Are you a local business owner? If yes, then I am sure you must be looking for some interesting tactics to bring engagement and generate leads. Right?
Well, Instagram can help you with that, indeed. It’s a perfect platform for local businesses.
I know what you are thinking right now, “How could a simple social media platform full of food and funny pictures can help me land new leads?”
But believe it or not, if you use the channel the way it should be, then there is no chance that you miss out on amazing leads every day. Instagram features a whole lot more interesting elements than pictures and videos. It has become a big marketplace with 70% of shoppers looking for brands and 50% are more likely to purchase when they see a brand selling out their required stuff.
There are more than 200 million businesses on Instagram right now that are earning extremely well through a single platform. So why not you?
If you are a local business, then Instagram is the right channel for you. Let’s explore some amazing tactics that can help you generate sales, engagement, and leads.
Participate and Just Participate
Before you start promoting your business, think of Instagram as a community full of people with different ideas, thinking, and opinions.
Think about how your business can be a valuable part of the community and how it’s going to help people in their lives. You need to show that you are a reputable business owner and an active member of the Instagram community.
When you think for people’s benefit and their needs first, you will start getting followers eager to shop from you. posting colorful images and videos is not enough to generate engagement and likes.
If you want to establish a solid reputation in the Instagram community, it’s important to build relationships with influencers as well as brands that operate in your niche. Join the conversations they start and interact with their content to get the same in return.
This participation will result in more engagement, leads, and recognition.
Post Local Content Shared by Followers and Other Businesses
To enhance the reputation of your business on Instagram as well as in the local community, you need to regularly repost content that is shared by your local followers, other brands operating in your area, and different local members.
By doing this, the content creator will feel awesome when they see that their content is being featured. In fact, other followers will also take notice of that and might create something specifically for you.
They could also mention your “shout out” on their story which could be viewed by hundreds of people. As a result, you will get more followers and reach lots of targeted audiences in your local community. This means it’s a win-win situation for both.
After sharing content with local people, your brand will seem more approachable and authentic.
Maintain Consistency for Your Brand
Treat your Instagram account as a business extension of your brand.
This is a unique social media platform that helps you achieve several objectives from various touchpoints. That’s why it’s important to maintain a proper sense of consistency across every social channel you use. You have to set an identity for your brand through which your audience can easily recognize you.
Your followers might follow your brand across other social media channels like Facebook and Pinterest. So, if your Instagram persona seems different or fake from the tone set by other channels and your website, maybe your customers get confused and couldn’t decide whether you are an authentic brand or not.
This means the tone set by your website and other channels must be aligned with the captions and images you post on Instagram so that your audience can understand what your objective is.
Demonstrate Local Lifestyle
The local lifestyle of your business can be described as the life of your buyers’ lead once they purchase something from you.
The fact is, Instagram is a visual social media channel. It’s a medium to demonstrate what the local lifestyle of your brand looks like.
Share photos of your products in a way that customers would love to choose and envision the same lifestyle for them.
This will strengthen the overall value and credibility of your brand. It will encourage customers to buy more from them as they are telling people how to use the product the better way, to look better.
Focus More on Local Hashtags
Hashtags – are one of the most important elements of Instagram. Hashtags are actually the basic game of this platform that can make or break your overall post.
There are tons of interesting parallels between your keywords and the hashtags you use.
If you want to optimize the local reach of your business page, then it’s recommended to focus more on local hashtags. When you use local hashtags in your posts, you allow more people to interact with you and see your posts.
Other brands and celebrities will also find your posts and the chances of getting more likes and shares will automatically get increase.
Instead of using a generic hashtag with your #food photo, it’s better to use a hashtag that includes your location, for example, #Pakistanfood. If you want to be more specific, then use a specific location in the city or state that people know.
It is good to include hashtags that include your particular location and the type of brand you have. Hashtags work a lot like keywords in SEO. The more appropriate hashtags you use, the more chances to get increased engagement.
Ready to Promote Your Local Business on Instagram?
Instagram is a platform that gives your business hundreds of chances to promote itself. You cannot only generate leads and sales but also maintain a proper brand through amazing content creation.
If you believe that it’s hard for you to manage things, then it’s recommended to work with a social media agency that can help you run your business properly by using Instagram and other channels. After all, they have a proven record and expertise in making things better and more profitable.