Instagram has evolved from a photogenic, cool kid’s app to a more sophisticated, brand driven arbiter of visual content. Instagram business accounts know the basics of the game: know your audience, tailor content to the audience, post quality content frequently, and engage with followers. This falls short of the business storytelling aspect that humanizes a brand to its followers. Furthermore, on November, 21 2016 Instagram introduced Live video and the lead generating game changed. Like its cousin, Facebook Live, Instagram Live enables live content broadcast from an account to the followers. However, unlike Facebook the content is not permanent, Instagram videos disappear after their broadcast. There’s also the algorithmically curated Explore page of the best Instagram Live videos happening on the app at any given time. The ephemeral video on Instagram is unedited and spontaneous, staying in the moment for the aesthetically driven user. How can this feature be used for high quality lead generation for business? What are other Instagram post strategies that bring leads? There are several ideas that yield results.
One benefit of capitalizing on Live videos is the sense of urgency. As the video is being started, the business’ followers will get a notification and the Live video will show up in their Stories. The Explore section has the capability to transcend the business’ followers and be featured to a much wider audience for free. However, to be featured in the Explore section a story needs to be super targeted and engaging. The ephemeral aspect of the video is not good for product launches, however is perfect for teases and sneak peeks. A great way to build excitement and exclusivity about an upcoming event is to do a Live video, and then direct the traffic to follow your blog or preorder the product. The sense of immediacy and building expectations will certainly peak interest and attention to the business.
Another creative idea is to use Instagram Live to drive a contest. It is important to promote the contest to drive engagement. You could preview prizes before and during the contest to build buzz and boost entries. You can showcase entries after the contest is over by reading the comments out loud or taking a picture of the photo entries. By keeping up the excitement of the contest and getting valuable information from the participants, this might be a good marketing practice to do regularly.
A popular practice for lead generation through video is the Q&A session, especially when you use contest software for lead capture. This works best when you promote a Q&A before the broadcast, so followers can ask their question via a form on your website. This way you can get their name and email in exchange for the question being answered. You can increase engagement by emailing the participants before the Q&A session to remind them of the event. This is a wonderful opportunity to increase brand awareness by relating in real time to the concerns and questions of your audience.
Other tips for success include using relevant hashtags and to increase visibility to your audience and industry. Also, it is a smart idea to broadcast the Live video events across your other social media platforms.
The marketing principle to remember behind Instagram for lead generation is storytelling. The audience is unlikely to engage or want to volunteer information if they don’t feel compelled. The content should be authentic, humanizing, and most of all relevant to your niche.
Some more long-term ways to nurture lead generation is to humanize the business and feature the fans. Humanizing the brand will lead to genuine brand relationship and the ability of your followers to trust you. This trust will convert into more followers and new leads. An idea is to give followers a sneak peek behind the scenes, or share how the business got its humble beginnings. Social media users are tired of direct sales pitches and in your face advertising. Taking this approach might be refreshing and captivating for many followers.
By featuring fans on your business Instagram, you add credibility to your brand. If these fans are vouching for you, then your business must be great. Telling a story how your product or service made a difference in the fan’s life will draw in new followers that will turn into customers. It shows a level of caring and commitment to the customers, and makes for a great marketing story.
For lead generation to happen successfully on Instagram, a business needs to be aware of their message and curate their video presence. Whether, just beginning Live videos or an experienced user, it is not enough to create targeted video content. A business must utilize lead capturing strategies to capitalize on this ephemeral feature. The sense of urgency and exclusivity will be in favor of product teasers, fun contests, and engaging Q&A session. A business with consistency and creativity could gather a lot of valuable information from their followers. As far as the big picture, brand strategy needs to be present on Instagram with excellent storytelling. By posting behind the scenes and insider view, a business becomes human to its followers and therefore more authentic. An Instagram account that features fans of the business to tell the story is gaining the trust of its follower base. Long term, this authenticity and trust will evolve into new leads and growth for the business.
Instagram has matured, and so have the lead generation practices that work on the app. A foray into Instagram Live will be taking an advantage of this new feature to find new clients. Refining the storytelling aspect and being congruent with the business’ message will be attractive to new followers. It will be exciting how many more effective practices for lead generation on Instagram will come with time.