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Published on January 1, 2020
Instagram is the perfect social media platform to promote your business due to its focus on photos. You have beautiful pictures of your space as well as events taking place at your venue to share with Instagram users. Here are some tips on gaining more Instagram followers and engaging with them.
8 tips to engaging on Instagram
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Post Eye-catching Content
Your photos don't need to be professional. Phone photos have come a long way, and pictures taken from your iPhone or Android are typically clear and crisp. You can enhance them by using filters and the edit feature. Consider posting flower bouquets, centerpieces, menu items, brides and grooms, wine, motivational quotes for newly engaged couples, bridal party gifts, romantic beaches, and photos of your venue from different angles. Include a description with the photo and tag appropriate vendors/partners to gain more exposure. When a user comments, respond and engage.
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Use Hashtags
Make sure you use hashtags that are relevant to your venue and brand. It is recommended to use the maximum amount of 30 hashtags allowed for each post. This will drive more traffic to your profile. The top hashtags on Instagram are ideal for your venue to engage with others, they are: #love, #instagood, #photoftheday, #fashion, #beautiful, #happy, #cute and #tbt. You can visit top-hastags.com to see what hashtags are trending on a specific day and post a photo that correlates.
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Post at the Right Time
The best time to post on Instagram is 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. The best day to post is on Thursday. Be sure to use the hashtag #tbt for throwback Thursday for higher engagement.
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Get Creative
There are many ways you can layout the photos in your grid, so they start creating a pattern that highlights your unique brand. Consider different techniques and stay consistent such as text graphics that span horizontally across a row, pops of color, lighting, editing, theme, image selection, and placement.
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Pay to Promote
Much like Facebook, Instagram is a pay to play environment. When you promote a post on Instagram, you reach a larger, targeted audience. You can specify where you would like to send people, including your Instagram profile, your website, or to direct message you. You are able to create your own target market based on location, interests, age, and gender. And, you can set your budget, as little as $1 per day, and the timeframe, as short as one day and as long as 30 days. And if you get an overabundance of response from your post, Instagram allows you to pause the promotion at any time.
When you view insights for your ad, you will see:
- how many people clicked on your promotion, the number of profile visits, and visits to your website
- the ad's reach, including impressions and follows
- the percentage of people from each gender, age range, and location.
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Use Instagram Stories
This feature allows you to post videos and photos that disappear after 24 hours. Once your story is posted you can view basic analytics, to show you how many times each post in your story has been viewed and who viewed it. You can also highlight a story so they can stay permanently on your profile at the top. Organize them into related collections. For example, you can create a collection of beautiful centerpieces. Then a bride or groom can conveniently click through the highlighted collection at any time.
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Be Active
When you are active on Instagram, you will gain more followers. Consider these engagement tips:
- After someone likes a photo on your Instagram page, send a direct message thanking the person for the “like.” You can also follow the person or go to his or her page and like some of the photos in return.
- Send a welcome/thank you message to new followers and include a link to your website.
- Respond to questions and comments on your posts.
- Follow keywords related to your industry and post comments on the content.
- Post a giveaway and ask people to tag others for a chance to win.
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Tag Your Location
As a venue, tagging your location on posts is going to get you noticed. Locations have their own Instagram feed, so people can easily find you. Post regularly to these location feeds and engage with people who are in the area.
We hope these Instagram tips help you attract more clients to your venue. After you gain your clients, make sure they are protected with event insurance.
Markel offers event liability insurance to hosts and honorees, protecting from incidents such as property damage to the venue or injury to a guest. Up to $2 million in event liability insurance can be purchased by your client from Markel any time at least 1 day before the event. Policies start as low as $75.
By offering event insurance, it will not only protect your clients, but it can also protect you by potentially decreasing your own business liability risk for accidents due to negligence of the event host or honoree. Markel Specialty's event insurance is an easy and affordable solution for your clients – a free event insurance quote takes only a few minutes online or on the phone – that will help protect your clients (and you).
Free client materials! We can provide you with free brochures to help raise your clients’ awareness of the benefits of event liability insurance.