Social media is a brilliant asset for small businesses looking to grow quickly. In terms of design and usability, Instagram is the most useful platform for this aim and is today one of the best financial and time investments a small company can make. Through just an Instagram account, some perseverance and a couple of creative campaigns, a business can massively improve its web presence in record time.

It builds a loyal and engaged audience

The essence of social media is hooking an audience and making them feel like they need a daily hit of your content. This isn’t just the case for personal accounts — it’s the same for businesses, and the results can have a huge impact on your web presence.

Instagram is one of the best social media platforms for developing a loyal audience. Posting great content consistently can quickly help you build up a base of followers who will want to engage with and share your content. Many social users place a piece of their identity on who they follow and interact with, sharing content they believe reflects well on them.

If you’ve got a following who believes in what you’re doing on Instagram, it can help make your content spread across the web. This can start as small as them sharing posts to their friends and eventually grow into your posts featuring in media articles and taking advantage of their high engagement.

This type of loyal audience is built by posting consistently great and, most importantly, interactive content. Beautifully photographed posts built around actionable captions can first entice a fan base to learn more about you and then convince them to spread the word of your business for little or no personal gain. Everyone from pop stars to athletes use these methods when building their online audience, so make sure you aren’t missing out.

It gives your business a face

Social media has heavily contributed to the idea that every business needs a brand and a face to go with that brand. This is especially true on Instagram. Its visual nature lends itself to this, but it’s also what the audience has come to expect. If you can craft a great personal image of your business though it can help spread it around the web like wildfire.

Content that allows users a peek behind the curtain at what your business does and who works there is some of the best performings on Instagram. You could upload these videos to your own website, but they’ll receive nowhere near the level of engagement as they would on Instagram. The platform was designed to help people show off more about themselves, so embrace that idea for your business.

Giving your brand a face can help establish you as knowledgeable and leaders within your field, something that has shown to improve the performance of small businesses. If you think customers don’t have enough trust in who you are, consider using Instagram to tell your story.

It opens you up to working with influencers

Influencers are a huge part of the culture of Instagram. Whatever you think of influencers, it’s undeniable that they have a huge effect on businesses they work with and have a unique way of directing their audience’s attention towards their products and services. A relationship with an influencer can be a great way to expand your business’ presence on the web amongst certain demographics.

Promotion from a popular influencer opens you up to an entirely new audience you may previously not have been able to reach. Now you have an engaged and active group willing to share your content because an influencer they’re invested in approved it. Likewise, you will now be associated with that influencer for life. They may only have a one post deal with you, but that post is permanent and you can continue to interact with them in their comments section, further exposing yourself to their audience. Wherever they go on the web and every time their Instagram is linked your business will also have a presence.

It creates a new sales channel

An Instagram account is worth investing in as a business just for the fact it’s an additional sales channel. In the last few years, Instagram has developed a number of new features that make shopping through the platform faster than ever. In 2019 60% of users found out about new products from Instagram, so it’s clear how much good it can do for your overall presence.

Shoppable posts and swiping up from Stories are just two ways users can go directly from Instagram to shopping with your store. Enabling and using these functions expands your net for catching potential customers. Rather than limiting your online presence to just your website, you are now exposed to a wider audience, such as users browsing the Instagram app who likely wouldn’t have otherwise ended up on your website during that browsing session.

Small businesses with a strong image can’t afford to not harness the power of Instagram. Don’t miss out on a massive potential customer base who will engage with and champion your brand. A massively improved web presence is just a couple of photographs away.