Instagram for Beginners By Leanne O Sullivan, the Summit School
Where to start with Instagram Download the APP Instagram for those very very new is ALL mobile, which can seem annoying at first when you are used to working on a desktop - but we live in a mobile first world and that is why this platform has been so so successful At the end of this webinar, my hope is that you will start to understand what a great tool it is for ANY business and will be loving it too!
1. Why Instagram I will be discussing with you some background information about Instagram including growth, engagement as well as doing a little mythbusting Who uses it Understand the real demographics What they are looking for It s not just yoga poses or coffee hearts Myths about Instagram See some examples of all kinds of accounts that work that are not typical of your expectations
Where have all the people gone and how can you get them engaging with you again? Engagement with brands on instagram is significantly highly than most other platforms
Instagram! And you need to be there too. (but you knew that, right?) 58 times higher than facebook, 120 times higher than twitter
Why Instagram Why not? It s a large and growing base that are highly active. It is visual, so it can say a lot with very little, plus being mobile first it has been at the forefront of the significant change in consumer behaviour in the last 5 years. 30 billion photos and counting, 70 million photos per day - over 600 million users with 80% of outside the US
But I m not a hip brand That s cool - it s a myth that Instagram is for hip brands. Real people, just like you, just like your business use Instagram each and every single day to successfully drive traffic back to their website and SELL product & services Let s understand why!
2. Some basics At the end of this section you will understand The importance of your profile The difference between your account name & your title What to put in your bio Get to the heart of what you offer & understand the power of emojis What we mean by the look & feel of your GRID What is your why & how do you want people to feel when they look at your feed
What s in a name Your username should be your business name Both your name and username are searchable, so make sure you describe what you do in your title and don t just repeat your account name But your name area should describe what you do succinctly & not repeat your name here
Get to the heart of what you do Can you describe what you do in 30 characters or less? You need razor focus to make the name area work for you. You can change your name any time you like ( this includes your username ). It is however not a great idea to change your username too often - but feel free to massage your name until you re happy
Profile Image This should be nice & clear, using your logo preferably. Upload a square logo so that you control the final layout. The size to use is 180x180 pixels Professional headshots, image shots or logo. If your logo is very busy (remember mobile first) perhaps choose a picture of you, or something from your business that people associate with your business.
What NOT to put in your bio Let s look at some examples of what not to do first. Remember, what you put in your bio is to help your customers & potential customers want to connect with you for BUSINESS, so don t be airy-fairy, woo-woo & deep if your TARGET customer is not expecting that. When in doubt use an emoji - use 3! These are fun, descriptive & part of the instagram culture so get creative.
When you have the same username and name inside Instagram, this is what it looks like when people search for you. Information is just repeated. So you are not giving your business the best opportunity to stand out in a list of accounts
How to construct a good bio 1. 2. You only have 150 characters here so make it count. This is why using your name area to describe what you do ( rather than just repeating your username ) is so valuable 3. Think carefully about what you do Think about how you solve a problem, a wish or a desire of your target customer Write down all the words that come to mind when you think about the 2 items above Let s look at some good ones
Let s look at some examples
What s the vibe of your tribe? What is the feeling that are looking for when they look at your feed? What is the feeling they expect when they walk into your business?
Instagram is ultimately all about the visual So you need to think strategically and carefully about what you post and when you post. How it looks & feels to your audience is key
Think about what kind of things you might post? What is your audience expecting? If you aren t in hospitality, they are not expecting images of food. Your images need to be in sync with what you are about & only that. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Your products & services Your office & your team Your offers Quotes Images that mean something to your audience & you Find accounts you like, find competitors - what types of images do they post?
What is your theme? A theme can come from what we call your brand personality. If your brand was a living person, are you:- Fun Serious Quirky Colourful Lighthearted All business Gender specific To quote or not to quote? Quotes are not mandatory on Instagram however insightful sayings, or how to s always work well especially if you are a service business
Create order in your grid Your grid is the flow of images in your feed, particularly in say the first 6-9 images depending on a user s phone. You are creating & cementing the story of your brand - whatever that is. Don t feel intimidated by the gram Your kind of people want what you have to offer - so just be genuine. Your images should look like they belong together, & that any image that standing out was planned. If you are not feeling confident about your creativity be consistent instead & create a pattern. Let s look at some feeds now
But I can t take good photos Neither can I! As a service based business, I rely on stock imagery, a bank of professional shots I get taken at regular times & graphics I create. I use CANVA, WORDSWAG and A BEAUTIFUL MESS to create graphics in this way. I find this also helps with the TIME factor in creating images Don t rush your posts, plan your posts Instagram does not have to be live. So take your time when you take your photos & plan when to use them.
Be guided by what you sell/produce/make 1. Images you may use on your website that are just product on a white background, don t work as well as products in situ i.e. Clothing should be worn, Objects work better styled. 2. 3. 4. Your current marketing plan can be a great source of what to post & when Do you have marketing themes? Do you have seasons? When you write down a topic you then can plan out what you might post. You can then get a bank of images ready & batch up posts ready to go.
Stories The snapchat killer - Stories Like snapchat they dissappear within 24 hours unless you highlight them So highlights on your profile are very powerful content storage places Select a hashtag, a location tag plus txt This gives you greater reach than just posting to your followers..
A story can provide background to your post Use the text feature as well as uploading images. Often it can provide clear instructions or details on the how to do something An instagram feed looks best when well organised, but a story post lets you step outside that. It can be the behind the scenes information, or the information that goes together - ie a how to guide for instance
Progress not Perfection Don t let perfection turn into an excuse for procrastination Think about context & your customers. If you are a beautician, your target customer is looking and expecting polish in your feed. If you are a dentist, they are looking for clean teeth!
3. Engagement The best way to build your account is by engaging with your community & understanding how they search Find & Follow people in your space Talk to people in your niche Get started with hashtags
But a word of warning. If you want to grow fast, it does take time, at least 30 mins a day Find & follow all of your customers inside Instagram. Find & follow your competitors, Find & follow people you admire & learn from them! That will be a great start
Find & Follow People Go online and find and follow ALL of your customers! Look at who is following your competitors or people in your space Check out their feeds, what they post and how they tag their posts, this helps to understand your customers Then find and follow ALL of your suppliers, partners & people you regularly do business with. Then have a look at your competitors, see what they post, see how they tag & see who follows them.
Understanding the power of #hashtags With the Instagram algorithm change & the feed ordering change using hashtags to be seen & to be found has never been more important. So whilst people see ALL your posts (unlike Facebook in their feed) the order they see them is mixed up Are you using hashtags now - on each & every post you do? You can have up to 30 hashtags in total for each post ( both in the initial post & comments area) However, don t put a big chunk of hashtags into your initial post - drop them into the first comment
Hashtags - your secret weapon Save hashtags onto a notes app on your phone so that you can readily copy & paste them into your posts. I have a few groups I use depending on the nature of the post I am making. If you can think of 30 hashtags, then use all 30. This is how people discover you, when they don t know who you are & how you find people in your space. This is how people find you & how instagram knows how to view you. These are the words that are tied to your kind of business - they are search terms
My feed I have about 3 sets of hashtag groups I copy and paste them into the first comments area after I post my image and original text. I normally post about 25 hashtags in the comments area, leaving me some that I can post in the comments area that suit just that post. Avoid 1 word hashtags that are essentially meaningless - like #instagood for example. Currently 469 million posts & counting with that one.
How do I find them? I have a special short course on this very thing, where I demonstrate how to find them & best practice tips for for Pinterest & Twitter) But for now, think like a customer. What are they looking for? Type that word into the Instagram search area. Remember think like a customer, otherwise you might only attract people that your competitors & your not actual customers. Don t choose hashtags with >1 million posts, especially when you first start. You will never be seen Use hashtags that are in the range of >5000 and <500000
4. What next? You can leave here today & implement tips that will make an immediate impact on your business especially in these areas Better Profile & Bio Better understanding of how to style your grid Ideas about how to start a hashtag strategy