Social media platforms, like Instagram, have become an increasingly popular platform (if not the most) for businesses to create traffic and interact with their clients. Consumers are accustomed to the act of searching for a business on the internet and are basing their opinions on an overall presence before they would ask a friend. However, if the consumer decides that you are ‘legitimate’ they will likely trust you with their business if they are able to. If handled well, Instagram can become the voice of your brand’s personality.
Your legitimacy within the online community is established by a variety of factors such as overall online presence, short response time, targeted content, and style consistency, to mention a few. All these details together help you succeed in becoming a recognizable brand, which can increase online traffic with the ultimate goal of creating more revenue!
Style Consistency
Having a solidified vision for the style of your Instagram account is a must-have for a successful social media outlet as of late. When a customer sees the person in charge of posting, care about delivering content that they might like, your audience is more likely to follow you since they will trust you with delivering content that resembles all of what you already have.
This is achieved by factors such as a cohesive color palette, a balanced amount of photos and graphics, well framed/composed content, and quality photos if possible! An easy start to pinning down what style your account needs is to research other similar accounts that are addressing the same issues as you. Use a variety of sources for inspiration and you’ll progressively develop your own method for maintaining style.
Engaging with Customers
One of the reasons Instagram is such a good platform for connecting businesses with its audience is that it makes you as potentially available as any other friend a person might choose to follow. This means that you can use it to establish and develop a more personal connection with your followers. Being eager to answer whatever comments are left on your posts, or following accounts to show commitment are some examples.
However, it is up to you to show your consumers that you want to acknowledge their engagement with you! By creating hashtags, hosting giveaways, reposting follower’s content, or simply asking to be tagged in your follower’s photos for any number of reasons are great conversation starters for you and your followers.
Regular Posts
This one is pretty self-explanatory. Although be careful not to confuse “regular” with “as much as I can”. 3 to 7 posts per week is a healthy start until you figure out what your actual demand is! People commit to following accounts because they want to be involved with your content, so try to direct your posts to establish a connection, don’t just post to get likes! You want to offer a decent amount of information about your company served as content that your audience feels they “need” in their social media endeavors. Maintaining this relationship nurtures a customer-business relationship, which is where the most trustworthy word-of-mouth recommendations come from.
Short Response Time
This one relates a lot to all of the previous points since we are using Instagram as a digital marketing tool, we have to make sure our actions follow through with our promises. When customers can see first-hand interactions between you and other clients/viewers, and see that you quickly acted on them (it be either good or bad), speaks volumes about your value as an entity.
Adding Value
Your future clients want to know why your products and services will benefit them, and how you stand out from your competitors. This is where social media often becomes a great tool to not only advertise your brand but instead a “lifestyle”. When a brand has a strong social media personality they make a unique impact in its audience’s world.
If the consumer decides to make them part of their “digital mood board” they gain the option to easily communicate with new and frequent clients at all times. Consequently, the voice our brands adapt must be carefully curated in order to establish a personal connection with the client. This has shown to be a great tool for both big and small businesses, it’s a human connection to your audience and is very easy to do well if you just pay attention!
These suggestions are all up to interpretation by anyone that wishes to follow them. Instagram is a great tool to become a regular part of your target audience’s life, especially if they follow and actively engage with your account. As I mentioned earlier, Instagram can become the voice of your brand’s personality, however, what does that voice sound like to you? What would your brand have to say? How can you make it louder? Friendlier? A better salesperson?