Why practice Social Media management for your business?
Social media management refers to the process of developing, creating, publishing and tracking content you post on social media platforms. It also entails customer interaction, engagement and should align with a brand’s established marketing initiatives. The purpose of social media management is to increase brand growth through reach and target a different demographic of potential customers. We all are well aware of the trend of social media marketing booming in recent years, therefore, if you’re not currently practising social media management to benefit your brand then you’re missing a golden opportunity for your business. Within a Social Media agency, experts develop management plans for clients, in order to boost brand awareness with specific demographics. Here are some beneficial reasons as to why practising social media management is a vital opportunity for your business and you should not hold off any longer: Low cost advertising Social Media is a cost efficient way to get your brand name out there! It costs nothing to create a business account, post creative content, market your brand and engage with your audience. These are all important factors in brand growth that take no money from the budget. Now, obviously there’s more to a social media strategy than jumping straight on and watching your following blow up. However, it is a free opportunity to generate revenue, build your brand reputation and increase traffic for your business. Even paid social media advertising costs nowhere near traditional marketing campaigns which cannot match the same reach that social media can. Which brings us to our next point… Reach Through social media marketing, you are reaching a bigger demographic of your target audience that you would not have been able to reach before. No matter who your target audience is, there is a social media platform that holds a huge portion of that demographic. With over half of the world’s population using social media platforms, Facebook has nearly 2 billion users DAILY and Instagram with 1 billion users per month, you are guaranteed to reach potential customers with the right social media strategy. By making your online presence known on social media this gives your customers the opportunity to develop mental availability for your brand, meaning in a purchasing situation, buyers think of your brand first and recall it in their memory. Competition Competitors can always be one step ahead of your brand if they are utilising their social media strategy and your business is not. Therefore, it’s important to make your presence known online. By engaging and being interactive with your customers on social media and consistent with your content, customers are more likely to find your brand trustworthy and potentially choose you over your competitors operating in the same category. Social media also gives you the opportunity to evaluate your competitors strategies and how they engage with their audience. By understanding their social media tactics, you can easily identify how you need to be utilising your social media management to compete with them for market share. Conclusion Are you looking to optimise your social media management? Needing help from a qualified social media agency? DGreat Solutions are equipped to develop optimal, social media management to build your online presence with consumers and ensure you are building your brands growth to compete with competitors. Save yourself time and stress on understanding the ins and outs to the success of social media and reach out to us, experts in the field of social media who can provide you with the best results when it comes to your social media marketing. Get in touch with us today for help and inquiries on your social media needs
PAID VS. ORGANIC SOCIAL MEDIA
When diving into the realm of the online world, the two types of social media businesses can utilise are paid and organic. Both present a number of opportunities for businesses and learning how to utilise both will be highly beneficial for your business. Whilst paid and organic social media varies in a number of ways, what you decide to invest more time into will depend purely on your business’s overall goals. So what exactly will work best for your business? Continue reading to learn more. WHAT IS ORGANIC SOCIAL MEDIA? Organic social media is essentially free content which is shared across the social accounts of businesses. When you create content on your social pages, it’s often viewed by a number of your followers, the followers of those who reshare your content and those who may follow any of the hashtags you utilise in your posts. Organic social media is effective for businesses as they are able to develop a deeper, personified connection with their audience. When you gain exposure organically, your followers are more likely to trust your brand as you’re providing content for the sake of adding value to their lives not just trying to make a sale. WHAT IS PAID SOCIAL MEDIA? Paid social media is promoted with payment and helps businesses reach a wider audience beyond their existing audience. The content you create will become visible in the newsfeeds of those who fall within your targeted market. You can target those who may be interested in your products or services as well as other demographics including their location, age and those with similar interests to your business. Paid social media is an ideal way to obtain new followers within a shorter period of time. By using paid social media, you are guaranteed visibility depending on the amount of money you invest and which platform you advertise on. Paid social media is highly effective for those who want to obtain greater brand exposure, reaching as many people as possible. HOW TO INCORPORATE ORGANIC & PAID INTO YOUR STRATEGY With changes in algorithms being made more and more frequently, having your content reach a wider audience organically can be a difficult task. This is where paid social media can be very effective and assist your organic posts in obtaining a greater visibility. By combining both paid and organic social media you can obtain a greater understanding of your audience, grow your online presence and have both forms of social media support one another to provide you with the best results possible. TRACK ORGANIC POSTS TO UNDERSTAND YOUR AUDIENCE By analysing the metrics from your organic posts, you can obtain a better understand as to who you should target in your paid advertising campaigns. You can also gain an insight into which forms of content will work well for a campaign and what your target market will prefer to see. If you notice you have a post which has received a significant amount of organic engagement, use the same post as an ad and you’ll be likely to receive even greater engagement and click through rates. GROW YOUR ONLINE PRESENCE When you utilise both paid and organic social media tactics, you’re maximise the potential to gain more followers. Those who see your ads are likely to search your profile on further social media accounts and become more familiar with your brand, ultimately boosting your overall online presence. Both paid and organic social media work exceptionally well in conjunction with each other. Whilst you can still maintain an online presence with just one, you simply won’t achieve as great results as when both are combined. By utilising organic social media, you can understand more about your audience and further enhance your paid social media strategy. If you want to implement the ideal social media strategy, speak to our expert team at DGreat Solutions today to find out how we can help.
BENEFITS OF FACEBOOK SHOP FOR BUSINESS
Created with the intent of simplifying the process of selling and purchasing products online, Facebook Shop is a common favourite amongst both business owners and consumers. With many businesses currently struggling and forced to close their physical shopfronts, taking their business online and utilising social media has been their saviour during this difficult period of time. Facebook provides small businesses in particular with a convenient method to do so. Even if you don’t have a website, you can still conveniently sell your products online to consumers via both Facebook and Instagram, as long as you have a Facebook Business Page. Facebook Shop has made the intention of buying and selling, quick and easy. So how can Facebook Shop benefit your business? IDEAL FOR IMPULSE SHOPPERS In the words of Facebook “users can enjoy the experience of shopping, not the chore of buying” and for impulse shoppers, Facebook Shop is the ideal tool to make purchases. Impulse shoppers see a product they find value in and want to make the purchase as quickly as possible, buying right in the moment. Facebook Shop caters perfectly well to this customer base and has proven to work effectively for many businesses. As Facebook Shop is also linked to Instagram, you can easily set up Instagram Shop in the same process. Share an image of a product, tag the items and your audience can easily tap the image to see details of the product. They can then click a direct link which will take them to the product either on your Facebook page or website to make the purchase. The process is simple, fast and makes shopping much more convenient. FREE TO SET UP AND EASY TO USE Another great benefit of Facebook shop is it’s free to set up and incredibly easy to use. There are simple instructions provided by Facebook which assist businesses in setting up their online shops. All you are required to do is choose the products you wish to sell and add them to your online catalogue. Page owners can then customise their shop in order to suit their brand, then link the shop to their eCommerce platform in order to make the purchase or they can purchase directly from Facebook. List all product features of your item and any other important information regarding your business. Facebook Shop replicates a real-life store where you can send messages to the shop and ask questions regarding specific products. Within a few clicks you can create your online store and begin sharing your products with the wider Facebook and Instagram community. SELL YOUR PRODUCTS ONLINE WITHOUT A WEBSITE One of the best features of Facebook Shop is business owners can sell their products online without having a website. If you’re relatively new to the online world and haven’t had the time or money to invest in a good website, you can opt to simply create a Facebook Business page and then utilise the shop feature. This will work exceptionally well for businesses who have a significant amount of their target market on Facebook already. Once you have added your products online you can easily share them amongst your followers in order to promote them and attract potential buyers. There’s no denying that one of the keys to keeping your business afloat during these uncertain times is to establish an online presence. For newcomers to the online world, creating a Facebook Shop is a great place to start and easily sell to consumers. The introduction of Facebook Shop has assisted business owners across the globe in providing a seamless shopping experience for consumers. Not only does it assist shoppers with their shopping experience, but it also assists business owners in their ability to conveniently sell products to their target market. Facebook Shop is a cost effective, easy to use platform for business owners to sell to consumers with or without owning a website. If you’re seeking social media assistance, contact the team at DGreat Solutions today to find out how we can help!
HOW TO GROW YOUR INSTAGRAM FOLLOWING
With more than 1 billion users across the globe, Instagram continues to provide incredible marketing opportunities for businesses. As we learn to embrace our digitally dominated society, it’s become apparent that there really are no limits as to what we can achieve with the help of social media. As marketers, one of the core objectives we work towards on Instagram is increasing the number of followers on a profile. The more followers, the more opportunities you have to showcase your brand and what you have to offer. If you are determined to grow your Instagram following, read our tips below to find out how you can do so organically. BE CONSISTENT WITH YOUR POSTS One of the greatest ways to grow your Instagram following is to stay consistent with your posts. Set a realistic goal of how frequently you are able to post. Whether it’s 4 times a week or once a day, create a content sharing goal and hold yourself accountable to it. The more frequently you post, the more familiar people become with your brand, trust it and expect you to continue posting regularly, providing quality content. A great tip is to plan your content in advance so you’re not just posting for the sake of posting and can actually provide value for your followers. Remember those who post regularly are more likely to receive greater engagement. CREATE A HASHTAG STRATEGY Hashtags are another great way in which you can easily grow your Instagram. With the right hashtag strategy, you can obtain visibility in the Instagram explore tab and be seen by those who aren’t yet following your profile. Instagram allows users to include up to 30 hashtags per post, however, it’s important to use good quality hashtags which are relevant to your business in order to achieve the best results. We recommend collating a list of hashtags that your target market would be searching for. For example, if you are a café you would want to incorporate a series of hashtags relevant to food/drinks, the cuisine you offer, your location etc. MAKE USE OF VIDEOS, LIVE CONTENT AND STORIES Creating video footage is the best possible way to showcase your brand and provide your followers with a deeper insight into the faces behind the name. Live content and stories in particular are raw, real and relatable. Make your video footage fun and interactive by showing fun elements of your workplace you can answer any FAQs, introduce your team or show a sneak preview of any new products or services you will be introducing. The more you create video content; the more familiar Instagram users will be with your brand and learn to trust your business. EMBRACE USER-GENERATED CONTENT Did you know that 9 out of 10 people are more likely to trust a brand that shares organic, user-generated content as opposed to professionally constructed content (Nielsen Consumer Trust Index). Essentially, what this means is Instagram users want to see content from REAL people utilising your services or products. Encourage your followers to create their own content and include your Instagram handle or hashtag. You could prompt people to create their own content by offering a discount on their next order or whatever you are willing to offer. Most Instagram users will gladly promote a brand if they are happy with the service they have received. COLLABORATE WITH OTHER BRANDS/INFLUENCERS Another highly effective way to grow your following on Instagram is to collaborate with other brands or influencers in your industry. Reach out to local businesses and influencers with a high number of followers and ask if they would be willing to promote your brand in exchange for a discount on your services or products. You could even suggest running competitions together to leverage both of your followers. This is an ideal way to create brand awareness and network within the online community. Once you gain new followers it’s critical to be conscious of the content you share with them. The work isn’t over once they hit the follow button. You must continue to create valuable content in order to gain their trust and encourage your followers to support your brand. And please, do not fall into the trap of buying followers! More often than not this provides practically no value to your business, wasting your time and money. Genuine followers will support your brand and are more likely to engage with your profile, becoming your customers or clients. For assistance with your social media strategy, let the team at DGreat Solutions assist.
USING FACEBOOK LIVE TO CREATE CONTENT
If you’re struggling to consistently create good quality, informative content on your social media accounts, the live feature may be your solution. Going live is essentially a live stream video where you can film yourself in real time and communicate with your audience. There are a number of benefits you can obtain by using the live feature and it’s a great way to relate with your audience and reveal the face behind the brand. The live feature is most popular on Facebook and Instagram with more and more businesses utilising the feature as it provides a fast way to communicate with your audience and alert them when you have new announcements. WHY USE FACEBOOK LIVE? One of the biggest advantages Facebook Live provides is that you can stream yourself instantly and discuss important topics, without needing to create content or postediting. We spend a significant amount of time planning and creating content in order for it to be flawless for our viewers. With Facebook Live, there’s no chance to refilm what you’re discussing even if you make an error. It’s raw and real and you’ll find your audience will appreciate its authenticity. Another great benefit is your audience can ask you questions whilst you are streaming. This drives higher engagement levels as the audience can see you are active and know if they ask questions throughout your live stream, they will have a fast response. When you use the live feature, you have the ability to demonstrate your knowledge in your field, your audience can watch as you answer a number of questions and show your level of expertise. Not only will you demonstrate your expertise, but you can actually show your audience who you are and what you stand for. If you audience can physically see you and hear you, they are more likely to trust you and your brand. HOW TO PREPARE FOR YOUR LIVE VIDEOS Although Facebook Live is a live streaming feature, you can still take steps to prepare so you can feel confident when going live. You don’t have to prepare an entire speech to read out to your audience, however it’s a good idea to take notes and have somewhat of an agenda do discuss. Remember you can’t edit the video once it has been streamed so planning to some extent would benefit you greatly. Think of content ideas which would be relevant to your industry. You could use live streaming as an opportunity to show behind the scenes of your workplace, introduce your team or share a preview of upcoming business ventures i.e. new stock or products. You can also use Facebook Live as an opportunity to answer any frequently asked questions you may receive and potentially ask your audience questions which could help develop your business. Above all, ensure you have a stable internet connection, so your video doesn’t drop out or disconnect whilst you are live. Complete a test run of your microphone and video to ensure you can be heard and seen clearly. PROMOTE WHEN YOU WILL BE GOING LIVE Lastly, communicate to your audience when you will be going live! If your audience are aware of when you will be speaking on Facebook Live, they will be more likely to tune in and listen to what you have to discuss. You can promote this across your social platforms or send out emails. This would be especially useful if you are releasing new products or services and are planning to discuss them via live stream. Be conscious of the times you decide to go live, it’s best to go live outside of standard office hours so your audience actually have time to watch your video. Facebook Live is a beneficial tool which business owners can use as another method of fast and convenient content creation. If you’re looking to build your brand and reach your audience on a more personal level, getting in touch with DGreat Solutions is the ideal way to do so.
GENERATING MORE LEADS USING FACEBOOK ADVERTISING
As much as we all love to utilise free advertising on social media, it can be challenging to obtain visibility. Your competition is much greater with organic advertising and essentially you need to work much harder to have your posts seen. Facebook ads are an ideal way to learn more about your target market and attract more leads to your business page. Businesses thrive from using Facebook due to its exceptional reach and targeting capabilities. We list below 5 ways of generating more leads using Facebook advertising. Targeted ads Facebook provides users with an extraordinary level of targeted marketing. Facebook Ads Manager enables businesses to create ad campaigns which target a variety of audiences based upon their marketing objectives. With the ability to target users based upon demographics such as their location, career, income, gender, age, and interests. This assists businesses to target a variety of audiences, test them, measure the results and determine which audience group generates the most leads. You also have the option to create a reach campaign, where you have the ability to target the maximum amount of people possible. Free promotions We all love receiving things for free, creating an ad which promotes a free item or service is an effective way to capture Facebook user’s attention and obtain more leads. When deciding what to offer your prospects for free, think about what your target audience would find useful. Think outside the box and be unique with your free promotion. Whether it be an e-book, consultation or free product to try, you want to use the free offer as an introduction to your products or services and prompt them to seek your assistance further. The aim is to demonstrate your expertise in your industry and how you differ from your competitors. Include a CTA (call to action) in your free promotion which prompts users to include their contact details. This will allow you to add them to your client database or email marketing platform to follow up with them in future. Video ads Facebook videos are highly effective, especially when used in ad campaigns. Video ads provide businesses with the opportunity to create informative and engaging content which encourages users to use your services or buy your products. It’s important to create high quality videos, including a CTA such as ‘call us today’ or ‘book a free consultation’. Mobile friendly videos generate higher engagement, so always remember to ensure your videos are optimised for mobile. Visual content is crucial when creating Facebook ads, 85% of videos watched by users, are viewed without sound. Consider having subtitles throughout your video ads to cater to this. Also keep your videos short and sweet, video ads under 60 seconds are ideal. Anything longer than this and it becomes harder to keep the attention of your viewers. SMS & Messenger Another tip for generating more leads is by incorporating SMS and Facebook Messenger into your ad strategy. Facebook provides businesses with the ability to have an auto responder. This improves your response rates overall and assists businesses to convert leads more frequently. Messenger and SMS have significantly high open rates as opposed to email. Messenger has 70% open rates and SMS even higher with 98%. You have a greater chance of conveying your indented message by utilising this technique. Once you have obtained the contact details of your prospects via your ads, you can use these details to alert users of special promotions or important updates via SMS and Messenger. Advertise on Instagram In case you are unaware, Facebook actually owns Instagram. This means you have the ability to use the same ads created in Facebook ads manager, to target those who fall within your target audience on Instagram. This provides you with another window of opportunity to target those who may be interested in your products or services who actually may not use Facebook, however, use Instagram. Instagram is a highly effective platform for social media marketing and one you should incorporate into your ads strategy in order to obtain more leads. Facebook advertising is a powerful way for businesses to promote their products or services and gain a significant amount of leads. Facebook’s targeting capabilities provide business owners with the potential to reach a significant number of prospects who would actually be interested in their business. Facebook has the highest number of active monthly users, compared with other social media platforms. This is why DGreat Solution recommends Facebook for businesses and marketers to invest in advertising campaigns.
How to use Tik Tok for business
Since its inception in 2016, Tik Tok has rapidly evolved to be one of the most frequently used social media apps by Generation Z. If you haven’t yet heard about Tik Tok, it’s only a matter of time before you find yourself stumbling across a viral Tik Tok post, with an impressive amount of engagement to follow. According to Hootsuite, the app has over 800 million monthly users and presents a new and innovative way for businesses to promote their brand and obtain high levels of organic reach. If you’re searching for the next smart marketing move to make, Tik Tok might just be your answer. Learn how to use Tik Tok for business. What is Tik Tok? Tik Tok is a casual, fun and quirky social media app invented by Chinese company ByteDance. The app is most popular amongst teenagers, more specifically, those aged between 16-24. Tik Tok users are able to create short-form videos, incorporating hit songs, voice-overs and a variety of filters and lenses. Users have fun with the app and create humorous videos, dance challenges, prank challenges or just share anything they think other Tik Tok users would find enjoyable to watch. Content shared on Tik Tok is typically shot from users own smartphones, which means the quality of videos shared is authentic and real, unlike other social media platforms which utilise professional videographers. The best part about Tik Tok is how easy it is to obtain high levels of views and engagement. By utilising the right hashtags, you could find your videos obtaining thousands, hundreds of thousands, if not millions of views. How can Tik Tok benefit your business? Tik Tok is still relatively new to the social media marketing world. Marketers are still analysing the app in order to determine how to create the ideal strategy for the platform. While Tik Tok might not be useful for all businesses, those who have a target audience resembling those of the Tik Tok user demographic can benefit greatly from using the app. It’s one of the quickest and cost-efficient ways to promote your business and receive traction from a massive audience if your strategy is implemented correctly. Businesses are able to obtain results almost instantly by sharing content which appeals to Tik Tok users. How do you know if Tik Tok is right for your business? The first thing you need to do is research the app. Look at videos on the for you page and see which videos are gaining the most engagement. Could you see your brand creating similar content? If your brand promotes fun, relaxed, light-hearted vibes, then Tik Tok can certainly work for you. Tik Tok users are quite creative with their posts and often start dance challenges or prank challenges incorporating hashtags that prompt other users to do the same. It creates a fun, social movement of a sort. Get creative! You could even create short demo videos, showing how your product works or if you’re in the fashion industry, you could create try on haul videos where you show how the clothing looks on real people. Similarly to Instagram, you can utilise influencers on Tik Tok to promote your brand. What’s important to remember, is even if you are paying people to promote your product, it shouldn’t look like an ad. Businesses that have done well on Tik Tok have done so by creating campaigns that appear raw, real and give the perception they aren’t trying to sell to consumers. So keep your videos fun, creative and remember to stay active. Tik Tok advertisements Responding to the high demand of businesses incorporating Tik Tok into their social media marketing strategy, the app has recently introduced ads. In the same method, you can create a business account on Instagram, you can now do so via Tik Tok. While the app is still relatively new to paid advertising, it’s a great time for marketers to get behind the app and obtain good visibility. There are four main types of ads available: Infeed native content: These ads will appear in the newsfeed of the for you page. Brand takeover These ads appear once the user first opens the app and essentially take over the app for the duration of the ad, leading to a newsfeed video. Hashtag challenges Hashtag challenge ads appear on the discovery page and encourage users to participate in the challenge. Branded lenses Branded lenses are available for users to add to their videos and are developed by the brand. In order to measure the effectiveness of Tik Tok advertisements, track the engagement of your posts and CTRs (Click through rates). Tik Tok has grown immensely over the past four years and has already overtaken competing apps such as LinkedIn and Snapchat in terms of monthly active users. If you’re thinking of taking your social media marketing to the next level, there’s no better time than now to consider Tik Tok.
The Algorithms of Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn: What is it and how do you master it?
An algorithm is essentially defined as a set or rules or processes used to solve a problem or work towards an end result. In terms of social media, an algorithm is a process with which each user’s posts are filtered and shared with others based upon a number of factors such as their online behavior, interests and profile interactions. Algorithms are important because they determine whether or not your posts reach the top of your follower’s newsfeeds. Social media algorithms can be quite a difficult topic to grasp especially when platforms such as Instagram and Facebook are continuously making changes to how user’s posts are viewed. This can be equally frustrating for business owners and marketers as having your content visible isn’t as simple as it used to be. Previously, posts were shared to users in chronological order so timing your posts was a top priority. Nowadays, the algorithms are based upon a number of factors and will vary depending on each platform. Although they are undeniably inconvenient at times, learning the ins and outs of each social media platform’s algorithmic approach will greatly benefit your organic reach. THE FACEBOOK ALGORITHM Being one of the most popular marketing platforms, Facebook is an ideal space for businesses to reach out to potential customers or clients. However, recently Facebook has made it harder than ever for businesses to reach people organically. This is due to newsfeed changes which mean Facebook users are more prone to seeing content from family and friends as opposed to businesses. Facebook essentially prioritizes posts which are from profiles you frequently interact with, or posts which have a large number of reactions or comments and video content. Some tips for mastering Facebook’s algorithm include sharing your businesses content on your own personal account, frequently interacting with your account followers or friends, encouraging others to share your content and utilise video content as much as possible. Also, ensure your business page is set to public so you are still visible to those who don’t follow your page. Boosting posts and Facebook ads aren’t organic, but are highly beneficial for business and do guarantee audience reach. THE INSTAGRAM ALGORITHM The Instagram algorithm has received much criticism over the past year especially from social media influencers and business owners who rely solely on the platform to operate. Timing of posts was always one of the main features of the Instagram algorithm in the past. It still is important; however Instagram also prioritises other features such as profiles users frequently engage with, the popularity of posts (including likes and shares) and hashtags each user follows. It can be very tricky for posts to be seen by users if they are not frequently interacting with their followers. If you want your posts to reach more of your followers organically, interact with your followers on a regular basis. By commenting, liking and sharing their content, in return Instagram will prioritise your content. Utilise hashtags, and use as many as you can (Instagram allows up to 30) based on a number of categories such as location and hashtags relevant to your content and industry. Post consistently and at times where your followers or target audience are most active. If your account is set to a business profile you are able to see this in your insights tab. Finally, share your content on your story highlights. Although they do last for only 24 hours, this is an additional way to share your content with your followers and can track who has viewed it. THE LINKEDIN ALGORITHM LinkedIn is potentially the most popular social media platform for B2B marketing. Quite similarly to Facebook and Instagram, LinkedIn prioritises a number of factors in their algorithm. When sharing content on LinkedIn, it’s important to keep it professional and ensure it provides value for its audience. LinkedIn will favor content from profiles which you have interacted with previously as well as posts with high levels of engagement (shares, likes, comments etc.) and does not particularly favor content from business pages. In order to obtain good organic reach on LinkedIn, share your content on your business pages as well as your own personal accounts. This will enhance the likelihood of your posts being viewed and provides a more personal approach. Posting various formats of content such as text, image and video will also boost your visibility. And finally, as with all social media platforms, be consistent! Social media algorithms aren’t necessarily the easiest concept to grasp and will take some time to understand entirely. The best step you can take is to stay updated with each social media marketing platform and make note of any changes which occur to their algorithms. The more you familiarise yourself with each platform, the greater you will become at mastering the algorithms!
How to use instagram to build brand trust
Instagram now has over 800 million active users. It is unarguably one the most far reaching social media platforms you can get your hands on. Instagram has proven itself to be a great advertising platform for businesses and shows no signs of slowing down. eMarketer estimated the worldwide ad revenues to exceed $10 billion dollars by this year. This is quite an increase from just under $2 billion in 2016.If you’re not already using Instagram to increase the reach and build brand awareness, you’re missing out. Thankfully, its relatively easy to get your business up and running, you just need enough time and effort to implement a well thought out strategy. STUDY Your first step should be going out and finding other business similar to yours and studying what they are currently posting. Look at the colours, the type of imagery, the people in the photos, the location etc. Think about how it makes you feel when you see their content, what kind of emotion are they pulling from you, does it make you want to be a part of their culture?If yes, then model what they are doing. We aren’t saying to copying what they’re doing, but for now, write down things that you like and things that you don’t like. WHAT TO POST Now that you have some idea on what your competitors are posting and the angle they’re going for, it’s time to decide on what you want to start posting! This changes entirely on industry to industry and obviously I don’t know what kind of legal obligations you may have within yours. But, you want to be posting content that is; 1) Relative to your industry. 2) Speaks how you want your ideal customer to speak. And 3) Keeps existing and potential customers engaged with your brand. So hopefully you already know your ideal customer, or at least have some idea of who they are, what they do, where they hang out and what other kind of things they spend their money on. We have found that it is best to actually give this “ideal customer” a name, give them an outfit, hair style and friends. It might seem a bit odd, but it will help you think and realise who your target market it. And hey, doesn’t hurt to try. WHEN TO POST Instagram has changed its algorithms a lot in the recent years, to the point that it almost doesn’t matter ‘when’ you post, but more so ‘how often’ you post. Instagram favours regular, high quality and high engaged content. It is a general recommendation that you post at least once per day, twice if you feel the need to. And that’s just for the standard Instagram ‘feed’ post, Instagram stories is a whole other mind field. Now, I’m sure we all follow someone who feels the need to put every waking minute of their lives on the instagram stories, we are saying to do this. But, I believe business owners could take a leaf out of their book. Instagram stories are a great way to drive existing followers to your page and keep them in the loop! It won’t necessarily get your page discovered by new people (that’s what your Instagram Feed posts are for), but when they do land on your page and you have a story that’s been posted in the last 24 hours, they are liking to look. It helps keep your profile looking lively and active, and is just another great way to keep engagement up on your profile. Instagram the amazing platform Instagram is an amazing platform for building your brands image and communicating with your existing and potential customers. Try not to overthink your content, keep it lighthearted, keep up with current trends and keep your audience engaged.If you are struggling to come up with ideas or are just feeling overwhelmed with the road ahead for your business and instagram, get in contact with us today! We over free consultation calls, so you have nothing to lose and everything to gain!
