Читать книгу Instagram For Business For Dummies - Eric Butow - Страница 50

Chances are you already have a good idea about who your competition is offline, especially if your business serves customers locally. If you have several business names to research, finding them on Instagram is fairly easy if they each have an account.

Here are two easy ways to find the Instagram accounts of your competitors:

 Go to their websites and see whether they have a link to their Instagram accounts. If so, click the link or Instagram icon.

 Go to Instagram directly and click the magnifying glass at the bottom of the page to display the Search field. Then tap in the Search field and type the business name (see Figure 3-4) and see whether the business appears. Tap the name to go to the account.

If you're using the second research method, several accounts might have similar names. If you can't distinguish which one is the correct account, use the first method to verify that you've found the correct one.

FIGURE 3-4: Type a business name in the Search field, and look for its Instagram account in the list that appears.

After you locate a competitor's Instagram account, look at its profile page. Some businesses take more care with their profile page than others. Ask yourself the following:

 Does the profile page have an easily identifiable username?

 Is the account set up as a business account? (Email or Contact buttons are displayed on business accounts, as shown in Figure 3-5.)

 Does the page explain what the business does in a simple way?

 Does the business include a link to its website or another resource?

 Are photos, images, and videos used in a cohesive way?

 Does the page have an Instagram story running?

Look at what your competitor has done. Can you learn any lessons, good or bad, for your own profile? For more information about creating a winning profile, see Chapter 2.

Next, tap the most recent post that the competitor’s account posted. Take note of the image and caption. Does the post

 Have an intriguing image, video, or photo?

 Use text overlays that might include a quote, phrase, or statistic?

 Use filters? If so, is one filter used consistently?

 Have a caption? If so, does it make you want to know more?

 Use hashtags? If so, how many?

Go through this set of questions with several of your competitor’s posts. Note which of them received the highest engagement (most likes and comments). Also note the posts that received low engagement.

If you'd like to get more technical, set up an Excel spreadsheet using the preceding questions as column headings and note similarities between winning and losing posts. Repeat the process with other competitors. Then use the information to craft posts that are more attractive to your target audience.

This process doesn't need to be restricted to competitor research. Feel free to see what other brands are doing successfully on Instagram and determine whether their techniques can be translated to your business.

FIGURE 3-5: A business profile can display buttons for Contact or Email, and other action items.