Instagram is a mobile photo sharing app that allows users to share both pictures and videos publicly and privately. It is a full-scale social platform with 100 million+ daily actives making it a perfect place to have a direct connection with your buyers on a deeply personal level.
With the right tactics in place, you can deliver instant value by leveraging your everyday experiences in real-time. That’s exactly what makes it ideal for sales professionals!
Fact is, salespeople are often blamed for “selling all the time,” whether that’s on social, phone or email. Instagram offers an opportunity to humanize the same selling process.
In a value-packed webinar, Gareth O’Sullivan, content marketing manager at CreationAgency and SkillsLab, shares his best tactics to manage Instagram without being too salesy. Hosted by Jack Kosakowski, Global head of social sales at Creation Agency, the webinar is packed with game-changing tips that you don’t want to miss. Let’s take a look at some key takeaways:
#1 – Why salespeople should be on Instagram?
Instagram helps you make a positive impression while saving you from just “pitching” your products all the time.
Plus, Instagram is a great tool for “audience research.” In fact, it’s not easy to find another social channel where you can visit someone’s profile and know their actual life preferences. Whether it’s their favorite sports team, their favorite place to travel, or what conferences they attend, e.g. You can leverage these insights on Instagram to tie a commonality to your messaging and get people to either respond or strengthen one-to-one conversations.
#2 – Why marketers should be on Instagram?
Like salespeople, marketers can talk about their product without actually promoting them. Instagram posts with “behind the scenes images,” “how things work” are a great example of that.
You could show your followers a sneak peek into an upcoming product or service. Naturally, all of this can also help you drive traffic to your webinars, launches, and other events providing instant value to your followers and keep them engaged.
As marketers, you have to stay in front of your buyers. You got a look beyond the email list to grow your audience and capture them. That’s where Instagram helps. For example – posting leadership, marketing and sales quotes on Instagram get extremely positive engagement.
#3 – How to identify if your buyers are present on Instagram?
First off, you can use the Instagram search function to find influencers within your niche. Second, you can also discover the hashtags targeted specifically for your buyers and then run a location-based search.
Let’s take an example here – if there is a popular hashtag called coffee lovers. Assuming you have a coffee shop, you can always follow the hashtag and engage with your followers within your local area. You can also send them a code for a free or discounted coffee.
By being creative (and proactive), you can start the conversation with the right buyers. Instagram shows you better ways to find, and engage your audience to get away from those saturated social channels.
#4 – Use the power of Facebook and Instagram – Together!
Using Instagram is a great way to leverage two social channels at one time, Facebook and Instagram. More channels mean more value touches, which means more conversations, which means better conversion. All you need to do is to take a simple piece of content and make it more creative and use it on multiple channels.
#5 – Out of Snapchat and Instagram, which is more effective for sales professionals? and why?
Snapchat is a slightly newer channel, and as a sales professional, you get an option to use innovative strategies. Some features are identical. For example, Instagram stories work almost the same way as Snapchat.
One of the big disadvantages for Snapchat is there’s no bio or anywhere to include a permanent link. Whereas on Instagram you can put a link in your bio. Another problem on Snapchat is – whatever you create is going to disappear after a while. With Snapchat, if you’re not available for one week, you’re gone for good. Sometimes it becomes difficult to remain visible, offer value, and remain connected all the time. That’s where Snapchat loses to Instagram.
#6 – How do you start on Instagram?
Create your account and don’t forget to connect to your Facebook page. Ensure that you have consistent branding across both social channels. If you’re a sales professional, you need to work on your bio and your picture as well.
Test different alterations!
It’s a great idea to put links to your different social accounts in your Instagram Bio. Keep experimenting and check the analytics to understand which of these links are performing well. You can also put your website’s URL or assets like eBooks and whitepapers. Come back in two weeks and see which links perform well and optimize accordingly.
The idea is to remain valuable all the time. Remember, you’re not pitching, just motivating, inspiring and educating your audience.
#7 – How to set up your content strategy?
Find the content your prospects can identify with and build your strategy around that. You should mix-and-match posts and don’t put the same thing over and over. It could be a mix of quotes, real-time experiences, behind the scenes videos, customer success stories.
Now with all that information, you must be itching to look at a few examples of successful Instagram posts. What’s the point of giving you the actionable tips if you can’t see them in action?
We have an answer for that!
All you need to do is, sign up and you’ll have the immediate access to the full webinar recording – a value-packed 1-hour session. You’ll learn about practical tips, tools, and real-time examples. You get the chance to review the Instagram accounts of both experts. You’ll also get to know about the ideas & tools to make your profile stand out.
