With over 1 billion active monthly users, Instagram offers an excellent opportunity to build a community around your brand and generate leads for your business. It’s not just the number of users that make it so appealing to marketers. Instagram users are shoppers – 60% of users have discovered new products on the platform. So how can you utilize Instagram lead generation to attract new customers for your business?
1. Optimize Your Profile for Instagram Lead Generation
Good marketing is always focused on the audience – not you. Unless you’re a travel agent, your latest vacation snaps aren’t relevant to your audience, and they’re not going to attract new customers.
- Keep your name and photo consistent to stay recognizable.
- Write an informative and compelling bio that showcases your value.
- Include a link in your bio to drive traffic to your website.
Instagram limits you to a single clickable link to your website. Don’t waste this opportunity! Link to a purpose-built landing page that is laser-focused on getting the user to sign up to your mailing list or contact your business directly.
2. Create Posts with Your Audience In Mind
Instagram is a visual platform, so your posts need to be visually compelling and appeal to your target audience. Who are the people that you are trying to reach? Use data on your current customers, Google analytics, and Facebook insights to create a buyer persona for your ideal customer.
- What are they already liking on Instagram?
- What are their interests?
- What are their problems/goals?
Instagram lead generation is about directing users to your website and converting them into qualified leads and paying customers. How do you achieve this? By posting unique and enticing photos that grab the attention of those users.
3. Expand Your Reach with Hashtags
Even if your images are high-quality and compelling, they need to be seen if they’re going to make an impact. Hashtags can increase the reach of your posts and showcase your products to a new audience of potential customers – posts with at least one hashtag receive 12.6% more engagement.
Clothing retailer Madewell coordinated a hashtag “flash mob” campaign to get users talking about denim. Teaming up with fashion bloggers and influencers, Madewell encouraged users to share images of themselves wearing their denim products with the hashtags #denimmadewell and #flashtagram. The 24-hour campaign achieved 160,000 likes from 1,600 posts and delivered a massive 8.5 million impressions. The more people you reach, the more success you will achieve with your Instagram lead generation.
4. Boost Engagement to Encourage New Leads
So you’re posting great content, and you’re growing a following, but how do you convert those users into leads that are receptive to your products and services?
Engaging users is crucial for taking the relationship to the next level. Instagram is by far the best platform to do it – averaging at 1.6% engagement interactions per post, with Facebook at 0.9% and Twitter at 0.48%. How to engage users:
- Active captions with a strong call to action.
- Run contests to reward engaged users.
- Respond promptly to notifications and Shout Out new followers.
Instagram is an exceptional platform for bridging the communication gap between seller and consumer, improving the customer experience, and generating new leads.
5. Measure and Improve to Sustain Growth
The way to sustainably generate leads is to continually grow your presence on the platform. The only way to maintain growth is to know your audience’s needs and preferences, analyze your efforts, and repeat what’s working.
- Maintain a consistent posting schedule.
- Track and identify which posts receive the most engagement.
- Experiment with different images/CTAs/hashtags.
- Tell a story with your posts.
Set realistic Instagram lead generation goals and always work on improving and optimizing your posts to achieve maximum impact and increase your following.
Follow the above steps to increase your following, boost engagement, and gain new leads for your business. Instagram may have started as a way for users to stay in touch with friends and family, but it’s evolved into a powerful marketing tool. If utilized correctly, Instagram lead generation can be a cornerstone of your online marketing strategy.
