Instagram offers local businesses an excellent opportunity to engage directly with their target audience in their area and strengthen their own business. With over 2 billion monthly active users worldwide, Instagram is also an effective marketing tool for local businesses that achieves a high reach through visual content. In this article, you will learn how you can successfully use Instagram for your business and why it is indispensable for local providers in digital marketing.
Why is Instagram important for local businesses?
Instagram is one of the top 3 most popular social media platforms in the world and has over 2 billion active users worldwide, including many from the young target group under 30. In Germany, around 32 million people actively use Instagram. For local businesses, Instagram offers a direct opportunity to interact with potential customers, build a local community and increase brand awareness. The use of Instagram Stories in particular can provide authentic insights into everyday business life, which increases proximity to the target group and positively influences the engagement rate.
5 advantages of Instagram for companies (Instagram Business Account)
An Instagram business account offers companies numerous advantages for successfully establishing their brand on the platform. In contrast to private accounts, a business account has special tools that help companies to target their audience, increase their reach and manage their content professionally. It is particularly important for local companies to be visible and well-organized on Instagram.
1. be perceived as a company
With an Instagram Business account, you can use professional functions such as the integration of a clickable address and contact buttons to enable calls or emails directly via your profile. As a result, you are immediately recognized as a company , which creates trust and facilitates interaction.
2. better findability in the search
By specifying your industry and business type, you will be found better in Instagram searches and on search engines such as Google. This increases your visibility and reach, especially in local searches.
3. instagram insights
With a business account, you get access to detailed statistics about the performance of your posts and your audience. These insights help you to adjust your marketing strategy and analyze your growth by seeing metrics such as reach, interactions and demographics of your followers.
4. place Instagram Ads
Instagram ads are a great way to promote your business to a wider audience. With a business account, you can place targeted ads to attract new followers or promote specific products and services.
5. organized mailbox
With an Instagram Business account, you get a better organized inbox that is divided into “Main Folder”, “General” and “Requests”. This makes it easier for you to manage communication with customers and provides a better overview of the most important messages and requests.
How to reach your target group as a local business on Instagram
Instagram is an ideal platform for local businesses to reach their target group directly and build a close connection with their customers. With a clear strategy and regular interaction, you can not only increase your reach, but also strengthen the trust of your community. Local hashtags, location-specific posts and the use of stories offer a wide range of opportunities to make your brand better known and promote local collaborations. Find out here how you can make the most of Instagram for your local business.
Enter location in the description
To strengthen your local presence on Instagram, you should add your location in the bio (description) of your profile. This allows potential customers to see directly where your business is located. Especially for local businesses, this is a crucial step as it helps users to quickly understand if your business is close to them. Additionally, you can add a link in the bio to refer to special offers or promotions to drive more traffic to your website.
Use location tags & local hashtags
You should use location tags and local hashtags to make it easier for potential customers from your region to discover your content. A targeted hashtag search helps you to find the most relevant local hashtags under which your target group gathers. Choose around 3 – 5 hashtags of different sizes per post to maximize your reach. This way, the Instagram algorithm plays out your content to users from your region and increases local visibility.
Appropriate contributions: Speak the language of your target group
To address your local target group effectively, you should pick up on their tonality and language style. Use terms that are common in your region and, if appropriate, use dialects or regional expressions. Local insider jokes or memes that allude to current events in your city or region can also work well as they create a stronger connection to the local community. Surveys or direct conversations with your customers are a good way to identify the interests of your followers.
Post stories regularly
Instagram Stories offer a great opportunity to take a look behind the scenes of your company and interact regularly with your local community. As Stories are only visible for 24 hours, they are perfect for providing up-to-date insights into work processes, events or news. With interactive functions such as polls, questions and livestreams, you can encourage interaction with your followers. This fast, uncomplicated way of communicating strengthens the connection to your target group and helps to deepen trust in your local company.
Local cooperations & competitions
Local collaborations and competitions on Instagram are an excellent way to increase your company’s reach and strengthen your community. By partnering with other local businesses, you can not only reach new target groups, but also save resources in content creation. Competitions also offer the opportunity to promote user-generated content (UGC) and actively involve your followers. Use regional hashtags and tags to increase engagement and strengthen your brand in the local community.
Collaboration with local influencers
Working with local influencers can be a particularly effective way of making your own company better known on Instagram and achieving a greater local reach. Local influencers often enjoy a high level of trust within their community, which makes their recommendations appear authentic and credible. Whether through product placements in posts and stories, prize draws or joint events – influencer collaborations help to gain new followers and increase engagement. It is important to select suitable influencers that match your brand and target group.
Place local advertisements
Placing local ads on Instagram is an excellent tool for reaching people in your immediate vicinity. With the option of limiting the radius for your ads to 15 kilometers, you can ensure that your ads only appeal to potential customers from your region. It is particularly effective to use a personal and direct approach in your ad texts that focuses on local references and insider knowledge. This allows you to draw the attention of your target group to your offer.
Find out in this article more about how to create your perfect Instagram profile.
Push your Instagram account with FollowerPilot
If you want to take your Instagram account to the next level, FollowerPilot can help you increase your reach and generate more engagement. Even if organic strategies are a good start, this is often not enough to really take off. With our services, you can not only increase your follower count, but also get more likes, comments and views on your posts.
What FollowerPilot offers you:
- Instagram followersReal and active users who increase your follower count and make your profile appear more credible.
- Instagram LikesIncrease interactions on your posts so that they rank higher in the feed and discovery pages.
- Instagram commentsEncourage discussions and generate more engagement, which in turn leads to a better relationship with your community.
- Instagram Views and impressionsIncrease the visibility of your videos and create more reach through higher impressions.
FollowerPilot is the ideal solution to optimize your Instagram strategy, whether for businesses looking to increase their local exposure or influencers looking to expand their reach. Our services are safe, effective and designed to achieve your social media goals sustainably. Visit our store to learn more about the different packages and take your Instagram profile to the next level!