In August this year, Instagram announced that it was launching Instagram Reels. Yet another easy to use and entertaining feature from the social media powerhouse. It is innovations like this that keep users interested in Instagram and keep businesses interested in reaching its users.

According to Instagram’s own reports, 90% of its one billion active accounts follow a business on Instagram. It’s no wonder then that there are millions of businesses using the platform to tout their wares. If you are one of these millions of businesses, you are probably wondering how to boost your Instagram business profile to get ahead of the competition. 

Here are some of the top tools that can help businesses grow their Instagram success.

Canva – For Professional Looking Content

This graphic design tool is intuitive and slightly addictive. Use it to create consistent looking templates for your Instagram posts that match your brand. The free version of Canva offers a wide selection of ready made Instagram Story templates and post templates that you can tweak and play around with. You don’t need any design training to use Canva. Having a set of on-brand templates to use will give your Instagram game a more polished and professional look for minimum expense. Canva has both a free and paid option and is available for desktop, android, and iOS devices. 

Iconosquare – For Instagram Insights

Iconosquare will give you data about your profile and posts that you can use to improve your future posts and campaigns. You will know beyond doubt which posts are hitting the mark and which are falling flat with your target audience. 

You will be able to tap into analytics for your Instagram Stories, posts, and paid ads. Not only that, but Iconosquare will track mentions of your brands and automate your reports.  For small businesses and marketers, there is a monthly fee of $29 and there are some free tools such as Instagram audits to avail of. You can also trial Iconosquare for 14 days.  

Take a look at the Iconosquare case studies for an idea of how brands like Gymshark, Mondays, and Kicker have all used the tool.

Bitly – For Tracking Clicks

Ever wish you could have more control over your campaign redirects on Instagram? You’re not alone. As frustrating as it is that links don’t work in Instagram posts, one way that you can take control of the link in your bio is to use a trackable link. Use Bitly to find out exactly how many people clicked through from your bio. Bitly will also tell you the location of the users who click through and what days saw the most traffic. One very useful way to use link trackers like Bitly is to create separate links for each channel that a campaign runs on, helping you understand where your campaign was most popular. Get started with the free version before moving to the $29 per month version for the ability to create 1500 branded links.

TapInfluence – For Finding The Right Influencer

Picking the right Influencer to match your brand can be tricky. Sure, you might know which ones are popular but how do you know if they are worth the investment? Step in TapInfluence – an Influencer marketing tool that helps you get a full understanding of the type of content an Influencer shares, their audience data, and demographics before you hire them. Then, when you have chosen an Influencer and started to work together, TapInfluence will track your influencer campaigns.

Home to more than 550 thousand Influencers and creators, you are sure to find one that suits your brand. To find a suitable Influencer, search using keywords, or use the visual search. 

LeeTags – For Hashtags

Take the guessing out of hashtags by using LeeTags. This free app will generate your hashtags for you. Better still, it doesn’t just randomly create hashtags based on your post text but will actually present the most relevant and popular hashtags being used on the platform. Trends come and go on social media and hashtags come and go. Use LeeTags to stay up to date with current trends and reach the audiences that matter.

Gleam – For Running Competitions

Giveaways and competitions are always popular, no matter what the channel. Instagram is no different. In fact, research by TailWind discovered that an Instagram contest or giveaway can help you grow your followers 70% faster.  To take the stress out of running a competition or giveaway, Gleam integrates with your account to help your run them smoothly. 

Using a growth marketing tool like Gleam means that not will your Instagram brand grow in popularity but you will also be able to capture leads and grow your mailing list. For the full package, you’re looking at a price tag of $97 per month. However, there is an option to pay less for individual tools, such as $10 per month for the competition function.

Curalate – To Harness user Generated Content

A great way to celebrate your followers and customers is by sharing their posts on your business profile and thanking them for their loyalty. That said, tracking down user-generated content (UGC) specific to your brand is not always straightforward. It can also be time-consuming and time isn’t something every business owner or marketer has an abundance of. Why not then use a tool that tracks content for you? Curalate does just that and more. Once Curalte finds relevant UGC, it helps you display them as galleries and carousels on your profile. Even better, you can then turn these UGC posts into shoppable posts. 

Whichever method you choose to boost your Instagram profile, be clear beforehand about what you hope to achieve. All the tools listed here, plus the thousands of others available, have attractive benefits but they are only worth the investment if they can deliver what your brand requires. To start with, it is advisable to get to know your existing audience through analytics. This will give you a clear idea about who they are and what posts they like from you. Once you understand your audience, you will have a better idea of which tools will work best for your brand and your audience.