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How to Leverage Instagram for Your Small Business in Canada?
How to Leverage Instagram
for Your Small Business in Canada?
Did you know that 99.8% of all Canadian businesses are small- to medium-sized companies, with less than 500 employees? So, you are not alone in this race to success. As a small business owner, you must have already been aware of the power of Instagram. It is not just a photo-sharing app for individuals. Businesses from all around the globe are using this social media platform to attract clients and earn unsurpassed revenues. But how? Are there any definite tricks to use Instagram for business? Well, there are! In fact, it is better if you are aware of the Instagram tricks for small businesses before you take the leap.
In this article, we will break down the use of Instagram for your small business, and how you can take advantage of the same to increase your digital footprint.
Set Up Your Profile Properly
This is the very basic thing you need to do but it’ s also necessary to set up your business profile on Instagram properly. The features of this app keep changing all the time. So, you need to keep checking for new settings and features to remain up-to-date. Set your business profile and fill in all the details correctly. Update your business hours, location(s), contact details, product catalogs, etc. Also, make sure that your bio is crisp and has every important element regarding your business. Do not forget to put up a professional profile picture; this should essentially be your company logo.
Geo Tag Your Posts
Whenever you start posting on your Instagram profile, add the location to your posts. If you haven ’t done it before, you can edit those posts and do the same. How will it help? Geotagging will be more visible to your customers and your brand will start gaining attention.
Instagram will also compile all your posts tagged on a specific location and all of this will add up to brand awareness in front of your target audiences.
Make Use of Stories and Highlights
Instagram Stories are a great way to grab the attention of your followers. You can even pay some amount to boost your stories so that it can reach your target audiences better. You must ensure that your profile has stories almost every single day. The Stories could be related to your products, services, about your employees, yourself, fun topics related to your industry, polls, AMAs (Ask Me Anything), and so on. Now, if you have any specific Story ideas which you wish to keep for longer than 24 hours, post them as Highlights. The Highlights will prolong the life of your Story posts and feature them on your profile even after they disappear from your Story.
Go Live Frequently
Many business owners might not be aware of this but an Instagram Live has several benefits. Wherever you go Live, your followers will get a notification about the same. Also, this can be an amazing source of instant communication with your audience. You can run a Q&A session, give your followers a glimpse of your office, conduct an interview of another professional from the same industry, and so on. The Live feature on Instagram will actually boost your credibility in front of your audiences.
Create Contests and Promotions
Posting contests every now and then will help you gain more followers. Also, if you have frequent ‘followers-only promotions, it will keep your followers glued to your page for a long time and you can also gain new followers over a certain period of time. Contests, giveaways, and promotions are an amazing way to stay active and gain new engagements on your Instagram profile. And if you can target your contest posts to your right audience with some money, it will be better to gain more viewers for your post as well as more followers for your profile.
Summing it Up
If you are all set to beef up your Instagram game, then this simple list can get you started from scratch. Being a small business, it’ s important for you to form a deep connection with your audience through social media, keeping the postpandemic situation in mind. And Instagram for business could be the right step towards achieving the same.
For more such information on small businesses in Canada, do not forget to subscribe to the CanadianSME Small Business Monthly magazine.
Whether you are a pro entrepreneur in Canada by now or you ’ ve just started with your entrepreneurial stint sometime back, you ’ ve probably heard about an executive summary supporting a strong business plan. Why is that necessary? Well, this particular business document will give you the chance of digging deeper into the particulars of your firm, certifying that you can look out for mistakes before it’ s too late to rectify the same. Hence, a business plan will help you maintain your funding, accounts, and other important information related to your organization. An executive summary is the brief introduction or the summary of your business plan. This is where you describe your business, your target audience, the solutions which you can provide, and your business ’ s financial highlights. Having a good executive summary will make it easy for you to grab your readers ’ attention and will let them know about your business goals better. If it’ s eye-catching, then it will also make them keep reading the rest of your business proposal.
What is an Executive Summary?
Also, if you are on the lookout for luring investors, having a good executive summary is important to attract them as well. So, how to write a good executive summary? We have a few tips for you to get that right. Read one!
An effective executive summary need not be a lengthy one. You can, therefore, break it down into five key paragraphs.
The 5 Part Formula of Writing a Good Executive Summary
Part 1: Overview
In the first paragraph of your executive summary, make sure to include a summarized overview of your business. It should have the name and the nature of your company, and every relevant insight that you can provide related to your industry.
Part 2: Target Market (Audience/Competition/Marketing Strategies)
The second part of your executive summary should have a clear and concise classification of your target market, including your audience, your competitors, your marketing strategies and so on. It will also mention the pain points in the industry that your business will aim to provide a solution for. Your marketing strategy should include the ways your business is planning to reach your targeted audiences. This paragraph will make your readers excited about reading further to learn more about your firm.
Part 3: Operational Highlights
The third part should provide the readers all your business ’ s operational highlights, such as your office location, about the proprietor/partners, and whether it will have a brick-and-mortar office or a remote, online presence.
Part 4: Sales Forecasting
This might feel a little difficult for you to state but your executive summary should have a sales forecast of your business for at least one of two after the implementation of your business plan. You can do this by calculating your break-even point and then informing your readers about a stipulated time when you can expect a profit for your project.
Part 5: Investment Requirement Details
If your firm needs financing and investments, you should mention the details of the same in the final part of your business ’ s executive summary. You should provide a clear number of the amount that your company would require to grow. And these investment requirements should perfectly align with the sales projections that you have mentioned in Part 4.
Wrapping it Up
So, now you should have the required knowledge to draft an effective executive summary for your business. This will help you to back up your online survey verdicts. We hope this article has helped you with everything that you needed to come up with just the right kind of executive summary for your business plan.
For more such updates and tips on doing business in Canada, do not forget to subscribe to our CanadianSME Small Business monthly magazine.
