The Covid-19 pandemic has significantly changed the way that business owners engage their public. You can no longer rely on advertising methods like TV and radio commercials to bring in business. Because of lockdown orders, you need to figure out a new way to get people to buy products and services from your business from the safety of their own homes.

To facilitate a better outreach for your business, you need to make full use of social networking and the critical advantages that it can offer to entrepreneurs like you. If you neglected your business’s Instagram account prior to the Covid-19 outbreak, use these critical tips to jump-start it now.

Communicate Critical Basics about Your Business

As you ramp up your Instagram posts, you need to keep not only your established clientele but also new customers in mind. To reiterate what your company is about and how customers can access your products and services, you need to reiterate key details like your:

• Location
• Phone number
• Website address
• Hours of operation
• Product or service list
• Options for curbside, pick up or delivery services in your geographical area

These details should be posted prominently on your Instagram profile page

You also should highlight information for customers on how they can buy gift cards from your business if they cannot or choose not to shop with you right now. Gift card sales can be critical for keeping your company financially afloat until the economy opens and you can resume in-person sales.

Develop a Three to Six-month Instagram Posting Strategy

Government officials in your state may not be entirely forthcoming about when they will allow businesses like yours to open their doors to the public. Because you cannot be sure if you will be available to the public next week, next month, or even a few months from now, you need to develop a three to six-month Instagram posting strategy.

You need to determine how often you should create new posts for your targeted audience. Some business owners post every day to remind customers to shop with them. Daily posting has allowed businesses like restaurants to post daily specials and make critical revenue during the pandemic.

Other businesses post every week and sometimes create contests to foster engagement with the public. They choose the winner of the contest at the end of the week and provide details for how the person can pick up or have his or her prize delivered.

The frequency at which you post on Instagram will largely depend on what kind of business you run and what kind of financial needs that you face right now during the Covid-19 shutdown. You also need to consider what kind of engagement and sense of community that you want to foster with your customers so that they come back and do business with you after the state reopens for business.

Identify Your Target Audience

It goes without saying that you need to identify your target audience before ramping up your Instagram account. Your posts should clearly reflect whom you are speaking.

You want that clientele to zone in on your posts and engage with you by posting back, asking you questions about products and services or ideally buying something from you. You need to ask yourself to whom you are really selling, whether it be parents in the throes of homeschooling their children right now, pet parents, women on the lookout for beauty products and resources, men wanting to buy hunting supplies or auto parts or anyone else that you want to buy from you.

Decide What Kind of Content to Post

You then must determine what kind of content you want to post on your Instagram account. You have a number of options available to you. You can post pictures of your products, for example, to show how appealing they are and why customers should continue to buy them from you.

You can also do live Instagram videos to talk directly to your clientele and show them how or why to use something that you sell. Business owners actually generate a high degree of interest when they do live videos. Customers enjoy seeing and hearing from company owners in person and having the opportunity to ask questions while the video is still ongoing.

In fact, how-to videos are going over well with the public during the Covid-19 shutdown. Some entrepreneurs are doing videos showing how to do manicures, for example, or how to bake a cake or pie. Craft business owners are doing live videos showing how to make crafts like crocheted blankets or potholders.

Consider doing a live video at least once a week or more often to pique the curiosity of your customers as well as to encourage them to continue engaging with your business. You also need to remember to post links to products and services that you highlight in pictures or videos in the bio or profile page of your Instagram account.

Create an Instagram Post Calendar

It can be challenging to come up with fresh and new ideas for Instagram posts every day or week. To avoid getting overwhelmed with your social networking posts, create a calendar of what to post.

You can brainstorm now to come up with ideas of what to post and when. By sticking to this schedule while also allowing for flexibility for changes as needed, you can stay on track with keeping your Instagram account active and interesting. You have a better chance of maintaining it and avoid having it fall dormant and losing your business customers.

Clear Calls to Action

Every Instagram post that you create should have a clear call to action for customers. You need to verbally remind them to call, email, or otherwise reach out to you.

You also need to encourage them to shop for the products and services that you sell and schedule a pickup or delivery from your business. Customers are more apt to choose your business if you put out a call to action in your Instagram posts.

These tips are a few to keep in mind as you prepare to jump-start your Instagram account. Social networking is vital for keeping your business alive and financially afloat during the pandemic.

You could find that your business not only survives Covid-19 but also generates more interest and garners more customers than it did prior to the shutdown. You demonstrate to customers that you are still available to them and want to engage them as much as possible until you can open your business’s doors to the public again.