If you think Instagram is great for posting pictures of your cat only, let us tell you, it is much more than that. Do you know Instagram has now surpassed Twitter, Snapchat and even Facebook when it comes to active user growth? Do you think it’s STILL not a wise choice to use the platform for your business?
I am sure you have discovered a business account on Instagram at one point in your life and drooled over the product. Your potential customers are right there and scrolling through to find a great product. Let’s talk about the statistics then; at least 60% of Instagrammers say they actively follow more than 10 brands on Instagram and view their products daily. If you are a business and you are not cashing that, you are missing out on a lot!
But fret not, we are right here to walk you through the process and tell you all about it. Here are some of the great ways to use Instagram to generate leads.
1. Lead Generating Ads
First things thing, create a business account on Instagram if you already don’t one. Once you have added an enticing bio and published a few posts, it’s time for paid advertisements to generate leads. In the Ads Manager tab, make an ad to attract your target market. You will start the process by defining audiences, choosing what you want to achieve through the ad and most importantly, how you want to place it among the audience.
2. CTAs
Call to Action is crucial to generate leads. If your customer spends 30 minutes to your page but does not do anything, it won’t help you much. There are a number of strategies you can use to generate leads via CTAs such as traditional CTA likes Learn More, Buy Here, Shop Here, Read More, Click the Link in Bio, etc.
Brands also use contests which encourage consumers to reply to the post, ‘ask me a question’ engagement tactic, and live Q and A sessions. “Double tap if you agree” is a famous technique that people use besides contests where you can ask them to tag others they know.
3. Target your audience
Did you know that you can create a look-alike audience on Instagram based on the people who follow you on Facebook? So, if you already have a running Facebook page with people who resonate with your products, you can use it to get Instagram followers as well.
4. User-Generated Content
User-Generated Content is the simplest way to let your audience know about the authenticity of your product. In simple terms, it is content that people create, not the brand itself. It could be a non-promotional review, a blog, or a testimonial of your product, or them featuring your product or service on their accounts.
People may not believe you because it’s product after all, but people never take the reviews of their peers lightly. Take a look at some of the most successful businesses on Instagram and check why they are so popular among the masses. You can add a highlight of User-Generated Content so anyone who lands on your page knows the authenticity right away.
5. Link the Landing Page
The only drawback of Instagram for businesses is the lack of clickable link option. However, you can use the “Swipe Up” feature in Instagram stories as well as your bio. So, make sure your bio is optimized and it has the perfect landing page for your audiences with all relevant information and products they won’t be able to resist.
6. Instagram Live For The Win
There is nothing better than interacting with your customers in real-time where they can see your products and guess the quality. Anyone who follows or interacts with you gets a notification immediately so the video shows up to everyone making it easier for you to increase your brand’s presence. But if you are making a big announcement or announcing any deals, make sure you put them in stories later as well because live content cannot be saved.
7. Influencer Marketing
About seventy percent businesses that I have seen or followed on Instagram are based on the review of a social media influencer. It is a proven effective strategy to generate leads on Instagram. Choose an influencer with a lot of followers, good engagement and brand affinity, and capitalize on it. Now, you may have to spend a few bucks on it, but trust me when I say it will be worth it. But don’t forget to search their credibility first, you don’t want to waste your money on someone who can’t get you a better return.
8. IGTV and Stories
Instagram Stories are a great way to repost people featuring your product, or reviews. It is also great because it lets you embed links. The “Swipe Up” feature on Instagram seems like a heaven because of no clickable links, so use it to the fullest. However, one down side to that is you need to have at least ten thousand Instagram followers to use this feature.
9. Contests/Giveaways
There is nothing better to promote yourself rather than contests or giveaways. They are creative, and they help you get just the right engagement and followers. Set your own rules and give your followers a chance to win your complimentary product or services such as a piece of clothing, a free shoot, and a free meal etc. A small business in UK, Carpet Cleaning BatterSea, gave away two cost free cleaning visiting to homeowners as an anniversary gift. It not increased their popularity, it gave them good reviews and motivated more people to avail their services.
10. Make Smart Content Strategies
There is no “social” media without you being social. Engaging with your audience actively is one of the keys to generate leads. Unless someone is spamming you constantly, a smart response to every query or message goes a long way. It is also the easiest way to increase your engagement and grow audience without putting too much effort.
Another important strategy here is to develop a plan beforehand. It could be when do you make all your posts or could be the kind of content you want to post such as customer feedback or behind the scenes (BTS) footages.
11. Track Your Campaigns
Are you going to do all that work for nothing? Nah! If you are spending so much time on marketing, then you better take out some more to track all your campaigns as well. Google Analytics are a great way to see what is working for you, and what’s not. Once you know all the strengths and weakness, utilize your energy accordingly.
12. Automation Tools
Do you have time to make a creative post every day? Well, I am not saying that you don’t but it’s a smarter strategy to schedule your posts at once, ahead of time. There are various tools available that can make your life easy such as Hootsuite, Kicksta, OptinMonster or Buffer.
Furthermore, you can establish a calendar of stories and posts as well. Is it going to be one post per week or per day? How many stories are you going to post in a day? Make a schedule and make sure you are using every feature to the best of your capabilities.
Conclusion
You might already be quite popular on Instagram and getting hundreds of likes, but if you are not leveraging that to generate leads, now is the perfect time to get started. We hope this article helped you, and we can’t wait to hear your success stories. Are you using Instagram to build your business?
Don’t forget to let us know in the comments section down below. Have a great day!
Arslan Hassan is an electrical engineer with a passion for writing, designing, and anything tech-related. His educational background in the technical field has given him the edge to write on many topics. He occasionally writes blog articles for Carpet Cleaning London.