Instagram. Hundreds of millions of users,
infinite potential to market your handmade products and to grow your shop,
free... Sounds freaking perfect. Yeah,
except in reality getting far on Instagram and getting sales from it,
especially if you're starting from scratch or don't have many followers at all
just yet can feel like climbing a mountain.
You might even be wondering if this is really the right platform for you.
And I get it because sometimes it does seem like the only prerequisite to being
successful on Instagram is to be successful on Instagram,
which is ridiculous. So really, how can you start growing your Instagram?
That's exactly what we'll cover in this video with the three keys to growing
your shop's Instagram account organically - that means for free,
without using paid ads and without using any shady tactics,
that would really just get you banned. Quick outline of what's to come. One,
your images - what you should and shouldn't post to grow your account. Two,
your captions - what works versus what doesn't,
so you finally know what to write there. Three,
your engagement strategy - how to get people to actually like comment and follow
you so you can hear more than well,
crickets. So get excited. This is going to be awesome. Let's dive in!
Bonjour, I'm Deb, founder of Tizzit.co,
a membership community for makers and handmade shop owners just like yourself.
Today we are talking about Instagram and more specifically how to make it work
for you and your shop.
I want to make sure that you and I are on the same page here.
This isn't just a "get as many followers as possible" game. If you're here,
I'm assuming that you're selling products and your end goal is to sell said
products. Growing your following is important, yes,
and this video will help you with that 100% but if you only focus on numbers of
followers, you're already focusing on the wrong thing.
There are some accounts out there with hundreds of thousands of followers that
aren't making any money from it. On the other hand,
there are many much smaller accounts with 500,
1000 followers who sell things on Instagram regularly.
So which one would you rather be?
And don't you feel better knowing that you might not actually need 50,000
followers to be successful on Instagram after all?
Now that we've got this out of the way let's start with number one and our
elephant in the room really: photos.
Instagram is a photo app and although captions are important too,
and we'll talk about that in a second,
if your photos aren't making people want to stop scrolling,
you've already lost the battle for their attention.
And more often than not this happens because you've forgotten what Instagram is
and isn't.
Instagram isn't a shopping app so don't make your profile look like a catalog
where all I can see are your products on white background.
Instagram is a lifestyle photo app. People come to the app to be entertained,
inspired, motivated - not to shop.
Does it mean that you can't sell on the platform? Of course not,
but it means that the intention to sell can't be what you lead with and that
starts with your images. So instead of selling people your product,
sell them the lifestyle around your products.
Selling on Instagram comes from making real connections with users on the
platform, making them feel connected to your brand and products.
And so you need to make your feed look less like a catalog and more like a
magazine. So yes, it means that when you share images of your products,
it's much better if they're all styled or lifestyle images than white background
images. But no, it doesn't mean you need to be a pro.
All you need is a smartphone with a camera and you can absolutely take pictures
like
this or this
or this or
this one. But it also means that you can,
and you should share more than just your product images.
How about showing super simple images or funny or inspirational quotes or even
stock images of things your customers could relate to.
If you're selling winter knits, for example,
you're allowed to post a beautiful picture of a snowy mountain.
If you're selling diaper bags for moms how about a fun quote about the struggles
of being a mother? Sell a lifestyle, not a product,
and think magazine, not catalog. Now let's get into number two,
your captions. Well, don't you just love writing and Instagram caption?
Easy,
just flows out of your fingers and into the app and then people start commenting
and replying, building conversation... or maybe they don't. Look,
I'm joking around, but I know this isn't funny.
Writing captions probably isn't your favorite thing to do and if you don't get
any traction from them,
it's easy to start resenting the whole process and to stop posting altogether
because you just don't know what to write. So let's fix that.
Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. Sometimes it's not.
And you actually need to make your captions something potential followers and
potential customers can relate to so that they like, comment and follow you.
And here again, you don't want to push your products down people's throat.
Instead, sell them a lifestyle, a story, a memory, an emotion.
Here's an example of what not to do:
"new spring hairbow collection is now available in my Etsy shop.
Click the link in my bio to shop now." And here's what you could say instead:
"The time I spent every morning helping my daughter do her hair is one cherish
more than anything. She's growing so fast.
I know that soon she won't need my help anymore or, let's be honest,
she won't want my help.
So I'm making the most of this precious time we have to connect and spend some
quality mother - daughter time together.
That's why I'm excited to be releasing a new hairbow collection for spring so
you have more great excuses to spend time with her talking all things braids and
ponytails (my daughter's favorite at the moment is a super high pony).
Take a look via the link in my bio and let me know below:
what's your little one favorite hairstyle?" Which one do you think someone is
more likely to relate to, like and comment on?
And which one do you think does a better job at selling the product even though
it's not actually directly selling it? That's right.
Number two. What you want to avoid is people reading your caption and thinking,
"okay" and then keep on scrolling because they're underwhelmed and they can't
relate to the caption at all,
which is totally what would have happened with caption number one.
With the second one though, you're actually sharing a story.
You're connecting with them on a memory or an experience they are having too and
you're actually asking them to comment below and engage with you. Much better.
Okay, we're ready for number three, all about engagement. Look,
don't be that person who posts on Instagram and just waits for people to like,
comment or follow you. Yes,
everything I just taught you still needs to get done.
You need to post scroll stopping images and relatable captions,
but you can't just throw a few hashtags in and wait.
Hashtags aren't enough and you certainly can't rely on them alone to grow your
account.
When you're a much bigger account with a lot of traction behind you already,
then yes, maybe that is enough,
but if you want to grow and you're still a somehow smaller account,
you can't expect people to find you. You have to find people. Yes,
if you want people to engage with you, you have to engage with people.
This is what organic, real, no gimmick growth really is about.
Find some time every day to like and comment on accounts of people who are
likely to buy your products. So again, if for example,
you sell baby diaper bags,
go and comment on profile from moms on mom community accounts on the app.
When you do so, they will see that in their notifications,
they're going to be stocked because everyone loves some love on Instagram,
they're going to check you out and boom,
because you have a great feed with great images,
great captions they'll start following and buying from you.
Next is this amazing training I released to help you craft a perfect Instagram
bio or make sure that yours is up to standard.
You can just click the suggested video that just popped up on the screen to
watch it. Au revoir!