Instagram presence can tend to overwhelm. A lot of my friends are small business owners or are beginning their move into the entrepreneurial space. I get a lot of questions about building an audience on Instagram when you are first starting out. Now I am starting to grow my own audience in my new entrepreneurial space but I have taken a TON of courses and done hours of research on how to grow your online community. So I would love to share with all of you some great tips on how to start (or revamp) your Instagram presence!
Your profile photo!
I am a portrait photographer by trade so OF COURSE the first thing I am going to say is have a great profile photo that shows your face! That photo is sooo teeny tiny so you’ve gotta make it count. I know sometimes people use logos and I think that works too if your product stands on its own. But I am a big believer in making your account as personal as possible. You are the star of your show!
Your profile!
Let’s work our way down the line here, shall we. After your image comes the bio. You have a very short amount of space to give all the NECESSARY information. This is where you want to tell the who and what of your business. Make sure people know who you are and what you can offer them. Keep it to the point and you can add a bit of your own flair if you have some characters left. Just make sure all the important information is there …and then do not forget to add the where! Make sure you’re making it easy for clients to get your website or location and PLEASE have an email address! You want to make it as simple as possible for people to get in contact with you and the DM is not always where it’s at. Whether you’re a blogger working with brands or if you’re an artist doing client commissions, make it as easy as possible.
That 1st Post (or 1st New Post)
Whether you’re just launching for the first time or if you are reintroducing yourself to your audience, it’s great to have a post to tell people who you are. Give them the important deets and then a bit of fun facts. Let your audience get to know you and why they want to hang out in your little corner of Instagram. Once you’ve done this first post, I think it’s important to keep doing posts like this where you share a bit about yourself spaced between any posts promoting what you do. There is no market that isn’t competitive right now and while online business has taken off, everyone is online. The most unique thing about your business is you so make sure you’re giving your audience a little peek into who you are to make them wanna stay!
Be a Part of the Community
Now that you’re on Instagram, be on Instagram! Engage with your followers, respond to comments, comment on other pages, and make it fun. Engage authentically and you’ll get authentic engagement back. Follow similar hashtags and find new people to engage with. Make that algorithm work for you!! Commenting authentically on 20-30 posts a day can really help your engagement and build your community more quickly.
Instagram can be a lot of work but it can also be a lot of fun and you can build a wonderful community of people who you connect with and cheer each other on. I will share lots more Instagram content here so if Instagram is your place on the world wide web then make sure to look out for new posts to help you out!
Want to make sure your Instagramming right and be sure your Instagram presence is working for you??
I am getting ready to share a FREE workbook to help you audit your Instagram to meet your individual goals! It will help you revamp your profile, make sure you’re hitting all those key performance indicators, and show you how to best analyze you analytics for your specific audience. Make sure to sign up for my email list to get the workbook as soon as it launches!!