You aren’t trying to become an “Influencer”. Building a list of followers just to see how many you get isn’t going to grow your business. Like all marketing, it needs to be strategic, and you need to monitor the details. You want to curate a list of followers who are most likely to become happy PAYING customers.
Follow Adam Mosseri
Adam is the head of Instagram @mosseri and gives frequent updates and insights into the platform and explains some of the inner workings. The platform is always changing so it is helpful to know when there is an update or how the platform works.
Keep your followers list clean
You only want the followers who are likely to spend money with you. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of scammers and phishing accounts out there that randomly start following accounts to increase their reach. To keep your list clean, you can go into your list of followers (1 on the image below) and hit the REMOVE button, and they will be removed as your follower. They will not be notified of your action.
** Do this is a few at a time every couple of days so that Instagram doesn’t flag you for irregular behavior. Large deletions look like you might have bought followers in the past. It’s important not to get overly ambitious. As you can imagine, there is a process that alerts Instagram about “unusual activity”. Two key indicators to be aware of:
- Unfollow limit is reported to be 60/hour or 150 a day. If you delete more, you can get temporarily banned.
- Do not repeat the same comment on multiple posts, or as direct messages, copy/paste which makes you look like a bot.
Delete people who aren’t likely to spend money with you, who look like spam accounts (they have few posts, or few followers, they mention NFTs or Bitcoin etc), anyone who posts negative comments. This is your business, and you can choose who you allow to engage with you.
By keeping your list clean, your list becomes more engaged based on Instagram’s stats, and your analytics reflect actual data, not data bloated by irrelevant followers. You goal is quality engaged followers, not the quantity of followers.
Put your face out there
This is a hard one for many Independent Owners. And keep in mind, it doesn’t always have to be YOU, it could be other personalities from your business. But it is important that let them get to know you, your business, your staff, your culture – to succeed you need to be a real person, not a business entity. People buy when they know, like and trust who they are buying from, so get your face on the platform. Be authentic.
Make yourself presentable, jump around before you record a video to give yourself some energy – or when you are having a particularly great moment and are on a high, post with that energy. Energy moves people, they can feel your enthusiasm.
Do lots of takes, for both photos and videos. Keep taking them until you are happy and then post the best result. Don’t worry about doing live feeds until you are comfortable on camera.
One rule of thumb we’ve heard is posting 1/3 about your product and services, 1/3 you personally, and 1/3 promoting others, other local non-competing businesses, local organizations, fundraisers, events etc. You determine your proportions, the bottom-line is post regularly but don’t always be selling.
Make it easy for people to give you money
People do not make a buying decision if they are confused. Clear calls to action. If possible, give them a link to click to buy, reserve, book an appointment or get more information. Streamline the process so that they aren’t confused. Confused people don’t buy, they give up. Make sure your website URL is in your profile so people can find you online easily.
Review your analytics
Analytics are available if you have a business account. Simply click on your profile picture (#2 in above image) in the bottom right of your account. Click on your “Professional Dashboard” (#3 in above image) and you can drill down in your Account Insights to see (image to the right → ) about who your followers are, the breakdown in gender, age, geographic location, and followers vs non-followers on your account.
You can also see what content was most interacted with, which will help you determine what kind of content to make more of.
Quick Definitions:
Engagement: The number of interactions your content received from users (likes, comments, shares, saves)
Reach: The number of people who see your content.
Quick Definitions:
Engagement: The number of interactions your content received from users (likes, comments, shares, saves)
Reach: The number of people who see your content.
Have an external list of buyers
Having a customer list is vital to the future of your
business. Never forget that you do not own your list of Instagram
followers – Instagram does. If your account got hacked, or shut down,
for whatever reason, your followers are gone. You can never rely on an
external free resource to hold your vital customer data.
This is an integral part of Royalty Rewards®, we build a comprehensive database for you. The best use of Instagram to engage with your followers well, build a relationship and their interest in you, and then use it to get them to become a Rewards Member – adding them to your customer list. That’s only ONE of our goals with our clients here at Royalty Rewards®. We create Social Media posts for you to link directly to your sign-up page, so you have ALL the information needed to make them a loyal repeat customer.
Effectively engaging on Instagram is crucial for you to connect with followers and establish meaningful relationships with customers and potential customers. It plays a significant role in shaping your online reputation and differentiating you from competitors. By engaging with followers genuinely and responding to their comments, you demonstrate care and build trust, encouraging them to interact with your business and eventually become paying customers. By implementing these strategies, you can leverage the platform effectively and turn engaged followers into Rewards Members who return more frequently, spend more money, and choose your business over all their other options.
You can get a 90 Day Free Trial of Royalty Rewards®, or simply get any questions you have about our program by booking a no obligation call with the button below. We build your database of loyal customers, get you more positive online review, turn followers into paying customers and implement automated, yet customized, marketing to grow your sales and increase profits.
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