Is Instagram driving dollars in your business? If not, let’s change that!

I love using Instagram as a tool within my business to connect, but it’s also a great place to drive sales.

If you are wondering how to start making that happen, I want to share 4 things you can start doing. The key really is in building trust with audience! As your audience gets to know you and you build your personal brand, that trust will grow, which leads to them wanting to buy from you.

Here’s how you can start building trust today:

Build authentic relationships in your DMs

To build trust, start by inviting your audience to engage in conversation. Talk to your people! Yes, it takes time, but it’s worth the effort to make social media social.

Think about the questions you get, or the questions you had when you were first starting your business

Think about those questions, and start giving some of those “secrets” away in your content. It’s easy to want to keep all these special secrets to ourself so that no one else will be able to copy us. But try to worry less about copycats, and keep in mind how valuable this content is for your audience (and builds that trust!). The thing to remember is that people book you because they want YOU, and copycats can’t copy your magic.

Show your face

Your audience wants to see you! Show your face – on your feed and in your Stories. We all want to see you so we can connect with you. Stop hiding! We’re not asking for perfection or perfect curation. Your people are far more interested in relatability and authenticity than they are a Stepford wife.

Don’t expect to receive without giving first

Spend time in others’ comment section, reply to Stories, be kind and considerate. It’s pretty much real life, just online! You wouldn’t walk up to someone at a backyard barbecue and launch into story after story all about you. You’d probably ask their name, what they do, where they live. You’d ask thoughtful follow up questions. Online is no different, we just make it more complicated than it needs to be.

There is a lot of opportunity on Instagram for your business. The first place to start is by building trust with your audience!