When you’ve made your first sales, ask your customers to post pictures of themselves with your products and tag you. You might do this by mentioning it on your packing slip, or you might prefer to email them a day or two after they receive their order to prompt them to post. Either way, asking them to share photos of their order is a good idea, and here’s why:
When customers shop online, they aren’t seeing the item or your service the way they would in a brick-and-mortar store. That means they’re using other methods to establish if you’re trustworthy and whether other customers are happy with their purchases. They’re looking for social proof – evidence from existing customers that you’re a brand they want to use. Seeing your products on another customer – particularly if they fit your target customer profile – helps them decide. People often ask friends for opinions about brands they’re thinking of buying from on Facebook, but Instagram provides visual evidence. A garment photo of a ‘regular’ person will be trusted far more than a photoshopped image on a size 6 model!
With existing customers, you could also consider offering a gift or cash for posting images on their social media. It might not be a long-term strategy, and for some new brands, it might not even be feasible. But while you’re building your Instagram followers, it is a strategy that has the potential to increase your exposure.
When customers share their pictures organically or because of an incentive, they also expand their brand awareness. When they tag you in a post, thank them by interacting with them. It doesn’t have to take long – it could be as simple as a heart emoji in your brand’s color. They’ll be pleased you commented, and you’ll have shown that you care about your customers – which builds trust further. As more people tag you, other customers will also rank you with their purchases, further growing your followers.
You can also look at reposting customer content on your feed – remember to ask that all-important permission. Many people will be flattered and happy for you to repost, especially if you mention how outstanding their picture is! But be prepared to be declined. If the answer is no, don’t push them to say yes. Instead, a simple thank you and comment about looking forward to them shopping with you again will be much better received. Staying cheerful leaves a good impression of your brand, so they’ll be more likely to make future purchases.
Host competitions
A great way to drive Instagram engagement is to host a competition. Then, promote it on your website and other social media channels to get people to your Instagram feed.
It’s that easy! We can’t wait to see your pics – head to Instagram now to get started!
The benefits here are clear to see. A Facebook follower or a visitor to your website starts following you on Instagram, and they tag you. Mission complete; you’ve gained more followers! It doesn’t stop there, though. They organize their friends in their posts, and their friends also see your post and are likely to enter your competition. So your brand gets more exposure, you get more followers, and it’s at a minimal cost. Not only that, but after the competition has finished, when someone searches for #dreampicnic, they see all the entries tagging you! That person may not be interested in your products, but it’s still helping to increase brand awareness.
You can also use influencers to help you with this. They might receive the prize as compensation, but also promote one to give away. You can create a massive giveaway to help promote your Instagram account. It depends on your products and your prize whether giveaway posts suit you. We also talked about how you could host giveaways with other brands further down.
Work with influencers
We talked about working with influencers when we looked at Snapchat. Asking an influencer to do a shout-out or to tag you in their posts can be a great way to increase your followers. Of course, you’ll need to offer compensation in return for their posting about you – either a gift or cash. Influencers with more significant followings are more likely to require cash payment. That means unless your estate is particularly spectacular (hello Chanel handbag?), look for newer influencers with smaller numbers of followers. They’re more likely to take you up on your offer because they’re also working to increase their business.
The point of working with an influencer is that you want them to create unique and engaging content. That means allowing them to use their voices – they know the content their followers enjoy. Allow them free reign, even if you ask them to work with specific guidelines. We’ve read thousands of blog posts and buy instagram followers singapore in our time, and it’s clear when an influencer has been given too tight policies – it just reads like an advert. If your influencer is creating content that reads as an advertising body wrote it, rethink your guidelines.
You could also get your influencer to do an Instagram takeover on your Stories. They tell their followers, over several days, about the takeover. Each time they post, followers will be prompted to wonder who you are, and they might follow you then. Then, on the day of the seizure, their followers will need to follow you to see it.
Be careful when working with influencers, though. Establish your goals – increase your Instagram following – but how will you measure it? How does the collaboration benefit them? How many posts will you ask them to do? Will you have a campaign with several bars, maybe across their blog and other social media too? Make sure your expectations, and theirs, are established up-front. We discuss this in our What to Avoid section, but your contract with them should ban them from using bots. You’re looking for real followers, not fake ones!
