Converting Instagram Followers Into Legitimate Business Leads

Brands are becoming increasingly aware that Instagram is much more than a social media platform — it has become an essential tool to market and build your business. While it's crucial to gain Instagram followers as you grow your business, it's important to remember that more followers don't always mean more business or leads. You must implement a strategy to encourage your followers to engage in business with you.

The following three key strategies will help you navigate turning your Instagram followers into legitimate business leads:

1. Post Valuable Content

While it's important to always be consistent on the platform so the algorithm prioritizes your content, it's also important to note that quality is a lot better than quantity. One of the biggest mistakes that brands make when trying to get their following to engage in business with them occurs when advertising the service they are trying to sell. Your following does not want to feel like they're being sold a product or service. Converting your Instagram followers to legitimate business leads is not a short-term game — it's a long-term game. Firstly, you should post quality content that is of value to your followers, so they learn to trust your expertise in your specific field. Offer some free advice, discuss commonly asked questions, or add any free knowledge that will entice your followers to reach out to further the conversation. You should attempt to turn interested parties into legitimate business leads when engaging in a one-on-one conversation so you can better understand their specific wants or needs.

2. Engage With Your Followers

Post content that encourages your followers to engage with you. You will not know exactly what your followers want to see from you without asking them, so doing a story post and asking them what kind of content they'd prefer can be useful for your engagement rates. You can also encourage your followers to engage with you by literally asking them a question in your caption so they can respond in the comment section. It's essential that you always reply to your followers' comments so you can further build a relationship with them. As previously stated, converting Instagram followers to potential clients is a long-term game. Instagram has built-in features (like the questions tab or poll tab found in stories) to help you further engage with your followers. The more you engage with your followers, the more legitimate business leads you will see as you reinforce a sense of connection and trust. Your followers are much more likely to want to conduct business with you if they are confident in your business and feel a personal connection.

3. Call to Action (CTA)

Incorporating a 'call to action' at the end of your captions will prove to be an effective way to convert your followers into potential clients. For example, you do a lengthy post discussing a common misconception in your industry. Before ending the caption, make sure to add a sentence that encourages your followers to reach out if they'd like to discuss the topic more. It's important to make your call to action feel authentic and personal regardless of whether you're a large brand or a small company. It should give the impression that you'd like to engage in further discussion because you care about your followers — not because you want to sell to them then and there. Don't encourage your followers to become clients with your CTA, but instead, encourage them to connect with you so you can discuss the topic further. This allows your followers not to feel like they're being sold something; the key here is to convert interested followers into potential customers by enabling them to further the conversation by utilizing the direct message feature. Once you get interested followers into your direct messages, you can navigate the conversation in a way that allows you to turn that follower into a paying customer.

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