by Danielle Andrews, President of The Wedding Planners Institute of Canada Inc.
Instagram has more than one billion consumers. At least 80% of users follow a business account or brand. This makes Instagram an important part of your Marketing Strategy. If you haven’t already, you need to get your business on Instagram, build your following, and ultimately your client list and profits.
Below are some simple ideas on how to increase your target market with Instagram.
Growing Your Ideal Followers
In a prior post, I spoke about Finding Your Ideal Client and how important it is to speak directly to them in all of your posts.
Posting content consistency is vital for Instagram’s algorithmic timeline. Simply put, the more often you post, the more likes and followers you get. Posting on a regular basis, along with daily engagement, can ensure that your posts are seen on your followers’ timelines. Accounts that post one or more times a day get more likes and followers, compared to accounts that post infrequently.
Be Authentic. Authenticity is key to unleashing your businesses full potential. Share behind-the-scenes candid moments related to your brand, services, and company. Creating compelling content is key but it goes together with genuine brand messaging.
Showing up in the suggested list of accounts can also help to gain your account exposure. You can do this by connecting with and following some of your competitors or other wedding professionals. Instagram’s artificial intelligence can direct your account to the followers of those other wedding professionals. Their followers will see your account listed under the bio of your competitors because you are in the same industry.
Promoting Your Services & Offers
Instagram contests are a fun and friendly way to get your audience involved and engaged in your business. Some companies and brands decide to giveaway gifts while others may run contests to giveaway a service. Whether you are raffling off a wedding item, date night, or wedding service, contests are a surefire way to bring attention to you and your company.
First, establish the goal for your contest because this will determine how you run the contest. Generally, contests are dynamic strategy to increase your following and expand your exposure on Instagram. There are different campaign contest goals you can set up depending on your business needs. Next focus on deciding the good or service you want to giveaway to the prize winners.
- You could ask followers to like and share a certain post to win, and they can repost for a chance at winning your contest.
- They can repost your content to their timelines directing more traffic to your account.
- You could also use the contest criteria to “tag a friend in the comments,” so that your current audience is focused on sharing your post with their peers. This creates a domino effect because their followers and friends will also feel compelled to enter the contest and do the same thing, and so on.
Hashtags and tagging could also be a beneficial strategy in a giveaway or contest. Choose a branded hashtag that aligns with the overall theme of your business or one that is specific to the gift or service you are giving away. Ask your followers to use a branded hashtag and tag your account to be entered into your contest.
It is a good practice to track the outcomes of your contests to gauge the involvement. Tracking progress shows how you can increase your followers and clicks to your account’s Instagram page and even clicks to your website. From there, you can compare between the types of contests and compare the gifts or services you chose to give away to determine which ones to perform the best, and which should be discontinued.
How to Engage Your Followers with Your Brand
In order to motivate your audience, you need to engage with them to keep them interested in your business, so you can compel them on to the next stage in your Instagram marketing funnel.
You do this by sharing content which tweaks and develops an interest in your business. For example, you can show the process of producing a wedding via your Instagram story. This is an effective strategy since people love to see behind the scenes.
In addition to producing high quality pictures and videos, writing motivational Instagram captions is also a powerful tool.
There are tools for every part of your caption, from its hashtags to its texts.
Instant Caption is a helpful Instagram app. It lets you to write the best captions for your posts.
Don’t miss Instagram stories which even is outpacing its rival, WeChat. The number of Instagram active users sharing Instagram stories reached 400 million in July 2018, a number which was just 250 million in July 2017.
Story Art is a powerful tool that can make your stories even more interesting.
Get social! Social media is not just about having a presence, it is also about engaging and caring. Once your followers feel they are important to you, they will become more engaged with your brand.
Leave a Reply