9 Instagram Features, Hacks, & Tips For Painting Contractors
200 Million Instagram users will visit at least one business profile every day.
About 75% of U.S. businesses will make use of Instagram in 2020 — will yours be one of them?
Here are 9 Instagram features, hacks, and tips for painting contractors.
1. Do Not Switch To A Business Profile
There are some key benefits to having Instagram set up as a business profile, but on the whole you are better off not switching.
Instagram really wants businesses to spend money to promote their content, so those people who don’t pay get their posts hidden more.
Therefore if you rely on organic reach — and you most likely do — you’re going to want to use a standard Instagram profile.
People like to interact with people, not businesses, so make yourself reachable by not switching to a business profile.
[Related: 7 Tips For Running An Instagram Contest For Painting Businesses]
2. Add More Than One URL With URL Tree Websites
When you are setting up your Instagram profile you can add a web site to it — but only one is allowed.
You might think that this is a pretty small number, and you’re right — as a business owner you probably have a few sites you want to share with people.
The good news is that you can make use of mini web sites called URL trees that can make one URL into several.
The way these sites work is by being a simple page that lists different URLs that you set up.
Here is a business that used one such site, LinkTree, to add multiple links to their Instagram bio:
3. Use A Variety Of Posts
There are so many kinds of posts that you can make using Instagram that you shouldn’t limit yourself to just one of them.
You should consider posting the occasional open ended question to engage your followers, for example.
These are posts that have photos or even videos but then also have questions for followers that can’t just be answered with “yes” or “no.”
Another type of post you should consider as a painting contractor is the testimonial.
By posting a testimonial, you’ll share the viewpoints of your customers, giving future customers a good idea of the work you do.
4. Make Posts With Personality
Though your Instagram posts should be informative, they need to also show your personality!
Even though you will be writing about painting, you can make it fun.
The best way to do this is to not write in language that is too formal.
You should also feel free to sprinkle in jokes now and then – people like to laugh!
5. Inspire People With Your Posts
Among the kinds of posts that you should consider posting on Instagram are those that inspire your followers.
This could come in the form of true stories that come from your own life or inspirational quotations.
A simple search online for “inspirational quotations” will provide you with tens of thousands of such examples.
It’s best to use your own images if possible and put the quotations on top of the images.
6. Include A Call To Action
Most of the posts that you make on Instagram should have some kind of call to action included.
A call to action is a pretty straightforward request that the person looking at your post do something when they’re done watching or reading.
This could be something as simple as “click here to sign up for our mailing list and get 10% off your service”
Regardless of what you’re asking the person to do, it should be pretty clear.
It’s also important that you only have one call to action in each post you make, never more.
This is important because you don’t want to confuse a follower with multiple things for them to do.
7. Spacing Is Key
When you’re posting on Instagram, you’re going to want to avoid posting text that is too dense with no spacing.
Even posting a sentence or two followed by a blank line or two is better than nothing but text.
You should also space your hashtags on your post separately from the post text.
Doing so will give your post the space it needs to look more readable than if you don’t use such space.
8. Share The Posts Of Others
A good tip for Instagram use is to post regularly so your followers will see your presence fairly often.
The issue is that it’s hard to post that often – but if you share posts from other people it’s that much easier.
You don’t have to share posts by Instagram users that are exactly like you.
Actually, sharing a diverse variety of Instagram users can really show off that you have a number of interests.
Here, for example, is a painter from Idaho showing an air based painting technique:
9. Consider Polls To Know Your Followers
Lastly, think about using polls to get to know your followers better.
Polls are a kind of Instagram post that let you post questions with a few answers.
Followers will see the questions and have the chance to answer them with the options you provide.
These polls can be about anything ranging from serious to silly.
Whatever your poll is about, you can connect with your Instagram followers.
Quick Recap:
1. Since people prefer connecting with people over businesses (and Instagram tends to hide business posts unless they are paid) it’s better to set up your Instagram profile as a personal profile.
2. Though Instagram only allows you to have one URL, you can use a URL tree site to add more than one URL
3. You shouldn’t limit your Instagram posting to one kind of post – use a variety of posts
4. Generic information filled posts won’t cut it – make posts with personality.
5. You can get a lot more interest in your posts if you write posts that inspire people
6. In every post you need to make sure to include a call to action to get your viewers to do something once they’ve finished looking at the post
7. To make your posts easier to read, add some spacing in between the text – spacing is key.
8. Not everything you post has to be your own – in fact, sharing the posts of others is a good way to diversify the kind of things you post
9. If you really want to get to know your followers, consider making use of polls to see what’s on their minds