Since Facebook announced that organic reach for business pages is falling, the question keeps coming up: which platform should we prioritise?

For many SMBs, the answer is increasingly Instagram.

The platform is approaching one billion active users globally and growing faster than Facebook in most demographics under 40. Unlike Facebook, organic reach on Instagram (for now) has not collapsed in the same way.

Instagram is not for everyone

Let us be direct: Instagram suits some industries better than others.

It works well for businesses where the visual is natural: food and drink, interiors, clothing, travel, craft, construction, health and beauty, architecture. It also works well for personal brands and specialists who want to build trust and an audience over time.

It works less well for services that are hard to visualise, B2B sales with long decision cycles, and businesses where the primary audience is over 55.

The question is not "should we be on Instagram?": the question is "do we have an audience there, and can we create content that gives them something?"

Business profile, not personal profile

If you are using Instagram for your business, you should have a business profile. This gives you access to analytics, the ability to promote posts, and contact buttons that let followers call or email you directly from the profile.

Switch to a business profile in settings. It costs nothing.

What should you post?

The most common mistake is treating Instagram as an advertising platform. People do not follow businesses to see ads: they follow to be inspired, entertained or informed.

Content that works on Instagram:

  • Process and craft: Show work in progress, not just the finished result. People are drawn to seeing how things are made.
  • The people behind the business: Faces and personality build trust. An introduction to a team member, a glimpse of the working day or a genuine moment resonates more than product images.
  • Client results: With permission: show what you have done for customers. Before and after, project descriptions, references in visual form.
  • Knowledge and advice: Short tips and insight from your field. It builds authority.

Stories are underrated

Instagram Stories (posts that disappear after 24 hours) is one of the fastest-growing formats on the platform. They appear at the top of the feed and have high visibility.

For businesses, Stories is a low-barrier format: you do not need perfect production, just something genuine and relevant. A quick update, a question to followers, a behind-the-scenes glimpse.

Consistency beats perfection

The hardest part of Instagram is not creating the perfect post: it is publishing regularly over time. A profile that posted fifteen times in January and nothing since March sends a weaker signal than one that posts three times a week, consistently.

Set a realistic frequency you can maintain. Three times a week is better than nothing, and once a day is better than three times a week, but only if the quality holds.

Do not build the whole house on rented land

We said it after the Facebook changes in January: social media is rented land. Instagram belongs to Facebook and the rules can change.

Use Instagram to build visibility and relationships, but make sure traffic, lists and conversions happen on channels you actually own.

Want to assess whether Instagram is right for your business and what kind of content would work? Get in touch.