How to Make Instagram Work for Your Craft Business

Listen in! Pick up some expert advice to a reader's question that we selected from CyberSchmooz.

Instagram is a very popular social media platform for businesses big and small to market themselves with their own profiles, or by embracing influencer culture and paying well known celebrities or influencers to promote their products. This can get expensive, so if you’re just starting a craft business, harnessing the power of your own profile is a great first step. Here are some ways to make Instagram work for your craft business.

Your Audience is Already Receptive

On lists and statistics of social media services, Instagram consistently tops the top five platforms and it’s for good reason. Instagram is incredibly popular because its userbase enjoys high quality and creative photography, so if you’re marketing a craft business, there almost isn’t a better audience to appeal to. Your posts should appeal to the creative nature of those who see them, and your chosen photographs need to be of very high quality with striking lighting and colors. Add accessories to your photo that compliments the item you’re selling by using good set dressing techniques for the maximum impact.

Your Bio Is Important

Your bio sells your business, and it should be quite personal. Don’t make it cold and corporate but instead make it personal and fun. Don’t be shy to include a photo of yourself for your profile picture, which should be eye catching and vibrant. Include links, emojis and wordplay in your bio. You can use the Notes app on your phone to give yourself more formatting options for your bio if you’re on an iPhone because it will let you add line breaks. Once written, simply copy and paste it into your Instagram bio. Don’t forget that 150-character limit, so use creativity to say as much as you can within the limitations.

Use Instagram Stories

Instagram stories are short videos or images that appear at the very top of Instagram users feeds and can be used to deliver or highlight short messages or call to action for your craft business. Maybe it’s a new product or something you want to highlight like a special. Don’t forget that you can save these stories to your profile, which is a great way to make product line-up displays that users can flick through to see what you offer.

Hashtag Everything

Hashtags are clickable search terms on Instagram and many users use them to browse posts that are categorized by the inclusion of these hashtags. There are services on the internet that will generate some of the more popular ones for your subject that you can use to avoid having to manually type them, but keeping a note or document somewhere with a few that you use often and can copy paste into your new posts will save you time. Hashtags are incredibly important for new users to discover your page and you should always include them.

These few things can make a big difference to users who come across your Instagram profile and might help you convert these users into customers if your posts appeal to them in the right way!

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