them from a top account in that they gravitate towards, they will most likely follow you. Sometimes you can go ahead and reply to the comments they made on the popular post and slowly overtime part of his audience starts to follow you, you can take time every day to do that, and people with that similar interests will start to follows you. Do well to optimize your bio, profile picture, and have posted so they know it?s a viable account, not spam.
8. How to use Instagram Hashtags
You are going to learn how to use # to increase the visibility of your post. A # is a way to tell Instagram what your content is about and enable Instagram to show your post to the group of people that follow those topics/ #. Like here you can see #cake and you can see how many posts, show up and also related # as well and the option to follow them. This is a great way to be seen by users cause if you use the #, your post will be seen by people following that # or just searching for it. One way to discover the right # is when you can use is to come to the discovery tab and type in what words are used in your business or field, then you click on them and just right them down and also the related #. Another way to find # is to go to the top accounts in your niche you follow and go through the post and see what # they use you can click on them and see how popular they are. It is advisable not to use the overly popular # because your post-night just get lost in it all, so you just use your discretion and choose what # you would use. You could use the really popular # and mix them up with the less popular ones, you can use about 30. Now how do you input this # in your post, go to your profile, you can use a post that is already up, click on the dots on the right corner of the post, go for the edit option, now you can change or add your caption, location, and the likes. However, it?s advisable to include your # in the captions before you publish a post but in the case where you didn?t, you can edit as seen here. Now you can type in all the # you?ve jotted down and done, it automatically updates. Another way to get #, you can check online for popular random # you can use as well. Remember is the reason for using # is because people search and follow # also so that helps increase the reach of your content.
9. How to use Instagram stories
Here you are going to learn what Instagram stories are and how you can use them to grow your business. The Instagram story is seen at the top of your timeline, top of the discovery tab and also if you click on a profile that has an Instagram story, there will be a small ring around their profile picture to indicate they uploaded a story. Once you click on it you can see the images or videos they updated there, you can have the option to add a link you want to redirect people to, but you need to have at least 10,000 followers to access that feature, mention other accounts, and things you most likely don?t want to distort your profile. What makes the posting here different from the regular posts is that they only last for 24 hours, so the quality can be a bit less and relaxed, basically to do behind the scenes stuff, people like stories because it shows people in action, less polished, not staged and gives your audience a more human connection with you. You can however decide not to use them at all. Now, to publish your Instagram story, you can either go to your home page or your profile, you can see the add button on your profile picture. You click on it, here you are given the option to make a video or take a picture or you can use any picture or video on your camera roll made in the last 24 hours. so you just pick one, you can write on the image, add text, location, music, filter, just play around with it and see what it has to offer and once you?re fine you can send to your story, now you can see that circle around your profile picture, you can add as many stories as you want by just clicking on the previous story and then the add button on the top left, and create with all the amazing features it has to offer, If you go to your home page it also appears on the top. You can view the stories of top accounts in your niche to see what they are doing and get inspiration for yours.
10. All about Instagram followers
You are going to learn how to get reposted by top accounts, this is probably the best strategy to use to gain an audience on Instagram, and if you don?t have an audience outside Instagram either. It will help to introduce you to a big audience. For example, this is a repost by?. from? now why did he repost this, because this is a customer who is enjoying his product, basically a testimonial. If you want to get reposted by big accounts you have to give a post that will make them or their product look good. So what you can do is identify top accounts in your niche say something great about their product, their service, also look at the kind of post they share so that you can get an idea of what will get their attention. You can either tag them, mention them in the caption or use hashtags related to them, and fingers crossed to might get reposted to their big audience.
11. What is Instagram spam
Here you are going to learn some tips and tricks to stop spam activity on your Instagram account. The first thing you can do is turn off comments on Instagram. So the process is when you are uploading a new post, in the last step before you share, you click on the advanced settings on the bottom and the option turn off commenting, toggle if on and there is an instruction to show you how to turn it on again if you change your mind later if you want to make a controversial post. For further restrictions, you will go to your settings for your Instagram account, you can make adjustments to your story settings by going to that option, and you can disallow messages or restrict them and just view other options to pick what you are comfortable with. Now out from your story to your posts, go to the comments option, here you can set up some filters, some comments with some certain keywords, and block comments from certain users or only certain users only to comments. So just browse through your settings and you can see different ways to limit certain users and content from being displayed on your Instagram.
12. How to use Instagram analytics
To grow your Instagram account, one way to do that is to always monitor and review your Instagram analytics, at least on a weekly basis. A way to access your analytics is to click on the graph-esque icon on the top right of your screen. Here you can see all the information you need to help make decisions to grow. You can see your followers in the last seven days, impressions, reach, clicks on the call to action button underneath your bio. You need 100+ followers before you can see the demographics of your followers, the age group, gender and location. You can see the impressions per post and weigh out which one has most of the engagement and study why that post made the post made the most impressions and repeat it for your upcoming post. You can see analytics of any promotion you are doing. At the bottom is the something really helpful, where the definition of all the metrics being used is given. Also it shows you how your post or stories are doing and it helps you to know which you should continue doing and the particular type of post of stories doing so and continue doing so. This really helps you to know how to gravitate users towards your page and can be used to grow your account.
13. How does Instagram Shopping work
You are going to learn about one of the most exciting features on Instagram for business owners and that is the shopping feature. It changes Instagram from a platform where you can inspire customers to one where you can sell directly. For example on this Instagram account, on some of their post, you can notice there is a shopping bag on the top right corner, when you open the post you?re given the option to view the products and you can see the price and description, when you click on it, it takes you to an intermediary page, click again and it takes you now to the website of the company which is a direct and simple way for business owners to sell their products. Now, this feature is only available to shopping-approved businesses that are those that have their shopping catalog approved in a Facebook account their Instagram is linked to, this is a process that will be explained in another video. This feature is absolutely free as Instagram doesn?t get any cut from your sale. "Everyone must have access to knowledge, from anywhere, at any time, to everything They want to learn. Online courses are not harder or easier than the alternatives. They're just delivered differently. Online courses are designed for students at all learning levels. With eVidhya, you can learn from our tutorials and participate in accredited tests."
14. How to set up Instagram shopping
Here we?ll quickly show you how to get resources that will help you set up Instagram shopping for your business. You simply go to your profile tab, go to your settings, at the bottom of the page you will click on help, you go to the help center, it redirects you to the Instagram website and you can select the option for Instagram for business, there a couple of modules are being offered, shopping for Instagram is where you want to go to and basically there is basically a course outline that shows you step by step on how to set up an get started. You need to take your time and go through it and follow the instructions you give, then you can have access to selling your products directly on Instagram.
15. Next steps for Instagram Marketing
By now you must have gotten a hang of how to navigate your Instagram business account and you're ready to use Instagram as a powerful marketing tool for your business.
