Welcome to our three part series about using Instagram to successfully grow your creative business. In order to use Instagram to increase sales, there are three things that you must consider: Community, Style, and Voice. Need to catch up? Part One: Community is available here and Part Two: Style is available here.
VOICE
Do all of your posts include at least two exclamation points…per sentence? Does your caption primarily consist of hashtags? Do you wonder why nobody is commenting on your posts?
GET YOUR VOICE BACK.
The reason your brand is on social media is to increase sales. Period. We can talk about increasing followers, engagement, blah, blah, blah. You just want more sales. Don’t get me wrong, the size of your audience and their rate of engagement IS important. The reason they are important is because they lead to more sales. Follow these tips and figure out what to say.
1. Be relatable. :: Maybe you like to pepper your conversations with $3 words, but does your customer? You need to put yourself in your customer’s shoes when you write a caption and leave comments. Research the way your target market communicates. Read the blogs, books, and magazines that they do. Don’t copy what others say because it will come across as fake. Get their vocabulary and pattern of speech in your head, then make it your own. If you cannot figure out how to relate to your customer in an authentic way, then you need find a new product to sell.
2. Be consistent. :: Once you find your voice on Instagram, stick with it. You will lose your audience if you seem like someone with multiple personalities.
3. Reign in your use of exclamation points. :: Exclamation points are fun, but use your words. If anyone follows @caitlinbacher on Instagram, you already know my personal stance on exclamation points. Too many of them are a big no-no, so please proceed with caution. If your brand is bubbly and cheerful, there are other ways to convey this. Before you post, re-read your caption and get rid of excessive exclamation points.
4. Dust off your thesaurus. :: Remember when your third grade teacher told you to stop using the word, good? She was right. Brainstorm a list of words that express your brand and USE THEM. Like, repeatedly. Do you want people to associate nostalgia with your product? Then sprinkle it on your posts to hypnotize your audience. “Hey, I always feel nostalgic when I look at XX’s Instagram. That is so weird. I like feeling nostalgic and I think I WILL buy all their things today.”
Sign up now for my Wham Bam Instagram and I will lead you step by step to an Instagram strategy that increases sales.
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This three part series is inspired by Susannah Brinkley’s series on building a personal Instagram following.
