Wondering whether you should be showing off your trade business on Instagram? Yes, of course!
When you use Instagram properly, it can give you an easy way to enhance your reach and expose your business to new potential customers.
Instagram has been around for a while now, and no doubt you’re using it on a personal level to snap away your holidays and show off your family pics.
If you know nothing about Instagram for your trade business, here’s a quick initiation:
What is Instagram?
Purely and simply it’s a social network for sharing photos and short videos. Visual content from users that you follow is displayed in a timeline-style format, and anything that you publish is displayed to the people following you. The simplicity is part of the reason Instagram is surged in popularity.
In fact…
- There are over 1 billion active monthly users
- 500 million people open and browse the app daily basis.
- Every day, users upload an average of 100 million photos.
It’s a simple and effective way to engage with a whole lot of people. Publishing content on Instagram gives your followers a visceral sense of kinship with your business. And there’s no doubt that that can help to expand your reach, build loyalty, and inspire future sales.
How do you use it and what should you post?
Really it all depends on the kind of business you are and the brand image you want to project.
Instagram is unique in the way it provides an opportunity to bring users into your business world, with snippets of what goes on behind the scenes – or to show your trade in an unusual and creative way.
Sell the lifestyle and benefits behind your brand and products rather than the product itself.
Here are three golden rules when posting:
- Be imaginative – approach your photos from a novel angle
- Stay relevant – puppy photos might be popular, but if they’re not related to your business, you need to stay away
- Restrain yourself – don’t bombard your followers with a new photo every hour, one a day or a few every week is fine
Using Instagram To Expand Your Reach Even Further:
Hashtags
When you share a photo or video you’re prompted to write a short description. This is your chance to reach for a couple of well-chosen hashtags. It allows you to curate content around a specific theme, and it exposes your photos to anyone searching for that particular hashtag, expanding your reach beyond just your regular followers.
Location
If you feel comfortable with sharing your location, do so on some of your posts! This way, people in the local area (aka potential local customers) are more likely to see your posts.
React to the latest trends
Before you begin posting content, you should draw up a rough strategy for the type of photos and videos you will share, just like you might have done with your other social media platforms. Your spontaneous pictures and videos can be shared in your Instagram Story. Responding to the big news stories, industry developments and trending hashtags can be a great way to engage your followers and show the world that you have your fingers on the pulse.
Build an engaged community
Like all social media, Instagram is a two-way thing. Follow like-minded businesses or pioneers in related industries. Comment on other users’ photos. Contribute to the conversation and be part of the community.
Reward your followers
Nothing creates a bit of excitement like a sale or limited offer. But here is where you need to be careful – you have to make sure you don’t overdo it on this platform. Instagram is meant to be a place for creativity, not sales plugging. However, sporadically offering Instagram-only discount codes or offers will ensure your followers pay attention to your feed.
For example: Maintenance electricians or plumbers could offer movie tickets to every customer, whilst a builder could offer a free BBQ with every renovation/home build over $X amount. Be creative!
You ready to get started?
Instagram is a great way to bring people closer to your business by expressing your brand’s personality and creativity. And it doesn’t need to take up all your time, you can set up an account in seconds and draw up an imaginative strategy in an afternoon. Then, it’s just a case snapping your way towards a list of engaged followers.
Interested in discovering more low cost marketing for your trade business?
What’s next?
- Join our Kick-Ass Tradies Facebook Group, for access to trade business specific conversations, tips and resources, plus a like-minded community of tradies.
- Book a 15-minute Game Plan Call with Andy, owner of Dr. DRiP plumbing and co-founder of Lifestyle Tradie, to clarify your priorities and get clear action steps.
