10 Ways To Instantly Improve Your Business Instagram!
Are you a small business owner? Direct Sales Rep? Photographer? And are you using social media, specifically Instagram to help promote your business and reach new clients? Well join the club, I am too! I'll be the first to admit that growing your reach and following on Instagram is hard! Unfortunately I'm not at a place to give you tips on gaining more followers *yet! (But these tips will naturally help with that too!) But I CAN give you 10 of my best and proven tips to instantly improve your business Instagram and getting you prepared to kick ass at Instagram! SO are you ready? Let's do this!
(p.s. if you don't like reading, I also made a short, summarized version of this post into a Youtube video! You can watch it here and subscribe while you're there!)
ONE
Well.. the first tip for kicking ass at your business Instagram (and most obvious but yet somehow still overlooked) is to create a business account!! If you aren't already, you need to be treating your online or direct sales business like a BUSINESS, not a hobby!! And if you're choosing Instagram as one of the avenues to promote your business then you NEED a business account, no ifs about it. I know you have to have a facebook page to connect with which is annoying if you don't want that but you can still create one and just not do anything with it! Or do it passively like I do! I share content on my facebook page maybe 3-4 times a week or some weeks only once! I share my new blog posts there, my instagram photos, do an occasional live video.. it's a nice little extra platform in my business so you may consider it if that's been holding you back!
TWO
The second tip for improving your Instagram strategy goes right along with that business account and why you need it. ANALYTICS! Sure, they aren't down to the wire specific or a total game changer to your business but they are important and VERY useful when deciding future content! Your analytics will tell you which posts received the most comments, reach, likes, saves, and overall engagement. Engagement is the one you will want to pay attention to most because it's an average of all the ways people interact with your photo. So once you know which posts are popular and get people interested, you will know to post more of that! Instagram will also give you a rough estimate on when your followers are active (it's not super accurate because it's always hit and miss with social media but it at least gives you a starting point.)
THREE
The next tip is something many struggle overcoming because it takes a little more work and creativity. Oh and it also takes a little more courage and vulnerability on your part! What am I talking about?! My tip is to not overshare your product. Yikes I know... And yes, there are some companies that can get away with this (obviously apple is one) but YOU are a small business owner in a BIG ocean of other small business owners and you're likely selling something that other people are too. So you cannot survive and depend on just posting about your products all the time! It's so tempting because you may see your competitors doing it and have "a ton" of followers but numbers can lie my friends. And sure a catchy or pretty photo may get you a few quick sales on a good day biut we are looking for LONGEVITY and a solid tribe for your business so you need LOYAL and repeat clients! Think of how your product can fit into your lifestyle and share that! How can you and/or your products really HELP someone or serve them? What else can you share besides you r business and product that still fits into your mission and niche? Remember, would you like following an account that was just constantly selling to you?? (like only getting to watch commercials and never the tv show)
FOUR
Again, this next Instagram tip moves right along from the last one, which is to establish your content. Are you going to post regularly about your family life/kids? Then do it! But don't just randomly through in a cute photo of your baby if you never post about your kids. Try to come up with at least 3 different but consistent things you can post about (like fashion, mom life, and funny quotes/ or makeup, hairstyles, and fashion) Don't share too much of a variety of content or people will be confused and turned off by your feed and likely not follow you. If you look at nearly any feed with a good amount of followers, you will see that they have a clean, consistent feed and that my friends, is GOLD. In addition to that, stick to a similar editing style/filter to every single photo you post!
FIVE
The next tip for rocking your business Instagram is to show up when you say you will and to NOT "post just to post." If you decide that you want to commit to posting to Instagram once a day then you need to do that! I know life happens and some things come up that are more important but the number one key or "secret" to growing a steady following and trust on Instagram is consistency! You need to show up on their feeds regularly and you need to avoid that awkward moment when someone stumbles onto your business Instagram and sees that your last post was 4 weeks ago.. that looks BAD. So whatever that consistency looks like to you (whether it's 2 times a day or 2 times a week) commit to it! BUT!! Here's my affidavit, DO NOT POST JUST TO POST!! It makes much more sense to just skip a day if you're not feeling inspired or if you're laying in bed sicker than a dog than it is to just post something random and off brand just to "show up." Your account will survive, just get back on that good content asap!
SIX
Now if you've had your business Instagram account for a little while then you've likely spent some time following a bunch of people in hopes to get some follow backs. I don't necessarily think this is a bad thing as long as you are being strategic about it (meaning following people in your niche who would actually have a need to follow you). DO NOT USE A BOT APP TO DO THIS!! Not only is this an icky business tactic, it's not condoned by Instagram and you could get flagged and get "shadowbanned" which is obviously not a good thing. One thing you can do to bring your follower-following ratio more even (because it doesn't look too good to have 600 followers but you're following 2k) is to get an app that will tell you who isn't following you back. It doesn't do anything for you like a bot which is good, it merely shows you the data! So then you can go and unfollow everyone you've been following that doesn't care to share the love! No point in following someone who isn't following you right? (with exception to your mentors and people that inspire or teach you).
SEVEN
You know that tiny little precious retail space underneath your username? Yeah you need to be milking that for all it's worth! There's not much you can say in 150 characters but you need to give possible followers a quick intro to who you or your business or your brand is and what they can expect to get out of your Instagram if they follow. You shouldn't need to tell them what you post about, that should be clearly represented in the first 6-9 photos of your feed so you're wasting space by telling them what your content is.. SHOW them! Writing a bio shouldn't be hard if you have your mission and content clear and target audience honed in. Keep it simple and keep it focus! If you have extra space, put in a little personal touch or a quirk about you (like.. bad cook, helpless romantic, coffee obsessed, avid thrifter, dog lover..)
EIGHT
Just as your instagram bio is precious retail space, so is your website link. Instagram only gives you ONE slot for a link or website, For most businesses, this is totally fine if your business has a single landing website or blog. But for others (such as myself) we not only have a product website, we also have a blog, other social media platforms, and possibly affiliate links or limited offers or opt ins we need to share. This is where linktree saves the day! With this FREE service, you can put in multiple sites, links, and blogs into one and it works great! I've had mine for about a year and haven't had any problems, it really is a must have tool for business owners who are working their business from multiple areas.
NINE
Stand out! As I said before, chances are you are not the only one selling the product you have! Of course there's exceptions to this but especially when dealing with direct sales, you have A LOT of competition. And I know, because I am in a direct sales business and it's hard to be the "top" of the crowd on Instagram and most of the time you won't be but that's OKAY! The important part is that you are setting yourself apart from all the other distributors! Why would a potential client want to buy the product from you and not your competitor? What do YOU bring to the table? If you aren't sure about that, then focus on creating your own original content. Don't just post the same product photos and info-graphics that everyone else is posting! Follow trends in your niche for sure but make them your own!
TEN
My last and most important tip for kicking ass at your business Instagram is to be SOCIAL!! Why do we forget this step or think that we can just skip it and be fine? Sure if you are Taylor Swift or The Honest Company then you can post everyday, never talk to a soul and still get thousands of likes, comments, and new followers everyday. But I'm going to take a guess that you're a normal person like me and we can't rely on our fame or brand to do the heavy lifting for us (yet!!) If you want to find your "tribe" and that consistent, loyal clientele; you HAVE TO SOCIALIZE. You need to genuinely reach out to people, leave nice and thoughtful comments, and start a relationship with them! I promise if you can spend at least 20 minutes a day socializing with other users, you will start to see a significant improvement to your own engagement and follower increase!
Okay you business bad-ass, those are my ten tips for majorly upping your business Instagram game or getting it off to an amazing start! What are some of your favorite tips for Instagram? Share them with me below!
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**EXTRA EXTRA! For a limited time only, I'm offering three BONUS tips plus a FREE mini Instagram review to my subscribers! So if you'd like me to take a look at your business Instagram and offer some advice and suggestions as well as get 3 extra tips- all you have to do is subscribe to my newsletter AND send an email to simplemeetsbold@gmail.com letting me know you'd like the Instagram review! Can't wait to hear from you!**
