Let me just start this off by saying that I am not a social media person.
I am a lurker on social media.
I check it fairly often and am generally fascinated by what other people are sharing (and often wonder at the motivation behind what they’re sharing). But as a die-hard introvert, I really have a hard time wrapping my head around it and have to push myself to post anything, even on my business accounts.
(So I’m not exactly the person to come to if you’re itching to launch a full-scale social media marketing campaign. Sorry.)
Because so much about building a viable audience for your website centers around social media outreach, however, I do at least pay attention to what’s going on in the social media world and ponder how my clients might best leverage tactics and strategies I come across.
And in that vein…
I have a really lovely client named Shawn Warner who is a coach to parents and teenage girls. We just launched her site, Cultivating Resilient Teens, a few months ago.
I devour everything Shawna writes because my daughter officially became a pre-teen this year.
I’m not ashamed to admit that, having been one myself, the idea of raising a teenage girl scares the you-know-what out of me, so I’m trying to shore up my reserves of knowledge on how to deal with these precarious years as we’re teetering on the cusp in my household.
Anyhow, long story short, Shawna and I discussed where her social media capital would best be spent if she’s trying to connect not only with parents of teen girls but also with the girls themselves.
And one of those outlets for Shawna is, of course, Instagram.
Here are some of the ideas I shared to get her going along with a roundup of informative resources that you might dig deeper into if you’re also thinking of dipping your toe in the Instagram waters:
From 8 Cool Tweaks for a Killer Instagram Bio by Post Planner
- Get started by crafting a standout Instagram bio
Be clear about what you do and who you help. Be personable and authentic (don’t use corporate speak), and use keywords and hashtags that fit your business and industry. - You get one hyperlink to use for all of Instagram
The link you include in your bio is the only link in your Instagram profile or feed that is clickable. Use it wisely, and adjust it regularly. Depending on what you’re promoting, you might point it to your freebie or your most recent blog post or a blog post category. (If you really want to get fancy, you can use URL shorteners to track how well the different links perform for you.)
From Getting Started with Instagram for Your Business: 8 Simple Steps from Buffer
- If you also have a facebook business page, you can convert your Instagram profile to a business profile.
This gives you some additional analytics and opportunities to highlight information specific to your business.But I’ll be honest (and with no solid evidence to base this on but…) I’ve found that these social media platforms get you all excited about using their services designed specifically for business, but ultimately down the road, they want you to pay them for the privilege (which is totally fair and completely reasonable). If you’re an individual solopreneur, I’ve come to the conclusion that over the long haul, it often is best to build your social media presence around your personal profile if you’re OK not separating personal and business. On Facebook for instance, these days posting to your business page, it’s tough to get any traction or notice unless you pay Facebook to promote those posts and have them show up in people’s feeds whereas if you are Facebook friends with someone, and share something on your timeline, they’re much more likely to see it. So take or leave that tidbit for whatever it’s worth.
From the Quick & Dirty Guide to Creatively Using Instagram to Promote Your Blog Posts, a guest post by Orana Velarde on The Branded Solopreneur
- Your Instagram feeds tells a story with only pictures.
Keep your visual identity consistent and in line with your website design. Keep your color palette and fonts and overall branding consistent with what’s used on your website.
From How to Build Buzz with Instagram for Your Blog by Peg Fitzpatrick
- Create graphics that include quotes from your blog posts.
If you’re up for a few extra steps when you create your post, create a few lovely, square, Instagram-specific images. (You might use your featured image along with your blog post title or a quote from your post. Be sure to include your website address, too.) You can then insert that image at the bottom of the blog post which would make it easier for you to visit your post on your phone, save it to your phone, and then upload it to Instagram.
From How Bloggers Can Leverage Instagram on The Social Media Hat
- In your photo description, don’t describe the photo, describe your blog post.
Provide an enticing teaser to get people to go hunt down your blog post. (Instagram makes people work for it to find and and follow a link, but it sounds like savvy Instagram users definitely will.) Again, use hashtags related to the post and relevant to your industry. You can include a link in your description, but know that it won’t be clickable.
Bonus tip: Preface your description with something like “NEW POST:” to let people know you’re linking to a new blog post
Check out these examples of Instagram profiles to see some folks who are doing a bang up job with this:
https://www.instagram.com/cultivating_resilient_teens/ (this is Shawna’s profile)
https://www.instagram.com/sweetnessanddelight/ (this is Catrice who is also a client)
https://www.instagram.com/una_kiernan/
https://www.instagram.com/lifecoachshawn/
https://www.instagram.com/thehappyologist/
https://www.instagram.com/jenvertanen/
As I dug into researching using Instagram to promote your blog posts, I realized that this is a fascinating platform with some really interesting opportunities for promoting your website and services in a unique, authentic way. If your audience is also on Instagram, it might be worth exploring for you.
