7 Tips to Successfully Market Your Window Treatment Business on Instagram
If you’re not advertising on all the major social media platforms because you’re intimidated or simply don’t know how you’re missing out. Social media has exploded in the last decade and presents small businesses with the latest and greatest advertising opportunities to target extremely specific audiences. And the best part? You can use social media platforms like Instagram to promote your business for free. Not just that, there are social media tools that help you save time in promoting your window treatment business.
It seems almost too good to be true. The only problem is that I’ve seen a lot of small business owners make rookie mistakes on Instagram because they were inexperienced and simply didn’t know any better. Today we’re going to take a look at the best 7 tips to up your Instagram marketing game.
Use Instagram as a Free Advertising Platform
You can use Instagram to upload pictures of your products and essentially create free ads. Not only can you showcase inventory and products, but with a little graphic design, you can also add calls to action and promotional information to your pictures.
I would caution you to not solely use Instagram for this purpose, however. Your Instagram following may feel like you’re trying to take advantage of them and irritate them by spamming ads. Nevertheless, if you have even a modest following, product teasers are a great way to increase sales revenue. Is your instagram keeps crashing? Check the link.
Take Advantage of Sponsored Ads for Your Window Treatment Business
If you have some room in the marketing budget and want to create ads superior to free product teasers, consider using paid ads. Just like Facebook, Instagram monetizes its website by running paid ads. Similar to Google and Facebook advertising, Instagram offers sophisticated tools to help drill down through reams of demographics and location data to target the precise audience you want to reach. Furthermore, you can set a budget cap to ensure you don’t break the bank.
Make Sure You’re Using a Business Account
Just as Facebook differentiates between individual users and businesses, Instagram has different pages for each case. You need to ensure you don’t misrepresent your business on an individual account. While it isn’t the worst misstep in the world, it does look tacky and can be confusing to people being exposed to your business for the first time.
Furthermore, Instagram business accounts help provide more ways for users to engage with your business. For example, business accounts include a contact button that facilitates direct messaging, which is always beneficial. Furthermore, you can add action buttons with copy such as “Get Tickets” or “Place Order” to further interact with users. These opportunities don’t exist on personal accounts, so transition to a business account as soon as you can.
Only Post High-Quality Images
On Instagram, competition is absolutely fierce. Users can easily – and often subliminally – judge which Instagram accounts are high quality and which are garbage based on the quality of the images. Make sure you avoid posting low quality, amateurish photographs that are blurry, low resolution, and generally distasteful.
Furthermore, even though Instagram and other social media sites have a fun, friendly, and personal vibe, remember: this is purely a way to grow your audience and market your window treatment business. The last thing you want to do is post inappropriate or overly personal images that detract from your business.
Create a Visual Narrative with Instagram Stories
If you thought Instagram’s only visual format was collections of static pictures, think again. A feature named Instagram Stories allows you to make pseudo-video content by stapling together groups of images in a slide show. Although they are slightly ephemeral and only last for 24 hours, you can repost the same Instagram Stories after they expire.
They’re a great way to get your Instagram content noticed by new users because stories appear in a different area – in the bar at the top of the page – instead of being buried under hundreds of posts in the news feed. The only significant limitation is that this feature is limited to mobile devices. Nevertheless, most Instagram users access the site via their phones anyway.
Better Engage Users with Contests
People on social media love opportunities for attention, and contests are one way to better engage them. Instagram, like many other social media outlets, lends businesses the opportunity to interact with users in a one-on-one manner. Remember to ask your audience how they feel, what they think, and what they want to know.
You can easily create a hashtag for each competitive event your host. Some ideas of contests to spark engagement include “like and comment to win a prize,” “tag a friend who…,”
- “like and comment to win a prize”
- “tag a friend who…”
- user-generated content contests (photographs)
- “share a time when…”
- photo caption contests
These are just a few examples, but the possibilities are practically endless. Try to find a contest that pairs well with your niche or industry to engage your audience.
Use Precise and Targeted Hashtags
Some people have the erroneous assumption that hashtags are only useful on Twitter, but it isn’t so. Hashtags are an integral part of Instagram as well, but be careful: like keywords, hashtags should never be spammed and abused. Your use of hashtags should be very thoughtful, topical (if possible), and targeted.
It’s better to have a handful of targeted hashtags than numerous general ones, which brings me to my next point. Realize that there are different types of hashtags: general tags (like #cars), trending and topical hashtags (like the now-defunct #icebucketchallenge), and branded hashtags (like #wendys). When at all possible use trending hashtags to engage users, but only if it fits your content.
Final Thoughts
If social media marketing is over your head, you need to reach out for help today of a top qualified social media specialist for your window treatment business. Failing to engage social media channels equates to lost revenues and profits – missed opportunities that would have otherwise grown your business had you taken advantage of them.
Instead of forgoing these opportunities, reaching out for help will help polish your business’s digital presence and help by driving qualified leads back to your website. Call today to get your marketing strategy pointed in the right direction.
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AUTHOR BIO:
Will Hanke is the leading specialist in running SEO and SEM for window treatment and awning companies. For 22 years he has helped businesses across the country with their digital marketing and search engine optimization strategies. His agency is family and veteran-owned and has won numerous awards in Search, Consulting, and Marketing. Follow Will on LinkedIn and Twitter.
