Research has shown that most of the information in our memory is visual. It’s no surprise then, that images are so important. On Instagram, it’s all pictures and videos. However, if you’re trying to grow your customer base, pictures should be more important to you than videos. This is applicable to most businesses. If you’re a videographer, you would need to post videos more, obviously.
Naturally, most of the posts on your business account will be pictures of your products. To keep your followers interested, you need to be creative with your posting techniques. Personally, I’ve had to unfollow some IG business pages because they seem to ruin all the fun.
You don’t want your followers recalling your brand as the “killjoy” on their feed. Here are some tips that will help you keep your followers interested, and even attract more.
Play it cool
Even though you’re running a business account, you need to post your products in a way that agrees with the Instagram culture. People come to Instagram to see the good stuff. What you need to do with your posts is to convince your followers with a gradual process.
You want them to see that you’re selling quality stuff only. It should also show in your captions. Although you may need to be direct with your sales pitch sometimes, most of your posts should look natural, and not salesy.
Post Quality Photos Only
I can’t stress this enough. Take your time to learn how to take pictures of your products. With bad photography, an excellent product can look just average. This doesn’t just apply to fashion businesses. The old saying is “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover” but that’s exactly what most people do. A quality photo may not convince a potential customer, but a bad one may put them off.
Of course, before taking a good photo, the product must be in top condition. For a more convincing picture, take photos of the product when they’re in use. For example, if you sell women’s shoes, it’s good to post the shoes, but it’s better to post a photo of someone wearing the shoes.
This technique is very useful if you sell goods that don’t “look good” in photos. For example, if you sell raw chicken, you can post pictures of a family dinner with chicken on the menu. Add context to your posts to make them more relatable. The technical term for such posts is Lifestyle Photos.
Make Follower-exclusive announcements occasionally
To keep your followers interested in your content, spice it up with some freebies from time to time. People love freebies!! So if your followers are interested in your product, there’ll be some excitement when you’re offering promotions.
This form of giveaway can also be a good way to check whether you have the right crowd following you. If you sell makeup products and most of your followers are men, they won’t jump at your freebies the same way women would. If you post promotions or freebies and your followers seem uninterested, maybe you’re performing for the wrong audience.
Finally, don’t ever forget to be yourself; sound natural. Yes, it’s a business account, but it needs a personal touch if you want your followers to engage more.