How to Use Instagram to Grow Your Audience and Attract Clients

Does the Thought of Using Instagram to Help Build a Personal Brand, Grow Your Business, and Attract Clients Overwhelm You? It Doesn’t Have To! Here Are the Tips That Will Make it Easier!

About Audrey Wolf

Audrey is on a mission to teach female entrepreneurs how to use Instagram to grow their audience and attract clients with simple, easy-to-implement tools & resources.

With almost 20 years of experience as a professional photographer, Audrey can honestly say that she’s an expert at shooting & editing photos. Using the photography tips that she shares along with her Lightroom presets, anyone can learn to edit like a pro, using nothing but their phone.

Having designed hundreds of senior & wedding albums, announcements, and save-the-dates, Audrey now focuses on providing top-notch CANVA templates to help entrepreneurs save time and money.

Finally, social media, and more specifically, Instagram – Audrey joined the app way back in 2012. She’s learned what works and what doesn’t. She absolutely loves sharing all the things she’s learned about Instagram with others!

What Makes a Good Instagram Feed?

One thing that everyone running a business needs to remember, is that when people land on your page, your bio on top and your feed, are like your storefront. Audrey shared the example of driving down the street and two businesses that do the same thing across the street from each other. One business is beautiful and well-kept, and the other across the street is run down. Which business are you doing to go to? Most likely, the well-kept business.

Your Instagram feed is the same. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it should be cohesive and aesthetically pleasing. You want to give your audience what they are wanting from you. You can find that out by asking in your stories.

As people are scrolling through their news feed, you want them to stop on your post and go to your feed and see what you have to offer. Being cohesive across all our platforms will help you become more recognizable and memorable and will help you grab the attention of your audience.

When you are choosing a profile photo, make sure you use the same photo across all your platforms so that you can be recognized easily. The more recognizable you are, the more memorable you are. And the more people will trust you.

The key is to stand out in the sea of online noise.

What Are the Best Practices for Using Your Visual Voice?

Start with your images. Audrey uses pre-sets for her feed to give the feed a consistent feel. She uses Lightroom presets for mobile devices. If you use the same preset, it will help keep your feed cohesive. You can adjust the presets and edit photos to make the feed feel consistent. Find something that resonates with you and that you love so that you can be consistent.

Audrey loves to use Canva for graphics. You can create several graphics with your brand colors and use them consistently. Consistency on Instagram is key. One way to be consistent is to focus on your mindset. Don’t consume before you post to avoid comparison and imposter syndrome.

Instagram is no longer just a playground for sharing photos. It’s a business tool for marketing your business. Instagram is a tool for showcasing your knowledge and sharing information to help others for free.

It is important to remember that you must find your sweet spot for posting. It may be 5 days a week, or it may be 3 days a week. Do what works for you so that you don’t get burnt out.

Content Creation for Instagram

The key to getting unstuck with mental blocks for creating content, repurpose previous content. Take any tips you’ve previously shared and reshare them by using a new graphic.

Another option for repurposing is to take a blog post and break it down into bite-sized pieces of content. Use one piece of content and repurpose it to create multiple posts.

Captions for Instagram do not have to belong. If you are struggling to find images, use Pinterest as a guide for ideas.

Audrey likes to use a brain dump for creating content. Use Google Sheets or another tool to brainstorm your content ideas. Ask yourself what you know about and then break that down into small bite-size pieces of content. Use this content in reels, stories, Instagram TV, or your feed. Repurposing saves a lot of time and helps prevent burnout.

Tips for Creating Instagram Reels

When creating reels, you want to entertain, educate, and promote. People want to see a little bit about your life.

Prepare reels ahead of time. Make it simple. Come up with your idea. What is your hook that you are going to say to grab attention? Using the words to grab attention because people will think, “she’s talking to me”.

If you have three points you want to get across, write them down. Don’t try to record all at the same time. Look at your hook, record it. Clip the video. Record the first point. Clip the video and so on. This gives you time to refocus your thoughts and change positioning to give diversity in how you are recording. This gives a little bit of a cinematic view.

It’s important to have variety in your reel’s content. You can stand and point at captions, and you can use your voice. Do what works best for you and you are most comfortable with but mix it up. You can also do reels with trending audio or music.

It’s great to be consistent, but you don’t want to be boring. Keep it simple, but interesting.

Give people a reason to come back, to follow you, and to come back.

Once you get a couple of reels under your belt, you’ll feel more comfortable doing them. Especially if you stick to who you are and what you know. Don’t try to duplicate what others are doing.

For more tips on creating videos for your personal brand and business click here.

Additional Instagram Tips

When it comes to Instagram, you want to use different tools within the app. Use posts, carousels, reels, stories, and Instagram TV (IGTV). Instagram wants to see users use all the different tools. Try to mix it up and don’t let it overwhelm you. The key is to have fun.

Life is about doing what you love, enjoying it, and having fun and Instagram should be the same.