Instagram isn't like most social networks. And the way you get business from your Instagram followers is not as straightforward as it could be on other platforms.
You can't just post content and link out to your site every time to get traffic back to generate sales.
So, how can you monetize your activities on Instagram?
In this article, we are going to share with you how you can grow your Instagram followers and get the most out of them.
Hi there, and welcome back to Serendipity Marketing. We're a digital marketing agency with a mission to help small businesses grow by applying psychology to their marketing strategies.
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So, let’s get straight to the point.
Custom audiences
The first thing you want to do to get the most out of your Instagram followers is to use followers as custom audiences for your ads.
When you have followers, remember, they're loyal to you, they like you – always assuming you're not just buying fake followers, which you should never do because it's going to hurt you in the long run.
But assuming you have quality followers, you want to use them to create Lookalike Audiences.
This will help you find other followers that you can attract. The bigger base of followers you have, the more likely you are to be able to continually monetize them in the future.
Think of your followers as well, would you rather go buy water from the store and keep paying every time you need a new bottle of water because you're thirsty?
Or would you rather build your own well, so every time you are thirsty you can go down in there, take a bucket and get water for free?
Sure, you may have the upfront cost, but that's the whole purpose of building a wall.
The same goes for your Instagram followers.
By using a Lookalike Audience, building up more of a follower base, keep in mind you're building that well that you can keep tapping into in the future, and in the future, and in the future, and even more to generate sales.
Use Reels
The second thing we want you to do is to post Reels videos. Instagram really wants users on Reels.
So, if you have a video and post it as a Reel, you'll notice that you'll get more views and more engagement.
So, what you want to do with the Reel videos is not just create a video for the sake of it.
Your video should be
A. Educational, and
B. It should talk about your product or service in a way that revolves around your audience's problems and needs.
By doing both of those things in your Instagram videos, not only are people going to watch because you're giving them advice and tips that are going to help them, but you'll also start generating new followers and sales due to the fact that you're talking about your product or service.
You may not generate as many sales as you want, but all these little tips and tricks that we are going to give you are going to add up.
Leverage Stories
The next thing you want to do to grow your Instagram followers is to leverage Stories.
The reason we love Stories more than anything else is that, when you post a Story, you can add a link and tell people to click on it.
And when they click on the link, you can drive them to your website.
It's a great way to get people to visit your website and convert them.
Remember, it's really hard to get someone to convert into a customer when they're still on Instagram.
You need them to go from Instagram to your site so they can checkout.
If they're not going from Instagram to your site, you're not going to generate as many sales.
Hence, you want to use Stories and tell people to click on the link you can add to the Stories.
It's simple, it works, and even if you do an animated GIF telling people to click, it's much more effective than if you just put text saying to click the link.
We've tested both of them, and we tend to use the text combined with an interactive GIF as it’s more visual and works better.
Live content videos
Another thing Instagram is pushing hard is live content videos.
So, if you can do a Live on Instagram and people are asking questions and you're responding, and assuming your Live video is super engaging and helpful, they're going to be engaged, and you can sell to them right then and there.
You can get them to join a webinar, you can sell them a product, or you can sell them on your service.
Live videos are great because the moment you go live every one of your followers gets a notification that you’re starting a live video.
Instagram wants their users in their app 24/7, so they're pushing Live so hard right now.
Alright, now before we move on with the next tips on how to grow your Instagram followers for higher business profit, have you ever thought about how much you should invest in marketing to generate constant business growth? Click the button below to calculate the ideal marketing budget you should allocate for higher visibility, engagement, and profit.
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Content that generates traction
The next thing you need to do to grow your Instagram followers is to invest in content that's proven to generate traction.
This about this; you post content and you find that some of your content does well, while other doesn’t, but what you want to do is start experimenting.
Take your content, big pieces, whether it's videos, cut it up into small bitesize pieces, and start putting it on Instagram.
Take some photos and put them on Instagram.
Take some quotes and put that on Instagram.
You start seeing what does well and what doesn’t.
And when you figure out what does well, you do more of it and you do less of what is not doing as well.
Now, you've figured out a formula. This is what people like on Instagram and that's what you should invest more in, and you should start throwing away the stuff that's not doing that well and do less of that.
Incentivise engagement
Then we want you to create content that creates engagement and interaction with your followers.
For example, put up pictures on Instagram and tell people to double-tap if they agree.
By them double-tapping you’re going to get more likes, which will make your photo to more likely go viral.
That's a great way of creating more engagement.
For instance, when people end up looking at one of our photos or videos, we ask them to leave a comment. And when they leave one and we respond, what do you think that does? It creates more engagement.
When someone engages with you and they're responding, they're helping you out, and then they sell you their product or service, do you think you'd be more likely to buy? Versus if a random person came up to you and just been like, "Hey, buy this mug from me," or, "Buy this souvenir from me."
You're more likely to ignore that random person.
The moment someone builds a relationship and then asks you to buy, you're much more likely to convert.
That's why it's super important for you to engage with people.
Without engagement, it's hard to convert those followers into customers.
If you need help in growing your Instagram followers and getting the most out of it to grow your business in terms of visibility, engagement, and profit, contact us today and speak with one of our digital marketing experts to see how we can build the bridge between the point you’re standing at right now and your goals.
