5 Tips To Grow Your Businesses on Instagram
Instagram has now become an essential marketing channel for different business since it has far surpassed 1 billion users. For some companies, they have thrived and driven in significant sales through the platform. However, others have failed countless times and wonder why it isn’t working for them.
There are many social media sites where business owners can use to increase their ROI, and this makes them wonder which sites they really should focus on to significantly improve their marketing. For Instagram, here in this article, we give you some of the most common and potential rookie mistakes business owners tend to make.
Is Your Business Ideal for Instagram?
Well, first things first, as a business owner, you have to ask yourself “is my business fit for this platform?” Remember, Instagram is mostly about lifestyle and things you can showcase through beautiful pictures. It works well with businesses like fashion, beauty, products, and travel, However, if you are more of a B2B company, Instagram may not be the platform for you to drive in significant sales. No need to worry if Instagram isn’t fit for your business or won’t give you the right audience channel to improve your business, there are some other social media sites you could ride on to drive in significant sales. Plus there is no harm in trying to explore but don’t be discouraged if you don’t see much results. On the other hand, if your business is a good fit for Instagram and you do not see positive results, then perhaps your making one of these common mistakes.
Your Instagram Feed May Not be Shoppable
A common struggle for most businesses on Instagram is that they do not allow them to post clickable links for their products on the photos they post. However, some tools could help you work your way around this problem. Tools like product tagging which makes it easier for owners to sell their products and equally easier for consumers to buy it. One example is Shopify, and they are one of the first platforms to allow their businesses to send their customers directly from an Instagram photo to a product page on their website.
- Too Many Steps to Conversion
Now another rookie mistake businesses tend to make is making it hard for their customers to check out. Your post may have excellent pictures and properly tagged and hashtagged, but if it takes your customers a long time to buy the product, then that makes it a potential reason why you’re not getting many conversions. One of the most important rules of selling online is that every form and page your customers fill out tends to make potential customers drop off. Consider Amazon for example, of their keys to success, is the fact that it has one-click checkout for their customers.
- You Purchased Fake Followers
It may be tough for a starting business on Instagram when it has 10- 15 followers and very discouraging to try and find a way to get 1000 followers or even 10000 followers. Others take days or even months to reach that number, but sometimes it still feels like it’s miles away. This is why a lot of businesses succumb to buying followers to grow their numbers; however, this is one of the biggest mistakes a company could make.
First of all, any regular user on Instagram can spot a company with fake followers. One example on how they tend to detect it is the number of likes and comments, you may have 10000 followers, but if your post only gets 10 likes or less, this is a clear sign to them that you bought your followers. This makes your brand very “uncool,” so to speak, and can impact it negatively. This makes it very unwise for engagement and your business as well.
To build your Instagram account will take time and a lot of effort, if you are expecting this will happen overnight, then I’m sorry to say, you’ll only get more frustrated and struggle on the first few steps. Getting active followers as well as getting engaged online to promote your business requires the constant posting of great content, engaging your followers through the comments and following as well as studying potential customers on their pages. Slowly but surely, in a few months, you’ll get your desired followers. Some agencies use Instagram automation tools to help them with their feeds, plan posts ahead of time and create a brand aesthetic and build a consistent, beautiful feed.
- It focuses more on the sales
Instagram is a place where people can see other people’s lifestyles, see funny memes or be driven by powerful messages. It is first and foremost a social platform and not just a shopping platform. Some businesses can turn away customers by making it all about sales. So try not to make your page all about your product, try other pitching ideas and techniques to help you with your feed and posts to improve your brand online.
- You don’t use stories enough
Building on stories for your business is something most owners tend to neglect, despite it being a great place to market your brand, engage with your followers and get new ones as well. You don’t have to shoot live videos, but you can also create text pages to develop your story and use tags to make it relatable to the right audiences. But of course, as we said before, don’t make it all about the sales. You need to engage, entertain and hopefully make followers enjoy themselves. You can use this feature to create your brand personality, show your affection to brand ambassadors and followers while creating content that people will love and would want to come back for more.