093: Using Instagram To Attract Dream Clients

Get Back To Design: Design Business | Designer | Creative Business

We’ve talked about all kinds of ways to find more clients. In fact, we’ve covered coffee chats, content, and more. Today, we’re going to talk about Instagram specifically.

Krista here! Instagram wasn’t always where my focus was for finding clients. For a while I used Facebook groups, did some other stuff for a while, and finally I started seeing the power of Instagram.

Most of this episode is specifically about Instagram stories, but the same concepts apply to the feed. So in this episode, we’ll go over the areas we focus on with our Instagram accounts to attract the clients and projects we want to work with.

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Talk about your services

Surprise! You have to actually tell people what you do. The easiest way to do this is to share while you’re working on a project. If you can get permission from clients to share sneak peeks of what you’re doing, I definitely recommend it.

Not only can you share the exact project you’re working on, but you can share more of an overview of your process of working with clients. Think about things like doing research, making a moodboard, any design concepts, and wireframing.

This is something you have to make a habit for yourself. It will feel totally unnatural at first, but the more you do it, the easier it gets. For example, you can start with a Work with Me Wednesday or something similar.

In addition to talking about projects that are going on, share when you have an opening in your schedule. People can’t hire you if they don’t realize it’s an option. You can post graphics that share about the opening or record a video letting people know what the opening is for, when, and a little about what the process looks like.

Share results

Sharing results is really powerful when it comes to getting clients from Instagram.

You can share results by showing off completed projects. Give your followers a walkthrough of what you did for the client. This is a great way to catch the attention of people who love your aesthetic.

To share results you can also share testimonials. Every time you get a testimonial or a client say something positive about working with you, share it! Even if it’s a quick piece of feedback in your project management software, take a picture, blur out your client’s name, and post it to your stories. Doing this consistently will make people so much more likely to hire you once they decide they’re ready to work with a designer.

Teach

In addition to talking about your projects and sharing them once they’re finished, don’t be afraid to do a little teaching on your stories.

Even showing up once per week for a minute or two will help solidify your expertise and appeal to people who like learning more than just the behind the scenes of your projects.

On my Instagram stories for my Summit In Box business, I like to do this in a few ways. If someone asks a question that I think is really important, I’ll do a quick video series answering it. I also:

• Post a Q&A box and answer each question either with video or text
• Teach a specific point each Wednesday of something to avoid
• Share a tip from each podcast episode as they go live

You can start with once per week and go up from there.

Share non-business as well

Up to this point everything I’ve shared has been related to talking about your business, specifically. However, people love non-business content as well.

You don’t have to go crazy and share 10 videos of a concert or every single exhibit you see at a museum, but people love to see candid behind the scenes stuff. I like to do this by showing off videos of my daughter, what we’re up to on the weekend, or if something funny happens.

Make connections

No matter how much of what we cover that you choose to implement, the most important thing you can do on Instagram is to make connections.

Yes, it will feel super awkward at first to be commenting on posts and replying to stories of people you barely know, but it will get easier once you see how positively people tend to reply.

When you’re doing this, make sure you’re keeping your responses genuine and natural. I have a rule that when I’m commenting on something my response has to be at least 5 words. If I can’t think of something that long to say when interacting with someone I don’t know, I won’t comment.

When people comment on your post or message you, always respond. The more people you engage with, the more engagement you’ll see in return. You’ll be quite surprised how much more quickly your follower count increases once you actually start using the app the way it was intended to be used.

Each connection you make is one more person who will start paying closer attention to the content you’re putting out on the platform, meaning more people you can work to convert to a client.

Be consistent

Every time I open the app the first thing I look for is to see if my favorite 5 people have published new stories. A lot of times, if they haven’t, I’ll just close the app. If they have, I always watch and sometimes I’ll watch a few more stories as well.

Be one of those people that everyone is looking for! You get to that place by showing up consistently.

Action Steps

• Outline the kind of content you want to start promoting
• If it makes it easier for you, give yourself a list of one thing to post each day
• Example:
  • Monday: Project Behind The Scenes
  • Tuesday: Tip
  • Wednesday: Work with me Wednesday

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