Ever since the beginning of sales and marketing, attracting new customers and forming a core clientele has been quite a creative line of work, to say the least. From the sales pitch cliches to well-orchestrated trade deals, this aspect of business is now more prominent than ever before – especially when it comes to the online world.
You’re probably wondering, “How can I find potential clients on Instagram in this day and age?”
Like many other things in our society, commercial marketing has changed and progressed in the past couple of decades. With the rise of what we today call social media – predominantly Instagram – there came new ways of building a business and finding clients.
But how does Instagram cater to its business users?
Instagram has originally been created for individual users. The goal was to create an online picture book and share it with the rest of the world.
However, in 2016, the platform introduced the Instagram for Business account feature that specifically caters to businesses.
An Instagram business account comes with quite a few nifty features, including analytics, insights, and the ability to turn Instagram posts into ads directly from the Instagram app itself.
Instagram has become one of the go-to marketing tools for many businesses. According to a recent study, Instagram has 58x more engagement per follower than Facebook.
In other words, Instagram is a great client acquisition tool – amongst other, more prominent things we already knew.
So, we figured this would be a great time to show you how to find clients on Instagram – and share a whole lot of tips to get you started. Let’s get to it!
9 Tips For Attracting Clients Using Your Instagram Account
First things first – we highly recommend switching your Instagram profile from “Personal” to “Business” mode.
The transition to Instagram for Business won’t just help you be more reputable on the platform, by the way.
You’ll also get to see useful statistics about your account’s performance. Plus, you’ll get a few contact buttons underneath your bio – which could come in handy.
Have you enabled your Instagram Business account?
Great – you can start promoting your business and, hopefully, attracting potential clients with these proven tips!
#1 Brand Your Business – And Let Your Business Be Your Brand!
Marketing isn’t all about a good sales pitch. It also consists of a memorable brand name, a sleek design, and an Instagram page worth a second visit. That is to say:
All businesses on Instagram should brand their vision and sell it.
When it comes to the creative side of the Instagram business, consistency is key. From your username to your logo, a good Instagram bio, and content, it’s important to keep your message consistent throughout to give your page a more professional look.
On that note, here are the three key pointers to keep in mind here:
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Ensure that your username clearly states the name of your business – preferably without any numbers or special characters. Keep it sleek and simple.
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Don’t be afraid to make your name descriptive. Keep in mind that the name in your bio is always bolded on your page. So, make sure it states the most important facts about your business.
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Your Instagram profile picture should be your logo or, alternatively, a design or photo that best represents your business. Choose something unique and memorable for your potential followers.
Here’s a great trick to help attract your target audience:
Most people leave the name in their bio default – which is typically just your handle or full name. Try adding your job title right next to your first name. You’ll be easier to spot by associating your brand name with your line of work.
Now, we’re going to get more in-depth on Instagram bios.
#2 Make Your Bio More Appealing!
Instagram bios for businesses are more important than you may think. In fact, they’re crucial if you want to attract clients.
These short few paragraphs can make or break a new potential relationship with a client.
The key here is to share just enough – but never too little or too much. Keeping it simple is the best formula. For example, breaking it all down with bullet points is one smart way of attracting a new client.
Here’s how to get your clients’ attention:
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Explain what your business is about (namely, who you are, what you’re selling, and, very subtly, who you’re selling it to). The key here is to foster reliability and familiarity. For example, if you’re selling traveling gear, and you’re looking for some hikers as new customers, subtly add that your brand caters mostly to the “passionate travelers of the world.” That’s how you capture their attention; the answer lies in keeping them on the page long enough to spark their interest and lead them to one of the CTAs.
And considering that your CTA buttons are right underneath your bio, you can see why it’s crucial to create a memorable first impression.
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Use emojis instead of actual bullet points as a way to make your Instagram biography more eye-catching. Branding is important – even when it comes down to emojis.
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Consider including a clickable link underneath at the end. You should add links to your website homepage and “Services” page or contact form.
#3 Drive Your Followers To Your Email List
Having a great product is great. However, if you’re not an established brand people trust, you should be aware that not everyone will be ready to buy just based on your Instagram content strategy.
Thankfully, you can use one of the best trust-building tools known to marketers – email.
Don’t think so?
Well, wait until you hear the ROI:
According to the latest survey data, US companies manage to earn $36 for each dollar they invest in email marketing.
Email will help you convert your Instagram followers into new leads in no time. Once they’ve signed up for your email list, you can lead them through the sales funnel that’ll, hopefully, turn them into ideal clients.
As for growing your email list using your Instagram account, there are several ways you can go about it:
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Add a link to your email sign-up page in the Instagram bio and ask your followers to sign up when you post new content.
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Incentivize your followers to sign up by offering email-only discounts. After all, most people follow brands just to find out when there’s a new promotion or discount.
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Engage potential customers directly through DMs and ask them for their email so you can send them more info on your products and services.
#4 Use Relevant Hashtags
There’s probably an Instagram hashtag for just about everything – from #workinghard to #procrastinating.
Hashtags are more important than you might think. In fact, they’re a crucial marketing tool.
You see, users can follow Instagram hashtags even if they don’t follow particular brands. That means you can greatly boost your reach by including relevant hashtags in your posts.
When coming up with hashtag ideas, you can use the recommendations you get from Instagram. There are usually quite a few niche ones you can latch onto to boost the reach of your posts.
Alternatively, let us do all the hard work for you. With Flock Social, you’ll find hashtags your target audience uses in just a few clicks.
#5 Be Approachable
The main purpose of your efforts on Instagram is to drive new leads and gain clients. But in order to succeed, you will need to build authority and expertise around your niche.
It is crucial post consistently. And more importantly, you need to post genuinely useful and engaging content. That will give your Instagram audience a reason to continue engaging with your content.
Here’s a great example from Paula’s Choice, a skincare company. They’ve posted a great cheat sheet of what ingredients go into what skincare product and why:
The best thing about useful content is that it usually sparks organic engagement. You won’t just get a bunch of “doing great” and “👍” comments. Instead, people will actually engage with your Instagram account.
Just make sure it’s a two-way relationship:
Try to respond to as many questions as you can – and don’t forget to like any comments of praise.
#6 Host Instagram Giveaways!
you can easily boost your follower count and engagement with giveaways.
Ever since their inception, giveaways have been one of the best – and most useful – marketing strategies on Instagram.
90% of all users on Instagram follow at least one business profile. Furthermore, Instagram profiles that host giveaways of any sort grow 70% faster than those that don’t.
Having that in mind, you might want to jump on that bandwagon sooner than later – because giveaways are clearly a more-than-viable Instagram strategy.
They can help you:
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Attract new followers and paying clients
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Improve engagement on Instagram
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Build relationships with your target audience
Hosting one of these bad boys may seem too complicated at first. And even though there are a lot of details to be on the lookout for – it’s not all that hard.
Here are the main aspects you should be focusing on:
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The theme. Before anything else, it’s important to have a creative theme that will be present throughout the giveaway. Whether it’s holiday-inspired or not, keep it original and cohesive!
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The prize. After you’ve decided on the theme, it’s time to have your eyes on the prize and decide what the winner takes home. That’s arguably the most important part since many users compete for the prize. Don’t worry, though; that only means more exposure and engagement for you!
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The rules. Composing a list of requirements for participating in the giveaway on Instagram is an essential aspect. This decision directly influences what kind of engagement you’ll get. For example, you can ask them to like the photo, follow your Instagram profile, share the photo, leave a comment, use your branded hashtag, or tag their friends.
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The promotion. After the creative brainstorming, it’s time to decide how you’ll promote the giveaway. Facebook’s Ads Manager seems to be the best option for ads, mainly because it offers advanced targeting. Sometimes, reaching out to your audience is good enough, especially if you have a large and loyal Instagram following willing to engage.
Oh, and don’t forget to wish your followers good luck!
Tips and tricks aside, a big portion of this project relies on your creativity and time. Just look at it through customers’ eyes:
If they end up liking the product from the giveaway or the way your business handled the contest – they just might follow your account and invest in your brand!
#7 Use Geotagging
Do you own a local business that only serves clients in a specific location?
If that’s the case, geotagging is your new best friend!
Instagram’s geotagging feature allows you to easily tell people where you are and what areas you service.
But that’s not all.
It also increases the likelihood of locals stumbling upon your posts on their Instagram feed. Even if you don’t serve local clients, geotagging boosts your chances of being showcased in the Explore section that’s used by nearly 200 million users each day.
#8 Share Client Case Studies
You can’t really claim you’re a successful business without backing it up with some evidence – and one of the best ways to show potential clients how successful you are is by sharing customer testimonials.
Your Instagram account is a marketing tool for your business – and what better way to market your business than by sharing client success stories?
People are more likely to think about your business more positively if they see positive reviews and testimonials from other users on social media; it’s that simple.
So, the next time you get a nice positive review or a reward, don’t hesitate to share it on Instagram!
#9 Respond To Prospective Clients As Soon As Possible
Once you get a hang of things, you’ll turn your Instagram account into a lead magnet.
So, now it’s time to capitalize on that.
How?
You just have to respond to potential client messages in a timely manner. The sooner, the better – no one likes being left on see or ignored for two days straight.
So, if an ideal client slides into your DMs, be sure to respond to their messages in the first four hours. This way, there’s a greater chance you’ll convert them to a paying customer.
Ready To Get More Leads & Potential Followers?
We hope this article helped you answer the age-old question of how to find clients on Instagram.
Remember that these tips are merely guidelines that can be adjusted to your specific business or niche. They are just the beginning of what you could potentially accomplish with your business.
Instagram marketing is a complex business, and it’ll take consistent effort and time to prepare, attract, and build a core clientele – especially a loyal one. And as Instagram continues to be swarmed by new content every day, it’s important for businesses to be as innovative, creative, and witty as possible if they hope to attract potential clients.
Instagram will continue to update, perfect, and come up with new, business-friendly features in the near future. They’re always of great help, of course. But how we, as businesses, entrepreneurs, and brands, utilize them is what the hunt is all about.
That about does it for this little growth hack. If you want to turn your Instagram growth up a notch, we recommend that you give our growth service a try!
