The Complete INSTAGRAM FOR BUSINESS GUIDE (Reels, Stories, Verification, Instagram Shopping & More!)

of getting that coveted blue check mark next to your name [music] most commonly seen with celebrities and major brands. A verified badge lets profile visitors know that Instagram's verification team has vetted your profile and that you are legit since the verification badge cannot be bought. This inspires confidence and conveys prestige. So any service claiming they can get you verified for a fee is definitely a scam. There are a few key reasons for you to try and get verified for one. It stops impersonation whether you're an e-commerce brand or an influencer, letting your profile visitors know that you are the real deal is the main reason to apply for the badge. Second, is credibility. The blue tick has become a subconscious anchor of trustworthiness for Instagram users. This makes your profile a natural leader in your space, increasing your engagement, and of course, sales third is all about continued growth. Verified accounts appear higher up in search when people type things into the search bar that align with your content category. This helps increase brand awareness, audience growth and conversions too. So let's take a look at the four requirements to get verified. One is to be authentic, you're a real human or a real brand. and you'll need to be prepared to have documentation to prove it. Two is to be a unique profile, which means you can't have multiple accounts for the same person or business unless they're multiple language accounts. Uniqueness also has to do with original content, meaning even if you have tens of millions of followers, but you're a meme account or a fan account verification won't be approved. Three is to have a complete profile. This means at the very least you've got to have a public profile, a profile, picture, a written bio and be an active user. One thing Instagram doesn't clearly define is what being an active user entails. But we can confidently assume that it means that you've got a post share and comment on content regularly say at least once a week on average. Now these first three requirements are pretty simple to achieve. So why is getting verified so elusive? It's because of the fourth requirement which is to be notable being notable isn't clearly defined. But as a guideline Instagram defines it as your profile representing a well-known or highly searched for personal brand. The actual process of applying for verification is tremendously easy. It's all done directly in app from your profile. tap the menu button on the top right which brings up the menu tap settings up top then account near the bottom of the following menu. Then request verification. Step one is to fill out your information. You've got to put your real full name and then upload a document like a driver's license. If you're requesting verification of a business you can put the full legal name of a business and then upload your articles of incorporation or LLC registering paperwork. Instead step two is to confirm your notability. First you'll select your category from a list. Next you'll choose your country or region from a list. And after that there are two optional fields one called audience where Instagram instructs you to optionally describe the people who follow your account what they're interested in and why they follow you. The other optional field is the also known as field where you can list the other names of the person or business your account represents is publicly known as like stage names or names in other languages. The next section, although optional, is where most of us will definitely want to take the time to fill out. And those are links that help with verification. i'm talking news articles, social media accounts, you're already verified on and other relevant links that show your account is notable. So if you're applying for your business, definitely include your business's website as well. you'll see there's an ad link button at the bottom of the list of three. And at least at the time of recording this video, it allows you to add an additional 2 for a total of five links. And I definitely recommend you use them all if you're not already very obviously famous globally or at least nationally. Once you've added those links, you hit submit, and that's it. You have successfully submitted you or your business for verification within 30 days. Instagram will notify you through your activity feed whether or not your application was successful. If it was, you'll get that blue check mark right away. That last requirement of being notable is the toughest requirement to hit. We know Now that of course, you want to have a profile photo and a completed bio that succinctly shares who you are or what your brand is all about. We know that buying followers is bad for so many reasons. But in the case of getting verified, it is a sure shot way to get denied since Instagram will find out while they perform the verifications. After all, no one suddenly gets 10, 000 subscribers over the course of two days, but only gets one or two every day before and after. We know the importance of following Instagram's community the top right corner of your screen. This is going to be next to your notifications and messages. Or you can swipe your screen to the right, select story from the options of what you want to create, take a photo or record a video, or you can swipe to access your camera, roll to upload a photo, graphic video or boomerang that you've already made. But just remember that they do have to be in a vertical format, edit your photo or video using Instagram's various editing options, tap the your stories button to post to your public story or the close friends button to send only to a specific group if you do have the setup. And that is it. So that's the easy part. Now the hard part is creating content that people are going to want to keep coming back for but don't worry, we've got you covered here. Are some pro tips to help you blow up your Instagram following [MUSIC] use highlights. So when a new customer comes across your profile, having highlights is a really great way to showcase who you are and what you are about. So whether you're running a business or maybe you're a content creator, you can actually use highlights to quickly give your audience an overall picture of who you are and what you do. So for my business people, you might want to include FAQs or maybe you want to include testimonials and maybe some other how--to content For my content creators, you might want to include categorical highlights, like outfit INSpo, and you might also want to include behind the scenes highlights so that your audience can actually know you, on a personal level, sharing highlight content, that's useful and entertaining is a really great way to turn a viewer into a follower, do takeovers. So you can collaborate with other brands and other content creators to do a story takeover. A story takeover is when you appear in others stories. So you can do this by paying for those story slots. You can do this by exchanging stories, as long as you do have a very similar follower account. So the way that this works is you would produce exclusive content, send the videos over to your partner, and then they would post it, but you want to make sure that you are including a call to action, and that your handle is there so that your followers know where to find you. This tactic actually used to be a lot more trendy a few years ago, But nonetheless, it still works. And it's still a really great tool to connect with other brands and other content creators. And it's really great to start those relationships. And of course, this is going to help you boost your follower account, create shareable content. So you're going to want to make your stories go viral, the more shareable your content is, the more people you reach, and the more followers you're going to gain. So how do you actually make shareable and more viral content? What you're going to want to do is you're going to want to ask yourself, what is the job that the content is going to do for my followers? Is it going to inspire them? Is it going to make them laugh, Teach them something, impress them with something interesting or you can think about it this way. What would you share with your friends if I look back at my own DMs and see what I've shared with my sister for example it's always something that's relatable and usually something that's hilarious. And it's definitely something that I've never seen before. So try not to simply repost other people's content. If you really do want to gain a loyal and an engaged following, try to start off with a hook that captures uh curiosity or generates an emotional response because people go through stories so quickly. So you definitely need to create something that jumps out right away if you don't want to stress every day over what you're going to be posting, consider treating your Instagram store stories like a TV network. So you can make scheduled programming for the week or even reoccurring episodes that happen on certain days. Planning themes in advance is going to help you create more addictive content for your viewers. run a giveaway via stories. Offer your audience a prize in exchange for them sharing your content. Also make sure that in order to enter the giveaway, they must be following you. And this is going to be a really great way to grow because your audience essentially acts as your own team of marketers. Them sharing your content helps you reach a new audience that you didn't have access to before. And this can really grow your follower account exponentially. Now, if you're wondering, what can I give away, you've got tons of options. If you're a business, you can give away a physical product. You can issue a coupon code If you're an influencer, maybe try teaming up with a brand to give away some products. lots of brands are looking for influencers to market them on their behalf. So this would be equally beneficial for both of you use Instagram story features. You can increase your exposure and your engagement by strategically using features like Instagram stickers, use question stickers to talk directly to your audience and you can overlay a question sticker onto your photo or your video. You can just ask your audience for their opinion. or maybe you can let them ask you if they have any questions, gift stickers and music stickers are another way to spice up your Instagram stories and honestly don't take yourself too seriously. Just have fun with your audience and that should help increase some engagement. Now if you're trying to reach more people locally, you can use Geotags by regularly tagging your location in your story. When it is relevant, Instagram will show to people who are checking in on that particular spot, be present. So don't be afraid to get in front of the camera. You know, your audience really does want to see you. and they want to see the people that run your business. Now if you're able, try talking to them, like you would a friend, because if someone happens upon your profile, they might feel connected to you. And then they might want to follow you cheekbone beauty, their founder gets on stories, reels and feed posts. And not only is being present in front of the camera, a really great way to gain more followers, it's also a really good way to retain your followers, and your next reel. one, start your video off with a hook that captures curiosity. You can do this by starting with a bold statement, starting in the middle of the action at a dramatic moment or asking a question, but withholding the answer two, make fast--paced edits. Instagram reels should be dynamic. They need to give the viewer a constant feeling of novelty. Three, tell a story, the human brain is hardwired to respond to stories, use a story to package information with emotion, and let details unfold bit by bit, to keep the viewers tuned in. Four, ask yourself, what job is the video going to do for the audience? Are they going to learn something? Are they going to be entertained to feel inspired? Make sure you are providing value, get trends on Instagram and tick-tock and add your own spin. Make sure they align with your audience's interests. Whatever you do don't just blindly follow trends. People can spot inauthenticity or copycats miles away. So be original. Now I'll make a sample reel for Instagram so you can see all the cool features and options available to you when creating your own. There are so many cool features with reels and looking at the left hand creative menu before you even start filming your first one can be a bit overwhelming me. I like starting with choosing the maximum duration and with the sample reels I'll be creating, I'm going to limit myself to 30 seconds since shorter reels generally have better retention and engagement. So the simple reels I'll be making will be sharing three productivity tips for entrepreneurs and we'll be using all of the robust creative tools in reels to help us out. I'll go and tap this layout tool, change the layouts to this top and bottom split where I can first fill my face, saying the tip to the camera, then flip the camera and demonstrate the tip on the bottom half. tapping next on the bottom right allows you to edit your reels. And this is where I'll be able to add a soundtrack and sound effects from the Instagram music and sound library, add text and graphics and even add cool effects and filters onto my clips with all the editing done. let's take a look at the final product. Here are three productivity hacks to help you get into the zone and accomplish more. Tomorrow's productivity starts tonight. Before you go to bed, jot down the three things you must accomplish tomorrow. So you're ready to go with confidence. schedule your procrastination put 50 minute time blocks every two hours into your calendar, specifically to get distracted when you schedule distractions magically you stop getting distracted. Motion creates motivation, move your body every hour, blood flow clears the mind and resets your focus and energy. What's your top productivity tip? As you saw through that quick demo, there are so many fun and powerful tools that can enable your creativity and imagination to come to life and most importantly engage with and grow your audience and brand So many features. The best way to learn about all of them is to just start creating and let your imagination guide you. But if your imagination is stuck, no worries because I'm about to share the best types of content ideas to start trying out with reels. whether you're a creator who's looking to increase your influence or you're an e-commerce entrepreneur looking to increase sales going back to the best types of content to start experimenting with reels. There are three I'd recommend starting with and the first one are how--to videos whether you're an entrepreneur with your own product or you're an influencer using other companies products how--to reels are effective because they enable viewers to quickly understand how something works when we're making a purchasing decision it might be painstaking to read through a bunch of reviews but oftentimes the most powerful way to decide if something is right for us is to just see how it works in real life being used by a real person and the short format and editing capabilities of Instagram reels means you can distill even complicated tutorials with multiple steps into a super quick and easy to digest how--to tutorial next up are inspirational clips and I don't mean motivational speech type stuff although of course you can absolutely create those as well but I'm talking about idea inspiration similar to the how-to type of videos, this can work whether you're an e-commerce business owner or a budding influencer. I mean, if your content you post is primarily about indoor gardening, you can create a reel with a few different indoor garden setups featuring easy to care for plants, but that same reel is just as effective if you own a business that sells home gardening tools and seeds. The idea here is to show your viewers what's possible and inspire them to take action to yield results. You share in your Instagram reel. The third type of reel that you can start experimenting with are behind the scenes or teaser videos. If your Instagram account is for your business, you can get unplugged and raw with some of your Instagram reels to really build a human connection with your audience. They may be used to only seeing super polished product shots on your main page, but using reels to introduce your audience to the real you. maybe the type of coffee you enjoy, or perhaps introducing them to your pet, or hate giving them a super sneak peek into an upcoming product launch. Are all ways to peel back the curtain and let your audience feel more connected and therefore more invested in you and your business. The same goes for you. Even if you don',t have are actually going to lose interest in less than two seconds. That is a fact of life. Two seconds before someone starts to scroll. So you want to start your video with audio and visuals that take up a lot of space. Maybe someone's jumping into frame, maybe you have someone dancing, maybe you have like a really crazy interesting fact. You're sharing right away. Or maybe you have like crazy visuals of like someone skydiving or like a landfill or something. Maybe you're telling a joke with a quick punchline. I don't know. The point is, is that the hook is what is going to get people to continue to watch. And then when Instagram sees that your content is being watched, they're going to push it out to more people, which means more exposure for you. Should you be posting? Well, you should be posting one to two times per day in the current state that Instagram is in. And I know it's like, should you quit your day job in order just to do this. But if you choose formats that are simple to complete, you can actually make it a lot easier on yourself, it can be time consuming. Yes, that's true. But honestly, anything worthwhile is, so if you're posting reels and you're doing that consistently you're going to be golden. Instagram is making a point to make their search function better on the platform. So when you think about the way that Youtube or Google search function works you know that when you search something you're going to get the results that you're looking for. So Instagram is trying to improve that about their platform. So what that means for you is you want to include keywords you think people will be searching into Instagram into your content and into your profile. So like let's say you run a business where you do people's nails. For example maybe you're a nail technician then you might want to include the keywords nail technician in your bio your captions your hashtags all that so make sure that you're focusing on keywords. So speaking of hashtags are they dead hashtags aren't dead they're not but they're definitely different from of all, what is Instagram shopping? Well, Instagram shops, sync all of the products that you have in your Shopify store directly into your Instagram account. This allows your customers to click on a shopping icon on your posts or your stories to buy your products directly from Instagram. Customers can view your entire product catalog without needing to leave their favorite social app. This makes for a much smoother experience for your customers. And we all know that less friction during the buying process equals more sales. On top of this, Using Instagram shopping makes it way easier on you as a business owner. Because you can simply use Shopify to track and manage your orders from multiple sales channels, all in one place. You can even use Shopify to expand into new audiences by running Instagram ads. And when it comes to setting up Instagram shopping on Shopify, it could not be more simple. Just connect your online store to the Facebook sales channel and all your shopify products will automatically sync into Instagram. This makes creating ads and shoppable posts a breeze. Before you do this, you'll need to make sure you've set up a Facebook business page and have products in your Facebook catalog. So first things first, make sure that your personal account is converted to an Instagram business account and make sure that your business sells physical goods that comply with Instagram's commerce policies. Then you need to connect your Instagram account to a catalog. start by logging into your meta commerce manager. Once you're in commerce manager, click add catalog, then choose the catalog type you'd like to create. If you're an online retailer, you're going to want to create an e-commerce catalog, then you need to upload your inventory. If you're selling a small amount of products, you can manually upload this product information to your catalog or as I mentioned, you can connect a partner platform like Shopify to automatically import all your items from there. You need to use the following steps. Number one from your shopify admin, click Facebook under the sales channels in the left menu bar number two click set up to start in the Instagram shopping section. Step 3, connect the required Facebook accounts to the Facebook sales channel and step 4 review and accept the terms and conditions then click request approval. It does take 24 to 48 hours for Facebook to review your products. But then boom, you can start selling on Instagram. Now let's go over the best tools that Instagram shopping offers, which will help you promote your products on the app. The first is shoppable posts These are just what they sound like. Once you've synced up your online store with Instagram, you can tag your products in any post on your feed. This makes it super easy for customers to click through directly from any post and shop and is a great way to make use of any user generated content. but more on that later. Product stickers, similar to shoppable posts, product stickers, let you tag your products in your Instagram stories. And since there are over 500 million story views every single day, and growing, this is a great way to feature your products again, in a way that is very clickable and engaging for your customers. If you've set up Instagram shopping and added in some products, your profile will automatically have a very handy view shop option that features all your synced products your products at your store. Not only can you tag your feed post, just like you tag other accounts, but you can now mention clickable products in your captions, and add product tags to your stories, and your reels. Not only is this super helpful for customers to be able to shop your products, but tagging also helps you get discovered in the first place. Instagram's shop tab is curated based on algorithm, meaning that your tagged products can be shown to people who have never heard of you before, just because they've shown interest in similar products in the past. in many ways, this is a win--win, because you get to reach new people and customers get introduced to products that they're pretty likely to love. But typically only tagged products will get featured on this tab. So it's a really good idea to incorporate product tagging into your regular social media marketing. Number two, create shoppable ads setting up Instagram shopping lets you take your ads to the next level, which is what you want. If you're going to be investing money into your marketing using shoppable ads, instead of regular ones means that customers can click through to product tags and shop directly from the post. If you're in the US, you can even run ads with Instagram checkout, which means that customers won't even have to go to your website to see the product. They could just check out directly through the app. These ads can use one image or a whole carousel or even video content to promote your products. And they're usually shown in a customer's feed or on their Explore page. Now, if you're going to be paying for your products to be shown to new customers, you're going to want to make the process as easy as possible for those customers to click through, learn more and eventually purchase your product, Shoppable ads are the perfect way to do exactly that. Number three partner with influencers, As I mentioned before, Instagram is planning to release product tagging to everyone sometime soon. But for now, the only way for other accounts to tag your products is to set up shopping from creators and partner with influencers to share your stuff. Again, this feature is unfortunately only offered to US-based accounts right now, but will hopefully be available worldwide very soon. Once you've set up your Instagram shopping account and added in all your products, you can head over to your settings to find creators to list as approved accounts. This means that your products can be shared by those influencers. and you'll get access to analytics for each of their posts to see which a writer from a bigger city state or provincial newspaper will siphon their content research efforts into that local blogger who wrote about you. And perhaps just as the filler piece, reach out to you for comment and publish that story in their paper, As long as you understand that every writer at every major publication is constantly pressured for content, you are armed with the knowledge to set yourself up, to gain traditional media coverage, give writers what they want something new to write about. After getting your name published in a few articles, you'll have proof that you're notable. And by the way, if you do have deeper pockets and really want to expedite the process, you can hire a PR agency. If you decide to go this route, be sure to clarify before hiring them, that they are an agency that has access to something called the Facebook media support tools portal, where they can submit a verification request on your behalf through their access. But again, this is if you have deep pockets. I spoke with a friend who has a big Youtube channel who was quoted forty thousand dollars by one such agency. And there wasn't even a guarantee of getting verified since at the end of the day. Ultimately, it's up to Instagram's verification team. By the way, if you are active on Instagram and are growing your following and also have merch or products to sell, did you know that? Shopify has an incredibly powerful integration with Instagram that lets people buy your products directly from your posts inside of the Instagram app without ever needing to leave. If you',re ready to take your business or personal brand to the next level. By selling products, I welcome you to claim your 100 free trial to shopify where you can set up your store, add products, integrate with Instagram and make your first sale all. well, before your trial ends, you can access your free trial by clicking the link right up here, or in the link down in the description below. To quickly summarize verification, though, make sure your profile is complete with a profile pic, a complete bio, a link like your personal