If someone told you that “Instagram is the best platform for promoting local businesses,” many who hear it would almost burst out laughing. They might think, “How can a social media platform full of funny cat videos or fashion posts for celebrities help local brands reach more customers?” But believe it or not, Instagram has more than just a platform for sharing fun pictures and videos.
Many studies show that 70% of shoppers will look for their next product or service on Instagram first, and 50% of shoppers will feel more interested in a brand if they see an advertisement on the platform. Think about it – Instagram has around 1.13 billion users, which is why there are over 200 million business accounts. So, in this article, we’ll share 7 tips to help local brands expand their customer base and increase engagement. After reading this, your sales will definitely skyrocket!
1. Build a Community
Instagram is like other social media platforms – it has a strong sense of community. Therefore, if a brand wants to be part of it, it needs to engage to create engagement within that community. Simply posting pictures or videos of products isn’t enough. To build a brand identity, value, or reputation within the community, you need to build relationships with competitor brands, influencers, and other followers by creating endless conversations – whether it’s answering questions, alleviating concerns, or listening to feedback. This will help the brand seamlessly become part of the community. It’s also a great opportunity to address negative comments and defend the brand.
2. Repost Content
Having customers or followers create content for your brand (User Generated Content) is a win-win promotion technique. This type of content can be pictures, videos, or product reviews (positive) that customers post on their own feeds. Then, all you have to do is repost those posts on your channel. Reposting from real customers who have used your products or services will make your brand seem more valuable, trustworthy, and accessible. It also has the opportunity to expand your customer base through word-of-mouth marketing.
However, when reposting other people’s content, always ask for permission properly by sending a DM or contacting them. Also, absolutely avoid reposting customer content without official permission.
3. Maintain Your Brand’s Mood & Tone
It’s true that most entrepreneurs use Instagram as just one of the backup platforms for expanding their brand’s contact or promoting further. Even though Instagram has a different appearance than other social media platforms, maintaining consistency across all platforms is important, especially in terms of your brand’s mood and tone. For example, if your brand is playful and uses quirky language on Facebook, but suddenly changes its personality when it comes to Instagram, it could confuse customers. Therefore, creating the same image across all social media platforms may seem insignificant, but it could lead to unexpected results.
4. Stay Trendy
There are 365 days in a year, and countless holiday events in that year. And did you know that businesses can take advantage of these days to attract customers with messages in event themes? In addition to taking advantage of these special holiday trends, picking up trending topics from various media to use as ideas for posting content will also help with engagement from the target audience. It also shows that your brand is trendy and not outdated. However, what you need to be careful about when using trending content is how to avoid making the results look awkward or uncool like other brands.
Two things to keep in mind are relevance and appropriateness. Any trend that is picked up and doesn’t relate to your brand’s products or services at all, please don’t force it! Similarly, if a topic seems risky to cause trouble, don’t think about using those issues to hype up anything. Otherwise, your brand might crash in a split second.
5. Use Hashtags Effectively
90% of Instagram users tend to quickly scroll through their Instagram feeds. Therefore, your brand’s posts need to be like good storytellers – concise, impactful, and able to twist popular vocabulary to make it interesting.
Using hashtags is no different from writing captions. You shouldn’t stuff irrelevant hashtags randomly because it might create a spammy feeling for those who see it. You should explain the most important parts of your brand, such as products or services, or describe campaigns or activities that add interest to followers or customers.
6. Don’t Forget to Write an Interesting Instagram Bio
Did you know that your Instagram Bio plays a very important role in defining your business’s identity – what your business is, what you sell or provide? Don’t forget that besides the shop name and picture, the content in the Bio is the first thing people will see. Therefore, if the content in this section doesn’t create a feeling of interest or enough attraction, the chances of losing followers and sales are high.
Brands can use tricks like emojis to add color and catch the eye. Or including links to various promotions like discounts or free shipping to entice customers to come in more. And importantly, don’t forget to attach a link to your store to increase the opportunity for Instagram followers to visit conveniently.
7. Track and Measure Continuously
Consumer behavior these days is changing rapidly. That means that if one group of followers is a die-hard fan of your brand today, their preferences might change after a while. Therefore, tracking various insights, such as checking likes, comments, and every share of each post to see what attracts them, and constantly improving based on that information, will help your brand retain existing customers for a long time.
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Relevant Audience is a company providing services related to Digital Performance Marketing Agency, with the main goal of providing digital marketing services to help businesses reach target audiences who are looking for products or services at the right time, place, and device through online channels. Our services cover Search Marketing, Social Media Ads, Search Ads, and SEO (Search Engine Optimization), as well as Influencer Marketing, and are also part of the Google Partners program.
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