I'm talking about Instagram this morning, as there's been a few questions on the Blue Stockings Society plus a request for a in-person workshop (coming soon!)

Instagram has been around for a while now and while some businesses have leapt on the Instagram bandwagon, some of you are still a little baffled and left thinking what is the point – if that’s you, this blog is for you and if not, you might still get some useful tips!Is Instagram right for your business?

The first thing you need to start with here is your customers? Who is your ideal paying customer and is he or she on Instagram?

If you don’t know who your ideal paying customer is – then stop ‘hammer time’ go and spend some time working out who you want to work with, who has the problem you solve and what are their problems?If you do know your ideal paying customer then – hurrah!

Instagram has 23 million users in the UK, the 15-34 age range is really dominant and it tends to appeal to women more than men. But Instagram is growing all the time, and I have a lot of followers who definitely above the 34 age range!If your audience is there and engaged, then you might want to be there!

Creating an Instagrammable brand

The next thing you’ll want to think about is how you want to come across in Instagram. It’s best to think of it as a storytelling platform.

How can you tell the story of you, your brand, your customers and how you help them visually?

It’s all about the pictures.If you’re new to Instagram start by following some accounts and work out what works and what doesn’t.

How to post on Instagram

There are 3 main things you can do as a business on Instagram

1 - Post an image on your profile.

This is the way Instagram started. You’ll want to take really good images (stock images will not really do on Instagram), that tell the story of you, your products, your customers.

You get to use the filters, add a caption (the words underneath) and once you’ve posted add in up to 30 hashtags to get your posts seen by more people.

Think aspirational, good lighting, Pinterest worthy images.

Think about your brand and how you can create image that can be easily identifiable as yours.What do you want people to think about you and your brand? What values do you bring to your business?

I like to think of posting here as adding value to my customers. So I’m letting them know about my products, I’m posting things that will help them.

2 - Post on stories

Stories are a place for you to have a little fun. It can be a little less aspirational and brand led. Essentially here you are telling your behind the scenes stories – the messy what you do on a daily basis in your business.

Don’t ignore stories!

Instagram love them and there are plenty of people who never scroll down through the feed and only scroll through stories.

Plus although stories crash and burn after 24 hours, you can save the best on your profile.

3 - Post a 10-minute video on IGTV

Instagram now also has it’s on TV channel. So if you like creating video for your business, you can now add video filmed in portrait up to 10 minutes long on your IGTV – these can also be added to your profile.

How to turn likes and follows into enquiries and sales on Instagram

So, this is the BIG question!Like all social media, you’ll want to have a strategy.

Essentially, who is your customer, what do they need, what problems do they have that you solve and how can you add value to their lives and help them?

That’s what you want to be doing on Instagram. Helping your potential customers.

Don’t be afraid to ask people to click through to buy, or read your blog post and check out your services page.

If you sell products, make your post shoppable so that people can instantly go from Instagram to your product pages and buy.

If you sell services like me, then try and get people on your website through creating great content (like this), or challenges, or having something great they’ll want to go to your website to check out.Make what you sell interesting.

Let people know that you are the person who has the solution to their problem.It’s really the same deal as with all social media channels – except this social media channel is really visual and story led.

Make sure you keep an eye on your analytics, both on Instagram and on google analytics to see if using Instagram is spending people your way.

Want more advice on Instagram, how to use hashtags and cross posting rules? https://debbiedooodah.co.uk/blog?category=instagram