With over 400 million daily active Instagram users and 150 million daily active Instagram story-users (as of February 2017), you need to start paying attention to this platform. According to Pew Research Center, 52% of Instagram users are 30-64 years old.
But the real question is how do you start leveraging Instagram for your business.
Here are 5 ways to increase your Instagram following:
Optimize your bio
Share you Instagram handle on your other social networks
Be consistent with posting content
When people like what you are posting, there’s a pretty good chance that they will want to learn more about you. Your Instagram profile is most likely the first place that they’re going to look. Make sure that you have a quality headshot (no one wants to interact with a logo), a brief description of your business, what you will be posting about on Instagram, and most importantly, a link to your website! You can even utilize some hashtags in your bio if appropriate.
Just because someone follows you on Facebook or is on your email list, doesn’t mean they know you’re on Instagram. Add a link to your Instagram account to your email signature and share a link to your profile on your other social networks 2-4 times per month and watch your followers grow.
The same way you tell your clients to be consistent with their eating or training, get consistent with your Instagram posts.
Committing to posting at least one picture everyday will grow your audience. If you want to catch the attention of more people, there are dozens of great apps like Adobe Spark Post, PingTank, WordSwag, Canva, Ripl, Legend, Lumyer or Prisma that will help you create scroll-stopping images and videos.
Always include hashtags on your photos
If you have some specific hashtags that you want to use to brand your business, make sure to use them on every post. You’ll also want to use popular tags that will help get more eyeballs on your photos. A great resource to find these popular hashtags is hashtagify.me
Interact with your followers
When your followers comment on your posts, make sure to respond to them and show them you care. The best way to convert a prospect into a client is by starting a conversation, so when someone comments on your post, follow-up with them.
If you want, take it a step further and comment on your most-engaged followers’ posts. Everyone wants to feel special and by showing an interest in them you can turn followers into clients and advocates. There are lots of tools and apps that will show you who your most engaged fans are, Iconosquare and Followers are two of the more popular ones to use.
Everyday there are over 80 million photos shared and 3.5 billion likes, so take the five tips above and use them in your business so that you can start to get your fitness business in front many more potential clients.
