Instagram is a great way to grow your business in a big way. Here is how you should approach Instagram in 202‪1‬ .

Instagram is a great way to get your work out there, as well as grow some connections with potential clients. You have the opportunity to share more than just your work, and can give your followers a glimpse into who you are! Alora Rachelle shares her biggest strategies for Instagram and how to use it to brand yourself and create connections. 

How It All Started

Alora’s success started after spending two years learning to market her business, that grew her income to 6 figures! This was all while taking care of a newborn. After facing burnout of the constant hustling, she has found ways to make more passive income and give her more time with her children. 

She is a wedding photographer that has been featured in over 20 publications, including The Knot, Metro Times, Huffington Post, Popsugar, Bridal Guide, and more! Over the years she has become passionate about marketing and branding and enjoys sharing her tips with other entrepreneurs. 

Instagram Strategy

Before Alora focused on her branding for Instagram, she was constantly focused on posting what would appeal to her ideal client. She worked to create as much content as possible, would second shoot whenever she could, and just was constantly practicing. Being raised by entrepreneur parents, she was always encouraged to strike out on her own. 

So she took the time to study marketing and learn how to promote her photography business. As she took time to study the analytics on Instagram, she learned that this platform was actually converting followers into clients and it was more strategic than she thought. This changed her mindset and made her realize that Instagram should be done with more intention. 

She learned to get past her scarcity mindset, and rather have an abundance mindset. So instead of thinking that the niche is oversaturated and there was too much out there already, she changed her mindset to know that there is in fact enough out there for her to succeed. 

What Should You Post?

What you are posting should be tying in both your work and bits of who you are. It should not only be about business, but should be personal as well. Your potential clients want to know about the person behind the work, and make you standout to your ideal clients. It’s about more than just your work, so your clients need to be able to see that. This also will help to grow a trust factor with your clients, because they will see the real person behind the work. 

How to Showcase Your Brand

So what is the best way to showcase your brand to your followers? Alora believes the best way to share your brand and keep things cohesive is through your posts, and stories can be used to share your personal life and ways to connect with your clients. Instagram stories are a great way to give more behind the scenes, and posts can display more of your work and keep your feed more curated. 

Captions are a great way to not only speak business, but to share some of those connections as well. Alora mentions that captions on posts and stories can include two things: brand pillars and connection points. Brand pillars are the foundational things that you will be talking about on your social media page over and over again that relate to business and making $$. Ex: Wedding Photographer, Emotional moments, Film inspired imagery, Client Experience. This is what makes you unique and also makes you money. Including these in your captions keeps your brand strong and in your niche. 

What are connection points?

Connection points are relatable content that helps create a personal connection. Examples: My kids, my love for ramen, I’m obsessed with interior design. Things that people would say: “Hey I saw this and thought of you!” content. Having these type of points in your captions will help people relate with you and see the real person behind your work. 

Brand pillars are best included in the captions for your posts because those arae what displays your brand image, and gives you the opportunity to give tips for free in the captions. This establishes you as an expert in your field and gives people the reason to trust you. Connection points are great to be used in Instagram stories, to share more of the behind the scenes of your life, and share who you are. 

Often it can be difficult to get past a mindset that may be stopping your success on Instagram. It’s important to stop critiquing yourself, just show up and don’t overthink it! 

How to be Profitable with Instagram

A few of the ways that Alora has been profitable with Instagram is because she has used good copy and terminology, been showing up for a long time, and is very strategic with her content. She shared that success on instagram has a lot to do with three things: creating, connecting, and converting. Create strategic content, connect with your followers, and convert them into clients. 

Stories are a great resource to use to become profitable and convert potential clients. But it means needing to show up and be present for a while. It means you need to showcase your authority and also share some humble brags, to get people interested in what you have to say. Selling on Instagram can also mean creating urgency and making people think they need to hurry to purchase what you have to offer. 

Imposter Syndrome

Imposter syndrome is something that often happens when you are trying something you are not familiar with. Your mind tries to keep you safe and tell you that you don’t know anything about it and you can’t be successful. So you start to believe this is true and doubt yourself. 

To combat this, you need to check your mind. Why are you thinking this way? What makes you think that you can’t be successful? Reason with your mind and give yourself an ultimatum. It’s key to overcome that mindset that you are not good enough and that the market is oversaturated. Instead just think about the fact that you are at a different level of your journey, and think of yourself as knowledgeable and an expert. 

Final Thoughts

Instagram is a great way to explode your business, if you know the right way to use it. Share with your followers not only your brand, which should be obvious, but share who you are! Show up and don’t be afraid of the chance of failing. This platform is just what you need to grow your business!

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