How to Use Instagram for Business for Beginners - 10 Pro Tips

Instagram isn’t just a platform—it’s where your next customers hang out. With 65% of people being visual learners, Instagram provides the perfect stage for your business to shine. You can turn this app into a powerful brand-boosting machine using key strategies.

But how exactly can you use Instagram to your business’s advantage? Let's explore the benefits, setup process, and strategies to make Instagram work for you.

Benefits of using Instagram for business

Before we get into the how-to's, let's explore why Instagram is a valuable platform for businesses:

1. Massive audience reach: With 2 billion monthly active scrollers, tappers, and shoppers, Instagram provides access to a vast and diverse audience waiting for you to entertain, entice, and inspire them with your brand.

2. Visual storytelling: Instagram’s focus on images and videos gives your business a creative playground to experiment with countless ways to connect with your target audience. You can craft a visual narrative that brings your brand personality to life through captivating Stories, playful Reels, engaging carousels, or collection ads that show off your product range in all its glory.

3. Increased brand awareness: Consistent posting and interaction can significantly boost your brand’s visibility and recognition. With 90% of Instagram users following at least one business and 62% reporting increased interest after seeing a brand in a Story, it’s clear that Instagram is where you can pique curiosity and keep your brand top-of-mind.

4. Direct customer interaction: Instagram’s features, such as comments, direct messages, and Stories, allow for real-time, two-way communication with your audience. You can answer questions, respond to feedback, and build relationships instantly. This direct interaction humanizes your brand and fosters trust and loyalty, making converting passive followers into customers easier.

5. E-commerce integration: Instagram Shopping features allow businesses to tag products and drive sales directly through the app. 

With 70% of shoppers using Instagram to purchase products or services and 44% shopping on the platform weekly, the potential is massive. In fact, using Instagram's shopping features can lead to a 42% increase in sales. If you’re not using Instagram Shop, you're leaving a huge pool of eager customers untapped and missing out on prime sales opportunities right where your audience is already browsing.

6. Influencer marketing opportunities: Did you know that 49% of consumers rely on influencer recommendations when purchasing? Reports state that 30% of consumers trust influencers more today than they did just six months ago, indicating that the power of influencers shows no signs of slowing down. 

Collaborating with influencers can significantly expand your brand’s reach and boost credibility. These influencers already have a loyal, engaged following, and their endorsements can introduce your products to new audiences in an authentic and relatable way. Influencer partnerships can build trust, drive traffic, and increase sales, whether it’s a sponsored post, a product review, or a takeover of your account. 

7. Detailed analytics: Instagram Insights offers valuable data on your audience and post performance, giving you the tools to understand what resonates with your audience. You can track metrics like engagement rates, followers, reach, and impressions, which help you identify trends and optimize your content strategy. 

8. Targeted advertising: Instagram provides powerful tools for precise audience targeting and retargeting, ensuring your ads reach the right people at the right time. You can define your audience based on demographics, interests, behaviors, and even custom lists of past customers. This level of targeting maximizes the effectiveness of your campaigns, allowing you to engage potential customers who are most likely to be interested in your products or services. 

Additionally, retargeting capabilities enable you to reconnect with users who have previously interacted with your brand, reminding them of what they might have missed and driving them back to your profile or website to complete a purchase.

How to set up Instagram for business

To access Instagram's full potential for your business, you must first set up a business account. Luckily, it’s super easy. Here's how to do it:

Create an Instagram business account

1. Download and open the Instagram app or visit Instagram.com on your browser.

2. Sign up for a new account or log in to your existing personal account.

3. Go to your profile and tap the burger menu icon in the top right corner.

4. Under ‘Settings and activity,’ select ‘Account type and tools.’

5. Tap on ‘Switch to professional account.’

6. Select a category that best describes your business. Afterward, click ‘Done.'

7. From there, you can add contact information for your business and link Instagram to your Facebook Page. Linking your accounts is recommended because it unlocks new opportunities for reaching customers, enhancing brand recognition, and expanding your audience. 

You can efficiently manage your content calendar and posting schedule from Creator Studio and handle all comments, messages, and DMs in one convenient location. Linking the two platforms allows you to run ads through Meta Ads Manager, making your advertising efforts more effective.

Instagram business account vs. personal

These are just some of the key differences between these two Instagram account types:

• Insights: Business accounts can access analytics about followers and post performance.
• Contact button: Customers can easily reach out via call, email, or directions to your location.

• Advertising: You can create and run ads directly from the app.
• Shopping features: Tag products in posts and Stories, creating a seamless shopping experience. 
• Primary category: Display your business type on your profile.
• Auto-publishing: Schedule and automatically publish content using third-party tools.

How should I use Instagram for my business?

Now that you've set up, here are 10 pro tips and best practices to maximize your Instagram presence:

1. Optimize your profile

Your Instagram profile is your business card on the platform, so make it count:

• Use a recognizable profile picture (like your logo)
• Craft a compelling bio that clearly states what your business does
• Include a link to your website or current promotion
• Utilize Instagram's story highlights to showcase essential information

• A well-optimized profile ensures that users understand your brand immediately when they discover you. Consider getting verified on Instagram to boost your credibility.

2. Develop a content strategy

A solid content strategy is crucial for maintaining a consistent and engaging Instagram presence:

• Plan your posts in advance
• Maintain a consistent theme and style that aligns with your brand identity
• Use a content calendar to ensure regular posting. Hootsuite’s experts recommend posting at least three posts per week on Instagram
• Diversify your content with studio product shots, human-centric images, behind-the-scenes moments, and user-generated content
• Create content pillars, which are the key themes or topics that align with your business goals and form the foundation for your content strategy. By focusing on objectives like brand awareness, product launches, and customer education, you create structured content around those core areas to support your broader business goals

3. Use high-quality visuals

In a visual platform like Instagram, the quality of your images and videos can make or break your success. Did you know that posts with images get a whopping 650% more engagement than plain text ones? That proves just how important visuals really are. Here’s what you can do to ensure that your content can compete on Instagram:

• Invest in good photography or graphic design.
• Ensure your visuals are well-lit and in focus.
• Use editing tools to enhance your images (but avoid over-editing).
• Maintain a consistent visual style across your posts.
• Experiment with different formats (e.g., carousel posts, Reels, and Instagram video ads.)
• Remember to optimize your Instagram post sizes for the best visual impact.

4. Leverage Instagram Stories

With 70% of users glued to Stories daily, that’s where the eyeballs are—and where your business needs to be. Whether organic or paid, Instagram Stories give you a personal way to connect with your audience. 

These are just a few ways you can use them:

• Share behind-the-scenes content
• Post quick updates or time-sensitive offers
• Use interactive elements like polls or questions to boost engagement
• Utilize Story highlights to keep important content visible
• Experiment with features like boomerangs, filters, and stickers

5. Engage with your audience

Building a community on Instagram is about more than just posting content. You need to:

• Respond quickly to comments and direct messages
• Show some love by liking and commenting on your followers’ posts
• Encourage user-generated content by reposting customer photos (with permission)
• Host Q&A sessions or live streams to interact directly with your audience

Remember, meaningful engagement builds loyalty and turns followers into a community. Plus, it’s a powerful strategy to get Instagram followers.

6. Utilize hashtags strategically

There’s nothing worse than pouring money into top-notch content that no one sees. Hashtags on Instagram are your ticket to getting your posts in front of the right eyes. On average, posts with Instagram hashtags see a 12.6% boost in engagement compared to those without.

Here’s how you can go about making your content more discoverable:

• Research and use relevant hashtags in your niche
• Create a branded hashtag for your business
• Use a mix of popular and niche hashtags
• Don't overuse hashtags (9-11 is often considered optimal)
• Consider hiding hashtags in the first comment to keep your captions clean

7. Collaborate with influencers

Think of influencers as your brand's Santa's little helpers, spreading the word about your products far and wide. By collaborating with the right influencers, you can tap into their loyal audiences and increase your visibility. A report shared that 69% of consumers trust influencers, friends, and family more than information directly from a brand. So, if you're not incorporating influencers into your marketing strategy, you're missing out on a powerful opportunity to build trust with potential customers.

Here’s what you can do to make the most of influencer social media marketing:

• Identify influencers whose audience aligns with your target market
• Start with micro-influencers for more cost-effective collaborations
• Communicate your brand message and campaign goals
• Allow influencers creative freedom to maintain authenticity
• Track results using unique promo codes or tagged links

8. Take advantage of Instagram Shopping

If you sell physical products, Instagram Shopping can transform your profile into a virtual storefront, providing an additional avenue for sales and making it easier for customers to browse and buy directly from your posts.

Be sure to:

• Set up your product catalog in Meta Business Manager
• Tag products in your posts and Stories
• Use the 'Shop' button on your profile
• Create shoppable posts for your most popular items
• Utilize shopping stickers in your Stories

9. Post consistently

Consistency is key to maintaining visibility and engagement on Instagram:

• Develop a posting schedule that works for your business. As mentioned, experts recommend at least three posts per week
• Use scheduling tools to plan your content in advance
• Maintain quality over quantity – don't post just for posting 
• Be consistent not just in frequency but also in visual style and voice
• Pay attention to when your audience is most active. Once you have a business Instagram account, you can access Instagram Insights, which tells you when your audience is most active

10. Run Instagram ads

While organic reach on Instagram can be limited, advertising on Instagram can significantly increase your visibility and drive specific actions. With algorithm changes and the flood of content on Instagram, many accounts see organic reach rates between 5% and 10%. That proves a solid paid strategy is essential to boost your visibility and complement your organic efforts.

Here's how you can make the most of Instagram ads:

• Set clear objectives for your ad campaigns (e.g., website visits, app installs, product purchases)
• Use Instagram's targeting options to reach your ideal audience
• Experiment with different ad formats (photo ads, video ads, carousel ads, and story ads)
• Use compelling visuals and clear calls to action
• Regularly monitor and optimize your ad performance

Use Madgicx, the AI super app for Instagram ads, to maximize your ad performance. 

Madgicx provides a variety of robust tools and end-to-end workflows, including:

• The Creative Workflow includes the Ad Library, an endless source of ad inspiration. It also features the AI Ad Generator, which allows you to create new ads based on images and written briefs. If you want to enhance your ads further, you can send them to your designer or our digital artists, who will refine them in 48 hours.

• The AI Marketer uses predictive analytics to guide your next steps for maximizing ad results and even helps you launch your first campaign.

Try Madgicx for free and take your Instagram advertising to the next level.

​​🛎️ For more information on managing your ads, check out our guide on Facebook Ads Manager and use our Facebook Ad Cost Calculator to estimate your advertising costs.

FAQs about using Instagram for business

Alright, let’s answer some common questions about using IG for business.

How much does it cost to use Instagram for business?

Creating and maintaining an Instagram business account is free. However, you may incur costs for:

1. Content creation (if outsourcing)

2. Advertising (you set your budget)

3. Tools or apps for analytics, scheduling, or editing

​​🛎️ For more information on advertising costs and strategies, check out our guides on Facebook advertising and social media advertising platforms.

How do I use Instagram only for business?

To use Instagram solely for business:

1. Create a separate business account

2. Keep personal content off this account

3. Focus on your brand's message and offerings

4. Engage professionally with your audience

5. Use business-specific features like insights and promotions

Is Instagram for business free?

Yes, setting up and using an Instagram business account is free. You only pay for optional features like advertising or third-party tools.

Conclusion

Instagram offers one of the best ways for large and small businesses to connect with their audience, showcase products, and drive sales. By switching to an Instagram business profile, sprucing the profile up, investing in content that grabs attention, and tapping into features like Stories and Shopping, you can milk Instagram’s potential to grow your brand. 

Remember, consistency and authenticity are key to building a solid presence on any social media platform. Start implementing these strategies today, and watch your Instagram business account flourish.