It’s estimated that the Instagram platform will reach 117.2 Million users in the US alone in 2021. This staggering statistic means that your impact to reach potential clients is unlimited. Understanding how to effectively utilize Instagram for your aesthetic business is essential for success. In this guide, I’m giving you an in-depth look at all things Instagram! 

While Instagram can be an incredible business tool, you must track your analytics. If the platform isn’t producing the results your business needs, review your IG marketing plan and decide what to do differently. Remember, it’s okay if Instagram isn’t the platform that yields results for your business, you can walk away and shift your focus. Ultimately, you have to make decisions based on what you believe resonates best for your business.

 

Green Batching

What if you were able to prepare social media content ahead of time, reach a larger target audience, convert more clients, and do it all for free? We are here to give you the good news- it is possible! You can accomplish these social media goals for your business with what I call, Green Batching -otherwise known as batching evergreen content. 

“Batching” is a technique used by social media managers to prepare written content in advance. This is advantageous because it allows for a well planned social media feed. It also allows you to provide consistent content for your followers. “Evergreen Content” represents content that will always be relevant to your target audience. Evergreen content is important because it can be re-shared and reposted for future use.⁣ ⁣

By batching content ahead of time, you can remove the stress of creating time-consuming posts every day. Creating evergreen content ensures that you always have timeless content available to your clients. We recommend utilizing both of these techniques to your marketing advantage.

Create a designated team social media page (e.g., private Facebook page) and share business-related content with your whole team. Then, encourage your team to share this content on their private social media accounts. By creating standard posts that your team can always share, you’ll be able to reach a much larger audience. Of course, it’s particularly beneficial to create shareable content for time-sensitive promotions and sales for your team as well.

 

Engagement

Engagement is often overlooked for the crucial role it plays in success on Instagram. While the Instagram algorithm is constantly changing and quite mysterious, there are strategic ways that you can increase engagement with your followers.

If you want to increase your engagement on Instagram, you must track your metrics. Likes have been the popular indicator of performance for a long time. However, they are not the only indicator that you should be analyzing. It is also beneficial to track comments, shares, saves, views, and even direct messages.

• Shares, saves, and comments are the most effective engagement that your content can receive. Therefore, you should create “savable content” to share with your audience. Savable content includes anything (post, infographic, video, reel, etc.) that your followers would want to return to and view later. 

 

• You can also utilize stickers in your IG stories to increase engagement. Plan to create stories that will incorporate the quiz/ question/ poll/ countdown stickers throughout the week. Consistently try new content types within your stories & posts. While it may seem intimidating and frustrating to curate a variety of content, this trial and error will allow you to uncover what is working for your business. 

 

• Many businesses are recognizing the power of authenticity. Your audience wants to see the REAL you. Being honest, vulnerable, and real with your IG community can positively impact your engagement!

 

• Make sure that you spend time interacting directly with your ideal clients daily. While this is an easy element to gloss over and forget about, it is the best thing you can do to increase your engagement. Even if you are only consistently spending 10-15 minutes a day, you will notice the improved engagement statistics after just four weeks!

 

Instagram Dictionary

 

Instagram Post- A post allows you to share either single or multiple images with a caption. IG captions are limited to 2,200 characters and 30 hashtags. Long captions are truncated after 125 characters making it vital to grab the attention of your audience quickly! Instagram also allows you to utilize the @ mention feature, which is perfect for tagging the accounts of brands, businesses, or individuals in your post. 

Instagram Stories- Allows users to share/ produce 15-second video clips that remain live for 24 hours. These videos provide an excellent way to share moments with your audience throughout the day without them staying on your feed forever. You should use this IG feature to highlight new posts, create polls, share content from other users, and give your audience a glimpse into your day. What did you eat for breakfast? When did you workout? What before and after treatment photos can you share from the day?⁠ ⁠

Instagram Reels- Another way of sharing short-form video content that allows 15-30 second videos. Unlike IG Stories, these videos do stay on your feed until deleted. Find reels in the Explore tab on your IG menu (the magnifying glass icon). At this point, Reels are only available to businesses that have personal Instagram accounts. You should use this feature to share more permanent content with your audience. Perhaps you could create a Reel showcasing your team members. Create demos of your retail products, focusing on the result they provide. Record a Reel highlighting different parts of a procedure from start to finish.⁠ ⁠

IGTV- IGTV is Instagram’s digital video experience for users. Every account can start an IGTV channel where they can share longer content videos with their audience. IGTV is great since Reels & Stories limit videos to mere seconds. Videos for IGTV can be 1-60 minutes in length and vertical or horizontal in orientation. This feature offers a user experience similar to YouTube, and even has its app! Many businesses find creating an IGTV series for their audience is effective.

Hashtags- Hashtags are the “keywords” of Instagram. They allow users to find content relevant to their interests. When it comes to hashtags for your business, you must choose them strategically. Spamming a post with irrelevant hashtags will only ensure your content misses the mark for your ideal audience. Spend time researching trending hashtags within your industry. Many schedulers will track hashtag analytics for you, which is AMAZING for quickly putting together the perfect hashtag set. (We have included free hashtag sets for you at the end of this guide!)

Instagram Shopping- Instagram shops are located within Instagram Explore (the Shop tab). Shops have the option to utilize Instagram Checkout, which means that consumers never have to leave the IG app to shop from you! According to their business center, fees for Instagram Checkout are 5% per shipment or a flat fee of $0.40 per shipment under $8. 

There are five qualifications that your business must meet to receive approval for Instagram Shopping. Your business must: 1.) Reside within a supported market, 2.) Sell physical products, 3.) Comply with FB & IG commerce policies, 4.) Be an IG business account, and 5.) Be connected to a FB page If your business meets these eligibility requirements, you are ready to set up shop! Check out the original Instagram Shopping article here.

 

Instagram FAQ’s

 

How often should I post?

It is best to post 3-7 times a week on Instagram. Share to IG Stories at least three times a week, but ideally every day. While the Instagram Reels algorithm remains undeciphered, many businesses notice a large increase in engagement when posting them. I would recommend posting to stories at least two times weekly.

 

When should I post?

You can track your best times to post either through a scheduling app or through your Instagram insights tab. These statistics are broken down into specific day/ time categories and help you know when to post!

 

What should I post?

When it comes to sharing content on Instagram, the possibilities are endless. However, I understand how often it can feel like you have no clue what to share! Here are my favorite content ideas:

Educational Content- This can include posts/ videos such as how-tos, product application tutorials, information about specific procedures or retail offerings, etc.

Reviews & Recommendations- These are an excellent way to provide social proof on Instagram. It’s even more effective when you share photos of the treatment/ product results and tag the happy client in the post with an @ mention.

Behind the Scenes Content- Share fun content about procedure prep, team training, or team events. You can even share photos/ short videos of your workouts, office, lunch, etc. Your audience loves getting a peek into your daily life!

Promotional Content- Share specials, giveaways, and sales. Client testimonials and before & afters are powerful marketing content. Your audience may even love seeing you and your team using your retail products! The golden rule of sharing marketing is to post promotional content 20% of the time. Ensure you vary the types of content you share to keep things interesting for your followers.

Entertaining Content- This content is for fun. Create funny videos or share a post about your top 10 least favorite smells. Entertaining content should help your audience learn more about you and become interested in who you are/ what you do.

Quotes- An inspiring quote paired with a stunning graphic can be a great way to increase engagement. Be sure to include your thoughts on the meaning and why it inspires you.

Tips & Tricks- You can share beauty, procedure prep, and recovery tips with your followers. Or, branch out and share how-to videos on finding derm recommended makeup.

Current Events- Share your thoughts on current events within the Aesthetic Industry. By sharing relevant current events, you can increase your social visibility while these topics are trending. 

Holidays & Events- Share about events your practice is hosting and post about national holidays. Even relevant national days such as National Botox Day or National Use Your Gift Card Day provide opportunities to offer sales & discounts in a fun way. 

 

Why do I need hashtags and how do I choose the right ones?

Hashtags are labels that you include in posts to make content more accessible for followers.  Instagram users utilize hashtags to both find content and explore new content. The Instagram platform uses hashtags to curate content for users based on their preferences and viewing habits. 

Choosing the right hashtags puts your content in front of the right viewers. Experts vary in the number of hashtags you should use, so I suggest experimenting and finding what works best for your business. I find that 10-15 hashtags perform well for my content. 

When choosing hashtags, choose those varied in their usage. You can discover how many times a hashtag has been used by searching for it in the Instagram search bar. Pick a mix of hashtags according to their usage amounts. Using hashtags that have been used 200K+ times can increase your views. Using hashtags that have been used less than 100K times can increase your visibility to your target market. Try to create a list of hashtags and their number of uses for future content. 

You should make sure that you choose hashtags that are relevant to your content/ ideal clients. Do not copy and paste the same hashtag sets onto your posts; the IG algorithm views this as “spammy”.

Did you find this article helpful? The Advanced Acceleration Program will help you finally close the gap on where you are and where you want to be with your aesthetic business. Contact us at https://aestheticsaccelerator.com/contact/ to learn more!