Tag: social media marketing

5 Types of Content to Share with your Audience

5 Types of Content to Share with your Audience

Content is the name of the game. We have to develop content for social media platforms, newsletters, press and sometimes it can be overwhelming. If you’ve ever felt like what else can I say to my audience, here are 5 ideas of content you can share:

  1. Share your business story – Tell your audience how you got started and share your why. You can even break up the content and share snippets of it from time to time.
  2. Share your inspiration – Share the things that have inspired your creations. Inspiration can come from our loved ones, art, encounters, etc. . Be sure to tell the story of why / how you were inspired.
  3. Share video content – Get creative with video content and share multiple aspects of your business including your processes, successes, and struggles. It’s all a part of the journey and believe it or not, your audience wants to know more of your story.
  4. Share your Maker Tools – As a maker, you have a huge advantage over those who don’t create their own products. You have the privilege of sharing multiple facets of your products. Why not share the tools that help you create your beautiful products. Share your first encounter with a specific tool or the history of the tool. Put a little thought into it and see how many ways you can share your tools.
  5. Share Details about You – I know…most times we’d rather just put our products out there and stay behind the scenes; however, sharing some interesting or little known facts about yourself helps your customers to connect with you. The more they connect, the more they trust your brand.

What are some top content you share with your customers?

How Kpelle Designs built a successful online business with Instagram

How Kpelle Designs built a successful online business with Instagram

by: Charlene Dunbar

We’ve been following Gwanyan, the boss lady and designer behind Kpelle Designs for a few years now and we were thrilled when we had a chance to talk with her about how she organically grew her culturally inspired hand-crafted jewelry business by being savvy with social media. Here are our top three takeaways from our conversation:

#1 – Go to where your audience is – When she started her brand, Gwanyan took high-quality pictures of herself wearing her loc jewelry and posted them on her feed and also tagged popular loc hair community IG pages. Her pictures usually got reshared on the community page for free and those high-potential customers would follow her.  She also invested in advertising with similar pages (where her target audience was already hanging out) and gained lots of customers from that exposure. 

#2 – Invest in high quality images – Gwanyan worked with other creative friends who took fantastic photos or had styling skills to make sure her products images and brand put their best foot forward (and was more shareable). It’s easy to skimp on this step, but presenting high-quality, lifestyle images of your brand helps you standout from the pack, engages your audience and communicates the value of your brand.  

#3 – Share your journey – The fact that Gwanyan actually cut/forms her own jewelry (she’s a proper craftswoman with milling equipment!), is a plant mom and occasionally goes into rant mode are things that have endeared her to her customers and makes then want to shop with her vs. some faceless jewelry company on the internet. Gwanyan consistently used her IG stories to share her handmade entrepreneur journey in a way that built trust and made her customers feel invested in her story and ultimately, her success.

Our talk with Gwanyan of Kpelle Designs was full of gems! Check out the full IG Live interview here and follow her now. Need a second set of eyes to look at your handmade business Instagram page? Want to find out how you can use IG to get more sales for your online business? Sign-up for our customized Instagram audit service, Up My Gram Game. 

Image Credits: Kpelle Designs

7 Reasons to give your Instagram business page a second look

7 Reasons to give your Instagram business page a second look

By: Charlene Dunbar

You probably already have an IG business page and are a pro at posting product images, interacting with customers and scoping out competitors. Here are 7 reasons to take a second look at your IG business page and invest time and energy to get it to the next level of driving sales for your small business.

# 1 – Your customers are already hanging out on IG…and they’re ready to make a purchase.

According to AdEspresso, 1 out of 3 of Instagram’s 1 billion users have purchased an item they first saw on IG.  Users also spend an average of 53 minutes/day on the platform.  When it comes to marketing, it’s wise to go where the people are.

#2 – Easy to build community and establish trust with your customers

People buy from people they know, like and trust. I can count at least 5 bloggers I’ve bought stuff from not because I needed it, but because they were my friends in my head.  Engaging with your audience on IG can draw your tribe in, lead to referrals and help customers to trust you.

Increasing Instagram engagement

#3 – Able to attract customers who are seeking a solution to a problem

When users search for a topic or product they’re interested in, hashtags help your content to end up in their feed even if they don’t follow you.  That makes it easy to build followers organically, who can eventually become paying customers.

#4 – Get clues about what customers want

IG has been helpful as a feedback channel for my clothing brand. I’ve gauged interest on new styles and selected color offerings based on IG story poll responses and engagement level to posts.  Are you using your IG feed to gather insights on customer preferences and interests?

#5 – Make it easy for customers to contact you

Customers have often DM’d me on IG and then immediately made a purchase after I answered their question.  Top of page contact info on IG removes the pain of having to dig through an online store for info, which makes it easier for customers to make a purchase decision.

Instagram Audience Engagement

#6 – Make a great first impression on customers and collaborators

Major brand collaboration opportunities have come to me through my Instagram feed. Beside that, then we’re evaluating vendors to accept for our in-person markets, the first place we look is their IG feed.  That feed gives a snapshot of the brand and what we see (or don’t see) there can be a deciding factor in moving to the next step.    

#7 – IG is a powerful storytelling tool

If marketing is all about telling stories that your audience identifies with, then IG is a storyteller’s playground. Are you leveraging your feed, stories, IG Live and IGTV to show your audience what your brand stands for and how it fits into their life?

Having an intentional presence on Instagram is a smart way to let customers discover your brand and make repeat purchases from you. How would you rate your IG business page? Are you getting the maximum effect from it, or could it be improved to grow your business? Are you tired of guessing what you need to do next to strengthen your page? Sign up now for our “Up My ‘Gram Game” IG effectiveness audit. We understand the challenge and importance of taking your IG page to the next level and want to help with that.