Sponsored by EssayShark.com:
It seems like humanity has crossed the Rubicon, and we won’t get rid of the Internet, social media or instant means of communication any time soon. And since the use of smartphones and social media is increasing constantly, it’s high time to think about how you can promote your business via one or more of them.
It’s a good idea to start with low-maintenance social media platforms, such as Instagram, where all you need to do is supply your followers with a constant stream of high-quality photos and harvest your likes and new subscribers. Here are a few more tricks and pieces of advice to make your business Instagram account even more awesome:
1. Hashtag it!
In the digital era, overusing hashtags might be seen as Internet illiteracy and a case of “trying too hard to be cool,” but when it comes to promoting your business on Instagram, forget about being timid with those # signs.
When I first started using Instagram, I was annoyed by the hashtags posted by most of the channels I followed with pretty food, nail-art, and makeup artists. Nearly everyone with a decent amount of subscribers had a gazillion hashtags in each post – it seemed like they just copy-pasted their tags from post to post.
My opinion changed, however, when I was in a hurry to find a beauty salon near me. Guess what I did to find it? I started searching hashtags! So I guess, someone’s earned their client by simply copy-pasting those long streaks of hashtags.
2. Create the feeling of connection.
It’s always nice when an administrator or cashier smiles at you and sincerely wishes you a nice day. Even when I’m at my grumpiest, receiving attentive service always manages to lift my moods a bit – and I suppose it works not only for me and not only for personal interactions.
Responding to comments on social media can be a grueling task, especially when your audience is growing, but it’s necessary to increase loyalty, and of course, the number of purchases. If a person gets a nearly immediate answer to an inquiry about the price, he or she is more likely to make the purchase, because the desire for your item or service is still strong.
3. Encourage your followers to share photos of your services and like them.
Oh my — how we, people of the Internet age, like to boast. Though sometimes it can be annoying, when it comes to promoting your business through Instagram, it will actually do the trick for you. Stir up fire a little bit by offering a contest with a mandatory rule of posting a photo of your services or products, and get ready for a huge wave of likes and subscribers coming your way.
Showing appreciation towards your clients by paying attention to what they have to say about your services is always rewarding – people like to be heard more than anything else. This gives most of us a sense of importance and a feeling of being valued, which of course, will increase loyalty.
4. Blue is for business.
Now this is weird, but a Philadelphia-based research company conducted a study and found out that images in blue hues get more likes on Instagram! Some other interesting findings show that simple backgrounds, vivid lighting (and even over-lighting), textured images, and oh my goodness, duck-face photos earn those double-taps more easily. I would suggest you cut off the last one though.
The good news is that you don’t need to worry about the quality of the photos much. Of course, a photo taken in a dimly lit room with blurry focus won’t do, but you don’t always have to hire a professional photographer or pull out your $700 camera (if you own one) to snap a couple of pics. People are mostly okay with seeing filtered pictures taken with your phone. All in all, this is what Instagram was made for.
5. Be consistent.
When you are exasperated after a day of running errands, shopping for materials and supplies, finishing two custom jewelry sets, and sending them to your customer, the last thing you want to do is run social media accounts. However, this is one of the most important keys to your success. You need to stay in front of your audience and provide them with fresh content regularly.
If you are experiencing severe time constraints, it’s okay to write that you are not accepting orders temporarily or will not be able to update the page for some time. Though this may result in some loss of audience, the loyal core will definitely stay with you, and you won’t leave people puzzled, wondering whether you are no longer running your business or if you just needed to take a vacation.
6. Don’t disregard videos.
In the digital age — where any piece of information gets about two seconds of our initial attention when we decide whether we are interested in further investigation or not — filming videos seems like a suicide move for a small, evolving business. However, the popularity of Vines and gifs prove this to be wrong.
People actually love funny short videos. Just remember that they need to be short and purposeful. If you are not sure whether your video is interesting for a broad audience, feel free to test it on your friends at first.
7. Throw in an occasional meme or something relatable.
Let’s face it – most of the time, we use the Internet for Googling dumb things and looking at pictures of cute dogs or cats. Just remember to be moderate with your non-business content or else you might come off as a little bit too pushy. Run your business Instagram like you would run your own business page – post what you like occasionally and pay the most attention to the work you do.
Try all of these hacks for your account, but remember that there are many more waiting for you. Explore and keep moving, and you can be sure that your work will soon be paid off with thousands of likes and hundreds of new followers.
About the Author
Hannah is a freelance blogger and content manager offering writing services at Essayshark.com. Her main goal is to share the knowledge and expertise with like-minded people around the globe. When she is not engaged with writing, she paints landscapes and floral patterns with watercolor.
