In this month's post for businesses, I'm outlining 4 native features of Instagram which you could use to boost the reach or engagement for your business and in my opinion are underused features. These are features that are readily available on the platform for all users and can increase reach and visibility, as well as interaction and engagement. Which ones do you use already?
Underused Features of Instagram: Geotag your location
Geotags are useful for connecting your business or brand to a physical place. If you have brick-and-mortar premises, it’s ideal to make sure that you create your own geotag for your premises, and you do this on Facebook. Alternatively, if you have location services turned on, you could choose a more generic location like a town, in case visitors are searching for local places to visit or points of interest. Take the time to also use your location as a hashtag, to maximise findability.
But what about if you don’t have a physical location, or it's not appropriate to share exactly where you are? Again, you can be generic by choosing a county, or wider area. Or, if you attend events, use geotagging to share where you are on an occasional basis.
Bonus tip: You can also increase discovery and engagement of your own profile by engaging with other posts that have been tagged with the same location, and if they're relevant, perhaps even use their posts (make sure you get permission in writing before using)
Underused Features of Instagram: Save posts
I’m sure we’ve all been in the situation where we’ve seen a grid post that we know that we’ll want to view again later - whether it’s a social media tip, some news from our industry, or content that inspires. The ability to save useful posts is such a useful Instagram feature, saving you time and meaning that there's no need to remember where you saw a post and then trawl Instagram at a later date for it! Within your saved posts, you can create collections so you can curate categories of posts in a way that suits you.
An extra pointer to think about: When you’re creating content for your own business, do you think about how useful (and saveable) it is?
Underused Features of Instagram: Incorporate Story Stickers
Instagram has a whole collection of stickers for use in Stories, which can encourage interaction from your community. Some of the best are the Mention (so you can tag others), Location, and 'Add Yours' stickers - what ones have you seen success from using, and which ones are you yet to try out?
Underused Features of Instagram: Utilise Profile Highlights
You probably know that the lifespan of an Instagram story is 24 hours, but there is a way to change this, simply by adding your stories to a Highlight which sits permanently on your profile.
This means that key business information can be accessible at any time! If you’re wondering where to start in terms of content for a Highlight, why not build up a list of essential information that your audience should know:
- Contact information
- Opening Hours
- Location/Directions
- How to order/book
- What you offer
- Why people should buy from you
- Answers to other frequently asked questions
- Promotions
Stories can also be used as a highlight cover but my top tip is to create cover graphics in Canva and use these as highlight covers as a visual way of reinforcing your brand identity on your Instagram profile.
The Insta blog and help centre pages are the most useful places to find out current information about the features of Instagram. In my monthly marketing newsletter for businesses, I often feature a round up of new tricks and tools to help make sense of the tools and features of Instagram, so sign up via the button below!
