Click with customers through Instagram
Savvy business owners know social media is a the key part of connecting with customers and sharing information about company happenings such as menu items, sales or new products.
Facebook and Twitter are popular, but many have realized the power of Instagram, the fast-growing photo and video sharing app that allows users to tone and add filters to their images.
According to the social media firms’ company statistics, Instagram has 300 million monthly active users, compared to Twitter’s 302 million and Facebook’s 936 million.
Instagram images receive about 2.5 billions likes per day and an average of 70 million photos are shared daily, according to the social media site.
Use of Instagram, which launched in October 2010, use has increased by nearly 10 percent in the past year.
In the Triangle and beyond, several small businesses, including one in Raleigh with 82,000 followers, have mastered the art of using Instagram as a way to reach and engage with customers.
Shop Talk reached out to some of those companies to get their tips on how to successfully use the social media site.
All She Wrote Notes
@allshewrotenotes
Followers: 10k
Keys to Instagram success: Maghon Taylor, the owner of the Raleigh company that sells products such as note cards and koozies decorated with her handwritten calligraphy, includes photos of her daily life on her Instagram account, which gives her account a personal touch.
The calligraphy business lends itself well to the photo-sharing application. She uses a mix of photos of her work, her travels, and even of her recent wedding. The strategy has proved successful; Taylor said social media is her sole source of advertising and the majority of people who shop at her store have found her on Instagram.
“People feel like they know me already when they meet me,” Taylor said.
Tips: Instagram is Taylor’s most successful social media outlet. She posts about three times a day, and always makes a point to respond to comments on her photos. Her advice to other businesses is to engage followers and treat interactions on the application like friendships.
“I feel like I’m 100 percent authentic,” she said.
Social media has been an important tool for Taylor since she opened her business in 2013. She has had her Instagram, Etsy and Google accounts since her first day of sales.
Taylor also makes a point not to seem like she’s selling her product and focuses on taking good photos that reflect her calligraphy work.
Monuts Donuts
@monutsdonuts
Followers: 3,330
Keys to Instagram success: Lindsay Moriarty, co-owner and chef of the Durham restaurant, said she concentrates on taking hunger-inspiring photos. She has a background in photography, which is useful.
“A good picture is all you really need,” she said.
Tips: Moriarty says using Instagram is about being tactful. On social media, no one likes to be told what to do. Monuts Donuts does not advertise outright on the social media site, and Moriarty said she purposefully does not include prices in her posts.
Moriarty always tries to take a well-composed photo. She said her donut pictures are always the most popular. Besides taking good photos, Moriarty tries to keep her posts consistent and balance between posts about people and posts about food.
“It’s like I’ve found the rhythm,” Moriarty said.
CrossFit Invoke
@cfinvoke
Followers: 12.9k
Keys to Instagram success: Action photos and videos dominate CrossFit Invoke’s Instagram account, but it also includes posts featuring behind-the-scenes shots of its members or the gym’s resident bulldog.
CrossFit coach Heather Coraciny said the Raleigh company includes photos of both high-level athletes and beginners to make the business seem accessible to everyone.
Tips for success: “Just take a really good picture,” Coraciny said, “Make it something that everyone can relate to.”
CrossFit Invoke concentrates on its Instagram account because it attracts a wider follower base than its Facebook page. Instagram users who are into exercising often follow the account for the fitness-related photos, she said. Facebook followers are more often from the Raleigh area, which limits who they can reach.
Old South Apparel
@oldsouthapparel
Followers: 90k
Keys to Instagram success: Tyler Hair, the owner of the clothing store and website based in Eastover, said the company makes an effort to include photos of their apparel posted by other Instagram users, which helps attract followers. The account is tailored to fit the store’s theme of comfortable, Southern style.
Tips: Hair treats Instagram like a true advertising opportunity, and it seems to be working — the business doesn’t advertise anywhere else. He advises other businesses to take the social media outlet seriously.
“We saw the potential in Instagram since the beginning,” he said. “People are not understanding the power of it.”
While Hair said the company tries to keep the account personable, they also use it to advertise flash sales and other promotions. The return has proven this strategy successful. Hair said on one occasion, they had more than 200 people actively buying merchandise on the website within six minutes of posting a flash sale on the social media site.
Hair said for his company, Instagram is their most successful social media outlet because it doesn’t filter or promote content like Facebook does. On Instagram, posts are seen based only on when they were posted.
“Whenever we post a picture, everyone sees it,” he said.
Furbish Studio
@furbishstudio
Followers: 82k
Keys to Instagram success: Pacing has been important for Furbish Studio’s Instagram. They have posted at different times throughout the day in the three years their account has been active and have found out the best times for their followers.
“We’ve been pretty good about scheduling our Instagram and finding out the times that our readers are the most engaged,” said Jessica Swaney, Furbish’s director of operations.
Tips: “Definitely be consistent,” Swaney said.
Starting Instagram can be frustrating, she said, because a following can take a while to build. Swaney encourages business owners who want to improve their Instagram presence to post regularly and to interact with accounts that might draw similar customers.
Furbish started out as a blog, Swaney said. Followers responded well to the blog’s aesthetic, and they used that captive audience to launch their store. Since the beginning, bloggers have been important to Furbish’s brand.
Swaney makes an effort to have conversations with important bloggers on the social media outlet. When bloggers recommend their merchandise, sales spike. Furbish does not have an advertising budget; rather, Swaney said, they depend on Instagram and other forms of social media.
“If you follow us on Instagram, then you’re automatically engaged with Furbish,” she said.
Wildeman: 919-829-4845; Twitter: @mkwildeman
This story was originally published June 29, 2015 at 7:11 PM with the headline "Click with customers through Instagram."