Do you want more people to see your brand and products? Do you want to grow more stronger following that consists of customers who could relate to your brand? Is it a yes? Then Instagram is definitely what you need! As of now Instagram has more than 300 Million users and a lot of different brands are looking for ways to interact with Instagram’s community in order to earn customers that would eventually become loyal. But then again, it’s not all about the numbers because it’s about the people who use Instagram as well. People on Instagram are mostly people who shop. Even studies show that as much as 70% of the people from Instagram are people who looked for a brand in the platform. And mind you, 60% of people there also follow brands because they like it.
So if you post the most eye catching pictures, the consumers would be soaking up your message without having to worry about hard pitches from you. And there goes the magic to appeal customers without having to sell to them. We all know how shoppers look at social media platforms for references about what they want to purchase. So Instagram has the ability to convert probable buyers into confident customers. Are you worried that you are still new to Instagram? Don’t worry, in this article we will let you know all the things you have to know in order for your brand to be a success. And if you’ve been on Instagram for a while now, we’ll let you on about advanced tips you haven’t heard of before. So, shall I begin?
What Should You Do?
Take note that it is unprofessional to use your personal account for your business, so to make it look more professional make sure that you make a different account for business purposes. But why is this? First of all, when we speak of marketing, it’s about your audience and not about you. So your selfies, your snaps, your trip to Paris with your significant other, all of those should be kept in your personal account. Those things aren’t relevant to your clients unless maybe if you are selling a camera and you used it in your trip maybe you could share a few of your pictures but otherwise, it won’t bring you sales.
And even “you” shouldn’t appear as much in your Instagrams business account that much, if possible just once. Before anything else, here’s an idea on how you could optimize your Instagram presence to achieve a more professional appeal.
Use a link to boost your site’s traffic
Unlike on other social media platforms, here you only have one chance to get your followers to click the link leading to your website. And that is your bio. Yes, you could include a link on your captions but the only time it’s clickable is when it’s on your bio. So make sure that you include a link that leads to your shop or a landing page on your bio.
Be easy to recognized
You have to make sure that everything on your Instagram account leads to what and how your brand actually is. And in order to do that, you have to be recognizable. You could start by choosing a name the same with your brand, or is somehow related to your business’ name and is used on your other social media accounts.
Have a bio that has enough information and would keep followers engaged
When a person is about to follow you, they first click on your profile, so make sure that you show case yourself right there and then. Make sure that you have something interesting and catchy in order for them to push through and click on follow. Show them that you are valuable and filled with content they are interested in and you are worthy to be in their feed.
Make sure that you put your business name and a description about what your business do
What you want to make sure you avoid here is a salesy tone, so make sure to make it interesting and light to read. Instagrams culture is different from you shop and even the other social media platforms you have accounts on. So make sure that you create your bio the way the community there would be interested in it. if you aren’t sure how to begin, there’s a simple bio formula you could use and it’s: Who are you? + What do you do? + a touch of personality. If you have new campaigns, or if you just want to change your bio, you could do it anytime.
Don’t be too focused on making your photos polished and professional looking, consider what your audience might appreciate more. You never know maybe they prefer something different. Experiment with smartphone pictures or even behind the scenes while you’re preparing for something big like and event or product launching. Make sure that your stream is valuable but in a way that it is still unique.
Stay away from hard selling
Instagram’s culture isn’t a fan of hard selling, instead make use of influencers. Buyers share that they get influenced by social media platforms as they decide about a buying something. We know that brand shares are the number one influencer but 38% says that it’s also a brand having a social media. And there are 35% who states they are influenced by retailers that are found on social media platforms.
Make your photos look amazing
When it comes to other photos you would share on your account it could be snaps, and random phtots relevant to your account, but when it comes to showcasing your products make sure that it’s clear and high quality. Why? Because photos are the only way your customers would be able to see what you are selling so it’s very essential. 67% of shoppers from Instagram prefer product images that are high quality compared to others. And I guess it’s obvious and redundant why.
Again, avoid being salesy because Instagram is a social market place which means that the traffic it get could possibly be turned into a sale. But how can you do that? Easy! Share images that would catch people’s attention, that will have personality while being unique.
Make sure your photos have a professional size
Make sure your images aren’t cropped in an awkward angle because it looks unprofessional. Now, Instagram has a default format for uploading images and it has to be a square within a 612 x 612 frame. So when you upload a photo, as much as possible stay within that range so you get to upload the whole phot, bigger than that you’d definitely have to crop and the whole picture won’t be uploaded. A professional image has high quality and isn’t blurry or too dark. If you are aiming to preserve the resolution of your photo, save it at a double resolution size.
When you use Photoshop, you have the ability to size your image at 1024 x 1024 and the remaining photo quality would still be crisp by the time you upload it on Instagram. If you can’t just figure it out then try free apps like Squareready and Instasize to allow you to keep the photos in their original dimensions and still post it.
Instagram’s editing tools could help you stand out
On a daily basis, 70 Million photos are being uploaded on Instagram. That’s a lot of visual competition and in order to be noticed you have to post images that show “look at me” so you won’t get scrolled passed by. Now, Instagram has different ranges when it comes to in-app filters that would enhance the mood and colors of your photo. In order to make your brand recognizable, stay consistent if you use filters. Try to decide which looks best but if you can’t really pick, there was a study conducted which showed that their filter named Mayfair attracts more interactions for every 1,000 followers.
Make lifestyle images that would have your brands culture in it
Your Instagram account, even if it’s your business account isn’t supposed to be a direct sales market, so make sure to focus more on creating additional appeal to keep your followers more engaged and interested. Lifestyle images is a good way to inject your Instagram with appeal.
But, you might be wondering what a lifestyle photo is? These are photos that are inspired by scenes, models, and even adding life inspired backgrounds to products so that your followers could imagine how great a product would be while in use. It’s images that would help viewers visualize.
Create exclusive announcements for followers
You should look for a way to keep your followers from unfollowing you. So, make sure that you keep them excited and enticed. You could do this by giving exclusive discounts, special offers, bonuses, and even an insider announcement. There are text overlays that you could use to include a promotion into your photo. It’s a visual way, but still remains to be stylish and gets the work done.
Let’s say you have finally shared something and you’re already gaining followers. But how do you make those following strong and convert them into customers? Simple, You have to engage them! When you have 10,000 followers, you get 331 chances of engagement. That’s very high compared to Twitter that’s 7 interactions for every 10,000 followers.
But how can you maximize your engagement?
Make your captions inviting. If your caption is ineffective then you might get the full potential of engaging your followers. That’s why a lot of brands today, include call to actions or questions into their captions to open a conversation about the post.
The art of caption writing. Don’t repeat it, instead accentuate it.
Here’s how the loop work, your follower would see your image, then your caption is read, then they discover a different angle to your image that makes them look deeper into your photo. Also, make your caption short so users won’t scroll through it. Make sure you are direct to the point but still interesting and valuable.
Start gaining audience through contests.
You might be wondering if you are still starting, what can you gain from a contest? First you get more people to follow you, you get more people engaged, you get to reward loyal customers. Instagram is more ideal that Facebook when it comes to running contests because it’s engagement is 17x more.
How do you run a contest on Instagram?
First you have to know what you want to give away. It has to be something cool and relevant so if you sell shirts, give away a best-selling shirt, or a gift card. Always make sure that you think about your target audience when choosing a prize because you have to make sure it’s going to be desirable to them.
Second, when you decided on the price, post a photo of it and make sure it looks its best. And make sure that your caption Include details of the contest in the caption. Since users think that hashtags on Instagram is a very easy way to join a contest on IG, try others like posting an image while using your product and a relevant hashtag also add a date on when you’d be announcing winners.
Third, a few days after you post your contest, post a second picture with reminders.
Fourth, Showcase your prize.
Fifth, pick your winner.
Lastly, Post an announcement congratulating the winner.
Remember to reply to your followers, don’t be a snob because you need them more than they need you
This is one of the most obvious things but it’s always forgotten. When you add a question in your caption, or if your customers start to engage, make sure that you respond. You can also thank them for tagging you, follow them, like their post, just make sure to be engaged in order for them to be more engaged.
Expert tip: Use Blue to Earns More Likes
Photos that are on Instagram with blue as a dominant color achieves as much as 24% more likes compared to other available colors. Blue colors are winners when it comes to attracting more sttention from other people.
Instagram is somehow different from the other social media platforms but it works well when it comes to growing a business in a non salesy way. Make sure to follow everything here and I’m sure you’d be successful on Instagram! On a side note, if you’re using Stripe you should definitely check this out.