HOW TO…..GET INSTANT BENEFITS FROM INSTAGRAM Instagram can be incredibly beneficial for businesses, but are you using it to its full potential? We’ve written a simple guide to help you get instant benefits from this powerful channel!
Why should your business be on Instagram? Unlike a physical shop, your Instagram page makes your business visible to a larger customer base including those outside of your local area. It can also act as a portfolio of your work, where potential customers can see examples of your framing and be assured that you are trustworthy.
Getting started: • M ost businesses use their logo as a profile picture. It is important that you keep your picture uniform across all social channels to ensure that followers recognise your page. • Take some time to complete your bio, providing a description of your business and adding your website address or contact details.
Story: • A story is a temporary post that only lasts for 24 hours, stories are accessible via the top of the home page. Content on stories is generally more informal than on grid posts. • E xamples of content for stories includes showing your ‘works in progress’ or new products. Video content is also very popular on stories. • A lthough stories disappear after 24 hours, you can save them as a highlight. See below!
Interacting with others: Instagram is primarily a social platform, so it is important to remember to interact with posts by other framers and artists too. This will build your network of contacts and raise your profile in the industry, as well as providing a constant source of inspiration for your own framing projects.
Highlight: • H ighlights can be found at the top of your profile. They are permanent versions of your stories, meaning that once you’ve created a story you can choose to keep it displayed on your profile.
Posting on Instagram: You should aim to post on Instagram a couple of times per week at least to ensure that your followers stay engaged. On social media it is also vital to regularly check your notifications and messages as customers expect quick replies. Grid post: • A grid post is a permanent post that lives on your profile, your followers can interact with these posts by liking, commenting and sharing. • W e would recommend writing interesting captions and using relevant hashtags to increase the number of people who see your posts. Examples of this are #framing #framer #pictureframe #art. • I f you are posting a photo of somebody else/another business, you should tag the person featured. • I t is not possible to add clickable links to Instagram posts. However, if you’d like to direct your customers to a website, you can add a link to your bio via the ‘edit profile’ button at the top of your profile. We would recommend that you use LinkTree, a tool that allows you to host multiple links in your Instagram bio instead of updating the link every time.
Top tip! Video content has been found to capture a viewer’s attention for longer than images, so try creating a few short informal videos to post on your page, either as a grid post or on your stories. Don’t forget to tag @LarsonJuhlUK in your Instagram posts, we’d love to see what you get up to!
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