2 Practical Steps for Using Instagram to Promote Your Coaching Business

2 Practical Steps for Using Instagram to Promote Your Coaching Business. In just 10 years, Instagram has grown into a powerful marketing tool embraced by savvy entrepreneurs.

Instagram has over 1 billion active users - which means your market almost certainly uses Instagram - and your competition too.

• 67% of US adults use Instagram, so while it doesn't make it onto Facebook (yet), it's definitely a platform worth taking advantage of.
• Smaller audience - More than half of Instagram users are between the ages of 18-29 - If this is your market, Instagram is the place for you.
• 63% of users check their Instagram feed at least daily and that's a lot of eye on mobile!

Not only that, but the platform has enjoyed double-digit annual growth, and is showing no signs of slowing down. It's clearly time to embrace Instagram and the power it promises as part of your overall marketing plan.

Instagram is like a simplified version of Facebook, with an emphasis on mobile visual sharing. As with other social networks, you interact with other users on Instagram by following them, following them, commenting, liking, tagging and private messages. You can also save the photos you see on Instagram.

Since it is visually oriented, Instagram has multiple filters that you can apply to enhance your photos and videos. Additional image editing options allow you to straighten the image, adjust brightness, warmth, and color overlay. For videos, you can disable the audio and select the cover frame, and if you're using the iOS app, you can trim the videos.

UNIQUE CHALLENGES

But Instagram presents some unique challenges, which may make you wonder if it's worth your time. The most important ones:

1. First, it is fully smartphone driven. Unlike other platforms, you cannot post to Instagram from your computer. In fact, you cannot post on it from third party apps. It is fully designed to attract mobile users. So in markets where mobile phone usage is high (and let's face it, that's just about everywhere), Instagram is a no-brainer.
2. It's also photo and video centered. Unlike Facebook, Twitter, and even Google+, where text updates are still the norm, Instagram asks for photos. The text (called "captions" on Instagram) is secondary text - although, unlike some other platforms, Instagram is very generous with the character limit. Keep in mind that even on other platforms, images usually outperform text-only updates. So maybe focusing on images in marketing is a good thing.

Instagram for businesses

But Instagram isn't just about photos. With a business profile, you can highlight your brand's mission and goals, showcase your products, attract potential customers, and get sales.

When you sign up for Instagram, there is an Instagram profile option and then there is an “Instagram for Business” option. It's like Facebook in that, the profile is for personal use, and the business profile is where you can make presentations. (If you already have a personal profile, you can easily switch it to a work profile, or have both.)

As an added benefit, a business profile gives you access to analytics, which means you can see the stats and demographics of your followers and likes. This helps you understand who your target audience is and what they like. You can also pay to promote your posts, something you can't do with a personal Instagram account. Just like with Facebook, if you want to make sure that people see your work posts, you'll have to pay for it.

See also: Why you should care about SEO for your business.

Instagram and Facebook

You probably know that Instagram is owned by Facebook, which means that you can actually connect the two platforms to reach both Facebook and your Instagram audience.

When you run an ad on Facebook, you can also run it on Instagram. Or if you post content on Instagram, you can automatically post it to Facebook as well. This saves you time and helps keep your social media accounts matched.

So how can you put Instagram to work in your marketing?

Here are 2 steps you can follow to start using Instagram to promote your business:

Step 1: Optimize your profile

As with any platform, Instagram requires you to create a personal and/or business profile. This is where your new followers will find out more about you, who you serve and what your personality is. It's your chance to shine... in 150 characters or less.

Step 2: Start growing your community

Above all, Instagram is a social network, meaning that active participation in the community is a must. Focus on finding and following the right people: the influencers in your market, as well as the clients of your dreams. Once you find these people, start conversations with them to start building relationships.

Of course, the ultimate goal of all social media is to get your online community to subscribe to your list, so that you can control how you interact with it. After all, any of these companies could disappear tomorrow, leaving you empty-handed.

The importance of Instagram for your business

In the end, we must note that Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, YouTube and other social networking sites are useful for your business.

Rather, the success of companies and projects now depends mainly on marketing.

Everyone has smart phones, and with one click on social media, you can know the features of each product or the best companies that provide the service.

This makes the customer make a quick comparison between the companies that provide the service to get the best offers and prices.

Instagram is also one of the most powerful applications that are used now to learn the features of services and products, especially since Instagram is a site for displaying high-quality images.

Therefore, try to have a team of designers to highlight the strength and features of your products and publish them.

Interact continuously with your customers and followers, offering them exclusive offers.

Create posts to encourage your customers to interact and write comments so that your page will spread and grow in the fastest time.

Or you can run contests or offer discount coupons.

All these tips will help you create a powerful Instagram page to market your products and services in the best way.