When I studied marketing at DePauw, I learned about how important brand awareness is for new businesses. It’s hard to break into a new market, but social media is helping new companies get off on the right foot.

Instagram is a great tool for keeping your business top of mind with consumers. This is especially helpful if you’re targeting a younger audience.

Instagram has more than 1 billion active users each month, and one-fifth of those users check out a business profile daily. Maybe Instagram could help you?

Here’s a quick primer for how to get started on Instagram. There’s so much more that could be said, but if you’re looking to jump right in, this list should help.

1.       Set up an account. Your user name can only have 30 characters, so if your business name is long, think of a way to condense it. The good news is that you have 150 characters for your company bio. That should be plenty of room for your full name and a bit about what you do.

2.       Use hashtags wisely. Hashtags (like #shoes or #easyrecipe, for example) allow users to search for topics they want to see posts on. You want to use hashtags that relate to your business and make it easier for customers to find your account. But, don’t just rely on what hashtags are trending or popular and include those in an unrelated company post. People don’t like that. And, research has found the average interaction with a post increases on up to five hashtags, and drops after five hashtags.

3.       Use Instagram Stories. Stories are a great way to build, grow and interact with your audience. You can post one or more photos or videos, and use this feature to announce a flash sale, a new product, or give a behind-the-scenes look at your business. On average, one in five Stories gets a direct message. You could generate a lot of leads with your Stories!

4.       Post often. Major brands post an average of 1.5 times per day. If you have a new business, that might seem overwhelming! But don’t let that stop you. Just set up a schedule where you consistently post, say twice a week, so you can still get in front of your audience. It’s better to only post once a week with great content than to post every day with content that doesn’t engage users.

5.       Monitor your Instagram Insights. Insights are analytics for Instagram. You can see what posts had higher engagement rates, or if people are more engaged on certain days or times of the day. Check out Instagram’s Best Practices for Instagram Insights for more details on how to use this feature.

Did you find this primer helpful? What would you add? If you’ve been using Instagram for awhile, what have you found to be helpful for new companies? Send me an email or a comment, and I’ll be glad to include your thoughts in updates to this post!