It’s not enough to just be on Instagram. You need to know how to use Instagram effectively to market your business.
Over the past 10 years of its existence, Instagram has grown to have over one billion users. Here are a few statistics you should consider.
- An estimated 75.3% of US businesses will be on Instagram by the end of 2020
- Over 200 million people on Instagram visit at least one business profile daily
- 1/3 of the most viewed stories on Instagram are from businesses
Those numbers should help you see that Instagram can help you grow your business. When used effectively, it gets your business in front of more people and helps you make real connections with them.
So how can you use Instagram effectively to market your business as a busy mompreneur? Well that’s what I chatted about with my coffee buddy Allison Scholes the Boss Lady in Sweatpants!
Allison is one of the Instagram experts in my community. Her tips will help you build a stronger brand online using Instagram in the mom cracks of time so you can grow your business.
Through her course, the Social Brand Accelerator, Allison helps women create a crystal clear, strong Instagram identity that drives engagement. It will gets you leads and increase your profit too! In other words, no more spinning your wheels on Instagram!
How to Use Instagram As a Mompreneur
The number one importance is understanding your approach to Instagram. All of us started using Instagram to put our products and services out there. We wanted to try to get as many followers as we can and make the sales. But Instagram truly is not a sales platform!
Can you make sales on Instagram? Absolutely! But in the beginning, it’s really a relationship building platform. It’s the gateway or the vessel to the know, like and trust factor. You need to be on Instagram understanding that it’s about the long game!
You’re not just going to make a quick overnight connection, get the sale, and then close the doors. You need to show up, serve your audience and have the intention to nurture them for a very long time. Eventually you need to move them off the platform and over to your website or your email list.
“You need to show up with the intention of I want to help, I want to serve, and not show up for your own vanity reasons not just to make the sale because if you show up that way, it’s not going to work, and you’re going to get so frustrated with Instagram.”
Where to Start Using Instagram
Step 1: Identify your main Instagram objective – Why are you even on the platform? Once you know your objective, you’re going to know what kind of content you need to be putting out there based on your target audience.
For example, Allison’s target audience is busy moms who have a side gig or an MLM, or a full service business. And they want to grow their presence on Instagram. So she said she has to be consistent with valuable content in her newsfeed. But she know that they’re moms and they are looking for a way to relate to her. They also want to trust her! So she’s really going to show up in her stories, and showcase her personality.
Step 2: Use the Three Main Functions – Instagram is really like your vessel to making connections. So start with the news feed. Your news feed is your opportunity to get people to know you. So it’s really crucial if you want people to start to know you, and have that almost open door access to you. You need to be posting consistently in your news feed.
You also want to be using Instagram stories. That’s where you get to be real and show off your personality. This is where you get to show the person behind the brand so they start to like you.
Now to get to the trust level, you’re going to start utilizing the DMs and IGTV. Use IGTV to teach something that’s quick so your audience can implement it almost immediately. That’s when you get to really build that brand authority in your niche.
Then the way that Allison likes to use the DMs is by responding and interacting with her audience through stories. The minute you comment on someone’s story, a one-on-one dm is created. So you now have that private conversation between the two of you. Be sure to keep that going every so often to build the ultimate trust. And that’s where you go deeper with the connection!
How to Be Consistent
Define what is consistent for you. Determine what you’re comfortable with and be confident. So there may be another Instagram guru out there showing up twice a day in their feed. They may also be doing 15 to 20 Instagram Stories every single day.
If it works for them and that’s what their audience wants, then have at it! You need to determine what does consistency look like to you. And you also have to understand what does your audience expect from you.
Your audience will eventually learn what your consistency pattern is. It’s your job to figure out what’s comfortable for you from the get go. Just stay consistent! You can always build on that later.
Be Consistent Where You Feel Comfortable
You’re always building an Instagram, you’re never going to have one plan and stick to that plan forever. There’s not one master rule for Instagram. You make the platform work for you and and work for your audience. That’s really the key! There’s a lot on Instagram that you can do. You don’t need to do it all!
If you’re the type of person that hates video, don’t do it. If you’re like, oh yeah, I can post seven days a week in my newsfeed. Then maybe I’ll show up like once or twice in my stories, great. That is a great place to start!
Allison didn’t do IGTV for the longest time because she really just wasn’t into it. Then she made the decision to show up for her audience once a week on IGTV and she’s been doing that for about six weeks now. Now her audience is really enjoying her videos! It’s really like trial and error!
Do What Works For You
Don’t be blinded by what other people were doing. As Allison always says, “Don’t be like Loki!” You don’t need to show up like them. And at the end of the day, just be you. Keep your audience at the forefront of your mind.
You don’t have to use every feature of Instagram either! Learn what your audience likes and go for it. But don’t feel pressured to use all of the features available just because it’s popular right now.
And always remember, you’re not for everybody! So if you are starting to repel people on Instagram through your content, then you’re doing a good job. That means you’re going to be attracting the right people. That’s where having a strategy and knowing what your objective comes in!
If you’re struggling with Instagram and getting a strategy together, get in touch with Allison and schedule a one-on-one strategy. You’ll be surprised at how much easier it makes things. You will be able to really focus on providing quality content just because you know what you’re supposed to be sharing with your audience, and it’s a time saver!
Click here if you would like 12 caption templates from Allison that will help you grow your engagement.
To hear all of my chat with Allison, tune in to episode 39 of the podcast. Click below and tune in on your favorite platform.
Links mentioned in this episode:
Learn more about Allison’s one-on-one coaching or her online course, Social Brand Accelerator
