Who would have thought that social media could help you find clients? I’m sure it’s never crossed your mind, but there are people out there who are actually using Instagram to find new business. Obviously, these methods won’t work if you’re a plumber in the middle of nowhere, but for the rest of us creative types, it can be pretty useful. So let me tell you how to use Instagram to your advantage.
Instagram is a great tool for business owners to not only market their products but also find new clients. When you’re first starting out, it’s easy to get stuck in the rut of looking at other people’s perfect pictures and wondering why your own life isn’t as interesting or beautiful. However, there are ways that you can use Instagram to increase sales by finding potential customers who are already following accounts similar to yours.
Here are six tips on how to do just that!
Find a niche and start following people
The first thing you want to do is find a specific niche. If your business specializes in, say, vegan cupcakes, find a few accounts that have a similar Instagram style and follow their followers. You’ll find that some of these people might already be following you back because they have an interest in what you have to offer! And that’s exactly what you want.
The best way to find people who are interested in what you have to offer is to find a niche and start following accounts related to that niche. Just find hashtags related to your niche, find the most popular ones, and follow those accounts. This will be helpful for both increasing sales and finding potential clients.
If a niche seems too broad for you to find one, just find a smaller topic within the broader category and start there.
If you find an account that specializes in something completely unrelated to your business, don’t worry about them just yet!
Engage with others by liking, commenting, and following back
This is a tried and true way to find new customers on social media–engage with them! Talk with people, find out what they like about your business by asking questions in your captions, find accounts that are similar to yours, and follow their followers.
The more you engage with others the better chance you have of finding potential clients. It’s just like any other social media platform–the more you post, the more people notice you and ultimately find your page. Similarly, the more active your page is, the better chance people have of engaging with it!
This is why engaging with others through likes and comments is important! It not only helps you find new followers, but it also gives people a reason to follow back.
Use hashtags to get more followers
Hashtags are a great way to find people who might be interested in your business. They’re not just for trending topics! The more hashtags you use, the more people find your account and hopefully start following you as well.
By now you know that Instagram uses hashtags to find photos similar to yours–and that includes finding potential customers! You’ll find hashtags in the suggested posts and when using search. Sometimes you might find a specific hashtag that has an account related to your business and follow their followers, find niche hashtags, find popular hashtags within your niche, find tags related to your services or products–the possibilities are endless!
The more hashtags you find and use, the better chance you have of finding new clients. And remember, the more you find using hashtags, the better chance people have of finding your business! It’s a win-win for both Instagram and you.
And don’t forget to find industry-specific hashtags as well!
Create content that is interesting and relevant to your audience – not too many selfies or photos of food!
Ultimately your success will be determined by how interesting and relevant your content is. People should find you because they find what you post interesting–not just another page to follow for the sake of it.
People find businesses on social media to find products or services that they find interesting and helpful. If what you post is not interesting, people won’t find your page. They’ll probably just scroll past your photos without a second thought–and never end up following you back!
Be unique, find what works for you, but find the content that best fits your business’s image! If people find your content engaging they’ll find you more often and be more likely to follow back. And if they find your products interesting, they might actually start buying them!
Tag influencers in your posts for more exposure
You can find influencers through hashtags or using a tool that finds influencers in your industry. Using an influencer finder you can find influencers by industry, find the biggest influencers in your niche, find the influencers who have tagged themselves in photos before–many possibilities!
If you find an influencer who is relevant to your business, give them a shout-out. Tag them in your posts using the “@” feature! This is one of the most effective ways to get noticed by said influencer–and connect with them. Tagging them brings your post to their followers’ feeds, creating an opportunity for people who are interested in what you have to offer!
If the influencer has less than 10k followers, be sure to tag them directly in the photo–if they have more than 10k followers, tag their account name in the photo description.
Share other people’s work on Instagram as well as yours
When you find great content to share, don’t just post it on your own page–share it with others! You can find many different people’s posts by using the search bar, hashtags, or suggested posts. If you find something that looks interesting, likes are always appreciated! They show other users that their work is being
By sharing other people’s posts and engaging with them, you can find followers who might be interested in what you have to offer. You’ll also find that they may share some of your content as well!
Do not, however, quickly grab a photo from the web and post it on Instagram without giving credit! This is bad etiquette and could find you in trouble with the original poster of the photo, not to mention Instagram.
Conclusion
If you haven’t already, now is the time to start using Instagram as a marketing tool. You may be thinking that it’s just another social media platform and there are so many others out there – but hear us out! It has over 800 million monthly active users who spend an average of 22 minutes on the app per day. With those kinds of numbers, how could it not be worthwhile for your business? To get started with Instagram marketing, take the above steps into consideration.
