Top Tips: How To Use Instagram For Business Growth

Top Tips: How To Use Instagram For Business Growth

by | Sep 22, 2018

Are you using Instagram for your business marketing? With over 1 million active users on the social platform, that alone is a reason to start engaging with an audience that is hungry to hear from you!

Facebook is the largest of all the social networks, showing a monthly growth of users at around 3.14%. On the other hand, Instagram is growing at about 5% quarter to quarter – Instagram is the fast-growing network at the moment!

It’s important as with anything that you ensure your brand runs throughout everything you do, and that includes your Instagram images. If you take a look at an Instagram feed that is branded well, you’ll notice consistency and transparency throughout the posts.

So how can you use Instagram to grow your business? Take a look at our top 7 top tips (not in any particular order!):

Be creative

Instagram is all about the imagery – so instead of focusing on the products that you sell, which can be represented on other social platforms, focus on how you sell them or the solution that you provide.

It’s essential that you you grab the attention of a user on Instagram by being creative and inspiring. Get creative in how you present – if you’re a business that is out and about – showcase where you’ve been and what you’ve been doing.

Give your business a face for people to relate to.

Introduce the team or behind scenes in snaps of how the business is running.

Make it interesting and fun while portraying who you are and what your business represents.

Use your brand identity to show colour and life to your images. You can add text and quotes to your posts to make them more interesting – make them inspiring and attractive.

Add value

This is important across all your marketing efforts, you must add value in everything you do. Just because you’re dealing with pictures, doesn’t mean you have to lose the value aspect!

Your images can add value to your customers and look pretty at the same time. What your customers see has an impact on how your brand is represented and remembered. Show off your business culture and values, share how-to’s and your mission behind your business. Visuals are a valuable and excitable way to speak to your audience.

Plus your visuals need to speak to people’s emotions. They need to grab their attention and get to the heart of what they are searching for. By adding value in every post, you can assure your audience that you care and have something to give that is beneficial and worthwhile.

Create a great bio

Try not to focus on the number of characters available in your Instagram bio – focus on embedding your USP (unique selling point / unique selling proposition). This is what differentiates you from your competition and makes you stand out from the crowd, along with highlighting what you have to offer. 

Grow your business with Instagram. Check out our 7 top tips to build business on Instagram

Engagement

Engagement is key in any social platform and presenting ways for users to do that will encourage more people to engage with your brand. Always be courteous and reply to comments on posts, reply back to shares from your posts and thank people for kind words. Customer service goes a long way in attracting and retaining clients.

Create posts that encourage engagement – that means speaking directly to your audience and aligning what you’re delivering to what they’re wanting to see and hear. Make your posts memorable and shareable, and always keep the interaction going when it starts.

Even if you get some negative comments (of course we hope that you don’t) but even if you do, let the conversations roll as this will show the algorithm that it’s an engaging post – worthy of being seen.

Use your analytics

First of all, ensure that your page is set up as a business account which will enable you to use the insights function. If you’re not sure how to set up a business page, just give us a shout and we can run through that with you. But once you’re ready to go, you are able to keep an eye on the posts that are working – and the ones that are not so much. From here you can establish a pattern of posts that your audience likes to see and engage with – these are the types of posts that you want to create more of.

You can then also dig deeper into the insights of your posts and the interaction they are getting. Find out which day of the week or what time of day people are engaging most, their gender and where they are located. Tailoring your content to your insight results will give help encourage further engagement.

Collaborate

Working with influencers on Instagram will give your posts better chance of being noticed and will boost your brand awareness. Search for the top hashtags that relate to your business and find micro-influencers using those hashtags who have a large following. Once you’ve established a list of influencers, contact them and ask if they’d be interested in promoting your product on their feed. You can either offer a monetary reward or exchange their time for something you could do for them. The influencers already have a large following of their own which means that if your product is being shown to their audience, with their backing and enthusiasm, you’re more likely to grow your audience when people start to notice your products.

Big brands use influencers all the time by using celebrities to endorse their product – the same idea can be used on Instagram on a much smaller scale for your business. There is no harm in approaching people and asking, the more people you ask, the better chance of finding someone that will work with you.

Use Instagram stories

Everyday over 300 million people are creating Instagram stories – that’s a lot of stories! These are snaps or video sequences that disappear 24 hours after being posted. On average 1 in 5 businesses receive a direct message from their Instagram Stories. And those direct messages are leads.

There are different things you can do with stories, like go behind the scenes, share Q&A sessions, create tutorials. All of these will disappear after 24 hours but can be kept as highlights after that time to sit directly under your bio as the first thing a customer will see when they click through to your profile page.

Instagram stories give way to creativity and allow a business to showcase their attributes in a more dynamic way.

It’s always great to plan ahead and with the video function for stories, this is possible by utilising videos that you have created within the last 24 hours. Therefore, create your videos in advance and post them strategically when you know your audience will be watching.

Don’t forget to add a ‘call to action’ to your Story as this tells people where to go next. You don’t want to lose your potential lead by allowing them to go onto the next business / next Story, direct them to where you’d like them to go by swiping the page.

Instagram is fun, it’s enjoyable and best of all it’s where people are at-  so that’s where your business needs to be.

Create authentic good quality images that tell your story, show your value and provide solutions and you’ll grow your Instagram with ease.

If you’d like any further tips on getting started with Instagram or how to incorporate it into your online marketing plan, get in touch, we’d love to help.

 

Why Use Twitter For Business Marketing?

Why Use Twitter For Business Marketing?

by | Sep 14, 2018

Twitter is a great resource to use for your business marketing to source potential clients and to reach out to both audiences and other business owners, not to mention influencers. It’s a platform for quick, relevant to the point snippets of information engaging a user to see your point of view.

Starting off as a microblogging platform, it still remains effective and one of the best channels to share with the world your opinions. A quick tweet telling your friends about your morning coffee, or to let others know about a great experience you had in your favourite retail place, or even to just keep in touch with loved ones across the globe. It offers a range of benefits to reach a wide range of people and businesses.

Twitter can be a place to get the latest news story and to see events unravel as they happen. Twitter is hungry for content, for information and for users to connect. Providing a way for influence to be at the forefront of our news feeds, it’s the perfect platform to establish a name and gain a following with the pure aim of growing your business.

Trends are big in Twitter and if something is big worldwide, you can guarantee that it’ll be on Twitter. Viral YouTube videos, celebrity news, world news – you’ll find it on Twitter. These can all be found on the platform by their individual hashtags that’s been assigned to the subject. Find the hashtag that you’re looking for and use the search function to find every tweet related to that subject.

Twitter for business

The same principle can be used for your business. By creating a hashtag that is relevant and recognisable to your brand and using that in all your Twitter marketing, you can keep track of all activity that relates to your business, including when users are talking about your brand or an influencer gets hold of your brand – it can all be traced back.

TweetDeck is a great place to keep track of Twitter activity without the need to fill up your news feed with content that you perhaps don’t want to see every time you open the app.

Take note of what the big brands are doing and use their examples in how to reach your audience. Big brands will almost certainly have a presence and are using it to reach out to current clients, attract new customers and to create a great customer experience. Use their @handle in your tweet and they will respond – providing a way to interact with your favourite brands at the touch of a button and receive (almost) instant response. This is a great way to up your customer service levels and to let your clients know that you care about them, and that they are valuable to your business.

Benefits to using Twitter for business?

  • Quick and easy to provide snippets of what you have to offer, links to your website or articles
  • Easy reach for business research
  • Express your opinion or thoughts.
  • Reach new audiences
  • Ask for feedback, including the use of polls or questions.
  • Follow others in your industry / niche
  • Reach a large number of users, quickly
  • Build relationships, provide customer care
  • Stay up to date with latest news and trends
  • Contribute to discussions and industry discussions.

So with these in mind, whatever area of business you are in, there is a way to reach your ideal audience. However to really touch deep with that audience and to be influential in that outreach, a business needs to understand who they are speaking to and who they are targeting to ensure effective results.

Twitter Analytics

This is where Twitter analytics comes in. You can dig deep by looking into the statistics the platform provides (free of charge) and start to understand your audience.

Once in Twitter analytics you will see a menu of options, choose the ‘audience’ tab which will direct you to a page full of follower growth data. By scrolling down you can establish your audience’s interests, demographics, lifestyle interests – even down to which mobile carrier they are with!

Understanding what type of content your audience enjoys or reacts to will drive your social media marketing and content strategy – what’s the point in sharing if people are not engaging?

The information available in analytics is important to establish whether you are reaching your ideal audience or attracting users who would not be a potential customer.

If either case, it may be time to return to your marketing strategy and learn more about who you want to target and who you need to attract in order to grow your business. A marketing strategy will outline what you need to do, in order to see successful results. By coming away from a good strategy, it will have implications on your business growth.

Within the ‘followers’ tab, you are given data that allows you to really get to know your audience. Are they mostly male or female? Which countries do they reside in? What are their top interests? Understanding these will help in your marketing drive. By speaking directly to your audience and providing content that they enjoy to see/read and will engage with and share or comment on, will help boost your engagement and provide a better way to grow your audience – and your business.

If you’re looking to implement a marketing strategy or need advice on how to target your ideal audience, please feel free to get in touch.

 

Do You Have Confidence In Your Business?

Do You Have Confidence In Your Business?

by | Aug 29, 2018

When starting a business it can be hard to know what to make a priority and what to spend your time doing the most. Getting a new business off the ground, heard about and talked about takes time and effort and requires dedication. A question you need to ask yourself at the beginning of starting any business is “do you love and believe in what you are doing?” because if you can’t answer that question with a positive answer, it’s time to change direction now!

Running a business and seeing it through to success and beyond requires you to believe in what you are doing. It requires you to be 100% committed to the cause and to nurture and steer it in a clear direction.

You may not have all the answers right now if you’re at the beginning of your journey but that’s ok – you’ve got time to fill the shoes you’re trying to fill and to establish a client base who will be loyal and true followers of your brand.

How do you gain confidence in your business?

Have a clear vision

“Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.” Warren Bennis

Having a clear idea of the vision you have for your business is an important first step in any business plan. A vision will direct and empower your future and the direction that your business goes. A clear vision has a positive impact on the organisation of the business and the growth and life of it.

A vision also acts as motivation for any person that is involved in the business too, standing together and building a business comes with alliance and compatibility with everyone involved.

If you have confidence in your vision, you have the confidence to push it forward and for it to happen.

 

Take risks

“The biggest risk is not taking any risk… In a world that changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.” Mark Zuckerberg

Starting a business is a risk in itself, when you put your heart and soul into starting something new, along with risking personal circumstances, finances and health. But life would be boring if we all stuck to what we already knew and never took any risks.

The thought of no pay-check at the end of the month or giving so much in personal time can be daunting. However when we believe in what we are doing and we truly have a passion to see it through, those risks are worth taking. When we are confident that we are taking risks that are necessary to add value and substance to the drive, then things start to happen.

If you don’t do, you’ll only regret. That tears down confidence and knocks your ability to achieve. Assess the situation, make the preparations and take the risks – and believe that you will see results.

 

Keep learning

“Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.” Pele

Confidence comes with time, we are not born with an excessive amount of self-confidence, it comes with practice and perseverance. It can be increased or deflated in the matter of minutes and is something that everyone needs to work on to keep it real. Study and education can give you the skills to communicate clearer and to learn how to work well with others. This is good in both personal and work situations. When we are confident in ourselves, it comes across in our business.

Learning helps you to be critical in your thinking and gives you the skills for problem solving. Being able to see problems before they arise and having the knowledge to work through and solve grey areas is great for business and your success rates.

Having knowledge provides a positive mindset that will help keep you focused. Using your knowledge and positivity to create clear goals is all part of growing a business plan. You can achieve great things if you believe in yourself.

 

Don’t be afraid to say no

“I’ve worked very hard at understanding myself, learning to be assertive. I’m past the point where I worry about people liking me.” Pam Dawber

When starting in business it can be extremely hard to say no, especially when you’re looking to bring in income and to raise the profile of your brand whilst trying to be liked by every potential customer you come into contact with. However learning to say no can be good for business. If you say yes to every circumstance that comes your way, your business will become swamped in things that are not necessarily in the best of interests of the business succeeding. By providing a service that adds value at every opportunity and allows the customer to feel special and appreciated is far more worthwhile than running out of resources by trying to please everyone at a fraction of your worth-price, just to get clients in.

However being able to say no comes with confidence. Being assertive is a great business asset, valuable to every business owner and comes by learning to feel comfortable in what you believe in and the direction that you want to see your business take.

These are just a few factors that will give you the confidence you need to be successful in your business venture. They are not vital elements in your business success but they will steer you in the clear direction and guide you in what you need to do to improve your business. Confidence can come with networking with other business professionals or reaching out to someone via email or telephone – anything that pushes you past your comfort zone and gives you a chance to develop your character in order to build your business.

Your business will grow when you become known. Whether this be your face or the face of the business but people need to hear about what your business represents and what value you can offer. By meeting the needs of the customer, you are building a pathway for people to connect with you. The more confident you are in building those relationships and pushing your business forward, the greater your business will become.

Are you committed 100% to the cause of your business? Are you prepared to give everything you have in order to give a service that people are willing to shout about? When you reach a place of confidence, you reach a place where your business will grow.

What can you do today that will boost your confidence and push your business forward? Feel free to comment below or get in touch if you’re looking for advice in marketing your business.

Why Blogging is Important For Business

Why Blogging is Important For Business

by | Aug 22, 2018

If you own or run a small business you could be asking yourself whether it’s worth the time and effort in writing a regular blog. Our answer to that question is “Yes!”.

Blogging is an inexpensive marketing material that can be used over and over again and can be used for driving traffic to your website, highlighting your industry experience or even reaching new and potential clients. It’s an all-round marketing tool that is definitely worth the effort.

In our opinion it is one of the most valuable marketing tools that you can keep in your arsenal. If you’re not yet blogging for your business, it’s time to start! If you’ve not got the time, either a) create time or b) outsource this task – it’s extremely important for your business and for business growth.

Here are our top 7 reasons why blogging is important for business:

Personal Development

While the purpose of blogging is for your audience, it’s a great place to enhance your own personal development. Blogging can open up opportunities for you that you were not expecting and allow you to express your interests and passions to an audience that is really hungry for your content.

The more you write, the more knowledge you have. The research that is involved in writing opens up a world of industry knowledge and can help build your confidence and share opinions.

It can be challenging to write a blog but when you are passionate about a subject, you have the power to express who you are and what your values are.

 

Tells a story

A blog is a chance to tell your brand’s story, it’s a chance to offer insight and background of who you are and what you value, offer and represent as a brand. You are able to share ideas and customer experiences, challenges and how you’ve overcome them. You can share about the staff or team that make up your business and what experience they bring to the company. There’s so much you can do to highlight your brand’s ethos and showcase everything that you have to offer – make the most of the opportunity to talk about your business and then use your blogs on your social media platforms so that it can be seen by as many people as possible.

 

Builds an audience

Blogging is a place where you can create value and build an audience of people who are interested in what you have to offer. You’re not writing for just anyone, you are writing for people who want to hear what you’re talking about. Aim your words to those people, this may not be exactly what you would want to hear, but understanding your audience and providing value to their needs will increase your readership and help you stand out as a thought leader.

 

Builds discipline

Getting in the habit of writing is a good thing! It builds discipline and routine into your marketing plan and gives you something to focus on, on a regular basis. Whether you set yourself a weekly task or allocate one day a month to writing, it shapes you into a writer’s mindset and gives you good practice.

 

why blogging is good for business marketing

 

It boosts offline marketing

When people see the content you’re writing, the value that you’re providing, this can often lead to offline opportunities. Speaking at events, writing for magazines or articles, writing a book. It allows your voice to be heard outside of internet circles and enables you to do bigger things with your content. Blogging is not just about bringing people to your website (although that is a large part), it is about showcasing who you are, what your business represents and the industry knowledge that you have. Use your blog to delve into different areas that you may not have been able to in the past. With your confidence and discipline building, push yourself to do more with your business and speak to a wider audience.

 

Cost effective

Marketing can be expensive with all the different aspects that you could be paying for, however blogging is completely free! The only cost is your time and as a business owner, building marketing into your business plan is a must. By blogging you’re not paying for magazine space, you’re not paying for a TV or radio advert, you’re not even paying for banner adverts (in this context), you are simply writing content for your website which has the potential to be seen by many people, and the more you blog, the more people will see your content. Once your content is out there, it’s there forever which is an extremely cost-effective way to market your business!

 

Blogging is inspiring

When you start to write, you start to see more opportunities in the world around you. You become inspired by what’s around you, what you see and hear and the things happening in the world. Even just walking down the street can give you inspiration for your next blog post!

There are many reasons to blog for your business and if you are a small business, this is your chance to have a voice and to be heard in a busy online world. Make your voice count, allow your business to stand out over your competition and attract customers by being an inspiration and giving value and knowledge in all that you write about.

If you’d like to provide a blog for you business but are not sure where to start, we offer a content marketing package and can write your content for you! There’s really no reason not to blog! If you’d like advice or help moving forward, get in touch.

Grow Your Business With Digital Marketing

Grow Your Business With Digital Marketing

by | Aug 16, 2018

As technology develops and time goes on, the use of digital marketing is increasing and it’s becoming more apparent that it’s something that businesses, both big and small need to embrace to see longevity.

Internet marketing / digital marketing is the way that people are choosing to communicate with their favourite brands and businesses and the way that people are making purchases, decisions and listening to influence – all via the internet. The increasing number of users on social media and the desire for everything to be made mobile is making it easier for people to have constant access to brands and social media networks. This gives way for users to influence what their family, friends and wider circle of friends are doing and purchasing. Word of mouth has become even more influential, via the means of social media.

Business owners are in a place where they need to be using digital marketing to have an influence and a greater chance of reaching their audience. If you’re not on social media as a business, you’re missing out on large volumes of traffic that could be potential customers.

So, what benefits does digital marketing have on a business and how can each business use it to see longevity and successful marketing results?

 

Cost

The cost of digital marketing is a fraction of the cost of offline marketing or physical retail stores. There are no constant outlays, property rentals or maintenance, or even the need to purchase and store stock prior to a user making a purchase. Using digital marketing and working online has provided a way for smaller business to reach potential customers that would not have been possible in the past and to target a wider audience in order to grow their business.

 

Research

People are researching all the time, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There are no limits to when a customer could be searching for your business and without the restrictions of offline cut-offs and retail outlets, this allows an online business can be ‘open’ 365 days a year. If your business is on Google and the other large search engines, if your business is on the social media channels that your specific audience is spending their time, then you’re going to have opportunity to reach more and more people as others’ discover your brand and share your products and content.

 

Always available

Using social media channels to display what your brand represents and who you are as a business allows users to find you at ANY time. You may only work 16 hours a week, but your social channels are working 24 hours a day for you, being the face of your business for any potential customer that comes along.

 

Realise the potential

That’s a powerful thought, and something that should be highlighted when thinking about digital marketing. What does your online presence say about you? Do your business profiles match up with your company core values and does the presence that comes across give a true reflection of what your business represents? It may be time to re-evaluate what your Facebook page is discussing. It may be time to stop sharing tweets that are not relevant to your business. It may be time to connect with business contacts who will help boost your business on LinkedIn. Every aspect of your online presence is your company reputation, whether that be a business profile or a personal profile. If a user likes your product, they will no doubt look you up too – what will they find?

 

Use social apps correctly

By successfully using online marketing to target your business, you will be in a better place to engage with customers and provide excellent customer service. Your reputation depends on your customer service! With all things digital, people expect a response instantly and apps like Messenger and WhatsApp allow customers to have that personal contact with a business. If you’re using these functions, ensure that you use them well and provide a customer service that people will want to recommend. Again, word of mouth is powerful – if someone likes your service, they will recommend you.

 

Measure results

The great thing about digital marketing is that everything is measurable, and everything can be accounted for. Whether that be the traffic to your website or the link clicks from your Facebook page, using the tools available, you can measure everything that you are doing within your marketing campaign. Try to get into a routine of looking at your results regularly, monthly or weekly reports are good (if you have the time) to ensure that you stay on track and in line with your targets. If something is not working, you’re able to investigate why and make changes. Similarly, you will be able to see when something is good and is providing great results.

Growing your business using online marketing is a great tool for any business and will give you the upper hand over businesses that are not using it. Everyone is searching for something online and if you’re noticeable and present online, you’ll win new clients.

Be persistent and don’t give up. Building a good customer base from social media can take time but using a marketing strategy will enable you to plan and prepare each step.

If you’d like help getting your online marketing strategy off the ground or if you’re been using social media for a while and are not seeing results, get in touch today, we want to help!

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