Instagram Set Up & Best Practice Guide for Tradesmen

If you’re a tradesman and you’ve created an Instagram account for your business but don’t really know what you’re supposed to do with it, this guide is for you.

Instagram can be a great way to show potential customers the quality of your work, build trust and keep your business visible locally.

And you don’t need thousands of followers.

For most local tradesmen, 500 relevant local followers are much more valuable than 10,000 people who live nowhere near the areas you cover.

The aim isn’t to become an influencer.

It’s to make sure that when someone finds your business, they can quickly see:

Who you are.

What you do.

Where you work.

Whether you’re any good at it.

And how to contact you.

Here’s how to set it up properly.

No download. No email address required. No paywall. Just follow the guide.

Step 1: Create a separate Instagram account for your business

If you haven’t already got one, create an Instagram account specifically for your business.

Try to choose a username that’s as close to your actual business name as possible.

For example, if your business is:

Smith & Sons Plumbing

Something like:

@smithandsonsplumbing

is much better than:

@smithplumbing1987liverpooluk

Keep it simple and easy for customers to remember.

If your preferred username has already been taken, adding your location can be a sensible alternative.

For example:

@smithandsonsplumbingliverpool

Step 2: Change it to a professional account

Once you’ve created your account, switch it to a professional account.

For most tradesmen, a Business account will make the most sense.

A professional account gives you access to additional business features and insights that can help you understand how your content is performing.

It also makes it easier to present the account as an actual business rather than a personal Instagram profile.

Step 3: Use your business logo as your profile picture

Keep this simple.

If you’ve got a recognisable business logo, use it.

Remember that Instagram profile pictures appear quite small and are displayed in a circle.

If your logo contains lots of tiny writing, it might be impossible to read.

A simple logo, icon or business initials can work better.

Ideally, use the same profile image across Instagram, Facebook, Google and your other business accounts.

It helps people recognise you.

Step 4: Get your Instagram name right

Your username and your profile name aren’t the same thing.

Your username might be:

@smithandsonsplumbing

But your profile name could be:

Smith & Sons Plumbing | Liverpool

That gives somebody viewing your profile a better idea of what you do and where you’re based.

Don’t go overboard stuffing loads of keywords into it.

Keep it useful for humans first.

Step 5: Write a useful bio

You’ve only got a small amount of space, so don’t waste it.

Your bio should quickly answer:

What do you do?

Where do you do it?

How can someone contact you?

For example:

Plumbing & heating across Liverpool 🔧

Domestic repairs, installs & maintenance

📍 Liverpool & Merseyside

👇 Get in touch

That’s considerably more useful than:

Quality | Reliability | Excellence ⭐

It might sound nice, but it doesn’t actually tell the customer what you do.

Step 6: Add your contact details and website

Don’t make potential customers hunt around trying to work out how to contact you.

Add your website and the appropriate business contact options available to you.

Then test everything.

Click your own website link.

Check your phone number.

Check your email address.

It’s surprisingly easy for businesses to have an old telephone number or broken website link sitting on a social profile for months.

Step 7: Make your profile look trustworthy

Before worrying about followers, hashtags or algorithms, think about what a potential customer sees when they visit your profile.

Imagine somebody has been given your name by a friend.

They search for you on Instagram.

What do they find?

An empty account with a logo and three posts from 2023?

Or a page full of recent jobs, customer feedback and photos showing the person actually doing the work?

Your Instagram account is another shop window for your business.

It should make someone more confident about contacting you, not less.

What should tradesmen actually post on Instagram?

This is where a lot of businesses get stuck.

The good news is that tradesmen have something many other businesses struggle to create:

Things people actually want to look at.

You create, repair, install, improve and transform things every day.

That’s content.

1. Before and after photos

These are perfect for Instagram.

Show what something looked like before you started and the finished result.

Bathrooms.

Kitchens.

Gardens.

Driveways.

Roofs.

Decorating.

Joinery.

Electrical installations.

Whatever your trade is, show the difference your work made.

2. Finished jobs

Take photos when you finish a job.

You don’t need a professional camera.

Your phone is fine.

Just spend an extra minute getting a decent photo.

Clear away rubbish and tools that don’t need to be there, make sure the photo is well lit and check what’s visible in the background.

That extra minute can give you something you can use to advertise your business for months.

3. Work in progress

Not everything needs to be a polished finished result.

People are often interested in seeing how the work is actually done.

Show different stages of the job.

Explain what you’re doing.

Talk about a problem you found and how you solved it.

It demonstrates that there’s actual knowledge and workmanship behind the finished photo.

4. Videos and Reels

You don’t need to start dancing in front of your van.

Reels can simply be short videos of your work.

For example:

Before → work in progress → finished job.

Or film a few seconds of what you’re doing and add some text explaining it.

Simple content can work perfectly well.

5. Customer reviews

Had a great Google review?

Turn it into a post.

Customer feedback gives potential customers another reason to trust you.

Better still, combine the review with photos of the job that customer is talking about.

Now you’ve got the customer’s feedback and evidence of the work.

6. Helpful advice

You know things your customers don’t.

Use that.

An electrician could explain:

When should you call an electrician about a tripping circuit?

A plumber could explain:

What should you do if you find a leak?

A roofer could explain:

What are the signs your roof might need repairing?

A landscaper could explain:

When is the best time of year to have certain garden work done?

Useful content helps demonstrate your knowledge without constantly telling people to BOOK NOW.

7. Show your face occasionally

People aren’t only buying the work.

They’re choosing who they’re going to let into their home or business.

Let them see who’s behind the company.

It doesn’t need to be a professional headshot.

A photo of you and the team.

A photo on site.

A picture next to the van.

A quick video explaining a job.

For a local business, being recognisable can help build trust.

8. Show the local area

If you’re trying to attract local customers, show that you’re actually local.

If you’ve completed a job in Maghull, say so.

If you’ve been working in Aintree, mention it.

For example:

Bathroom finished this week for a customer in Maghull 🚿

is much more relevant locally than:

Another happy customer!

Just be careful not to share a customer’s exact address or anything that identifies their home without permission.

What should you write in an Instagram caption?

It doesn’t need to be an essay.

Explain:

What was the job?

Where was it?

What did you do?

Was there anything interesting about it?

How can someone contact you?

For example:

Another bathroom finished this week in Crosby 🚿

The customer wanted to replace their old bathroom with something cleaner and more modern.

Full rip-out, plumbing and installation completed by the team.

We’re currently taking bookings across Liverpool and Merseyside.

Get in touch if you’ve got a project you’d like us to take a look at.

That’s enough.

Write like a person.

You don’t need to sound like an advertising agency.

Should tradesmen use hashtags?

You can use relevant hashtags, but don’t make them your entire strategy.

Choose hashtags that genuinely relate to:

Your trade

The job

Your location

For example, a Liverpool plumber might use:

#LiverpoolPlumber #Plumbing #LiverpoolTrades #Merseyside #BathroomInstallation

Don’t paste 30 completely unrelated hashtags underneath every post just because you think more hashtags automatically means more views.

Think relevance rather than quantity.

Should you add locations to your posts?

Where appropriate, yes.

If you’re posting a job you’ve completed in Liverpool, Crosby, Maghull or another area you cover, adding the location provides useful local context.

You can also mention the area naturally in your caption.

You want someone locally to look at your profile and immediately understand:

These people work around here.

How often should tradesmen post on Instagram?

There isn’t a magic number.

And we’d rather see you post two useful pieces of content a week than seven rubbish ones just because somebody told you that you need to post every day.

Consistency matters more than constantly trying to feed the algorithm.

For a busy tradesman, a realistic starting point might be:

2–3 posts or Reels per week

alongside Stories when you’ve got something worth sharing.

If you can comfortably do more, great.

If you can’t, don’t panic.

Your priority is still running your business.

Don’t forget Instagram Stories

Not everything needs to live permanently on your profile.

Stories are great for the everyday side of your business.

You could share:

• Today’s job

• A quick before and after

• A new review

• A job you’ve just completed

• Last-minute availability

• A behind-the-scenes photo

• A quick tip

Stories can be less polished than your main posts.

That’s part of the point.

Set up Instagram Highlights

Highlights allow you to keep useful Stories visible on your profile.

For a trade business, useful Highlights could include:

Our Work

Reviews

Services

Before & After

About Us

FAQs

Areas We Cover

Someone discovering your profile can then quickly find the information they’re looking for.

Engage with local people and businesses

Don’t just post something and disappear.

Instagram is social media.

Follow relevant local accounts.

Interact naturally with other local businesses.

Respond when people comment on your posts.

Reply to messages.

If someone asks a genuine question, help them.

You’re trying to build visibility and relationships within the areas you actually work in.

Don’t spam people.

Sending:

“Hi, noticed you’re in Liverpool. Do you need any plumbing work?”

to random people isn’t networking.

It’s annoying.

Make sure you reply to enquiries

This sounds obvious, but it’s important.

If somebody messages your business asking:

“Hi, how much would it be to come and look at…”

that’s not just engagement.

That’s a potential customer.

Check your messages regularly and don’t forget to check message requests too.

If you’re encouraging people to contact you through Instagram, somebody needs to be there to answer them.

Turn one job into multiple pieces of content

This is one of the easiest ways to make social media less time-consuming.

Imagine you’ve just completed a bathroom.

From that one job, you could potentially create:

Post 1: Before photo

Post 2: Work-in-progress video

Post 3: Finished bathroom

Post 4: Before-and-after Reel

Post 5: Customer review

Story: Behind the scenes

Story: Finished result

Suddenly one job has given you content for several days.

You don’t need to constantly invent things to post.

Document the work you’re already doing.

Instagram Best Practice Checklist for Tradesmen

Before you finish setting everything up, check that you’ve:

☐ Created a separate business Instagram account

☐ Switched to a professional/business account

☐ Chosen a simple username

☐ Added a recognisable profile picture

☐ Added your trade and location to your profile

☐ Written a clear bio

☐ Added your website

☐ Added the appropriate contact details

☐ Uploaded examples of genuine work

☐ Started collecting customer reviews to share

☐ Created useful Highlights

☐ Started using photos and video

☐ Mentioned the areas you genuinely work in

☐ Started responding to comments and messages

☐ Created a realistic posting schedule

Instagram Mistakes We’d Avoid

Only posting adverts

People don’t want to follow a page that’s basically one massive advert.

Show your work and provide something useful.

Using stock photos

If you’re selling your workmanship, show your workmanship.

Buying followers

Having thousands of fake or irrelevant followers doesn’t mean you’ve got thousands of potential customers.

For a local tradesman, a smaller audience containing genuine people from the areas you serve can be much more valuable.

Posting terrible photos of good work

You’ve spent hours or days doing the job.

Spend another minute getting a decent picture of it.

Ignoring messages

There’s not much point using Instagram to generate enquiries if nobody responds to them.

Trying to copy every trend

You don’t need to dance, point at floating text or recreate every trending video.

If a trend genuinely suits your business, use it.

Otherwise, showing good work consistently is absolutely fine.

Do Tradesmen Actually Need Instagram?

Not every trade business needs to become obsessed with social media.

If you’ve already got more work than you can handle entirely through recommendations, you might not need Instagram to generate leads.

But there’s another reason to have a good profile.

People check businesses out online.

Someone might hear about you from their neighbour and then search your business before calling.

If they find an active Instagram account showing months of genuine work, reviews and local jobs, that can help reassure them that they’ve found the right person.

So Instagram isn’t only about finding customers.

It can also help potential customers trust you once they’ve found you.

Don’t Have Time to Do All of This?

We get it.

Taking photos is one thing.

Remembering to turn them into posts, write captions, create graphics, update Stories and keep everything active when you’ve just spent all day working is another.

That’s why this guide is completely free.

No paywall. No email address. No paid download.

Save it and work through it yourself whenever you’ve got time.

Or, if you don’t want to do it yourself, we can do it for you.

Toucan Do Business can help set up your business social media properly and manage your ongoing content, including creating posts, writing captions and helping keep your business active online.

You send us what’s happening on the job.

We help turn it into content.

So instead of spending your evening wondering what you’re supposed to post on Instagram, you can get on with everything else.

Fancy a Brew? ☕

Book your free coffee consultation and let’s talk business.