With over 1 billion active users, Instagram is a powerful platform for businesses and marketers to drive leads and sales. With that being said, the social media landscape is constantly changing and it can feel overwhelming trying to keep up with the latest trends and ever-changing algorithms, particularly when it comes to Instagram.
That’s why I focus my Instagram sales strategy on 3 core marketing fundamentals that will always be relevant in any environment. This is the strategy I teach my coaching students and implement for my agency clients.
1. You Need A Good Offer
Firstly, you need a good offer. You have to have a product or service that people actually need and want. A good offer needs to be something that solves a problem or satisfies a need of your ideal customer. This could be a product or service that solves a struggle or simply makes their lives easier in some way.
Your offer needs to be validated and by that I mean you’ve done the actual market research to determine that there is demand for what you’re selling. So many people rush into promoting new offers without first doing research. This is really important because if your offer isn’t good then it doesn’t matter how good your strategy is, it’s not going to work out.
Defining your dream customer is essential before you can effectively market your business and get sales from Instagram. That’s why this is the first thing I get my coaching clients to do when we start working together. This will help you create a product or service that speaks directly to their pain points and desires, increasing your chances that they’ll be interested in what you have to sell.
2. Audience Growth & Visibility
Once you have a good offer that has been validated, the next element you need is visibility. This means attracting and building an audience of people who match your dream customer avatar. There are a few different strategies you can implement to increase your visibility and growth on Instagram.
Optimise your Instagram Bio
The first is to optimise your Instagram bio. This is one of the very first things I do when I take on new agency clients. I research their ideal client or customer and write their bio in a way that will quickly pique this person’s interest. I have a whole podcast episode dedicated to optimising your Instagram bio that I will leave linked in the show notes. The first line in your Instagram bio should be your help statement which is a short and punchy statement explaining exactly who you help and how. People have short attention spans so you need to quickly give them a reason to follow you and care about what you have to say.
You should then add any information that increases trust and credibility. Maybe your business has one award or maybe you’ve been featured in a big publication. One of my clients has over 20 years of experience in their industry so we included that underneath their help statement.
Finally, you should include a call to action telling people exactly how they can learn more or purchase from you.
Participate in Collaborations
The next strategy you can implement to drive more traffic and visibility to your account is to collaborate with other accounts in a similar or complementary industry to your own. Instagram’s new collaboration feature has made it even easier to leverage other people’s audiences and increase your reach.
Collaborating with other people in a complementary niche who have a similar ideal client or customer as you is an amazing way to grow your following with targeted, high-quality followers. You can collaborate with other people or businesses on regular feed posts and reels or you can host Instagram story takeovers on each other’s account or host a live together. This is a strategy you can get creative with, have fun, and best of all, network with other business owners!
If you have a bigger budget to work with, another form of collaboration you could implement is paid influencer marketing. The influencer is paid an agreed fee to talk about and promote your brand on their page. When an influencer with a large following promotes a product or service, their audience is more likely to trust and engage with that brand. This can lead to increased brand awareness, website traffic, and ultimately sales.
Invest in paid Instagram ads
Another great visibility strategy is to invest in paid ads. Paid ads will allow you to have your content seen by more of your ideal clients. The more visibility you get the more chances you have to convert sales.
Instagram’s targeting capabilities are pretty amazing. Allowing you to target people based on their age, gender, location, and interests. If you’re just starting out, however, I recommend taking a course or engaging with a professional when it comes to Instagram ads because it can be a little tricky and if not executed correctly can be quite costly for your business.
Promote your Instagram account on other platforms
I promote my Instagram account on my podcast, in my emails, in blog posts and YouTube videos, and on other social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and TikTok. I even encourage people to check out my Instagram account in social interactions at networking events or when I meet people in my everyday life who seem like they could be ideal clients.
Actively engage with other users
Another effective way of driving more traffic to your page is to meaningfully engage with other people on Instagram. This doesn’t have to take up all of your time. If you aim to spend around 5 -10 minutes per day, maybe when you’re having your morning coffee, you’ll be surprised by the results.
When you leave a comment that is thoughtful and adds value, this often sparks interest in not only the person whose account you’re commenting on but also other people who are engaging with that post. They’ll be more likely to visit your profile, which should now be fully optimised with amazing high-value content, increasing the likelihood they’ll follow you and even become a new lead for your business.
3. Compelling Content
The next thing you need to focus on is consistently creating high-quality, compelling content that your dream customers actually care about. I just shared an episode last week where I discussed my top, insider tips for creating high-converting content so I’ll leave that link in the show notes if you want more details on this point. Instead of trying to hack the algorithm, or implement “ninja growth strategies” concentrate on creating content that is valuable and effectively communicates how your product or service will help them.
The type of value you provide will depend on your type of business. For example, if you own a retail fashion store, adding value might look like showcasing how people can style your clothing items, if you own a cafe, you could share beautiful photos and videos of the food you sell and discuss the ingredients you use in your recipes, for me as a social media strategist, creating educational style content is what provides the most value to my audience.
When you focus on creating value and effective messaging, rather than keeping up with the latest trends, you’ll build more rapport and trust with your audience and you’ll find that they’ll actually resonate more deeply with your content which will increase their chances of purchasing from you.
To summarise, your Instagram strategy doesn’t have to be complicated. By focusing on these 3 core marketing principles you can ensure you’re actually moving the needle in your business and increasing sales. Instead of worrying about going viral and being popular, focus on being strategic, and intentional and meeting the needs and desires of your ideal clients and customers because, at the end of the day, this is what’s going to be profitable!
If you found value in this post and want to learn more about how you can work 1:1 with me to master Instagram marketing so you can reach more dream clients and customers, without the overwhelm, click here to apply for a free strategy call with me where we can chat more about what it would look like to work together!
Click here to learn How to CRUSH YOUR INSTAGRAM GOALS WITH THESE TIPS FOR HIGH-CONVERTING POSTS
