Instagram has launched a new marketing guide aimed at small or independent businesses who want to use the platform to drive awareness, growth and sales. So... most Creatives, then?
The tips are pretty straightforward, and highlight functions and features of Instagram that you might not be aware of already. In such a crowded market, we already know the importance of building your personal brand, but getting that to stand out in the sea-of-scrolls is another challenge.
The 8 page guide focuses on driving awareness and building community, acquiring and exciting customers and increasing sales. A lot of the advice might seem pretty obvious (how to use Reels vs Stories, for example) but it's always nice to be reassured that you're using a tool correctly, and to pick up any little tips that you might have missed.
We all start off knowing nothing, afterall.
For example, the reminder that you can make all of your content shoppable by adding Product Tags to each post might initially seem a bit spammy or forced, but when you remember that not all your followers are going to see all of your posts in their feed, not adding a Product Tag to your work then seems like a bit of a missed opportunity.
As with all social platforms, the key is to be consistent with what you're giving your audience. You want your profile to be so strong that someone could easily say, "oh you should follow this artist, they do really cool XXXX work about XXXX" - what would your blanks be? How are you showing them off consistently in your posts?
Perhaps a tad more useful than this guide (no offence, Instagram), could be Talenthouse's chat with artist Sophie Tea, who told us all about how she built her community online from nothing, and how she ended up translating 'likes' on the platform into real sales of her art.
Read the full interview here, it's a goodie.
You can download the Instagram guide here, or by visiting their Business page.
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Tell us what you think!