We talk a lot on this blog about how to use social media to advertise your business. That is an important benefit of social media, but today, we want to focus on a benefit of social media that can help your business outside of garnering you more financial support.
You might not immediately think “networking” when you think of social media, but let’s face it–social media is just that: a social platform. Odds are, your business or organization isn’t the only one in its field. There are likely many other small business owners, organization founders or volunteers, and entrepreneurs out there for you to connect with.
This is great, but in order to network and gain connections with these people, you need to start somewhere. In this blog post, we’ll be focusing on Instagram as a social media platform, and looking into how to use Instagram to network virtually.
The basics
In order to network via Instagram, you’ll need to have an Instagram account! Depending on how your business or organization is set up, you may start networking through the business profile that you have set up for your business, or you might have a public Instagram account for yourself that you use in conjunction with your business or organizational work. (Pro tip: if you’re the owner of your business/organization, it’s a good idea to have two accounts: one for you and one for your business.)
Make sure that whichever account you are using is public and represents yourself and your business/organization well. Your profile picture should be of yourself or your logo, your bio should be filled out with relevant information and a link to your website, and your pictures should be attractive and enticing.
Where to start
It might seem weird to jump right into messaging people on Instagram to try to connect, and that’s because that would be weird. Think about how you would want brands or organizations and their representatives to treat you on social media. If you received unsolicited messages or a business suddenly liked every picture you’ve ever posted, you would probably feel a little uncomfortable or confused. You don’t want to give that impression to someone else.
Try searching for a few relevant and specific hashtags. (For example, we at Wreath Writing and Marketing Services regularly look at the #smallbusinessmassachusetts and #massachusettssmallbusiness hashtags.) Look through the recent posts and see who’s posting content that aligns with your interests or might be similar to your business’ content. Like some posts, leave some positive comments, and hit a few Follow buttons. Do this once a day for a few days.
Hopefully, over the course of about a week or so, you’ll start to identify users that you recognize and feel connected to, even if you don’t know them personally or their business is across the country. You should start to notice some posting styles that you like or that you don’t like. Maybe you’ll continue to Like the posts from a specific account, maybe you’ll Unfollow another account. That’s fine! This is all about identifying who you actually connect with. Ideally, these other accounts will notice the attention that you’re giving them, and maybe they’ll reciprocate.
Following up
All relationships need cultivation. You can’t expect to Like one post and then not interact with that account for a month and have them still remember you the next time you Like their content.
Don’t be afraid to Like posts, leave comments, and send messages after you have been following someone for a little bit. Just make sure that your comments and messages are appropriate and genuine. If you have a question about a statement someone made in their caption, great! Just don’t follow that question up with a shameless promotion for your business or organization.
Another great way to interact is to watch Instagram Stories. Not everyone on Instagram posts everyday, but a lot of people regularly update their Stories, which can be another way for you to find out what they’re doing.
Share your content
As important as it is to interact with other profiles, be sure to keep up with your own as well. Continue to post regularly, and share interesting posts or content to your Stories. Use relevant hashtags for your posts, and reply to comments that you get. Not only is doing so important for your business or organization’s online profile, but it will also ideally attract others who might be looking to connect with you. It will be difficult for someone to reciprocate comments and Likes if you only update Instagram once in a while.
Networking via Instagram is one of the topics that we cover in our online workshop, The Ins and Outs of Instagram for Business. Please see our Workshops page for more information.
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