When you put your head into getting your business onto Instagram it can seem like there are loads of things that you can do. Initially, it might look good to get hundreds and thousands of followers and not feel as though your business can succeed without this but I am here to tell you that you don’t need loads of followers, you don’t need to have a hugely active and busy account, you just need to follow these seven tips for mastering Instagram for your business.
Tip 1 - Optimise your Account
When you look at your Instagram profile does it show a user what your business is about and what it does for the customer. Think about what your instagram bio says; does it tell us who you are, what you do and how you can help? Do your highlights reflect things that we can take action with in your business or are they just funny things that are there. Remember that your profile has to capture someone’s attention within 3 seconds to become a follower and once someone is a follower then you have the opportunity to turn them into a client or a customer and mastering Instagram for business is just about turning someone into a stranger to a follower and then a client so the first step of that is ensuring that your instagram profile is optimised. You can also make sure that your contact details are up to date, you have a professional profile photo and your grid is looking good and you have regular stories. Essentially, make sure that it is up to date and it is active.
Tip 2 - Have a good grid
Instagram is a very visual platform and as I mentioned before, one way to optimise your account is to make sure that you have a good grid. Your grid is the shop front to your business. It needs to have high quality imagery, look professional and tell us what you do. When someone lands on your profile does your Instagram grid show your business off to the best of your ability. Literally, imagine it like a high street shop window and someone walking past it; would the pictures grab someone’s attention? Would the quality be high enough to demand the professionalism that you want and does it tell people what you do or subconsciously show people your business and brand values without them having them having to look any further. The Instagram grid is a great place to show off your business and remember that every post that you put out stands out singularly so each post needs to tell it’s own story.
Tip 3 - Ensure you are checking your Stats regularly
As much as we come up with the ideas, photos, captions, and the way that we want our instagram account to be we must remember that our Instagram account is not for us, it is for the user and to encourage a follower to become a client or a customer. In order to do this you must be in touch with your statistics. Regularly, check your insights and have a look at the posts and stories that are demanding the most engagement and the ones that are demanding the most profile visits and website clicks. These are things that you want people to do to make sure that you are using Instagram for your business and once you have figured out what these things are then do more of that. It might be that the users prefer a certain imagery, it might be that the users prefer a certain caption, it might be that the users prefer a certain tone of voice. Whatever it might be ensure that you are always leaning into whatever your stats are telling you because this is what your potential client base is telling you that they are interested in.
Tip 4 - Write Compelling Captions
Your captions on your posts are the space in which you can really turn someone from browsing to interested. If you are simply describing the photo you are not doing enough to describe your business. Use your caption to tell stories, to connect us with what you do and to elicit an emotion that you want us to feel within your business. If you can identify problems that people have, talk about them in the captions and solve them with your products then you are mastering Instagram for your business. You are doing exactly what you need to do. So next time you write a caption, remember that it is more than just words to describe a photo, that it has the power to turn someone from a follower into someone who is taking action to learn more about his business.
Tip 5 - Give Value
It might sound counter productive to give people advice, value, free tips and hints within your instagram content but it necessary for people to understand your level of expertise and understand they can trust you to deliver on what you say you will do. When someone is offered some free advice or free value and it solves a little problem of theirs you will be remembered as being the person who solves that problem for them and you will be the person that they come back to. So every so often remember that you need to give value instead of just selling to them all the time. People don’t go onto Instagram to be sold to, they go onto Instagram for what I like to call ‘educainment’. Education and Entertainment. So, if you can give value in either of these ways and then wrap it in a sale you are doing the best you can for your business.
Tip 6 - Be Active In Your Community
Just because Instagram is online and it is an app does not mean that it is void of being a community. Remember that every account that you interact with has a person behind it and you are a person behind your business account so treat it as such, have conversations with people, be interested in people, share ideas and share stories with people on the app. Foster part of an active community, not just within your own industry but within Industries that also attract your idea client. Collaborative industries for example. \when you have an active Instagram account people will feel more a part of what you are doing, will talk about you more and will do more business with you. So, don’t just post and ghost, don’t just think of it as somewhere you have to post something to do a bit of marketing work, think about it as your own little hub of people who are interested in you to either become a client or customer or to help you develop your business. Have an active community and be a part of an active community.
Tip 7 - Have a Strategy and Structure in Place
There is nothing more damaging to your business that not knowing what to say, how to post, what to talk about and what to do next. There will be no clear or narrative for a user, no one will understand what they are supposed to do with you and people will feel lost when they follow you as nothing will make sense. A basic way of putting structure into your Instagram account and having a small amount of strategy is to think of 6 content pillars that you should share. One of these content pillars will be selling so you are only selling in one out of six posts or one out of six days in the week but the rest of the content pillars are to do with other elements of your business that you want to either align with your customer or are things that you do in your business, eg., coffee/branding/colours/flowers/love/happiness/sunshine/outside/inside, whatever your business does and however it operates and whatever business values it has ensure that you have a structure in place within your Instagram account to make sure you are talking about these things regularly and in a cyclical way to remind people of what you do, who you are and how people can buy from you. Having a strategy and a structure in place will make sure that you are able to hit your long term goals and that you are able to connect and bring people along their buyers journey in a short term focus.
I hope that you have found these seven tips for mastering your instagram business helpful. If you need any other advice please feel free to browse my blog or get in touch with me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/inge.hunter/
