[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Is your small business leveraging every possible branding opportunity on Instagram? In this article, I explore 5 different placements that you can use to strengthen brand recognition while getting the word out about your products and services.[/vc_column_text][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/fG1DbQq5dEs” el_width=”70″ align=”center”][vc_column_text]Before we jump into the nitty gritty of how you can use Instagram as a small business branding opportunity, I want to talk a little bit about why it’s important. If you’ve done any marketing for your business, you likely already know that you have to build a “know, like, and trust” factor with your audience. This is absolutely necessary before they will make a purchase from you.
Branding is one way that you can start to build that brand recognition. When you start to show up consistently with the same colors, fonts, and look and feel throughout your content, people will start to recognize your content over time.
Showing up with a consistent look and feel also demonsstrates that you put a bit more thought into your content, and that kind of attention to detail can make your brand that much more trustworthy.
So how can you take this concept and translate it to your Instagram account?
Read on to discover 5 placements where you can your unique branding into your Instagram strategy.
1. Your main profile grid
The first placement and possibly the most obvious would be into the actual posts that you’re putting onto your grid.
Now I’m not saying that you have to have a picture perfect grid. In fact, in 2021, we’re kind of moving away from that picture perfect grid style on Instagram.
However, if you plan out your content, there are ways that you can integrate your brand’s colors and fonts, so that in general, you’re always coming back to those three or four core colors in your feed.
2. The tone of the messaging in your captions
You should have a general tone that you speak to your audience in. Keep that consistent throughout your posts.
The easiest way to tackle how to handle this messaging is to think about how you might talk to that one specific person that you’re trying to reach.
Perhaps you’re going for an informational tone, a funny tone, or you use some kind of slang. Whatever your style is, make sure that it’s consistent throughout your posts.
3. Your Instagram story highlights
If you don’t use them already, I highly recommend using story highlights. These can sometimes act as mini-website. If somebody comes to your profile and they want to get to know you quickly, they could explore some of those highlights to get a better sense of what they’re looking for.
Instagram does allow you to add covers to highlights, so make sure that you’re utilizing that feature as another branding opportunity.
4. Use your branding within your Instagram Stories.
There are several ways that you can brand your Instagram stories and take them to that next level. By using either Photoshop or Canva, you can create a small color palette as an image and save it within your camera roll.
If you add that image to your Instagram story, you’ll be able to use the eyedropper tool in order to color select the exact color code from that color palette image. You’ll be able to use that color for the rest of the elements within your story.
You can also create a folder on your phone that contains of images that relate to your branding.
For example, in my branding, I have a few textures and icons that I use a lot in order to accent images. All of these PNG images all live within a single folder on my phone. Anytime I want to use one of those images I simply go to my camera roll and then copy the image from my camera roll, and paste it into my Instagram story.
5. Use the cover feature for Reels and IGTV.
When you don’t add a cover image, it can be difficult with video content on Instagram to describe the main benefit of why someone might want to watch that video. This is where covers come into play.
With covers, you can create a custom branded image that also tells the audience, the main benefit of why they should watch. Again, this is another placement where you can integrate your brand colors, fonts, and textures.
Need help crafting your small business branding strategy on Instagram? I’d love to help. Check out my marketing coaching services, so that you can get a solid strategy in place for your brand![/vc_column_text][vc_btn title=”Learn More” style=”flat” shape=”square” color=”violet” size=”lg” align=”left” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.megangersch.com%2Fservices%2Fmarketing-coaching%2F|title:Marketing%20Coaching|target:_blank” el_class=”bookBtn”][/vc_column][/vc_row]