Allow Instagram to Tell Your Business Story in a Valuable Way
For most businesses, when it comes to marketing, Instagram is a valuable addition to their social media platform. Like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, it’s a go-to social media site. For instance, the health and fitness industry is breaking the norm and proving that Instagram can be a powerful tool to tell your business story.
A Picture (or Video) Is Worth A Thousand Words
For most businesses, including those in the fitness industry, the visual aspect of Instagram is a huge advantage in attracting new followers. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words. For the fitness industry, posting a picture of a workout or a trainer’s latest workout video are great ideas. Then showing new workout equipment or a creative meal idea allows them to show their followers what they have to offer. Those in the fashion industry can do the same with new items of clothing. Own a construction or landscaping company? Post images from your latest jobs.
Posting images on Instagram is not only a way to generate interest from current followers but to also gain new followers. Once you start to gain more followers and become better known, you can generate interest from all over the world and create more business for you and your company.
Marketing your business with Instagram with Reels, Stories and IGTV is another smart strategy all industries can take advantage of.
Promoting on Instagram
Most businesses think that you have to sell a visual product to market on Instagram, but there are many other ways to use Instagram for your business. Is your business planning on running a promotion? Post a picture with any deals or discounts that you’re currently offering to keep your followers in the loop. As we enter the New Year and resolutions are made, the fitness industry starts to boom and this is the best time for coaches and trainers to take advantage of marketing any end of the year special that they have to offer. Using a picture is a quick and simple way to get your message to your followers. You can even include a brief description of the terms and product in the caption. Michelle Bishop did just this in the picture below advertising her end of the year promotion to over 231K followers.
Not running any specials? That’s okay. Engage with your customers by posting images asking for their feedback about new products or what they want to see more of. After all, Instagram is a social network and it’s all about engaging and socializing with your followers. Gold’s Gym posted the image below that was seen by over 23k followers.
To create more follower engagement or to drive traffic back to your account, ask followers to tag a friend in the comment section. Say, for example, you post an image of a new outfit your designed you can add a caption that says, “Check out this dress from our newest collection. Tag a friend that would love to wear this!” Once your followers start tagging friends, every person tagged will be driven back to your page. If you want to run a contest, ask your followers to post an image with a specific hashtag that you created and tag you in the image. This will allow all of their followers to visit your Instagram feed and use the hashtag when posting their own pictures. Not only will this allow you to engage with your current followers but will also help gain new followers. Include a link to your website in the your bio or in the caption of the photo to drive followers back to your webpage.
So, if you had it stuck in your head that you couldn’t use Instagram for your business, think again. With over 400 million users, Instagram is that extra something that your business needs to reach out to your customers and gain a new following. Here’s a few things to remember when using Instagram for your business:
- Communicate and engage with your followers. They are your brand advocates!
- Add personality to your posts – don’t make it all about brand and product.
- HAVE FUN! If you are having fun it will come through and your audience will have fun too!
Instagram is a great social tool to help promote your business. Are you ready to start using it to tell your business story?
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