What You Don't Know About Instagram

Have you been frustrated too with the lack of reach and interaction your Facebook Business Page has been getting? You should officially know that Facebook is DEAD to those who want to promote for FREE. Unless you dump some money into Facebook advertisements, your posts will get very little coverage.

DID YOU KNOW THAT?

• Organic Reach for pages is less than 2%! (Organic means you are not paying to boost reach.)
• Only 4-11% of posts are being seen by fans! Basically saying, for every 100 likes you have one your page, only 4-11 people will see them! YUCK! What a waste of time right?!

So what do I do? Post more in hopes of reaching more? NO WAY! That is just toooooo much work! There are other social media platforms that are working way more efficiently.

MYTH

In order to get more reach, I need to be on several social medias!

FALSE!

You don’t need to do them all! Pick 1 or 2 and do them really well.

Today we are going to talk about Instagram and it's power to help advertise.

Instagram is generally very under used or is not used in the correct way by marketers. When used correctly, Instagram is a very powerful tool! Instagram allows for you to reach beyond your followers and circles to reach new eyes. There is no limit to Instagram's reach. (A bonus that Facebook does not have.)

WHAT YOU NEED TO REMEMBER:

Instagram isn’t the same as Facebook - Don’t treat it the same!

• FB can be a “diary”. That approach doesn’t work on Instagram.
• Instagram is meant to be more inspiring and positive. Posts that contain these elements thrive on this platform.
• Visuals are more enticing then text. Your Instagrams should have stronger visuals than text. (Facebook is the opposite.)
• Instagrams can last forever. Hashtag wisely - your hashtag will keep your post alive and visible to many outside your reach. Facebook posts are much more short term.

WHAT YOU NEED TO LEARN:

• Latest updates and how they relate to biz and bottom line. Instagram has recently went through a big change. Your posts are not longer being seen in real time. Do your research and find out the algorithm.
• Find the perfect customer pool. Think about who you want to attrach and appeal to.
• Why “likes” have changed - go for quality over quantity on Instagram.
• Find out what your customers like and appeal to them. This is thinking outside of the box. You should be showing much, much more than just products and ads. You should be thinking about WHAT your customers WANT to see more of.

QUICK TIPS:

1. Use targeted Hashtags # to find who you are looking for.

• Overused popular # are over!
• If you had to pick 1 follower and only 1 follower, who would that person be?
• Use this person as a model to help you find more of that ideal follower/customer
• Use # based on your demographic area.
• hobbies, interest, location, family/kids, age, # they may be using locally
• A local restaurant that isn’t a chain
• A local pumpkin patch in the fall
• A comedy club that is having a big show
• Visit pages of your ideal customer and write down # they are using

2. Fill your explore page with carbon copies of your best customer!

How do we do that? Look for the magnifying glass on the bottom of the main page. See it? You know what that does? It shows you what you are already #, liking, and commenting on and people that would be your ideal customers! There is your pot of gold! So what should you do now? Spend some time “liking” and commenting on posts related to your biz! My company is wine! (I know... how awesome is that?) So I would be looking for people who love wine, drink wine, and post funny memes about wines! I might also look for stay at home moms, as well as wine bloggers.

3. Connect and Provide Value

• Post regularly
• Give something they can count on (content, regular posts, etc.)
• If you provide a drink recipe on Monday, always post that recipe on Monday.
• Include a CTA (call to action)
• Ask questions
• Link to your email list
• Be the leader!

COMMON MISTAKES TO AVOID:

• Using overly popular #. You get lost in a sea of the same #s.
• Using # of your product/service only
• Use # specific to people that want to learn about your product. This is who you should be targeting. If you are just hash tagging your product or company name, then you are wasting your time. Think about that- who is looking for those hashtags except other reps like you! (DUH!) So Instead of # your company name or product, # things that people who USE your products might use. For example, I sell wine. Instead of # my company name, I might post a product picture and use these hashtags instead: #ilovewine #winewednesday #cheers #SAHMneedmorewine #savewater #yummydrinks
• Another reason NOT to use your product name in a hashtag is so many of your “competition” is using this #, you are essentially driving traffic to them. (The example, if you are a beachbody coach and use the # of the day, when someone sees yours and clicks on it, they are brought to all of the posts using that #. If they see someone with a rocking body under that #, they may choose them over you.) Lightbulb moment right?
• Not Using a CTA (call to action) is another big mistake people make! The whole point of posting on Instragram to draw traffic! In your bio, you should have a link to where you want to drive your traffic to.
• The biggesgt mistake I see is people not driving traffic to their website! Always include a link in your call to action!