Tag : instagram

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13Jan

Social Media

Are you ready to market your brand on social media? Before you set up your first profile, you need to ask yourself some questions. Social media marketing is more than just spreading the word: it’s about connecting with your customers. You must carefully consider your approach We’ve gathered the top twenty questions you need to answer before your brand’s social media debut.

Part I. Your Brand
1. What is the tone of your brand?
2. What products or services are you trying to promote?
3. What products or services form the core of your brand?

Part II. Your Customers
4. Who are your ideal customers?
5. What problems do your ideal customers face?
6. How does your company help solve those problems?
7. Where are your customers geographically?

Part III. Your Social Media Presence
8. What are your ultimate goals for social media?
9. Which social media platforms work best for your company?
10. How can you incorporate compelling content into your brand’s message?
11. What are the most important keywords for your industry?
12. How does your online presence compare to that of your competitors?
13. How much time can you invest into social media?
14. How often should you post during the week? During the day?
15. Which scheduling software is right for you?

Part IV. Your Content
16. When is the best time to post your content?
17. What content do your customers find most appealing?
18. Who are your industry’s top social media and online influencers?
19. What types of original content can you create?
20. What visuals should you incorporate into your content?

Do you have all of the answers? If not, it’s time to get to work!

The Go! Agency team can help you answer these questions and get started with one of the most effective avenues of marketing available today! We are dedicated to spreading your message and have worked with clients from a wide variety of industries, customizing and optimizing hundreds of social media campaigns.

How to Tie the Holidays Into Your Social Media Posts

Business, Content Creation

7Oct

You know the holiday season is right around the corner, but what does that actually mean for your social media strategy?

Well, I could tell you to do steps X, Y, and Z to update your social media plans and all your woes will vanish! Christmas shoppers will rush to your website and the garland around your tree will be made of shredded $100 bills!

But that isn’t how this works.

I can’t tell you what’s going to work perfectly for your business in your unique situation. What I can tell you, though, is that Marketing Dive found that 80% of shoppers are planning to spend at least as much on holiday shopping as they did last year. The holidays are simply too lucrative not to plan for them.

So how do you learn what you need to do? You study the best. I’m going to show you some of the most successful holiday campaigns, explain exactly what made them such hits with their audiences, and give you some tips on how you can replicate those results.

1. STARBUCKS
Starbucks’ holiday cups have earned them a lot of attention over the years, and the 2017 holiday season was no different. The face of coffee let their customers design their own holiday cups and have a chance for their work to be shared by Starbucks by using the #GiveGood hashtag.

What’s their secret?
Starbucks has a huge fanbase of active, loyal customers. When they were given the chance to create content for a company they love, there was no hesitation. This influx of user-generated content (UGC) got Starbucks a lot of positive attention and plenty of fresh content for advertising, all without paying a dime!

#GiveGood was also a key part of their success. It showed users that Starbucks wasn’t thinking about themselves, but was instead focusing on the spirit of giving. That brought in a human element for customers to relate to, so suddenly they were getting into the holiday spirit and not just buying coffee from one of the largest corporations in the world.

What’s the lesson?
UGC is almost always going to endear you in the eyes of your audience. It’s also important to remember that, as the holidays come closer, you can’t beg your customers to buy from you. Show them your human side and let them be naturally excited about your brand.

2. UPS
UPS started a #WishesDelivered campaign to share real, touching stories from their customers of how UPS made a difference in their lives. Every time users shared or submitted stories with the hashtag, UPS donated a dollar to one of three charities.

What’s their secret?
The short version: people love stories. Everyone wants to feel good, and #WishesDelivered gave people a reason to spread the word about what a difference UPS was making. Combining easy charity donations with the chance to spread positive, holiday-themed news made this campaign an instant success.

What’s the lesson?
Tell your customers how you’re helping them! Even if you can’t afford a huge donation to charity right now, let your customers interact with your brand by telling stories of how you did right by them. Hashtag campaigns can work wonders for spreading your message.

3. HOTELTONIGHT
Nobody said the holidays were all exchanging gifts and kissing reindeer. HotelTonight’s holiday campaign acknowledged that sometimes the holidays just suck, especially when family is involved! They posted jarring (in a good way) caricatures of unpleasant family members, and encouraged users to share their worst stories of staying with relatives.

What’s their secret?
HotelTonight was simultaneously funny and reminded its customers why they needed to book hotels over the holidays. It’s hard to say “I’ll just bunk with mom” when you’re thinking about your great-aunt Muriel’s Scrabble tournament!

What’s the lesson?
Holiday marketing doesn’t have to be happy. If your brand’s personality isn’t one that cares about Santa and eggnog, that’s fine! This is also a lesson that you should be establishing empathy with your customers wherever you can. Show them that you know what they’re going through, and they’ll flock to you!

You don’t want to copy these brands, but you should take the ideas behind each success story and make them your own! The holidays are a chance for your business to score some big victories, so don’t waste this opportunity with tired marketing strategies! Now get out there and show your customers why they need you this holiday season!

Did you find this advice helpful and want to see how else you can improve your marketing strategy? Reach out to The Go! Agency today for a free consultation!

Under the Influence: An Intro to Social Media Influencers

19Aug

Social Media, YouTube

Social media influencers are social media users who reach a wide audience and have established credibility in a given industry or field. The influence of these individuals outweighs that of the average social media user. While social media influencers technically exist on any platform or network, they are predominantly on YouTube and Instagram.

A typical social media influencer displays the following characteristics.

• Authenticity. Influencers are perceived as genuine. The audience sees an influencer as an independent party rather than a brand spokesperson.

• Credibility. Stemming from the above, Influencers are trustworthy and impartial. Indeed, the trust has already been established: the audience members are following the influencers for reasons unrelated to any brands or sponsors.

• Expertise. Influencers are seen as having experience and knowledge about their industry or topic of choice. This expertise does not have to be professional: many beauty vloggers are not professional makeup artists or cosmetologists.

• Relatability. Influencers are approachable and accessible, albeit charismatic. Even celebrity influencers (Kylie Jenner, Cristiano Ronaldo, Chrissy Tiegen, e.g.) make efforts to humanize themselves and empathize with their audiences.

Why They Matter
Social media influencers are a major force in digital marketing. They have risen in prominence over the past decade, so this trend seems to have staying power. But why should you include these people in your marketing strategy? Here are just a few reasons to incorporate social media influencers into your marketing campaigns.

Influencers humanize your brand. As we touched on above, social media influencers are relatable. An influencer’s success (and often livelihood) depends on connecting with his or her audience. They want to be embraced by their viewers and/or followers, so most of them need to prove that they are just like their viewers and/or followers. True, there are social media influencers who seem more perfect than others, but even these models will put a face to your brand. Whether an influencer is relatable or aspirational, your brand will be humanized by the connection with a real person.

People trust peers more than companies. Who is more trustworthy: your neighbor or an ad? Your boss or a commercial? A friendly acquaintance or an anonymous stranger? Time and time again, studies have shown that people put more stock in the recommendations of their peers than in a corporate advertisement. Experience is the best teacher, so why wouldn’t you rely on an experienced source who you already trust? Even though followers might not have ever had any personal interactions (i.e., meeting the influencer in person or having an actual conversation with that person directly), they still see an influencer as their peer.

Influencers are better able to reach an audience. Influencers already have a following of their own. Likewise, they are already sharing content that relates to your brand or to your brand’s industry. In short, their audiences are already interested in content just like yours! Social media influencers will therefore be better equipped to reach your target audience than traditional advertisements. Additionally, their audiences seek out the influencers content. These followers are actively trying to engage and consume content that will help further your branding and your marketing goals!

Influencers and marketers have long-term relationships. Social media influencers should be part of your longterm strategy, not just one campaign. Influencers will likely stick to the same or similar content and audiences over the course of several years: your brand will be able to grow with them. You can actually build a relationship with an influencer, using that influencer as a resource repeatedly.

In our next blog, we’ll discuss the different types of social media influencers and help you determine which is best for your brand.

Would you like to unleash the power of social media marketing? We can help! Visit us today to arrange your free consultation!

Our friends at Mobile Monkey have some wonderful influencer tools and tactics that you should check out! You can learn more by visiting them by clicking here!

Instagram Pitfalls: 10 Things That You Need to Avoid At All Costs

12Aug

One of the secrets to increasing your social media engagement is bringing your content strategy to life with visuals. And when you are ready to tell your company’s visual story – Instagram should be one of your first ports of call. Not only is Instagram one of the fastest consistently growing social media hubs out there, it can also bring you up to 15 times more engagement than your average Facebook posts.

AND….it is not just for kids!

One of the biggest misconceptions about Instagram is that it has a predominantly young user-base. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. The truth is that Instagram usage is nearly an even 50-50 split between users under, and over 30.

As you can see – Instagram presents a promising opportunity for users to not only enjoy a nice amount of engagement, but also interact with your target audience in a whole new manner.

BUT WAIT! Before you go and start (or continue) marketing your business using Instagram, I want to share with you 10 Instagram mistakes that you need to avoid at all costs! Let’s go:

1. Don’t Forget About Video: I see this happen all the time. Many companies are only JUST getting comfortable with taking and posting pictures, so the idea of shooting videos can be a bit intimidating. That aside, I’m telling you: you need to shoot and post short videos. It can be the secret weapon of engagement.

2. Don’t Like Everything: There is nothing worse than someone on Instagram who LIKES every post that shows up in their stream. Just imagine if you saw someone doing that on Facebook? It looks dishonest or phony. Be selective, this way you can begin to form meaningful relationships rather than countless meaningless ones.

3. Don’t Be Inconsistent: Like all of social media marketing, consistency is rewarded, and Instagram is no different. So be sure to find a schedule and number of photos that you are able to regularly post and stick to it. Don’t post 10 photos in one day and not another one for 4 weeks.

4. Don’t Go Hashtag Crazy: There is a limit to the number of hashtags that you are able to use on Instagram: 30 to be exact. But, let’s be honest, that is a massive number. You want to create meaningful hashtags, not ones that you are adding just for the sake of hashtagging. I suggest between 6 and 10 at most.

5. Don’t Be a Downer: When marketing your business, you need to stay professional and post positive things. Negativity is not your friend on Instagram. Remember, visuals emotionally connect you to your audience, so don’t put a bad taste in your audiences’ mouth.

6. Don’t Lose Your Focus: With any marketing campaign, you don’t want to deviate from your plan. On Instagram it can be easy, due to the fact that when you start you may not know what pictures to take. Decide what you want your approach to be and stick with it: stay on-brand and on-message.

7. Don’t Just Advertise: Are your only posts discounts and promotions on Instagram? Shame! You need to have an even marketing message mix rather than sell, sell, sell. Just think – no one wants to engage with someone who is constantly pushing sales messages on them, so share visuals that will bring your target consumer closer to you.

8. Don’t Post Disrespectful Content: We are not speaking about being negative here, but more so of items that can be taken the wrong way by your audience. So if you have different political, religious, or social views – your company Instagram would probably not be the place for them. People could find it disrespectful – which is not what you want!

9. Don’t Forget to Comment: If you see good content that deserves your feedback – comment! This will help you open a dialogue with another person and help engagement with your own account.

10. Don’t Forget to Comment Back: This is a rookie mistake. If someone is taking the time to comment on one of your posts, you are shooting yourself in the foot if you are not commenting back. Just think: on Facebook how valuable the comments are to your post’s success. This is no different on Instagram, so keep the dialogue going!

These 10 mistakes are things that I have seen happen again and again on Instagram. Keep them in mind when you are rolling out your campaign and you will enjoy a higher level of success, and side-stepping unnecessary controversy or negative attention.

A Week in the Life of a Social Media Manager

15Jul

Social Media

Nobody said being a social media manager was easy! You’ve got a lot of responsibility, and it’s easy for things to slip through the cracks if you’re not careful!

That’s why I’m here. I’ve got a simple, usable checklist that you can use every week to make sure everything gets done. Across social media, these are the steps you’ll need to take for a thriving campaign!

Facebook

Check Notifications: Make sure there’s nothing happening on your page that you need to handle!
Check Reviews: Thank positive reviewers and give thoughtful comments/questions to negative reviewers.
Check Check-Ins: Are people visiting your brick and mortar store? Be aware of who’s telling people about you and what they have to say!
Respond to Comments: Good or bad, every comment needs to get a response.
Check That Posts Are Correct: Always double check that your posts were published without errors!
Invite Engaged Users: If someone likes a post, invite them to like the page!
Respond to Messages: The faster, the better!

Twitter

Respond to Replies: They’re a great source of audience engagement. Continue the engagement!
Respond to Mentions: Have a hand in any conversations about your brand!
Check & Respond to Messages: The last thing you want is to ignore a potential customer.
Like Relevant Posts: This will show your audience that your business is engaged with the goings-on in your field.
Retweet Useful Posts: Not every post can be about your brand. Share content that creates value for your audience!
Pin Featured Tweets: Is there something important you want potential followers to see? Pin it!

Instagram

Like Relevant Posts: Get involved with your community by liking their posts and news in your industry!
Respond to Comments: If your followers have thoughts on something you posted, strike up a conversation! You’ll improve their sense of brand loyalty!
Check That Posts Are Correct: Did your caption format correctly? Is the image sized the way you wanted it? Double check!
Check Follower Growth: How much has your following grown? Consider your latest content and how that may have played a role. You’ll improve your overall strategy this way!
Spy on Competitors: See what your competition is posting and how their followers are responding. If the followers love a style of content, recreate it! If they hate another type of post, avoid it!
Respond to Messages: Don’t use generic responses like “Thanks!” or a thumbs up. Respond with something meaningful to the people who took the time to reach out!

LinkedIn

Join Groups: LinkedIn groups are one of the best places to make professional connections.
Send Connection Requests: The more connections you have, the more credible you’ll look. If there’s someone you want to engage with, you’re more likely to get a response with mutual connections! Search for people by location or job title and connect with them!
Check Posts Are Correct: Professional sites like LinkedIn are especially unforgiving of bad formatting and grammatical errors.
Respond to Comments: If your content is getting attention, capitalize on that by responding to commenters.
Respond to Messages: LinkedIn messages could lead to a business opportunity, so always respond as quickly as possible!

Wash, Rinse, Repeat
It’s true that the job of a social media manager is difficult, but that’s no excuse to let things fall by the wayside. Save and print our checklist by clicking on the image below to make sure you’re making the most of your social media following and continuing to grow toward your goals!

Do you want some individualized help with your social media marketing? Just set up a free consultation with The Go! Agency!

The Secrets to Posting on Instagram That Your Local Business Needs

10Apr

I’m never surprised when I hear that a local business isn’t doing well on Instagram—but I’m a little disappointed. Instagram can do so much good for local businesses! It’s too bad that so few small business owners understand how to succeed on Instagram.

The problem isn’t Instagram, either; it’s the way people are posting. I want to walk you through the most common things that I see small business owners doing poorly and explain how you can avoid those pitfalls. If you want your small business to succeed on Instagram, keep reading!

Don’t Reinvent the Wheel
By far the biggest issue I see with small businesses on Instagram is that they try to post something new and fresh every single time. And I get the rationale—you want to stay fresh, people love new things, etc. But it just doesn’t work.

What you might call “new and inventive” usually reads as “messy” on Instagram. If people can’t get a feel for what you generally post, how are they supposed to decide that they want to follow you? This also muddies your brand identity a lot. A wide variety of content usually means that there’s no consistent brand voice being used, which makes it almost impossible for people to relate or connect with your local business.

Instead, make things easier on yourself. If people loved a photo of your shop’s cat, then by God, post more cat pictures! There’s nothing wrong with posting content that you know will perform well. You don’t want to post 100% cat photos, of course, but adding them in regularly is definitely a good idea.

Once you find 3-4 pieces of content that consistently earn good results, just use those in a regular content mix. Don’t worry about finding out when to switch things up—your audience will show you when they get bored of something! In the meantime, though, recycle your top-performing content if you want your local business to do well on Instagram.

Make the Visuals Look Appealing
No, I’m not talking about the 45 seconds before you post a photo where you try to find the perfect filter.

Images have sizes, and some of those sizes fit Instagram’s layout better than others. If your picture looks stretched out or otherwise misshapen, you’re going to see a serious lack of interest in your brand.

If you’ve even glanced at Instagram, though, you probably know that they have different image orientations, not to mention videos. That means there isn’t a one-size-fits-all size for your local business’ visuals. That said, there are still some guiding rules. Here are Instagram’s recommended visual sizes per orientation/format:

Square: 1080px x 1080 px, but you should upload the visual at the highest resolution allowed, which is 2048px x 2048px.
Landscape: 1080px x 566px. Note that you can still effectively use smaller sizes in this layout, like 60px x 400px.
Portrait: 1080px x 1350px, but Instagram will show the visual as 600px x 749px if you choose this orientation.
Video to timeline: 640px x 640px and the duration should be 3-60 seconds.
Video to story: 750px x 1334px and the video should be no longer than 15 seconds.

Did you get all that? Review this list whenever you need to post on Instagram, because I can promise you that without it, you’re going to end up with wonky, off-putting images sooner or later!

Think Before Posting
I know Instagram has a reputation of being for airheaded teenagers and Kardashians, but it takes some serious thought and planning to make it on this platform. If your target audience is on Instagram, then get out there and connect with them! Just make sure you’re following these tips, or you might end up doing more harm to your brand than good.

Do you want to talk about how you can succeed on Instagram? Schedule your free consultation with The Go! Agency!

Find the Right Social Platforms for Your Local Business

25Mar

Social Media

Just about everyone is on social media. But that doesn’t mean they’re all on the same platforms! There are always exceptions, but different platforms tend to cater to different ages, genders, incomes, etc.

I’m here to help you find the social media platforms that your business should be marketing on. If you don’t want to waste months marketing on the wrong platform, then keep reading!

Facebook
Full disclosure: It is very, very rare that I advise a business to NOT market on Facebook.

What makes Facebook such a universal must-have for online marketing? Well, it’s got 1.74 billion active users, so you can be confident that whoever your target demographic is, they’re going to be on Facebook (unless you’re marketing to the Amish, in which case I really can’t help you).

Beyond that, Facebook has a sophisticated advertising system that too many local businesses miss out on. With this, you can target your ideal section of those 1.74 billion users and not worry about getting lost in the flood. It’s worth noting that organic reach is particularly hard to come by on Facebook, so think of an advertising budget as a necessity if you decide to go with this site.

LinkedIn
As the default professional social media platform, LinkedIn is a hotspot for online marketers, especially for those working with B2B organizations. Instead of traditional followers or friends, LinkedIn uses connections for users to track the people they’re interacting with. This name is entirely intentional: Think of LinkedIn as where you go to rub some virtual elbows, not to hang out with friends.

Beyond Professional pages (which can be advantageous if you use them to promote your business), there are Business pages where your organization can directly interact with its followers. These are good for building your brand identity and encouraging people in your industry to take you seriously, where personal profiles are better suited for showcasing your brand’s human side.

If your target audience is maybe a little older (think 50+), has a high income, and/or works in an office setting, then LinkedIn is probably where you want to be. LinkedIn can be valuable for your local business because you can search for new connections based on location, so you should seriously consider this platform if I just described your target audience.

Instagram
No, it’s not just for teenagers and adults trying to be teenagers. With over 25 million business accounts and 200 million user visits to those pages every day, there’s a good chance that your local business can benefit from Instagram.

One of the big draws for local businesses? Instagram is one of the easiest sites for reaching people in your area. You can tag posts by location, and your hashtags should include a fair few pertaining to your store’s location (for example, if I owned a brewery in Columbus, Ohio, I might hashtag my posts with #Columbus, #ColumbusOH, #CbusOH, etc.).

This platform does tend to steer younger (mostly 18-34), but see who’s posting in your area before you rule out Instagram marketing!

Twitter
Like Facebook, Twitter appeals to a lot of different demographics, so it’s a safe platform for most local businesses. It does tend to be pretty fast-paced, so your posts will have a shorter shelf life than on other social networks. For that reason, I generally advise posting on Twitter more than once a day if at all possible. Users could blink and miss your post!

That fast-paced nature also makes it better oriented for sharing news and talking about current events. So if you’re running a beachfront restaurant, sharing news about local water quality, activities to do on the beach, etc. would be a safe bet for Twitter.

Another reason I usually recommend Twitter is that your users will use it to voice their complaints. Twitter is a popular platform for clients to engage with brands, and you don’t want to miss out on that! The age range of Twitter users is pretty evenly spread out, so most businesses should be on here if not for drawing in new sales, then at the very least for engaging with their audience!

Get Social
It’s always better to work smarter than harder, so don’t waste your time trying to reach an audience that doesn’t exist on your chosen platform. Use my advice above and I’m sure you’ll get your social media campaign off to a great start for your local business!

Are you still unsure of where your business should have social media profiles? I’ll give you some answers during your free consultation with The Go! Agency!

Shop Owners, Here’s How You Can Be Successful on Instagram

20Mar

Is Instagram right for your business? I tend to see a lot of uncertainty in local store owners with this question, but you should have some confidence! There are plenty of ways for local businesses to use Instagram, and small shops are no exception!

I’ve been at this a long time, and I’ve seen every kind of business you can imagine give Instagram a shot. And local shop owners have been some of the most successful! Here, I’ll give you the tips that helped them get tons of attention on Instagram!

Give Them a Tour
What does the inside of the store look like? What’s actually on the shelves? Is this somewhere I want to visit?

These are all questions that your audience is going to have when they first stumble upon your Instagram account. So answer them with a video tour through your store! Take your viewers through the front door, guide them through the different sections, and overall do anything you can to convince them that your store is somewhere that they want to be.

Keep in mind that in no scenario is this a license for you to walk through your store and say “Here’s where we keep X. Here’s where we keep Y. Here’s where we…” You need to make it interesting. Talk to your viewers like they’re there in person. If you’d try to be friendly and charming with a customer in your store, then try especially hard for Instagram, because you’re potentially talking to hundreds of your customers!

Offer Exclusive Deals
One of the best things you can do is give people a reason to follow your Instagram account. And what’s a better motivator than the chance to save money?

Try posting a code of the week that visitors to your store can use for a discount on their next visit! You can go cute and make the code your tag line or something relevant for your brand, or simple and just say “Mention this post to get a free gift with purchase!” Your customers are incentivized to follow your page, and you can guarantee they’ll be regularly checking your content if you’re sharing discounts!

I know a lot of small business owners will point out that weekly discounts might hurt their bottom line. But I promise you that (as long as you’re not offering 50% off) a successful Instagram marketing strategy will more than make up for any losses from modest deals to drive customers to your store.

If you’d consider running an ad for a special discount in your local paper but not on Instagram, then the problem is how you’re undervaluing social media, not the discount itself.

Highlight New Products
Rolling out something new? Tell your audience about it! Instagram is a visual platform, so share pictures of your new releases. If someone loves your store, they’re absolutely going to follow you to see what your next release is.

If you really want to make the most of this strategy, you might even want to share products on Instagram before they’re available in-store. That way your shoppers are encouraged to be loyal customers and check your Instagram regularly if they want to stay up to date with the newest products. And why not reward the people who are engaging with your brand online?

Post Away
If you’re seriously considering posting on Instagram, then it’s probably a good idea to go ahead and get started. Just because you’re a local business doesn’t mean that you can’t find huge success on social media. Use these tips and start sharing content that your local audience will get engaged with!

I’ve got even more tips to help your local business succeed! Let’s talk about them during your free consultation with The Go! Agency!

How You Can Make Instagram Work for Your Service Business

18Mar

You don’t need a professional photographer to have a successful Instagram page!

Instagram is about more than pretty photos of the New York skyline and cupcakes with fun frosting—it’s about connecting with your audience! And that’s something that your service business is completely capable of doing, provided you’re willing to put the time and resources into it.

I’ve had dozens (if not hundreds) of clients tell me they’re not sure how to market on Instagram since they don’t have photos of products to show off. But I promise you that with a little thought and planning, you’re not going to need products to be a success on Instagram!

Share Your Values
There’s a popular Simon Sinek quote that goes, “People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it.” Apply that here, and you’ll see why it really doesn’t matter that you don’t have products to show off, because honestly, nobody cares. We’ve all seen a thousand appliances, shirts, etc.; you need to show people why they want to support your business!

I find that quotes are usually a great way to show readers your values, if you can do them correctly. An inspirational quote from Oprah might be great, but not if your brand is trying for edgy and gritty. Remember to stay consistent with your brand’s voice!

But don’t think that you have to go as obvious as quotes to show people what’s important to you. One strategy that a lot of our clients love is having weekly customer spotlights with a photo and a fun story from or about the customer. What’s the draw? People see that you care about the customers as people, and it shows a human side to your business. If you want to add in some free attention, create a branded hashtag so people can tag photos of/about your service in the hopes of being in your next customer spotlight!

Give Some Tips
I’ve found that a lot of clients don’t immediately understand the value of giving people tips about what you do. After all, if you tell them how to do something, won’t they just do it themselves?

In a word: no. In a few more words:

We once had a client who owned a housekeeping business, and they were confused when we suggested posting cleaning tips. “If I tell them how to clean, why would they hire me?”

Because nobody has ever seen a tip on how to clean their garbage disposal and decided that they were going to scrub their house top to bottom. Tips don’t mean that people want to put all the hassle and effort into doing your job for you, but they do show your audience that you’re an authority in your industry.

For visuals to accompany these posts, I’d recommend finding stock images that make sense for your brand from an image-sharing site.

Highlight Your Customer’s Problem
You don’t always have to focus on the benefits of your service. Don’t be afraid to go a little negative sometimes! What’s something that your customer absolutely hates dealing with? Maybe it’s filing their taxes, being bored, doing yard work, anything! Take whatever they hate and remind them how annoying it is while positioning your brand as the solution.

Maybe you’re running a landscaping company. You might point out how uncomfortable it is to be out in the heat, how easy it is to cut yourself with grass clippers, etc. along with a photo of someone sweating outside or holding their hand in pain. This reminds people why they need your service, and if you get creative enough, you can bet they’ll remember it!

Try It Out
If your target audience is using Instagram (and they probably are), then you need to be there. You can waste plenty of time wondering if Instagram is the right platform for your business, but the best way to know is to try it out! Take my advice and you shouldn’t have any trouble thinking of great posts for your service business!

Could you use some more specific advice? Just schedule your free consultation with The Go! Agency!