If you’re not already using Instagram to promote your work, now is the best time to create a profile and start posting!
With over 1 billion monthly active users, out of which 500+ million log in every day, Instagram is no longer just another social media platform. It’s a platform filled with possible customers who just wait for you to inspire and amaze them!
Furthermore, as a design company or freelancer, Instagram is just in your field of expertise. This is a highly visual platform, where images and short videos are the main currency. As such, it is a fantastic playground for people with visual skills such as designers, artists, and others.
But how do you find these amazing clients using Instagram?
That’s exactly what we asked several entrepreneurs who successfully made this platform their clients hunting ground, and below you can read some of their most powerful tips.
The investment you’ll make is in attention to details, time, and creativity.
Your Instagram profile is your business card in this world. So, if you want to show you are a serious business or individual, you need an ironclad business page.
Start with a profile picture that’s representative for your brand (logo or a professional picture of yourself). Next, use the Name section to write down the name of your brand – this way, when someone gets a notification from you, they’ll associate the name of the brand with the username of the feed. It also helps to add titles such as “Professional Designer” or “Website Design” in this section.
Move on to describing your business in 150 characters (the Bio section of the profile). Here you need to be concise but descriptive at the same time. People need to know what you do, why they should choose you, and how you work. Just make sure to maintain a friendly and engaging tone; this is social media after all!
Finally, the link. Instagram doesn’t allow users to add links in their posts, but you can add one in the profile page. This can be anything from a link to your business site to a link to your portfolio or your latest project.
As a designer, you are aware of the importance of colours and consistency in attractive visuals. So, make sure your Instagram feed follows all the written and unwritten rules to attract people’s attention.
Your posts can be related to work (any new projects you can share with the world), internal business affairs (creative things that happen in the office, involvement in charitable events, and so on), and even personal events you want to share with your customers.
You want to make sure the audience sees you as a person and not just a business. This way, you can keep them engaged and open to communication.
Design is a large category and covers a lot of businesses and customers.
While this may sound encouraging, it’s never a good idea to target your campaigns using general terms and keywords (on Instagram, hashtags are your keywords).
Quick Tip: If you’re not familiar with building marketing campaigns for social media, you can always get the necessary knowledge from an online marketing course. After all, you don’t have to be a marketing specialist to put your Instagram profile on the map!
So, before you start posting and looking for customers, it’s best to define your niche. This will help you find that special area of Instagram that fits your skills and where most people like the same things you like.
For instance, if your main activity is drawing comics, you want to attract people who enjoy following your stories and who may want to employ your talents for their own projects. On the other hand, if you design websites on a specific niche, it’s best to connect with businesses and professionals on that niche.
As we already mentioned, hashtags are the keywords of Instagram, and they are the ones that will lead you to your possible customers.
For instance, if you design websites or identity elements for businesses in the nail art industry, start searching for hashtags with the word ‘nails’ or ‘nail art’ in them. You’ll find a bunch of individuals who do this for a living and post on Instagram to attract more customers.
When you identify them, check their bio to see if they have a website or a professionally designed identity. If they don’t or the ones they have don’t look professional, send them a short message. This should be short and comprehensive, so the targeted person would understand what you’re offering and why.
Be genuine and prepare yourself to send a lot of messages and only receive a few replies. We don’t say this to discourage you; it’s just the way these campaigns go. However, you have a wonderful chance of creating a strong network of people who may be interested in your business in the future.
Before we end our talk about Instagram for businesses, it’s important to point out that this is a long-term process. Building a strong online network takes time, patience, and skill. However, once it starts growing, it will become a reliable source of new projects and possible large collaborations.
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