How to use Instagram
to grow your direct sales business and expand your network
10 Steps to success with instagram
- Set up your profile correctly - Be you, not just your product. A good profile pic and a description - put a website or Facebook profile link ( if you don't have a personal website or blog - Facebook is better - as people can connect with you on there.
- Connect your Facebook account to your Instagram account - that way when you share on Instagram - you can always choose to share on FB.
- Only post good photo's and make them interesting. Don't post product photo's all the time - think of creative ways to share your products - and mix it up with lifestyle, family things and how you are spending your day.
- Quotes are great to post - I always have some saved to my phone in my photo's so I can go into pictures and upload to Instagram. Great app called InstaQuote where you can make your own quote. Pic Collage is another cool app to change up your photos and add text etc.
- Don't post in big chunks - you will annoy your followers - I post about 3-4 times a day on average, - spread out from early morning to late at night.
- Use hashtags - they are simply words that include a #sign in front of them - 4 -5 hashtags increases engagement - these make your pictures searchable - i.e. if you use the tag #skincare if you are with a skincare company for example - anyone looking for skincare - your posts will show up. Make sure your profile is public too. Use hashtags that suit your post - #directsales #partyplan #workathome etc
- Search for people to follow by hash tags - know your target market, - i.e. if you are looking for women that love jewellery - search #jewellery hash tags. local people - #yourcity etc. - follow them.
- Engage and follow back people that engage and follow you. Reply back to comments on your posts - encourage people to connect with you on Facebook also - like and leave meaningful comments on other peoples posts. Ie comments that require an answer - i.e. Loved the scenery , where did you take that ?
- Find people who are in a similar area to you, same company or industry and follow them and watch what they do.
- Finally - have fun with Instagram, be you. People do business with people they know like and trust - bring followers over to Facebook to continue building the relationship and most importantly be consistent - no point in having an account if you post once a week. Instagram only works on your MBL phone ( you can fix up and edit your profile on your computer ) and as we have it with us 24/7 make it a habit to start posting at least daily to begin with and build that up as you get more familiar with it.
About Julie Barker
I am living a laptop lifestyle, where I am housesitting full time and inspiring others to get of the treadmill of life and follow their heart and dreams and take life with both hands and live.
Email: julie@juliebarker.com.au
Website: http://juliebarker.com.au
Location: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Phone: +61 404 004 867
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mylaptoplifestyle
Twitter: @juliebarker77