By now we all know Instagram can be a true powerhouse for business owners. Instagram is popular in various industries mainly because more than 1 billion people use the platform.

From realtors, credit specialists, wellness brands and more Instagram is competing with Facebook for small business usage.

Which is just one reason why Facebook is owned and operated by Instagram. Together these platforms create ads, lure in new customers and serve large and small brands.

Social media is starting to become huge in the marketing arena. In fact, it’s changing the way people look at marketing as a whole.

Find customers on Instagram and build your business by relationship building.

Now days the “hard sales” approach doesn’t work as it used to. You have to build virtual relationships and build TRUST before someone spends their hard earned dollar on you.

If you don’t know who your target customer is or how to find them you won’t have much success with either platform. On this blog I’m going to show you 7 reasons why your customers aren’t shopping with you on Instagram.

Your brand is bland

Be honest with yourself. If you were a potential customer or client would you want to shop with you and do business with your brand?

If the answer is no then you need to change that ASAP. If you wouldn’t do business with you why should anyone else?

In order to find your ideal customers on Instagram you’re going to need an interesting brand.

Make sure your brand is cohesive, well structured and organized. Present yourself in a alluring way to make sure your audience actually starts to buy from you.

Here are a few thing you can do to boost your brand presence:

• use industry keywords in your bio
• use relevant hashtags
• create interesting graphics
• provide value or discounts

Here’s the mindset you need to have as a business owner on Instagram. “I need to make future customers need my services and products.

To convince someone that they need what your business has to offer you’ll need to know your ideal customer really well. Which leads us into the next point.

Your copywriting sucks

I have to be honest with you right?

First let’s start with defining copywriting because you’ll need to know exactly what it is to start doing it correctly.

Fresh from Wikipedia: “Copywriting is the act, or occupation of writing text for the purpose of advertising or other forms of marketing. The product, called copy, is written content that aims to increase brand awareness and ultimately persuade a person or group to take a particular action.”

So it’s basically writing in a way that would persuade readers to buy from you.

Now there are different forms of copywriting but we’ll get into those on a different blog. For now let’s focus on these 3 main parts of any kick-ass caption:

1. Emotion

You’re going to have to reel those leads in. You accomplish this by invoking an emotion like excitement, fear, or pain.

Negative and positive emotions both get results so you’ll have to figure out which is best for the product, service or other sales item you’re promoting.

2. Tell a damn good story

Instead of saying “buy this now for 45% off” you should be telling a story about why your customer cannot live without your services [or products]

You may have to practice at this one if you’re not a writer or you can do what most smart businesses do and hire a freelance copywriter.

3. Your captions sound like a robot

Ugghh. I HATE to break it to you but saying the same, dull phrases over and over isn’t going to get you more sales.

It will actually turn paying customers away.

So, to keep it simple. Don’t be boring.

You’re not tagging your location to find customers on Instagram

Location tagging on Instagram lets you get noticed by more people. Even if you’re not a local business owner then you can use location tagging to boost your brand reach.

This isn’t an optional step if you’re a local shop or realtor. You NEED to tag your location.

Instagram allows you to see local accounts with location tagging. It’s just an easy way to boost your page views so there’s no reason not to do it.

I’ve had inquiries from using my location. You don’t have to use the same location every time either. If you’re at a networking event, or popular shop go ahead and tag your location for the post.

Building relationships isn’t your thing

Instagram is a social media website. You kind of have to be social. Even if you’re introverted like me you can and have to build relationships 1st before making sales and before booking more calls.

For product based businesses this means asking your customers what they like and dislike. Be transparent and let your audience know you value them.

For service based business owners this means replying to all comments on your content and providing VALUE to your audience.

Here are a few ways to provide value and find customers on Instagram:

• create a freebie
• give discounts
• give exclusive tips

People aren’t sure what your business is about

To find customers on Instagram your audience needs to know what your business is. What’s your mission? Why did you start? How do your products help others?

This goes beyond copywriting and captions. Your bio, your logo, your followers, your images all have to be a representation of your business.

Ideally, everything ties together. When someone see’s your brand on Instagram they should know right away who you are and what you do. The easiest way to tell people what you do is to TELL THEM.

Yes, it’s literally that simple. Again this doesn’t have to be in a nasty, pushy way. Simple rewording what you saying and doing live videos shows your audience who you are and what you do.

Just be sure to post your content in a way that makes your audience wan to get your products and services ASAP.

Business building tools and finding customers

The reason you took all this time to build a business profile and spend countless hours studying marketing basics is yo find more customers for your business.

Instagram is so popular and commercialized that there are numerous tools designed to help you build a better brand. From content marketing tools to link building and design apps.

Any CEO who really wants to bring in new leads is going to download and use these apps.

Here are a few of my faves:

• Hootsuite [scheduling tool that keeps you consistent]
• Plann [another scheduling tool]
• LinkTre.e [subscription landing page service]
• Tag O Matic [ for hashtag research]
• Canva [content creation with branded graphics]
• Pic Monkey [photo editing and cool photo features]

Your mindset has to change

As a Social Media Manager I’ve noticed that some business owners and CEO’s see Instagram as a little social media site that won’t yield any benefits for their business.

If you think Instagram marketing won’t pay off and doesn’t offer anything for your business then it won’t. It’s as simple as that.

If you want to leverage Instagram and find new customers on Instagram the way thousands of other businesses are then you have to believe that it’s going to work.

Maybe you need to do a little more research on Instagram and social media marketing as a whole. Check out this article if you’re still unsure about social media marketing.