Instagram is unarguably one of the best and leading social media platforms, it’s really helpful when it comes to business. So many companies have already realized this and thus have started developing their brands on Instagram. If you’re among the set of people that thinks it’s nearly impossible to find customers on Instagram, we’ve compiled this amazing guide to help you see reality.
What's in this guide?
Get your Instagram account ready
As a business person, sharing random content is not enough. You can’t do this and hope to have customers all lined up for your products and services, that’s just impossible. Let’s embrace reality. You’ve got work to do with your Instagram account to bring it to perfection. It’s only after you’ve done this that you can start looking for customers.
Just by taking a glance at your profile, your potential customers should be able to tell and understand the kind of products and services you market, how to place an order, and the price range as well.
Below are a few steps to take in order to transform your account into the enticing business account that customers come across and have no other choice but to patronize you.
- Preferably use a logo or an avatar if you have one. If you’re already specialized in providing some services, then go for a photo that reflects your business. For instance,if you’re a writer,you could use a photo of a pen and if you’re a photographer, a picture of yourself with a camera will be just fine.
- In the name section, you could make use of your real name together with two words that reflect your business easily. Try including keywords in your name,this will make it easier for your potential customers to find you.
- Your BIO is very important. Keep it short and tell the most important things about your brand. Be specific about your products and services,city and contact details.
- Drop a link to your website if you have any.
- Arrange your highlights. Take your time to create different highlights for FAQs, reviews,prices, payment and deliveries etc. Try as much as you can to put yourself in the faces of your customers. Remember I said that a glance at your profile should not be a waste of time.
- Post images that grab attention. Don’t forget that Instagram is a visual social media. Study current trends and join the trends.
- Also try out more of video contents on IGTV. It goes a long way to put your brand out there.
- Set up Instagram shopping. So many people love Instagram quick shopping. Most especially when you can place your orders with just one or two clicks. How amazing! Nobody likes stress.
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How to find customers on Instagram
1. Optimize Your Instagram Profile
Being able to have a good Instagram bio is a very important and easy way to attract the very right customers on Instagram and also tell them about what you do. Your Instagram profile picture and bio are unavoidably one of the first things your followers will always rate.
If you really want to be taken seriously, then you have to work on making these two very outstanding and professional. A good Instagram bio should be able to communicate what you do with your customers. You are also free to attach a call to action in your bio.
2. Give your Instagram feed a new look
If your aim on Instagram is to use your Instagram account to market your business and services, then it’s way important for your Instagram feed to portray that. See your Instagram feed as an extension of your website, if you have one.
When choosing images for the feed, you need to have your brand’s signature colours, fonts, and personality In mind. A Brand Mood Board is such a good tool that can help you get clear on the imagery and content that you can use in your feed.
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3. Be focused on your target audience
One of the mistakes marketers on social media make is not being able to define their target audience. If you think everyone is your customer, then you really have no customer. Take your time to identify your target audience, think about the customers you’re creating your service for.
Consider their thoughts, struggles, important demographics like age, gender, hobbies, occupations, etc. Once you are able to have a good understanding of these things, developing content that your target audience will love and get interested in won’t be a problem.
4. Make good use of hashtags
Some people really don’t know the advantages of always using hashtags. By simply adding relevant hashtags to your content, you easily gain visibility and this alone can help you find customers on Instagram. After you’ve carefully been able to establish your content themes, spend more time researching hashtags that are quite relevant to your content.
Consider your ideal Customers lifestyle and Interests while searching for hashtags.
Also Read: How to use social media to grow your business
5. Have a good posting cadence
Being able to come up with a consistent posting pattern is very important for setting expectations with your target customers. I can already imagine you saying “…but I don’t have that time to post every day on Instagram”. While some people say you must post on Instagram every single day, hey, I don’t totally agree with that.
Due to Instagram’s changing algorithm, posts are no longer following the chronological manner – this means it’s very much possible for your followers to be shown a post you posted days ago. Also, Instagram posts have a smaller reach and this should tell you that posting less often even gives your post the additional time to get more likes and comments and also get to trend on Instagram.
It’ll be advisable to carefully choose a good posting cadence that will help your brand and also sustain your business. If you can be consistent with posting 5 times a week, then you can use Instagram’s business analytics to know the five days your audience will be most active on Instagram.
6. Reply to your direct messages (DM)
Did you know that Instagram’s DM feature is such an easy and amazing way to connect one-on-one with your Instagram followers that can become your customers tomorrow?
If someone new follows your business account, you can spare a minute to thank them via a DM. If you also put up a post and a follower drops an insightful comment, after replying to the comment on the post you could also send a Direct Message to thank him or her for such a thoughtful comment.
This way, you’ll end up creating a bond with your customers.
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7. Create quality content
When you consistently create quality and top-notch Instagram content, you will definitely become a trusted source and someone out there will have no doubt about how real and legit you are. Instagram is such a different world on its own, if you’re able to create a recognizable presence on this platform, it’ll be of so much importance to your brand as a business person.
8. Instagram ads
Instagram is a popular social media platform with over a billion active monthly subscribers. You can find more customers on Instagram by making good use of Instagram ads. Instagram ads are worth the price and hype because it generates sales with higher-order values and earns high conversion rates.
About 500 million people log into Instagram daily, so this means that you have a large audience to target. You could boost your Instagram engagement level with Instagram ads. Up to 80% of Instagram users have bought products they discovered on this app.
You have that opportunity to drive sales by simply putting your business in peoples’ feeds. All thanks to Instagram ads.
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Summary
Once you’ve been able to work on your account to perfection, then you’re just a step away from finding your customers on Instagram. Take away the fear that Instagram is not for people of your class, if you keep on with that mentality, you might just not be productive with your Instagram account.
If one strategy doesn’t work for you, there is always a second, third, fourth, fifth and the list keeps going on and on. Have a positive mindset and be intentional about finding customers on Instagram. Be sure you’re doing the right thing and your customers will rather find you on Instagram.
