Wellness and lovely visuals go great together. Motivational photos, yummy meals, and smart product placement can be your bread and butter for your wellness business. However, it takes a little effort to build your business with Instagram.
Not being present on this social network is a missed opportunity. There are projections that Instagram is going to reach over 120 million monthly active users by 2020, and it already has 73% of US users aged 13 to 24. In this massive pool of users, a savvy wellness business owner can find their most loyal audience.
Want to tap into that potential and make the best possible use of it? Here are five ways to strategically use Instagram to build your wellness business:
Find Wellness Related Hashtags
Getting discovered on Instagram is all about the strategic use of hashtags. They are the content organizing tool on this social media network, so building a business through Instagram is unimaginable without them. You can use up to 30 of them on every post, and marketers usually recommend adding as many hashtags as you can.
But before you can reap the benefits of using the right hashtags, you need to find them. It is where having a lot of competition can be helpful — a wellness related hashtag search will undoubtedly yield some useful results.
However, the knowledge of what are the most popular hashtags won’t only be helpful when you’re wondering what to tag your posts with. It’s also essential in another part of the strategy — it helps you find places where your input will be appreciated. So make sure to find at least ten popular and well-used hashtags related to wellness or your specific niche.
Be Active
Once you’ve found popular hashtags, it’s a good idea to browse the content that is contained in them. Read through the posts, look at the photos, and try to get a feel of the type of audience that likes those posts. If you notice a lot of engagement on them, you can join in the discussion yourself.
Your comments don’t have to be particularly elaborate. What is important is to make them valuable. Browsing through a few similar posts will help you determine what their audience will find relatable or helpful. Even paying a compliment for the photo can be enough on some of them, in case you don’t have any other specific comments.
Being active and interactive on Instagram is a slower, but an organic way to build your follower count. However, you can be sure that the followers you gain through providing value and engaging are there to stay and engage with you. As such, they will be much more valuable to your business than barely interested followers.
Think of It as Business
One of the mistakes that wellness business owners frequently make on Instagram is treating their profile as personal instead of a business account. As opposed to that, sometimes there is too little personal content, and the followers don’t get a chance to see the people behind the brand that they follow.
For wellness, neither of these two possibilities is ideal. If you’re looking to build your business, your Instagram page can’t serve as your personal feed and be used to promote your business at the same time. On the other end of the scale, there is such a thing as too much personal content. To engage your followers, you have to find the right balance.
It’s a good idea to treat your Instagram presence as another aspect of your business. Among other things, that means not feeling like you have to follow everyone who follows you, and not worrying so much about the follow-unfollow count. Focus on creating professional-looking photos and videos that elevate your brand and promote your business in the best way possible.
Stay on Brand
Branding is another important aspect of building a business, and it’s especially important not to neglect it on a visual platform such as Instagram. Of course, it’s up to you what your brand will stand for and what kind of messages it will send and support. However, it’s still going to be essential to stay consistent with your branding.
Consistency and cohesiveness start at things as simple as keeping your brand color scheme the same on every post and ends at details such as intricacies of your brand message. Before you post anything, make sure that it fits both your brand appearance and message.
Your final concern should be how your followers might perceive the post. Ideally, it should be valuable, engaging, or exciting to them. Refrain from posting something you like or find fascinating that your followers might lack the connection to.
Make It Easier for People to Follow You
Instagram is excellent for getting discovered and building your wellness business. However, if you have a very visual brand that works amazingly on Instagram, you might want to drive potential followers to your Instagram account. To do that, you should make it easier for people to follow you by including your Instagram info on other social media profiles.
Depending on how well-developed your online presence is, this strategy should present multiple opportunities. Ensuring that the link to your Instagram business profile is visible on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn is the first step.
To increase your chances of being found on Instagram, you could also embed the photos into your other online content. If you have a website, an email newsletter or blog, include a few links and embed the photos. By ensuring that your profiles are easy to find and to start following, you’ll increase the number of followers and appear more professional.
If you’re a wellness business owner looking to get more customers and a loyal following, Instagram can be a gold mine for you. With our tips, you’ll have a high starting point to build on. Remember to keep your branding consistent, engage with followers, and provide value, and you’ll be well on your way to having success using Instagram!
