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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.

 

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.

Ways to Build Loyalty With Your Customers

Ways to Build Loyalty With Your Customers

by | Jul 19, 2018

One of the main ways to sustain a healthy and growing business is to keep a steady customer base. A company doing well will typically see the 80/20 rule; 80 percent of its business coming from 20 percent of its customer base.

If you are looking to grow your business and to see it thrive well into later years, you need to start building loyalty with your customers and building relationships to keep them happy.

 

Communication is key

Keeping customers informed of what’s happening within your business, offers and up to date information will allow your customers to feel part of the life of your business. This could be via a number of mediums including newsletters, emails, social media or even a phone call but the fact that you are telling your customers about the latest news goes a long way.

You don’t need to be pushing sales at your customers all the time. Communications can be friendly, informative snippets along with a “how are you doing?’ every once in a while. People appreciate communication and it goes a long way in building customer relationships.

 

Always go above and beyond

This goes without saying in business, if you have a customer then you want to treat them right and maintain that customer for future potential sales. By going above and beyond in what you do for them at the start of their customer experience with you, they will know that you care about them and that you want their business.

It doesn’t take much to do a little extra, as Tesco’s motto says “Every Little Helps” and yes that might be in a different context but it’s the same principle – every little bit helps for your customers and you have an opportunity to show each and every client that you are there to serve them, along with wanting to provide 100% and beyond.

 

Be a problem solver – Be positive

It’s great when things are going well, but how do you deal with situations when they go slightly pear-shaped? How do you react with customers when they have a complaint or something to share?

As you build your business, you will come along characters that will test your patience and try to get something for nothing. But you are the face of your business and your reputation matters. Building a good reputation can take years but it only takes one or two customers to not like your practice to tear that reputation down.

Therefore, try to solve or defuse a situation rather than rise to it. Always try to show a positive attitude towards all customers, whether you like what is happening or not. You are more likely to have a positive outcome and a good response if you act in a positive manner and show professionalism.

 

Promote brand awareness

This is number one in a business marketing strategy but it can often be put on hold or forgotten about when other aspects of business take over. By promoting your brand and showcasing what you are about, you are building a base of followers who will get to know, love and understand who you are and what your business is about. Building a business takes trust and people need to trust your brand in order to feel comfortable buying from you. When you build on your brand awareness, they are given opportunities of seeing more and more about what you do and how you can benefit them or provide a service for what they are looking for.

Always target your brand awareness campaigns to people who are really going to want to buy from you. It’s vital to understand your target audience and to know what it is they are looking for so you can provide the solution for them. Understanding your audience will bring  you closer to them and provide a way in to build relationships that build customer loyalty and longevity.

 

Show who you really are

It’s great to showcase your business and everything that it has to offer, it’s one step further to showcase who you are, as the business owner. People love stories and customers feel connected when they know there is a human behind all the technology. You may not feel comfortable speaking on video or promoting yourself but it will go a long way in building customer relationships and allowing customers to know the real you behind the business.

Video marketing is definitely the future. And if you’re not doing it now, you need to be very soon! It doesn’t have to be long drawn out videos, it can simply be you saying hi and and introducing yourself as the business owner. Pin a video post to the top of your social media posts so that each new customer can see the voice and face behind the company they are looking to engage with. It will go a long way – try it today!

If you’re still unsure on what impact your video marketing could have, check out these 100 video stats you should know – and see how you could integrate them into your marketing objective.

 

Get engaging!

We say it all the time but the key to building a loyal customer base is by engaging with them on a daily basis. This falls in with the communication point but it goes a little deeper. If you’re using social media to attract new customers and to retain your current ones too (and if you’re not using social media for business then please get in touch!), your followers are looking to engage with your business. Give them posts that they can reply to or share with their friends. Post articles that relate to their situation. Get your writing head on and create some posts or articles that really speak to the heart of your audience. When they see that you are actually speaking to them on a personal level, they will share that with their friends and family, they will recommend your business to others and they will start to love who you are which in turn leads them to be a loyal customer.

 

Take these points on board and use them to grow your business. Building a loyalty with your customers is so important if you want longevity in your business. Sustaining and maintaining your client base doesn’t have to be hard work but it does need dedication and commitment to see it work.

 

If you’re looking to reach a wider audience through social media or would like to know more about creating an effective marketing campaign, get in touch today!

What Motivates You In Your Business?

What Motivates You In Your Business?

by | May 7, 2018

Do You Love Your Business And Have Passion To Drive It Forward?

Do you still have a passion to push your business forward? Do you still love what you do within your business to see successful results?

If you’re not enjoying what you do, or enjoying the basics behind your business, it’s time to step back and work out how you can change that. It’s time to re-focus and work out what is is that you need to be doing to get back on track and see results in your business.

Monday’s are always a great day to plan the week ahead and to establish your targets for the week. If you’re looking at that to-do list and not seeing things that you enjoy – perhaps you’re looking at your business in the wrong light. Perhaps it’s time to strip down the different aspects of your business and your daily / weekly routines and really knuckle down to finding your true passion again to inspire you to push forward and see the results that you truly desire.

The one question that needs to be asked is: Do you love your business?

  • Do you REALLY love what you have achieved so far and know 100% that you’re heading in the right direction?
  • Do you STILL have the passion and drive that you once had when you started your business?

If the answer is ‘no’ then it’s time to step back and ask ‘why?’.

  • What has made you drift away or move in a difference direction?
  • What is it that has dampened the spark that you once had to see results and to love helping others?

When you first set out to start a business, there was a reason why you went down the route you went in – and sometimes we all need to go back to those roots and re-ignite the passions and drive that motivated and inspired us.

Understand what motivates you

Understanding what motivates you and inspires you is important steps for growing your business. It’s difficult to stay focused if you lack motivation or understanding in what you’re really wanting. Changes in circumstances and personal lives can also have an impact on direction, and often you can find yourself down a path that you didn’t expect. It’s not always a bad thing though and all experiences whether good or bad can be a learning curve and help us understand what’s really needed, expected and wanted in order to succeed.

Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough

Going back to basics

Going back to the original question ‘do you love your business?’, can you honestly say that you’re in a place that you want to be in? Are you happy in what you’re doing?

Your actions say more than words and the way that you present yourself professionally can have an impact on your business. Being joyful in your actions, sharing what you do, talking about your passions and what you do in life will help you to network, to build work relationships, meet new people and build contacts – all attracting potential new clients.

You are the face of your business, you are the voice that people see and hear and therefore this needs to be a positive process.

Dig deep, understand where you have come from, where you are heading and what makes you tick – and more importantly – where you can add value. Then you will be happy in what you’re doing, and people will see that you’re confident, positive and believe in what your business is about.

So today, re-discover what you love about your business, re-discover the drive to see success and let’s help each other move forward.

We would love to hear your comments below; what do YOU love about your business and how can you inspire others to dig deeper?

How’s Your Day Going? Need An Assistant?

How’s Your Day Going? Need An Assistant?

by | Jan 17, 2017

It’s the start of the day and you’ve come into the office ready to tackle the tasks ahead of you and to accomplish some of your to-do list. You sit down to check your emails before you start anything else and after some time realise you’ve just spent half the morning going through routine emails and not actually getting on with your day – sound familiar?

An assistant, in this typical situation, would be the best next step for you – don’t you think?

And now I hear you say “But I can’t afford an assistant to work every day, and I might not even need them all the time”. Well there is a solution to that exact problem:

Hiring an “on-site” personal assistant has it’s very good positive points, don’t get me wrong but also hiring a “virtual assistant” definitely has its plus side.

Have you considered hiring a virtual assistant? It’s quite the in thing at the moment as well so you’re not on your own and there are plenty of resources out there if you wanted to research beforehand.

So what are the benefits to hiring a VA?

  • No PAYE / Tax / NI to sort out.
    Virtual Assistants are usually freelance and will bill you for their time.
  • No holiday / sick pay
    Virtual Assistants are self employed are not entitled to this.
  • No need to set aside an office space / computer or telephone equipment.
    Virtual Assistants usually work from home or a set place of work and will have their own equipment.
  • A Virtual Assistant is available when your office staff are overloaded and can be on call.
    It is usual to pre book a set number of hours per month and these hours can be used as and when you require them.
  • And the best point of all: You only pay them for the time they are on task.
    A timer can be used to bill each job / project.

So as you can see there are a whole range of benefits to hiring a Virtual Assistant rather than an assistant in house and a VA can be flexible to your business needs and work around the tasks and projects you assign them to.

Next is the question of what tasks you could assign to an assistant. Well if that sounded like you at the beginning of this post, then sorting through and checking your emails on a daily / throughout the day basis would be a benefitting start! Setting out guidelines before you start and handing over instructions on “what to do if…” tasks will enable the VA to get on with the job in hand and then come to you only if there is a problem.

Call answering: If you have a busy office and a lot of the time it is routine queries, why not have the telephone diverted to an assistant. They can answer the call, take the messageand email that to you with a detailed description of the call and their message, if any. Once the VA knows your business they would be able to answer questions and give replies also if you were willing for them to do that.

Diary Management: Do you have a busy schedule? Your diary can be managed and maintained by an assistant and set up with reminders for you to know what your schedule is and what you have on.

Website Management: Updating your website can be a tedious job and depending on what things you have on there, it might be time consuming if you’re needing to update product information etc on a daily basis. Also if you have a blog, typing the post is one thing but laying it all out and formatting it with pictures etc can take time. These tasks can easily be given to an assistant, with you checking the final products once completed.

These are just a few examples of what a Virtual Assistant can do for you, there are many more examples of what they can do. Just think of all the tasks that need to be done, but you’d rather not take time doing them – and these can be passed over. It’s about delegating and letting go, it’s about concentrating on what you are good at and need to do in order to grow your business and letting an assistant take care of the rest.

Thanks for reading… feel free to comment at the bottom, would love to know if you’ve been in this situation or are in this situation and how things are working out for you: until next time!

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