How to Make Your Business Worth a Follow
Post to serve, or vanish in irrelevancy.
Most businesses and individuals use Instagram to inform followers what they are doing outside of Instagram.
I call it “Link-in-bio-content”. Its purpose is to take followers out of Instagram and onto an external business page. Content serves the sales funnel — and we get it, you’re only on Instagram to promote your business = not worth a follow.
Inherently, there’s nothing wrong with this approach. How else are your followers going to stay up to date with your business? You must inform your network. There’s just a big piece of the pie that you’re avoiding—and it shows in lack of engagement, following, and growth.
Inspire, educate, and connect
Instead of using Instagram as a tool for your sales funnel, make Instagram an active extension of your business.
Informing others about your business rarely gives your followers value. Thus, keep posts as such to a minimum, and focus on more valuable approaches. Here are a few ideas:
If you’re the marketing manager of a fitness studio, make sure that a personal trainers teaches techniques and exercises at least once a week.
If you’re a barista at a coffee shop, discuss the difference of beans, brewing techniques and your personal recommendations— at least once a week.
If you are a writer, share your writing on a daily basis and discuss writing habits to help others in their creative journey.
Offer a service and connect with those who value it
Putting a service out is scary. Not everybody’s gonna get it. Not everybody’s gonna listen.
There are, however, a handful of people who deeply identify with what you have to offer. They are your target group and they will help you grow.
The first step you need to take is to develop a consistent and sustainable concept. Let’s say you post once a day:
Monday: a pretty picture of employees
Tuesday: a informative video
Wednesday: an inspirational picture of your product
Thursday: a text with a clear statement related to your business
Friday: a pretty picture of the office
Saturday: an inspirational picture of your product
Sunday: an entertaining video with some action
This is vague. So have fun with your ideas.
When you give further value to your customer/followers and put this purpose at the center of every single post, your calls to action will be much more effective.
In the end, it comes down to this:
- Offer a free service
- Market your service
- Connect with those who show love for the service
- Tell them what else you got
I will continue to expand on effective marketing techniques in upcoming articles. If you like to get in touch, shoot an email to hufnermarkus@gmail.com
