Using Instagram to Attract Your Ideal Client
By Kelly Elizabeth Scott, Leadership & Wellness Coach
Roughly 62% percent of my current clients found me through Instagram. And so, I’ve learned quickly that Instagram is a great platform for connecting with my target audience and building the like, know, and trust factor needed to turn a follower into a client.
A research and advisory firm, Forrester, studied Instagram engagement in comparison to other top social networks. Here’s what they found…
“Forrester studied more than 3 million user interactions with more than 2,500 brand posts on seven social networks and confirmed what marketers have long suspected: People don’t engage with branded social content very often. On six of the seven social networks, the brands we studied achieved an engagement rate of less than 0.1%. For every 1 million Facebook fans those brands had collected, each of their posts received only about 700 likes, comments, and shares. On Twitter, the ratio was about 300 interactions per 1 million followers. But one social network absolutely blew the others away when it came to delivering engagement: Instagram. Our study found that top brands’ Instagram posts generated a per-follower engagement rate of 4.21%. That means Instagram delivered these brands 58 times more engagement per follower than Facebook, and 120 times more engagement per follower than Twitter.”
Since engagement with your ideal clients is the one of the best and most effective ways to build the like, know, and trust factor, the engagement rate of a social network is hugely important.
Here are a few tips to start incorporating Instagram into your own marketing plan, in an effort to increase your list and turn followers into clients.
- To start, make sure you’ve connected your Instagram to your Facebook account, both business and personal. You want to be sure your friends and family (and in turn their friends and family!) know about your Instagram profile and your business!
- Complete your profile with a picture of yourself and your bio. Use relevant keywords that explain what you do, how you can help your ideal client, and what you’ll be posting about. Consider incorporating your location and a way to contact you, if you have room!
- If you have other social media profiles, consider using the same names and the same bios. This creates a feeling of consistency around your brand.
- If you have a unique opt-in offer, post a link to that opt-in in the “website” box of your profile. Then, to help your target audience understand why they should click that link, mention your opt-in in your bio. Your goal here is to entice your potential ideal clients to click the link, subscribe to your email list, and download your work! This way, you can pop in their inbox on a regular basis.
- Fill your profile with at least 10 quality photos that represent you and your brand. (For creating images with overlays or texts, I use PicMonkey. It’s super simple and can be used for free). When thinking about which photos to post, think about your brand. What colors represent you and your brand? What style represents your services or products? How do you want your target audience to feel when interacting with you or your profile? What do you want them to know about you and your life?
- Make a list of 10-15 businesses/people you admire from a business standpoint. This list should include the Instagram profiles of your mentors, other experts in your field, etc.
- Pick one of the profiles on that list and go to his/her profile. Click on his/her most recent post. Once you’re on that most recent photo, click on the “likes”. You should now see a bunch of people who liked your mentor’s most recent photo. These are your potential ideal clients! They are following, and interacting, with someone in a field similar to you (or someone targeting the same demographic of client). One by one, click on each potential ideal client. Like one to two photos and comment genuinely on at least one of his/her photos. You should have now interacted with that one ideal client at least three times. Once this is complete, move on to the second person on your list of ideal clients and repeat!
- The more photos you like/comment on each day, the more likely you are to gain followers. As you continue to post on your account, you will build trust with these new followers and increase the likeliness that they will turn into a client!
- When commenting on photos, make sure to focus on photos where not many others have already commented or liked. The originator of the photo is more likely to see your comment in this case!
- Post every single day, even when you have nothing to say, feel resistant, or just don’t want to. This is the most effective way to build followers that turn into clients. You must put yourself out there consistently. P.S. Your vibe does attract your tribe. Be yourself and show your unique personality!
- Use community-based hashtags on your photos. In order to keep your caption as clutter-free as possible, I recommend placing any hashtags in a comment. Think about using hashtags related to your field, such as #health, #yoga, #smoothie, etc., as well as community-based hashtags, such as #holisticentrepreneurassociation, #hea, or #girlboss. If at some point you decide to do an Instagram challenge within your business, make sure to have your own hashtag! This way, your followers can connect with other like-minded people and begin to build a community.
- Include a call to action at the end of your posts. Remember, each post is about your ideal client, not you! At the end of your posts, include a call to action that makes it easy for your ideal client to connect with you. If you’re talking about drinking a smoothie each morning, then you might want to ask a question at the end of your post similar to “What’s your favorite fruit to put in a smoothie?” Anything that invites your ideal client to participate and chat with you!
Finally, keep your posts on topic and always tie them back to your unique message. You can post about things other than health, wellness, or fitness, but make sure there is a meaning to each post. You want your audience to always receive some sort of value, whether in the form of information, entertainment, inspiration, or community. Think about the 80/20 rule: 80% of the time give value to your followers and 20% of the time talk about your products or services.
Happy Instagraming!
About the Author
Kelly is the leadership & wellness coach for kindhearted, purpose-driven women ready to leave a bigger footprint in their work and personal lives. She’s passionate about helping you build your strongest foundation for success (hint: that’s you) first and focuses her efforts on deep self-care, confidence, leadership, lasting change, and the common blocks that hold us back. Find out more about Kelly at her website, kellyelizabethscott.com.
