Instagram had over 1.21 billion monthly active users in 2021, making up over 28 percent of the world’s internet users. The number only continues to grow. It’s projected that there’ll be 1.44 billion monthly active users of the social media platform by 2025.
We get it: Most business owners don’t consider Instagram lead generation to be a viable option. Social media has traditionally been associated with making human connections and entertainment rather than generating leads.
However, if you know what you’re doing, lead generation on Instagram can be a game-changer for your business.
After all, 90% of users on Instagram follow at least one business account. Plus, 44% of Instagram users shop every week. No matter the size of your marketing budget, businesses have ample opportunity to master selling on Instagram.
If you’re new to Instagram lead generation, this article is for you. This complete tutorial will give you the tips to explode your lead gen game. We cover everything from setting up a business account to getting traffic, posting the right content, and getting qualified leads using Instagram lead generation ads.
Instagram For Business: Where To Start?
In the modern world, consumers seek more than just a product or service from a company. They also want a sense of trust and belief in the company and its employees.
They want to experience your journey with you. Small businesses are excellent at this because they know their brand goals from the start.
You need to find your brand’s story, tell the consumer what makes it unique, and bring it to life. There’s nothing more powerful than a genuine, sincere connection with a brand. People love looking behind the scenes of a company and getting to know its owner’s personality.
1. Develop A Promotion Strategy
An exceptional growth strategy is essential for Instagram lead generation. We recommend the following guidelines for growing your business profile:
- Enhancing brand awareness: The company informs its audience about its products and services by publishing branded content and advertising.
- Getting traffic to the website: To increase conversions and sales, include links to external websites in content and advertisements.
- Selling products and services: Using targeted advertising, users are motivated to make purchases and search for new customers.
With a strategy in place, you can decide what content to post.
2. Register Your Business Profile
The first step to setting up an Instagram business account is to create or use an existing Instagram account.
Follow these steps to set up a business account:
- In the top right corner of your profile, tap Menu. Click Settings.
- Click on Find Account and select ‘Switch to a professional account.’
- Select the category most applicable to your business, then click Business.
It’s ready – you’ve got an Instagram business account.
3. Account Protection
When creating a commercial profile, you should consider Instagram security from the very beginning. An account hacker can leak confidential data and commit fraud against customers.
To protect the business page, it is imperative to follow these steps:
- Make your password complex and difficult to guess.
- If your account is hacked, you can easily change your login and password using your phone number and email address when registering.
- Use two-factor authentication to confirm all actions in your account.
4. Creative Content
The first step is to formulate a content plan. Strategic content plans are more than just ideas from the Internet. They are a sales system built through content posts. Make a plan a month in advance – ideally three to six months.
How often should you post? Frequency doesn’t matter. Follow it consistently: every day, every two days, or once a week. When you fail to post on time, algorithms reduce organic reach.
You can also look at how often your competitors post. Competitive analysis can help you determine what to post, when to post, and how often to post since you probably share the same target audience with your competitors.
5. Followers And Analytics
Marketing experts advise against chasing followers and likes on social media. However, it does send a social signal that the page has authority when people see larger follow numbers.
Here’s how businesses can initially get Instagram followers:
- Follow people in your contacts. Sync your phone book and Facebook.
- Send an email, WhatsApp, or SMS link to your account and follow all your friends.
- Create an icon with a link to your profile if you have a website.
- Using the customer database, send a newsletter via messenger, SMS, or email.
But the above strategies will only work if you regularly monitor your analytics and make adjustments as necessary. Without advertising results analytics, business promotion on Instagram is impossible.
To check your analytics, follow these steps:
- Visit your Instagram profile.
- Click on a post to view insights.
- Tap View Insights below the image.
Analyze how the audience responded to a new post or evaluate the effectiveness of the campaign.
6. Tools for Getting New Followers
Wondering how to generate leads on Instagram? It all starts with building a loyal audience. Below listed are some tools to help you gain followers as a small business:
- If you are exploring a specific location, geotag your business so potential customers can find you.
- Include keywords that describe your business in your profile: your business area, city, and district. Such words can help attract new followers.
- Consider niche mid-range hashtags to use on Instagram for small businesses to make it easier for potential customers to find you. Make sure you don’t exceed 30 hashtags for a post.
- At the end of each post, ask readers questions to motivate them to participate. The more followers answer in the comments, the more coverage the publication will receive.
- Make intriguing announcements about each new post in Stories, and motivate users to visit the profile.
- You can save important information in Stories Highlights, such as a brief history of your company, current promotions, and case studies.
Starting your own Instagram Account and Going Live
Any business strives to generate leads to grow and increase income. By knowing your potential clients’ preferred channels, lead generation on Instagram becomes effortless.
On average, Instagram users spend 58 minutes a day scrolling through their feeds and watching stories. This is why starting your business profile is vital to generating qualified Instagram leads now. How you can utilize Instagram effectively:
Generate Traffic
Your Instagram bio is the best way to drive traffic to your business profile. You can think of your Instagram bio as an elevator pitch for your audience.
A potential client will judge your authority and credibility based on your profile bio. Plus, it’s another opportunity for leads to get in touch with you and interact with your brand.
Here’s an example of an informative bio:
Follow these tips to make the most of your Instagram bio:
- Make use of your brand name. Make your account name your brand name so users can easily find you.
- Put a recognizable photo on your page. Use a professional photo that reflects your main message.
- Choose a category that reflects what your company does.
- Add a description that reflects your company’s essence and addresses your client’s problems, needs, and values.
- Utilize hashtags. Promote your sub-brands, sister pages, and partners by incorporating clickable hashtags into your Instagram bio.
- Include a compelling call-to-action and link. By using CTAs, you help your audience take action to reap the benefits of your services.
Instagram Reels and Video Posts
Video content is the fastest way to gain new followers and potential clients. The Instagram algorithm boosts your reach when you share these engaging and easy-to-share short-form videos.
Post a weekly Instagram Reel that is highly relevant to your brand. You should create content that is relevant to what you are selling. As you gain followers, you also try to reach your target audience so they can buy from you.
These content pieces should be relevant to what you’re selling because the last thing you want is to gain a huge following that is completely disinterested in your actual business.
Pro tip: Gain an extra boost by using trending music! This will help your Reel get seen by more people since Instagram favors Reels with trending audio.
Taking Equity vs. Building Equity
To understand the content game, you must know how equity is built and taken. We are talking about building equity here in the context of the content. This means that you provide value to your audience, followers, and profile visitors without asking any questions in return.
Let’s take our Instagram, for instance. Often, we share full training videos with our followers, while clients pay between $10,000 and $50,000 to access them. We’re building equity with everyone who follows us by putting them out for free. This is how we stand out from other businesses, showing our expertise by helping people.
Our clients often ask us, ‘But what if you’re giving away too much information for free?’ In reality, people may not necessarily buy what you’re selling because you have this secret code that no one else has. Instead, they’re buying from you because you have the code to help them get things done faster, cheaper, and better than they can do on their own.
Conversion
How do we take advantage of the equity we have built up? In other words, how do we convert it into cold hard cash at the bank?
One of the easiest ways to convert equity into high-paying clients is by leveraging Instagram’s ‘Link in Bio’ feature.
You can use various conversion mechanisms, such as your online calendar link, to get prospects to book a call with you. You can also take them to your sales funnel by encouraging them to watch a free training and schedule a call.
The idea is that once someone watches enough of your content, they can understand who you are, and you want to make it super easy for them to contact you by clicking your bio link. If they want to buy, they can do so right away.
Tips On Getting New Clients For Your Insta Account
The most common question we get right now is, ‘How to find clients on Instagram?’ We know what you’re thinking…
No, the answer is not increasing your follower count. While those numbers might increase the customer’s trust in your brand to some extent, they will not increase your sales.
Although we don’t have a million followers on Instagram, we have reached eight figures in revenue. So, how did we leverage Instagram lead generation? Below listed are some of our top strategies for getting Instagram new clients on autopilot:
1. Use Hashtags
Hashtags go beyond marketing fads. The hashtag feature in Instagram allows users to follow hashtags and view posts that use the hashtag – regardless of whether they follow the brand. Including relevant hashtags in Instagram content can help businesses reach a wider audience.
For maximum reach, utilize a mix of popular, mid-range, and low-range relevant hashtags. Generally, the more popular a hashtag is, the more likely it is to be seen by prospects.
Let’s take #marketing as an example. This is a popular hashtag with 70,00,000+ posts.
Combine this popular hashtag with a mid-range hashtag such as #marketingsolutions. This hashtag currently has 200,000+ posts.
The last hashtag to add here is a low-range such as #marketingimpact live with 6000+ posts.
2. Add A “Book Now” In Your Bio
Once you have your business account, IG allows you to add specific calls to action (CTAs). With the “Book Now” button, potential clients can easily schedule an appointment with you.
With a few simple clicks, you can add the Book Now button to your profile and integrate it with a range of apps (e.g., Appointments by Square, Appointy, MyTime, and Schedulista).
- Click “Edit Profile” on your IG profile.
- Select “Action Buttons.”
- Click the “Book Now” button.
- Select your booking app and click “Confirm.”
3. Be Approachable
The actions you take on the platform should drive engagement and Instagram lead generation. This requires you to build a sense of authority and expertise in your field.
Create a content calendar to share posts that are useful to your audience. Give them a reason to engage with your service business by solving their problems and pain points before they realize it’s easier to hire you.
4. Adding Location Might Boost Local Presence
Is there a specific location where you service clients? As a result, it is imperative to be visible at your desired location.
With Instagram’s geotagging feature, you can showcase where you are and the locations you serve. Plus, it can improve your chances of being discovered by locals. Geotags also increase the odds of being featured in Instagram’s Explore section, which is used by 200 million people daily.
Below is an example of how we use geotagging. While we’re not selling tangible products, geotagging helps us build equity with our audience, showing them real results that our business model can achieve.
5. Share Testimonials
Let people know if you’re doing a great job for other clients. Instagram is a tool for marketing your service business. Share examples of your great work and how you’ve assisted previous clients.
Post about your client’s success or an award you received on Instagram. Demonstrate to potential clients that your current clients are satisfied with your work.
Let’s take our Instagram as an example. We often share client wins on our stories and posts. You’ll find posts on our profile that show all our client wins, milestones, and testimonials. This builds brand trust. When you show real results, people know that you’re doing great with your services and delivering on your promises.
6. Be Personable
Through your Instagram profile, you can attract any type of client. Ultimately, people buy from people.
Go behind the scenes of your business to integrate “being human” into your Instagram marketing strategy. Demonstrate how you deliver success for your clients. Each week, highlight a different colleague. Allow your employees to run the company’s Instagram account for a day.
Studies have shown that Instagram posts containing human faces receive more likes and comments. With this type of content, you’ll build a stronger and more meaningful relationship with your followers, leading to them becoming paying customers.
7. Be Responsive
With a refined Instagram strategy, you can expect effective lead generation on Instagram consistently.
It’s easy for potential clients to reach you (through your bio link and the Book Now button), so make sure you respond quickly to any inquiries.
46% of people expect a response to their customer service inquiries within four hours. Instagram Automation can relieve the hassle of constantly checking your inbox if you don’t have time to answer these questions manually.
Integrate third-party software to generate automated responses to inquiries on Instagram. Below is an example of how automated responses look:
How To Make It Easier For Clients To Find You?
It’s no secret that Instagram is a goldmine for reaching your target audience. There are multiple ways to find new Instagram clients. The key is identifying what works best for your niche. Our lead generation program walks you through three strategies that have helped us with lead generation on Instagram.
Engage With Clients
Engaging with your audience is essential to build relationships and connect with other business owners and potential buyers. Often businesses need to pay more attention to this strategy since it can be time-consuming, but this can be your most powerful client acquisition strategy.
Listed below are a few steps you can follow to increase engagement for optimum Instagram lead generation:
- Engage with people’s captions, and leave meaningful comments on their posts.
- Engage with those who could use your services and build a connection with them.
- Reply to people’s stories, which go directly to their IG inbox.
- Replying to genuine comments on your post (not just spam) is an excellent way to engage people. If someone compliments you, thank them!
- When you show people enough love through comments, they will most likely reciprocate. Instagram prefers posts with more comments (comments are more valuable than likes) and will move your post up the feed so more people can see it.
Be Consistent With Your Posts
How many times you post depends on your niche. Posting frequently is recommended since it helps build trust and rep with your audience. Most small businesses cannot post seven days a week, and that’s perfectly fine!
The frequency of your posts doesn’t affect your reach. What matters is staying consistent with your posting schedule. If you post at irregular intervals, Instagram slows down your organic reach.
Sticking to your posting schedule is critical whether you post daily or twice a week. In the long run, you should aim for a realistic number manageable for a small business and other vital tasks.
Plan Posts Regularly
Organizing your content, social media, and marketing ahead of time will save you time and help you stay on top of your posts. We have some tips to help you speed up the process:
Take a couple of hours once a week or once a month to gather content. Align your Instagram content strategy with your overall business strategy. It should be tailored to your niche and ideal client.
Then, add it to a scheduling tool such as Later, Planoly, or Facebook Creator Studio. The latest Instagram update offers an in-built scheduling option, but only for selected profiles.
By planning your posts for the week/month, you won’t forget them, thus making you reliable and consistent!
Reels For Instagram Lead Generation
The real question here is, how to get leads from Instagram by creating content? This is where Instagram Reels is your new best friend. Create a visual story for your brand that’s short, entertaining, and easy to discover. You can use them to display your creativity, promote your products, and meet new customers.
With various AR effects, funny stickers, and a solid library of lip-sync music, Reels is a popular choice among creators and those who wish to experiment with short-form videos. We’ve listed our top hacks to create scroll-stopping reels for your audience:
Create Valuable And Original Content
To show up on Instagram reels, you need to create original content. However, the number of creators sharing Instagram Reels daily makes it difficult to develop original ideas.
Planning your Instagram Reels doesn’t have to be complicated. Your goal should be to create educational or entertaining content. Adding a unique spin or perspective can transform any idea into something new and exciting.
Original content may take a little time and effort, but it’s one of the best ways to beat the algorithm.
Improve Caption Writing
Short and sweet captions catch the eye right away, whereas those that take up the entire screen fall flat. Wordplay is the key to nailing Instagram Reels captions. It means using a caption that can convey your message at a glance without sacrificing style. This might seem like a minor adjustment, but it can be a game-changer for lead generation on Instagram.
Optimize Placement Of Text On-Screen
Adding closed captions or additional text requires careful consideration of where you place the text on the screen.
When your audience can’t easily see the text, they’re likely to scroll right past your video – which can have a major impact on your engagement.
Whenever you add text to your feed, make sure it’s within the 4:5 image dimensions. By doing this, the text will be visible when a user clicks on your reel in-feed. The algorithm detects better visibility, which makes lead generation on Instagram much easier.
How Do You See Leads On Instagram: FAQs
How do I get free Instagram new clients?
You can gain new followers and potential customers quickly with Instagram Reels right now. With these engaging, easy-to-share videos, you get a boost in the algorithm and should make them an essential part of your Instagram strategy. Publish an Instagram Reel at least once a week.
Does Instagram pay you?
With most monetization products, you will be paid once you’ve earned at least $100 in revenue. For Charities, this threshold is either $100, £100, or €100. If you’re a US creator earning with Subscriptions or badges, you’ll receive your payment once you’ve earned at least $25.
How much do accounts with 10k+ Instagram followers make?
A content creator on Instagram with 100,000 followers can earn about $200 per post, while someone with 10,000 followers can make about $88 per post. The formula is more followers + more posts = more money.
Wrapping Up: Lead Generation On Instagram
Selling a product on Instagram is a longer process than finding clients. Ensure that potential clients know how to reach you (via DM or email). Increase your reach by adding geotags and hashtags to your posts.
Build trust with your audience, share genuinely helpful content, and cite happy client testimonials. This will be the key to converting prospects.
Using our strategies, you can master the art of Instagram lead generation. Instagram can be an excellent tool for lead generation if you run successful campaigns. Instagram lead generation ads can fill your sales funnel by targeting the right audience, creative, and conversion sequence.
Need more help? With our expertise in client acquisition, we have grown our company to eight figures, and we can help you do the same. We’ve helped thousands of business owners create a profitable system that brings them qualified leads on autopilot. Book a free consultation call, and one of our advisors will get back to you!
