Service-based businesses, I SEE you!

And, I’ve heard EVERY excuse in the book as to why Instagram isn’t the right platform for marketing your business.

“I don’t have a product to showcase, so it’s not for me”..

“My business isn’t visual or sexy, there’s no point”..

“I’m way too busy, and stuffing around on Instagram is just a waste of time”..

“I’m a builder/accountant/air-conditioning technician, my market isn’t hanging out there”..

“I’ve tried social media, and it didn’t work”..

Any of these sound familiar?

If so, THEN PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS HOLY, KEEP READING.

And she’s clearly doing something right, because there’s now 60,000+ users (including me!) on the app, PLUS she’s the 2016 Australasian Startup Founder of the Year (from StartCon).

A pretty well-equipped person to grill about all things Instagram marketing for service-based businesses, right?

So, rather than me continuing to bang on about the virtues of all things Insta-for-businesses-that-sell-services, I thought I’d fire my questions at Christy and get her expert insight.

And if her answers leave any doubt in your mind as to whether Insta is right for you, well, then I give up.

This is such a great question!

Instagram is highly visual and sometimes this does put a barrier in the minds of service based businesses but it definitely doesn’t need to be there!

The beauty of Instagram is that you’re selling a lifestyle to your target audience (your customer). So if you think about it, you’re potentially selling organisation, results, a team member or even your creativity, and these are the decisions you need to curate your gallery!

Mixed with behind-the-scenes shots (show yourself!), a consistent filter, creating photos on your phone (or free stock images online!) all you need now is story-telling-caption-writing and you’re away!

There’s a perception that Instagram is just young girls posting selfies.
Can you give us any insight into the current user base and demographics of Insta?

Woah, that’s so far from the truth!
Instagram recently hit 800M active monthly users, making it the fastest growing channel in history (the amount of people using Instagram Stories alone is more than SnapChat’s entire user-base!).

There’s also 20M businesses registered on the platform so if you’re in B2B or B2C the opportunities are huge!

Plann, obviously!

This is the exact reason I built the app, I spent too much time wondering ‘what am I going to post?’ and couldn’t have the control over my branding that I wanted.

Here’s my top 5 tips to run your Instagram account, instead of Instagram running you:

1. Organise it a week in advance, the hour you put aside once a week will save you an hour each post in the future when you’re flustered.

2. Decide what you’re promoting at the start of the week and think about Stories that could match

3. Grab your hashtags and save them in advance (The Plann app thankfully makes this really easy!)

4. Don’t overthink your captions, be authentically you.

5. Create a mixture of themes to talk about (education, inspiration, community, lifestyle) so that you’re telling a well-rounded story.

Yes, I come across them every single day!

The very first one that comes to mind is @tylerjmccall, he’s brilliant!

Tyler is consistently sharing what he learns, is vulnerable and has created a strong engagement within the community he haxs created.

He understands that by showing he’s a real person (and people buy from people!) by scattering photos of himself through images that show organised, curated, bliss.

His strategy on Instagram Stories is very real where he will discuss topical/trending so that he’s always looked at as a thought leader and trying out the newest toys and sharing results.

1. Understand who your audience is and get RIGHT inside their heads.

The Plann app helps people sure, but it’s really a tool to stop Instagram freak-outs and help people grow with a clear head (and make real sales!) without stressing about their vanity follower metrics.

By tapping into what the pain-points are I am able to relate to people much easier and craft my captions-  which means I don’t have to struggle coming up with new caption ideas.

2. Don’t ‘sell your wares’, sell the outcome.

If I was stranded on an island, I don’t care how fancy your boat is.

Show me that you can get me to the nearest place with wifi and I’m all yours.

3. Engage, Engage, Engage

OK You’ve got your feed Plann’d out, and know your best times to post. You’ve just got back an hour a day where you can spend that engaging with your audience and recruiting audience members.

Ask questions, real questions, trust me!
“I like this” or an emoji is not enough.

Here’s my favourite scenario:

You’re in a wine bar and someone says ‘wow, I really like that shirt!’. If you said “Thanks!”, you’ve just stopped the conversation, ongoing relationship, and potential collaboration.

If you’d said “Thanks! I got it at Zara and it was on sale! Do you want me to send you the link?”

Who are you more likely to be friends with?