Did you know that Instagram hosts over 1 billion users around the world? It’s the crown jewel in the Meta family (Facebook, Instagram, Threads), ranking in the top-five social platforms around the world. Often hailed as the holy grail for small businesses, makers, artisans, brands, products, services and artists. It’s a visual, short-form content, storytelling, sales and shopping medium all rolled into one! If we had to pick only one platform to use, Instagram would be it! So knowing how to use it is essential. We’re going to go over the basics of using the app and it’s tools. Broken down into the following sections listed below. Some of this info you will know and some you won’t, but all of it is important because the more you know, the more you can do! In this blog we are going to start from the beginning with topics broken down into the following sections listed below. Welcome to Back To Basics: A Guide To Using Instagram.
Setting Up Your Account
Posting Content
Direct Messages
Actions & Functions
Mentioning & Tagging
Setting Up Your Account
Download The App
Start setting up an Instagram account by downloading the app. It’s available for any standard web browser on Google Play, the App Store, and On The Web. If you choose only the last one, you won’t need to install anything. However, the other two need installation on to your mobile device or tablet.
Signup For An Account
Once you have installed the app, you will need to make an account by signing up. This part of the process is straightforward and pretty simple. You will then need to choose whether you would like to create an account by email or phone number. We always suggest using an email as your email is not likely to be changed often or lost. It is always a good idea to use the email that you will be using for your business communications, to keep everything all in one place. Secondly, you’ll need to get a confirmation code and send it to Instagram. You will then be ready for your next step of adding a bio and a profile picture. By default your account will be launched as a open and visible account. We recommend not opening your Instagram account if you are not ready to complete it with a bio, links, a profile photos and other necessary information. The reason for this is a blank account without these things could set off Instagram's spam/fraud detectors and could cause you to be locked out or for your account to be deleted. This is also the time in which you will choose a username. This is very important as you may have this username for years to come, though you can change usernames every 14 days. It is strongly recommended that you choose a username that is close to your business name or somehow references your business. In some cases you may not be able to get your exact business name as a username. So get creative, and brainstorm similar alternatives because you will be building a brand presence around this very username. Did we mention it's important?
Complete Your Bio
After sign up, it's time to complete your bio which you can always change later on down the road as your business grows and changes. Many small businesses, service providers, artisans, creatives and artisans. Change their bios often to reflect sales, announce events they may be attending, or communicate vacation or temporary closures. The bio of your Instagram is a useful and direct way for visitors and consumers to access you. The bio will offer you the following:
A display username - 35 characters (we discussed this in the last section)
Bio section - 150 characters to describe yourself and your business
Page category (only business accounts)
Multiple external links - we suggest your website as one link as well as each of your social media platform links (these are clickable)
Contact information (call to action buttons for business accounts)
Profile pic - 110 x 110 pixels with 1:1 aspect ratio (a logo makes a perfect profile picture for continuity and to help visitors easily identify your account if you have a similar username to anther account)
Posting Content
Instagram Posts
The most common and popular type of post on Instagram is the standard photo posting option. Used by millions of account users a day, most of what you will see in your feed is a photo or 'static' post. Static meaning it stays put and compiles on your profile. It does not disappear unless you remove it. To create a post you simply need to click/tap the plus sign in the middle of the bottom line, located at the bottom of the app (Picture 1). This will open up the photos section of your phone. From there, you can select a photo from your files to share. When you group many photos together it is called a 'carousel'. Users will have to swipe right on your post to view all the photos. The limit for most users on Instagram is 10 photos for a carousel, which is standard. However, some accounts do have the option to post as many as 20 photos into one post. After setting your picture, there is a chance to complete it with a good caption. Instagram doesn’t let you write more than 2200 characters (approximately 380 words) in the caption, including your hashtags.
Instagram Reels
You may often hear that reels are 'king' on Instagram. That is because, as Instagram has evolved, they have diversified from just a photo sharing platform to other medium like videos. Most of the videos you will see on the platform are reels, and they are very popular. If you are a fan of TikTok or YouTube, you will like this option. Reels are essentially video content on Instagram that allows you to create fun and enjoyable short videos set to soundtracks. To create and share your Instagram reel, click/tap the plus sign at the top right, next to the three little lines that are 'Settings'. Note: This plus icon allows you to make any kind of content from this point and gives you a drop down menu (Picture 1). Once you have selected the video you want to use from the gallery, or inputted the static photos you want to use in one of Instagram's templates, you will be ready to:
Add music - Depending on the type of account you have, you will be able to choose from a variety of both licensed and community-created music.
Apply filters - Instagram gives you a variety of filters to add a creative touch to your reel. Additionally you can also add stickers provided by Instagram.
Tag accounts - Near the end of your creation process you will then have the option to tag other accounts or invite them to collaborate, add locations, and write captions. You will then have the option to share the video immediately or save it as a draft for later.
Instagram Stories
In our humble opinion, Instagram stories are the most underutilized function on the platform. It is a tool to connect with your growing audience without having to generate a lot of new or fresh content often. It's a great way to share your static posts and reels, and it really helps to drive visibility. The thing is, a story only lasts for 24 hours and then it disappears. Many businesses use stories to document their daily business life, share events, new products, peeks behind the scenes or really anything. To create and share your story, simply click/tap the plus sign at the top right, next to the three little lines that are 'Settings'. Note: This plus icon allows you to make any kind of content from this point and gives you a drop down menu. Another way to share something into your story is to go to your post or reel and choose the arrow next to the heart option (Picture 1), which will provide you a menu with where you can choose 'share to your stories' (Picture 2). What makes this function so great is you can share other accounts' content with this option as well. When an account asks you to 'share it to your stories' this is what they mean.
Direct Messages
Instagram Direct Messages (DM'S)
Sometimes you may want to have more private conversations with other accounts and customers. This is the place to do it. If you swipe left from your home feed on Instagram, you can see a chat section where you can privately communicate with others. Alternativity, you can click on the little message bubble at the top right of your home feed and it will tell you how many messages you have in order to access your DM's quickly. Lastly, you can click on any other profile and there will be a 'message option'. You can send a message to another account that way, if you do not already have an established chat set up. Some quick information about DM's:
You can’t send more than 1000 characters (approximately 190 words) in a single DM. If you require more space and characters, you may need to break up your messages into multiple DM's.
Primary messages - This tab belongs to messages you want to see first. All messages will appear here, but you can quickly swipe them into the general tab.
General messages - In this tab, you can see the messages you would like to review to later. You won’t get a notification for unread messages in this tab, but you can turn them on from your settings.
Requests - Here, you can see the messages you receive from users that you don’t follow. Once you accept their message request, it will move to the primary tab.
Actions & Functions
Instagram Actions
Follow & Unfollow: You decide who you follow and do not follow on Instagram. This is pretty straightforward. If you follow an account, their content will be shown to you in your feed. If you unfollow them, it will not. Follow accounts that are useful, educational, interesting to you, or adjacent to your professional community. Remember, Instagram will show you accounts similar to those who you already follow. Avoid following spam accounts. That is the number one way to get your account spammed continuously. Only follow accounts you want to engage with. Note: Instagram does have a follow and unfollow limit. You can only follow 150-200 accounts per day and about 60 per hour. Both follows and unfollows count towards this. The reason being is to prevent spam on the platform. Stay within these limits and you should do just fine. Also note that just because you follow an account does not mean they follow you back. Avoid following just to get a follow back. That is considered a spam practice and could get your account removed, shadow banned or blocked for up to two weeks.
Likes & Comments
An excellent way to engage on Instagram with other accounts and grow is to like and comment on content in your feed or found accounts you want to engage with. Unfortunately, there is no dislike on Instagram - although many wish there was! Similar to follow or unfollow, there are limits. You can only comment or like 180-200 accounts per day and about 20 per hour. Both likes and comments count towards this. Avoid making comments that are harassing, rude or spammy. Copying and pasting the same comment is the fastest way to get yourself shadow banned or blocked for up to two weeks. If you make genuine, authentic and relevant comments you will do fine and quickly find/build a community on Instagram.
Save Instagram Posts
You can save for later almost any content on Instagram. If you see a photo/reel on your feed page or Instagram explore page that you want to look at again later, you just need to save it. To save content, open the post/reel and tap the “Save” button at the bottom right corner of the content. It looks like a small banner and is alone on the bottom action bar on the far right (Picture 1). You will be able to access your saved items by clicking the three line menu at the top right of the app. This opens up your Settings and whenever you click 'Saved', your chosen content will be found there. We would suggest cleaning this out every so often. If you want to un-save content just find the content and double click the small banner and Instagram will remove it from your saved items.
Mentioning & Tagging
Mentioning And Tagging
With out a doubt the most confusing and complicated tool for most users on Instagram is mentioning and tagging. They are not the same and do not serve the same function.
Instagram Mention - If you type another account’s username/handle with a @ before it in captions and comments, you mention them. They will be alerted that you have mentioned them through Instagram notifications and may react to it. This disappears after a 24 hour period. It is simply a notification tool. You can also do this on stories by typing an username/handle with @ before the handle, in your story. Your story will be sent to their DM's as well, and send them a notification.
Instagram Tag - When creating a post or reel, you can select a spot of your photo and then tag it with another account (Picture 1). This is called tagging and should be done when you initially post content. At this stage you will also have the option to invite someone to collaborate, this is like tagging but the other account needs to accept the request (Picture 2). Accepting the request will mean the post shows up on the main feed of both accounts. If needed you can always go back and edit to add a tag for an account later. Be advised that adding tags after the fact decreases the chances of your content being seen by the tagged account. You can also tag your products as well if you are set up with an Instagram shop (Picture 3). If you have tagged another account like us. It will show up in the tagged section on the profile you have tagged (Picture 4).
Instagram Hashtags
You will want to grow your Instagram community and be found. Guess what? The easiest way to do that is through hashtags. On each post or piece of content you are allowed to use 30 hashtags. What these do is index your content and catalogue it. It's how people discover your account and how you build a presence on the platform. If your post or reel does not have hashtags on it, no one other than your followers will see it. We go into greater depth in a another blog post that you can find here: Back To Basics: Hashtags & Captions. We help you choose the 30 hashtags that are right for you, and will help you grow and be discovered.
Now that you have the basics of using Instagram down, get out there and start sharing your small business, creativity, art and really anything you want to share with a growing and engaged platform. Our next piece in our Back To Basics: Socials Series is getting to know Facebook for business better. We go though how to set up, manage and grow your very own Facebook Business Page which you can find here: Back To Basics: A Guide To Using Facebook For Business.
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More In The ONSBC Back To Basics Series
Instagram Basics: A Guide To Using Instagram
Facebook Basics: A Guide To Using Facebook For Business
Hashtags & Captions
The Five “W’s” In Media
Ghosting On Your Posting
Content Creation Foundations
Social Do’s & Do Not’s
Free Apps To Help You Add Value To Your Social Media, Content & Marketing
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