Navigating Instagram can be incredibly difficult for a beginner. Many Financial Advisors tend to think that Instagram isn’t a place for them, but they should be utilizing the features and resources built within the platform. Having the right marketing strategy on Instagram will allow Financial Advisors to promote products and services, boost brand awareness, and increase sales. Over 200 million Instagrammers visit at least one business profile per day. If your business isn’t on Instagram, now is the time.
Step 1. Build a Business Instagram Account
On Instagram, you can create a business account, which will allow you to access analytics tools and features that the app tracks and can help you create a favorable business presence. You must have an existing personal Instagram account in order to create a business account.
Once you have created your business account, Instagram will have you add general information to your profile like your company name, username, profile picture, website URL, and a short biography.
Step 2. Optimizing Your Profile
After you have created your profile, you want to make sure that you’re optimizing your profile correctly. All of these optimizations will help in your efforts of navigating Instagram.
Your Bio
Instagram gives you space to write a bit about your business. Only 150 words is allowed in the bio, so you will want to go back a few times and tweak it so visitors can get a good sense of your business and what you stand for.
Profile Picture
For a business profile, it is a good rule of thumb to use your company logo or the picture that your business uses on other social media platforms, so viewers can instantly recognize your brand.
Website
If your company has a website, you can and should put it in your profile landing page. Placing your company’s website here is vital because this is the only spot on Instagram where you can place a clickable link.
With all of these in place, you’re well on your way to properly navigating Instagram!
Step 3. Posting Relevant Content
As a financial planner, having an Instagram feed of just quotes or stats isn’t going to cut it or get people to engage with your brand. You want to aim to share relevant content that is quality.
Share company announcements and accomplishments
Financial Planners can use Instagram as another PR tool. If you or one of your employees gets a PR feature somewhere post it. Or if a team member earns a certificate share it. You can even go as far as posting an employee’s birthday, which can help show clients that you are more than just a financial services company, it will help humanize your brand.
Share Happy Clients
In other industries, we see businesses sharing when a client is happy, or something went right, Financial Advisors rarely share this kind of content. Featuring satisfied customers is a very under-utilized tool that advisors can post on Instagram. It will help add a human element to your brand and also differentiate you from the competition. Just make sure your client gives you consent before posting anything.
Utilize Instagram’s “Stories” Feature
Posting to your feed will only carry your brand and customer engagement so far. Instagram has a “stories” feature that allows you to share photos or videos for 24 hours. Financial planners can incorporate stories by creating a “day in the life” series. This means that different team members will have the Instagram account for a day and post stories of what they are doing throughout the day. With your stories of a” day in the life” series, I suggest that you then save them to your “highlights” to permanently be on your profile in between your bio and feed section.
Step 4. Audience Engagement
Now that we have established what quality content is and ways to post it. It’s essential that you are growing your following and engaging with your audience.
Use Hashtags
Using the right hashtags is super important because it will make it easier for Instagram to find your content. Users can search for various hashtags, but they cannot search for a caption. So when someone searches a hashtag, they will see all the relevant content associated. Using hashtags is a great way to reach people who don’t already follow you. It might even be beneficial for your company to make up your hashtag (ex: #mandomarketing).
Commit to a Posting Schedule
Posting regularly will help keep your profile relevant, this doesn’t mean that you have to post every day, but you should be posting as much as your target audience wants to see content from you. Doing this will help keep followers engaged with your company.
Respond to Comments
It’s called “social” media for a reason. That means that you need to be posting and consistently responding to comments and mentions so that users feel engaged with your brand.
Instagram Best Practices
According to the Digital Marketing Institute, there are some best practices to follow when on Instagram. Let’s take a look:
- Keep captions short.
- Don’t use more than three hashtags.
- Ensure images have a strong focal point.
- Use impactful filters.
- Ensure the company logo is visible.
- Create high quality, behind the scenes or live videos.
- Post unexpected moments.
- Share a unique business perspective
- Use social influencers where appropriate.
Navigating Instagram
Instagram has over 500 million active accounts on it every day, as a business professional you should be marketing your company and building your brand.
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