As freelancers, one of the most effective ways to generate new leads is to embark on the long but necessary journey of building a brand on social media. This is a tactical step by step guide on how to do just that, with a focus on Instagram.
The biggest mistake I see people and companies make on social media, is using it mainly to sell.
As a yoga instructor, for example, if your mission is to improve people's well-being through yoga, then treat your social media channels as another means to deliver on that mission. Instead of focusing mainly on promoting your classes and services, create content that will help improve people’s well-being.
Only then can you earn the attention and trust required to build a following, create a community and ultimately get new clients.
Instead of general advice about social media, I wanted to focus on one platform. But the advice here should translate well across other channels.
1. CREATE A BRAND PLATFORM
Branding is fundamentally about differentiation. It’s about helping your potential customers determine WHY YOU— and not the hundreds of other options.
Be clear about your purpose and mission, your beliefs and values, and communicate them in a way that helps your audience understand what sets you apart and how it is beneficial to them.
Once it makes sense to you, choose a main objective for your page: To educate, inform, entertain, inspire, or motivate...etc. Create a business account. Make it public. Write a bio that makes it clear what you do, who you do it for and why you do it.
2. DEFINE YOUR AUDIENCE
Start with defining your audience and their needs. Go for a narrow niche. Instead of trying to be all things to all people, be a specialist. Go for depth.
Don’t be just another yoga instructor, for example. Have a clear point of view. Set yourself apart. Make it clear why and how you’re different. Put it in the context of your audience’s needs. What’s your specific yoga style, for example? Why is it better?
You could also focus on a specific demographic: Yoga for busy professionals, beginners, athletes or pregnant women. It will not limit you. Instead it will focus you, force you to go deeper and open up new possibilities.
3. DEVELOP A BRAND IDENTITY
What is the overall mood you want for your page? Is your page meant to be serious, conservative, fun, casual or sophisticated?
It’s about having a consistent look and feel through the colors, fonts, graphics, images. It’s about an overall aesthetic, a clear voice and tone you use. Give your brand a specific personality. Make it yours. Be authentic.
Whatever you choose, be consistent in the way you present yourself, write and interact with your community.
4. BE CONSISTENT
Consistency powers branding. It also comes with the frequency of your posts. The algorithm rewards frequency, timeliness and engagement. Showing up consistently will help you deliver on all three.
Choose a frequency for your posting. Consistency>Volume. Three times a week, consistently, is better than posting at random.
In the sea of content that is instagram, this kind of consistency— with your brand identity and post frequency— helps you stand out and be remembered. It creates a sense of familiarity, which breeds trust and fosters loyalty.
5. BE SOCIAL
This is the most important and most neglected part. Be helpful. Be generous. Engage with your followers. Don’t focus on growing your followers’ count. Focus on building a community.
Follow the influencers in your space. The people who are likely to follow you already follow these influencers. Leave thoughtful and meaningful comments on their posts, and naturally, people will click to see who you are. Give them shoutouts. Share and repost the content of unit favorite influencers. If you found something valuable, your audience will too.
Influencers are often ahead of the game, so learn from them. Don’t hesitate to DM them and ask questions. You will be surprised by how many actually respond.
CREATING GREAT POSTS
Except for family and friends, people will follow you only because your content is valuable. So creating great content is the best growth strategy.
1. GRAB ATTENTION
IG is a visual platform and you are competing for attention. Make sure your content is visually appealing. Choose great images, write good headlines and titles, choose big font sizes, make sure your content uses all the real estate on IG— the full rectangle, not just the square. Remember however that attention isn’t the goal. Don’t fall into the attention-at-all-costs trap.
2. DELIVER VALUE
Value is mostly about intention. What is the intention behind your post: to educate, inform, entertain, inspire, or motivate? What’s the takeaway? Be clear and deliberate with the intention behind every post. The main thing to remember about value is that we don’t get to decide what is valuable; our audience does. All we can control is putting out our best work, with empathy and generosity.
3. CREATE GREAT CAPTIONS
My biggest challenge is remembering that my audience doesn’t have the same passion for branding as I do. So in creating my posts and writing my captions, I have to keep a beginner’s mind. If you are able to communicate complex ideas in a simple and engaging way, you will be very successful. Tell stories wherever you can. They work great.
4. ADD CALLS TO ACTION
Adding calls to action like ‘let me know what you think,’ ‘what resonated with you?,’ what questions do you have?,’ or ‘tag two people,’ go a long way in encouraging engagement. Unless you ask them to do something, most people who love your content will just like your post and move on.
5. USE HASHTAGS.
Treat hashtags as keywords in a search engine. Make sure they are relevant to your industry and your post. That’s also how you will get discovered. Do not use the very popular ones, otherwise you won't be found. The top accounts always win that battle. Check often the percentage of non-followers that sees your content and keep track of the hashtags you used on those posts.
BONUS
IG story, Reels and Live receive a lot of attention. Take advantage of them and use them as much as possible. It’s also your opportunity to be more human - to show more of your personality and to connect with your community in a real way.
If you have been thinking about starting a page, promise me you will start one as soon as you finish this email. I mean it literally. No plan can prepare you enough. Just start and adjust as you gather more experience, information and feedback. Growth doesn’t happen on the sideline. It happens in the arena.
If you are starting on this journey, be patient. Be genuine. Be consistent. Be authentic. Time will take care of itself. Go for depth (engagement and community building) and not for width (number of followers).
Come back to this post as often as necessary. Check out my IG page for inspiration. Follow the page while you’re there.
If you need help, email me and we can schedule a free 30 minutes consultation call.
Good luck!
