Everyone knows social media is all the rage nowadays and if your business is not on it, it may be high time to rethink that!

The fact of the matter is, social media, or Instagram to be specific, has become a vital medium for businesses and customers alike. Customers research businesses on Instagram just as much as they do on Google, and businesses are able to reach their target market on Instagram – if done the right way.

Everyone knows the standard rules of ‘Instagramming’:
1. Use relevant and creative hashtags
2. Get descriptive with your captions
3. Show and tell
4. Be interactive

Now, while all of the above points are essential, some skip the most important steps and get right into those points, and hey, sometimes it works. But most of the time, it really doesn’t.

Point 1: One of the most important things about maintaining a Business Instagram page that attracts an audience, is the visuals. Seeing is believing, right?

People respond to clear (and attractive) imagery – visuals that represent your products or services in a clear and concise way. If it doesn’t, well, your audience may just cut and run.

Blurry, low quality visuals generally cause potential customers to lose faith in your business and offerings. No one wants that.

To be clear, the visuals are not limited to your posts. Your business has a brand. That brand creates perception, and with perception, comes trust.

If your brand isn’t strong and prominent on your page, take another look.

If your brand doesn’t come through in your posts, time to rethink.

If every post is a different style, has a different messaging, and varies in quality, scrap it and start over.

Your brand is your business’s personality, whether it’s fun and quirky, or strictly professional, that is your brand persona, and straying too far from it, will only confuse your customers.

Point 2: Another important aspect is the key information of your business. Just like how people search Google for something, and rarely ever go past the first page, the same is said for an Instagram page. You’ve got to have all the necessary information about your business in your bio, your posts, and even your story highlights to ensure a person gets the key details from the get-go.

Once the foundation of your page is set, you can really start to sell. Boost your posts, give your audience the incentive to give you a second look, lure them in. Ultimately, we’re in the age of consumerism, and you have to give your audience reasons to want to buy your products and services.

Point 3: Repeat, repeat, repeat!
Learning the fundamentals of marketing, a mentor once said “Say something once, people won’t give it a second thought. Say something 3 times, people will only just start to listen. Say something 9 times, you grab their attention.”

Don’t get me wrong, that doesn’t mean spam your followers!

What it does mean, is people are forgetful. As mentioned, we’re in the age of consumerism. People are bombarded with ads, messages, even word-of-mouth about so many different products and services on a daily basis. You can’t blame them for getting distracted. But what you can do, is ensure you continue to communicate what you can offer them regularly. Hammer in what you do.

Even if your offerings aren’t impulse buys, if you repeat what you can do, a potential customer will always keep you in mind when they finally are ready to buy your product.

People don’t buy cars everyday, but major car dealerships around the world will always commit to marketing and remarketing their vehicles, features, and offers to ensure that when a customer decides they do want to buy a car, that’s where they’ll go.

Point 4: Last but definitely not least, your offering’s value.

The markets are saturated with so many businesses, that you’ll find competitors of almost every business.

Competitive prices won’t always do the trick, and so, the value of your products and services should constantly be front and center.

What makes your product special?

What features does your product have that gives you that competitive advantage?

Sure, pricing will always be important, but people are attracted to what makes a product different more.

It’s not the price that sells a product, it’s the value and marketing behind it. Would people buy a Rolex if all they wanted was a watch? Of course not.

It’s not about how much something costs, it’s about how you market it.

Steer your audience to a particular perception of your product with facts of quality, and that’s when you’d earn genuine customers (and followers).

Get started on your social media advertising, and good luck!