Monetize YOUR Instagram Account

Monetize YOUR Instagram Account

It’s not any secret that we love Twitter AND INSTAGRAM. Chances are good you’re on this page because you found us through one or the other – right?

We have multiple accounts on BOTH platforms, and over 50,000 followers on multiple accounts.  

Our Instagram posts regularly receive thousands of likes and the website in our bios tens of thousands of visits PER WEEK with just minutes per day, much of which is laid out in advance – we even auto post.

In the past we’ve taught our team and coaching clients Twitter first, and although we still love Twitter, especially the fact that we can automate much of our marketing there, it’s hard to deny how quickly Instagram is growing and how under utilized it is by most businesses.  

We’re sharing the exact steps to monetize YOUR Instagram account, no matter what YOUR business is.  

Our secret weapons can be your secret weapons!

Create a Clickable Link in Instagram Captions

Create a Clickable Link in Instagram Captions

Yesterday my post was about making sure that you were clear in your bio on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc., about what you are offering.

& to make sure that you have a carefully crafted bio, it’s surprising to me how many entrepreneurs don’t take full advantage of that space. & to take advantage of all 150 characters (Instagram) that you have available & a reminder that you can tweak it till you are happy & it’s driving traffic to your website. (You can look back and read the post!)

Another thing that I coach clients to do, is to direct their Instagram visitor to the links in their bios via a clickable link within the captions that go with their original post of a picture. .

Okay, you’re right, https:// stuff doesn’t work in an Instagram caption, but your “handle” is a clickable link when used in an Instagram caption.

(To clarify… when you use your URL in an Instagram caption, for example https://mariebennett.com it is NOT a live, clickable link, it’s even hard for most people to copy and paste that link into their browser.

What’s a “handle”? Mine is @marieandanson Anson’s is @anson.maclauchlan & when you click on a “handle” in an Instagram  caption, it takes you to my bio (or his), and in each of our bios is a website link, that is clickable.

Need clarification?  Go to my Instagram account using your PHONE or a TABLET with the Instagram APP installed.  Look at a few of my recent posts and chances are good that in the first few lines of any of my posts you’ll see @marieandanson and when you click on that “live” link, you’ll notice that you end up on my Instagram bio., 

If you are in business there are subtle — and not so subtle ways — to direct people to the website in your bio, using your “handle” as a clickable link in a caption.

For example… 

There is nothing wrong with asking or directing people to:

Visit the website in my bio @marieandanson<==

Or .

For more information see the website in my bio @marieandanson <==

Try it where it fits in YOUR marketing strategy & if you’re already doing it, let me know how it improved the traffic to your Instagram profile, website & sales when you discovered you could use your handle as a clickable link. .
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P.S. If your IG account is not a business account, you’re missing out on important analytics. .
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Instagram Bio Tips

Instagram Bio Tips

Struggling to generate leads & sales with your Instagram account?

Start by taking a good long hard look at your bio. Are you clear about what you are offering?

Do you have a write up, a description in your bio? If not, it’s way past time to create one. If so, it might be time to redo it a little bit.

You only have 150 characters available & little tweaks can make a huge difference. (Think about making extra characters available by using & instead of “and”.)

Ditch the hashtags in your bio. Yes, hashtags are a must have in your comments, but NOT in your bio… UNLESS they are hashtags you’ve created to brand YOUR business, hashtags that when someone clicks on them — because yes, they are clickable links when in your bio — you are not driving them away from posts that can generate leads and sales for you.

Not sure? Ditch all the hashtags in your Instagram bio. 

Hashtags are another story, in and of themselves, most people don’t know how to use them properly, it’s not as simple as making them up as you go, or copying and pasting from someone else’s account.

Hashtags are a science with many variables. But for now, back to your bio…

Begin with the end in mind, who is your perfect client avatar? Who is it that you want to attract to your business, to your offerings?

What are they looking for? Does your bio reflect that & tell people how you can provide what it is they are looking for?

Keep in mind that you can change & tweak your bio, again & again & again until you have something that you love & that works.

How do you know it’s working? Are your followers increasing? Is your engagement growing? Are the visits to your profile/bio increasing? (HINT: You will know IF you have an Instagram business account.) Hits to your website going up – resulting in sales?

Often little tweaks go a long way.

Instagram Business Account or Not?

Instagram Business Account or Not?

SHOULD YOU HAVE AN INSTAGRAM BUSINESS ACCOUNT OR NOT?  

IF, you want to monetize your Instagram account in any way, shape or form, if you want to drive traffic to the website in your Instagram bio, then the answer is absolutely YES. 

A business account opens up extra features for you, including analytics so you can see among other things, exactly how many profile visits you’re receiving each week, in other words, how many people are seeing your bio – which of course includes your website URL, right?  

A business account gives you access to analytics which will help you know who is following you from where in the world and their age bracket.  It will also help you figure out what time of the day is the most beneficial for you to post.  

IT’S also IMPORTANT to NOTE that if you have 10,000 or more followers on your Instagram account, there are EVEN MORE FEATURES available to business accounts, including SWIPE DOWN AKA SWIPE UP with a DIRECT link to YOUR website.  

Don’t have 10,000 or more followers yet?  Keep reading! You can instantly boost your account to give you a head start.  

HOW TO CONVERT YOUR EXISTING INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT TO A BUSINESS ACCOUNT…

It’s super simple.  

You need to have a Facebook business page.  If you already have a business page on Facebook, you’re all set.  

Don’t have one?  Don’t worry that’s super simple too, and free.  

Go to your personal FACEBOOK profile page, AKA your personal timeline.  

On the upper right hand corner, above the banner, you’ll see a drop down arrow on the far right hand side.  

Click it and you’ll find MANAGE PAGES.

On the next screen you’ll find, CREATE A PAGE.

Create a Facebook Business Page.  This is not instead of your personal profile on Facebook, this is in addition to.  

 

 

Next…

 

CONNECT YOUR INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT TO A FACEBOOK BUSINESS PAGE…

Open up your Instagram account, ON A MOBILE DEVICE, then on the very upper right hand corner of your personal page, click on the 3 Lines.  You won’t see them on a computer browser but they are there on the Instagram APP on your mobile device.

Scroll down and look for the “cog” & SETTINGS

Then scroll down and look for SIGN UP FOR A BUSINESS PROFILE.

Follow the very simple prompts and in no time flat you’ll have an Instagram Business Profile.

10K OR MORE FOLLOWERS = EXTRA FEATURES FOR BUSINESS ACCOUNTS

I built multiple accounts to 20,000 and even 60,000 laser targeted followers and along the way I’ve developed simple, duplicable techniques that will help you gain followers, and more importantly increase engagement and drive traffic to the link in your website..   

Auto Post on Instagram

Auto Post on Instagram

I first posted this, I think back in February of 2018. In my humble opinion it is re-post worthy.

It’s no secret that I love Instagram.

It has 58 x more engagement than Facebook.  It’s growing faster than the next 10 most popular forms of social media combined and YES, Instagram works for business.

Oh, and for those who know me and what a mad scientist I can be, it won’t come as any surprise that I tested EVERY Instagram planner and auto poster I could find, I spent time and money to figure out which one had the best features for the best price, before I settled on…

NOW you CAN automatically post on Instagram.

NOT ONLY is there is a fabulous way to pre-plan your posts, to have weeks or even months of posts ahead, all ready to go —  NOW there is a service that will automatically post for you!

Oh and did I mention you can set it up from your computer, your tablet or your phone?  You can seamlessly transition from one device to the other.

You can even do your hashtags in advance!

Need help with hashtags? They are EXTREMELY important.  If you want to drive traffic to your Instagram bio and the website in your bio, you NEED to use hashtags and understand EXACTLY how to use the right ones for your business.

Here is another fabulous feature.  EVEN before we could auto-post on Instagram, I used this service for this one feature alone.   You can upload your pictures to a rough draft, a grid,  that even automatically includes some of your most recent posts, so as you pre-plan your posts you can get a feel for what the overall look and feel of your Instagram page will be. Oh and if you don’t think that the esthetic of your Instagram Feed is important, PLEASE pay more attention as you are snooping around I.G.

If you don’t love how your pictures look in the grid,  you can drag the pictures around the template, until you are happy with the lay out BEFORE you post.  You can add and subtract pictures at will, get the LOOK YOU WANT, again BEFORE you post.

Again, all from any device including your computer.

I’m not sure how I managed my Instagram accounts before I discovered this service.

Be my guest and take a FREE test drive.

If you love it as much as I do, it’s a whopping $10 per month.

Be sure to check out the OTHER secret weapons we use to

regularly increase our following (40K+)

and our LIKES (often 5K or more per post)

and how we send out Direct Messages automatically too.