Drive Instagram Followers to Your Website with These Tips

You sell products online. Business has been fairly good but you know you can do better. One of your mentors told you that Instagram is a great way to drive traffic to your e-commerce site.

The problem is that you don't know how or where to start. Here are a handful of tips to get your followers to your website:

Set up and optimize your Instagram bio

Does your Instagram bio sum up what your business is all about? Does your Instagram bio have the link to your website? Your profile photo should have your brand's logo. It needs to be recognizable by anyone who comes across your profile. Your handle should be your brand name. If it's already taken, try to get an Instagram handle that's as close to your brand name as possible. When it comes to your description, use target keywords and tell your story. Don't forget to have the link to your website in your bio.

Your Instagram bio should tell your story in a nutshell

Post great content on a consistent basis

High-quality photos and videos are a must for your feed. Take photos that are worthy of sharing. Take photos that followers would be willing to share with others. If you don't have the budget or know-how for DSLR photography, read this blog post on how to take better iPhone photos.

Quality photos are a worthwhile investment

Tag your products in your photos

Shoppable posts allow your followers to buy your products directly from your Instagram posts. You can acquire new customers right from your feed. Followers don't need to take as many steps to place orders for whatever you have to offer. You don't have to worry about losing potential customers because they got lost in the process of going to your website.

Make it easy for customers to make a purchase by tagging your products in posts

Great customer service on Instagram goes a long way!

Whether you have happy customers commenting on your posts or disgruntled customers commenting on your posts, don't ignore them. Provide excellent customer service. It'll pay off exponentially when you listen and create a community where customers feel like their opinions are valued. Always focus on providing the best experience for your customers.

Great customer service helps everyone get their wings

Proactive engagement

It's important that you don't wait for things to happen. Take a few minutes everyday to engage with posts that have relevant hashtags. To do this, ask yourself what the best hashtags are for your business. If you're a small gym in Murray, it's in your best interests to engage with the top ten posts with #murray. If you sell baby clothes then engage with the top ten posts with #baby. Engaging means you like and comment on each of these posts. Each of your comments should be three words or more to help you be more authentic. When you’re more authentic, customers are more likely to follow and stay engaged with your brand on Instagram.

Like, comment, and be authentic on Instagram

Remember that putting in the work consistently over time gives you the opportunity to yield positive results. If you’re not doing any of the five tips listed above, don’t expect to see an increase in traffic to your website. If you are, give yourself 2–3 months and you will start to see more sales thanks to your proactive approach.

7 Reasons to Start Using Influencer Marketing

More and more consumers refuse to buy from a particular brand if it hasn't been recommended to them. Think about how you take time to read reviews before making a purchase on Amazon or going out to lunch at the new place that opened up 5 minutes from your office. Trust is key when gaining new customers.

Working with influencers such as @kelsiemarietaylor helps you scale your marketing efforts will inspiring new customers

This truth applies to any business whether it's a service like a nail salon or a product-based business like sunglasses store. One of the ways to open up the door to a trusting relationship between your business and your ideal customer is to collaborate with your ideal customer's influencers. Influencer marketing is nothing new, but it has evolved with new engagement mediums. Think about how many people started using the Nike products because Michael Jordan was sponsored by Nike. Jordan has been a top tier influencer for decades. Today, brands can collaborate with popular individuals on everything for Instagram to YouTube in order to expose their brands to their ideal audiences while increasing credibility. People love to use the same products and services their idols do.

With that being said, here are seven reasons you need to start using influencer marketing for your business:

1. Diversify your audience: Can your product or service benefit more than just one demographic? If you sell indestructible kitchen knives and are currently only selling to homemade taco enthusiasts, you're probably missing out on sales. Working with chef influencers can help you crack into the home chef market. The same holds true for cultural demographics. You don't have to limit yourself to only the Hispanic community or only Canadians. With the right influencers, you can work through different language barriers as well.

Influencer marketing gives you access to different age groups and interests

2. Inspire customers: With influencer marketing, customers can learn how to get the most out of what your business has to offer. Say you sell waterproof backpacks that don't get moldy or smelly. Fitness influencers will demonstrate how to use your unique backpacks whether you're into CrossFit or yoga. Outdoor influencers can create a video on how everything you need for an overnight trip fits perfectly into your waterproof backpack.

3. Greater media coverage: Making waves with influencers can help you gain attention from bigger media organizations. A Shark Tank company that produces motion-activated toilet night lights, IllumiBowl was able to generate even more buzz by being featured by mommy bloggers and vloggers around the world. This attention helped IllumiBowl receive shout outs by media companies such as Buzzfeed and Business Insider.

Influencer marketing is an unconventional way to gain greater exposure compared to traditional forms of media like print magazines

4. Influencers create content: In a world where nearly everyone in the U.S. has a smartphone, content rules supreme. When you collaborate with an influencer, you will have your business featured in content created by that influencer. Vloggers are going to create videos of their experience with your brand. Bloggers are going to write about how to get the most out of your product or service. Through their quality content, your sphere of influence will quickly expand. People on social media share the influencers’ videos and articles with their friends and family which will expose more people to your business.

5. They've earned trust: An influencer's audience has grown over time thanks to the influencer's level of authenticity. Influencers who have earned a large following have also earned a great deal of trust. When you work with reliable influencers, you are able to earn more credibility for your brand. Consumers are more likely to buy from a brand that partners with their favorite Instagram accounts and YouTubers. Influencers such as Casey Neistat and Michelle Phan have dedicated followers thanks to the honesty of their content. Endorsements and features from creators like Neistat and Phan can result in strong conversions in online sales.

Trust can be earned through effective, authentic partnerships

6. Step up your SEO game: Thanks to all of the content being generated by influencers, you will have backlinks for days. The link to your website will be in front of potentially millions of social media users on different platforms including Facebook and YouTube.

7. Scale your marketing efforts: One way to think of working with influencers is that you are expanding your marketing team. With every influencer you work with, you could be multiplying your following on a consistent basis. Instead of just you working on marketing efforts, you have other influencers with their own audiences who are acting as ambassadors of your brand. They're invested in creating successful content because they don't want to lose their audience they've worked so hard to build.

How Social Media Communities Helped These Brands Experience Tremendous Growth

The ability to create a community is crucial to the success of any brand. Think about your favorite brands and how you discovered them. You may have found about your favorite helmet brand through a Meetup with your fellow mountain bikers. On a another day, you might've discovered a new investing platform on a Reddit thread that you've been a part of. For many consumers, the realization that they can be a part of something bigger is what convinced them to join the brand community they now support wholeheartedly.

We'll be reviewing several brands and some of the things they did to create strong communities that have led their growth. There's a good chance you'll learn a few tips that you can use to grow your own brand!

FanX Salt Lake: This haven for lovers of comic books grew at a rapid rate thanks to its dedicated fan base. The Utah-based convention focused on featuring its community in everything from its promo videos on Facebook to its Instagram posts. This attention that they gave their attendees resulted in greater love shown through social media.

Patagonia: The outdoor clothing gear's 3.5 million followers on Instagram is no joke. Like FanX, Patagonia features the adventures of its customers. The pictures they share showcase nature in an amazing way. Patagonia's feed is filled with everything from rock climbers to surfers to trail runners. A few words that you might use to describe the outdoor brand's feed include:

• Inspiring

• Breathtaking

• Positive

• Organic

Thanks to brand enthusiast photos shared on its Instagram account, Patagonia created a social community that takes pride in its outdoor lifestyle. 📸: @_drew_smith_

Fortnite: This free-to-play video game is most popular for its Battle Royale mode where up to 100 players battle in order to be the sole survivor. Thanks to its cartoony animation, Fortnite has developed a big following online with more than 125 million players logging in in less than a year. Fortnite has not ignored social media marketing. In fact, it has stayed busy by sharing updates on networks such as Facebook and Instagram. Fortnite shares Twitch clips of people's top moments in the game and also asks engaging questions to get fans to comment on its social posts.

Fortnte is a hit with all ages 📸: @fortnite

Harley-Davidson: In response to the need to better connect with owners, the motorcycle company created Harley Owners Group (H.O.G.). Harley-Davidson worked to better meet the needs of its dedicated customer base while trying to connect with the mainstream population according to Entrepreneur.com. It was a little rough for Harley to get the group off the ground due to the criticism of die-hard bikers, but Harley continued to move forward with its plan. Over time, Harley won over its core group and grew H.O.G. with everything from charity drivers to special promotions. The group grew in diversity and now has more than one million members in 25 different countries.

The Harley community continues to grow thanks to H.O.G. 📸: @kurpius

You've just read about four brands that have built thriving communities. With patience and a lot of hustle, brands can create strong communities that meet the needs of its customers. The good news is that your brand can grow in the same way brands such as Patagonia and Fortnite have grown. These customers, when satisfied and happy with your current efforts, respond by converting other people into die hard supporters of your brand.

How will you build a community to rally around your brand? Let us know in the comments below!