How To Use Instagram For Ag Business

Can Instagram work for Ag Business? The answer is 100% yes! But you have to know how to utilize it properly, otherwise, it won’t work. 

In this blog, I’m going to walk you through 6 steps that will help you utilize Instagram for your Ag Business. 

First things first, Instagram is a powerful platform and is very effective for Ag Business. 

If you have an online store, guest ranch, personal brand, farm stay, sell physical products, sell at farmers markets, or you provide specific services to farmers and ranchers Instagram is a great platform for you!

However, if your business is strictly B2B and you are looking for a platform that will help you generate leads - I don’t recommend starting with Instagram. For B2B companies LinkedIn is one of the best places to start. 

Now let’s dive into these 6 steps so you can start utilizing Instagram for your Ag Business. 

Optimize your Business Profile

First things first make sure you have a business profile set up.

Once you have created your profile, fill out your bio, add a profile photo (either your logo or a quality headshot of the owner), a link to your website, your contact info, and add story highlights. The image on the right is an example of what it should look like using the National Cattlemen’s Beef Associations Instagram profile.

If you are selling products you will want to utilize the Facebook Catalog option to add products to your profile. This will allow you to tag your products in posts and stories. 

Once you have your profile set up you are ready to start posting amazing content and attracting followers!

Consistent Content

The average lifespan of an Instagram post is 48 hours, with the first hour being the most important time for that post to get engagement and reach. 

Everyone recommends different things when it comes to how often to post on Instagram. I have found success for both myself and my clients posting 4-5 times per week. If you can post everyday that’s great. If you can post 3 times a week, that’s great too! The most important thing is to stay consistent with your content. 

Posting every day for a week and then not posting for a month isn’t going to help you get the growth on Instagram that you’re wanting. 

So whether it’s every day or three times a week commit to posting consistently. 

Not sure what to post? You’re not alone - which is why I put together a 22 FREE Post Ideas for you to use. Use this link to download: https://bit.ly/AgBusinessSMPostIdeas

Lastly, here’s my favorite hack for posting consistently. Ready for it? USE A SCHEDULER! 

I love Later (plus it’s free) it allows you to upload and store content, plan out a months worth of content in advance, and auto-publish to Instagram. So you don’t have to remember to post everyday. 

This right here will save you so much time!

Lastly, be active in your Instagram story. Share the behind the scenes of your day, what is your team working on, what are you harvesting, what are you celebrating, or what’s not going right today? 

Hop into your story and take people along the journey with you. 

How to Use Hashtags

Most people are familiar with the “#” symbol we see on social media today. A hashtag is basically a tag that will help your post come up in a search on social. So when you use the #farmtotable people search or following this topic are more likely to see your post. 

Why is this valuable? It’s valuable because now people who aren’t following you but are interested in your business can see your content. 

Here are some tips for how to use hashtags: 

1. On Instagram, you can use up to 30 hashtags per post. I recommend using 15-20 on average. 
2. Use hashtags that are relevant to your industry and your post. 
3. Use hashtags you can rank for. (Check the top posts for that specific hashtag and use the hashtags where the top-ranking posts get around the same number of likes as your posts do. 
4. Use hashtags and location tags in your stories as well to help your posts get more visibility. 

Engage on Instagram

Engagement on Instagram is so important and is a large driving force with the algorithm. By engaging, I mean leaving meaningful comments on others' posts. Just liking or leaving an emoji doesn’t work anymore. 

Here are 4 ways to do this: 

1. Engage with accounts in your niche that have a larger Instagram following than your business. Leave meaningful comments on their posts, engage with the comments their followers leave, answer questions, add value. 
2. Engage with your followers - leave meaningful comments that start a conversation. (Example: ask a question, give an authentic compliment, or answer a question).
3. Choose 3-4 hashtags relevant to your niche to engage with 3-7 times a week (again leaving meaningful comments that start a conversation).
4. Use your Direct Message Inbox to send voice memos (For example: Pick 5 people who have recently followed you and send them a personalized voice note.) 

Use Influencers and/or Brand Reps

If you aren’t familiar with the term influencer it’s simply someone who has influence online. This is people who have large followers who trust them and often will purchase the products/services they recommend. 

There are a couple of ways to utilize these individuals. 

1. Send them free products in exchange for a shoutout on their page. This is a great way to gain more exposure and get more content. 
2. Offer them an exclusive discount on your product or service, and a discount code for their followers. Every time someone uses their code they get a certain amount of commission. This is best used with large influencers. 
3. Create partnerships with larger companies in your industry that offer different products/services than you do and cross-promote each other. 

Keep a Close Eye on the Analytics

Instagram provides business accounts with analytics that give insight into who your followers are (location, age, gender), as well as what content is performing well. 

If you use later the paid version also offers detailed analytics that shows what hashtags are performing the best, as well as what posts are performing the best, and what days/times your content does best. 

Regularly check your analytics. Make note of what is performing best, and keep doing more of that, and less of what isn’t performing. 

Social media is a lot like farming. You plant your seeds, provide them with fertilizer, water them, watch them grow, and make note of what works and what doesn’t so we can make adjustments for next year. 

Social media is no different, the content you put out there is like the seeds, the engagement is the fertilizer and water, and the followers are the growth we see. Then we dive into the numbers to make adjustments to improve the results. 

So there you have it, how to use Instagram for Ag Business. I hope this was helpful for you, and don’t forget to download my free post idea guide if you’re looking for post inspiration. 

If you have any questions leave a comment below or send me a message!