3 Steps to Turn Instagram Followers Into Clients (No Extra Posting Required)
Is your business doing great on Instagram, but you aren’t getting the paychecks to show for it?
Your follower count is growing, you’re getting plenty of likes, and people are saving your posts, but these same people aren’t paying for your real services. And what’s worse, social media is taking hours of your time between taking pictures, coming up with cute captions, finding hashtags…
You’re burned out. And for what? Moneyless Instagram fame?
It’s time to shift your priorities. Because, and this is very important, Instagram is not where sales are made.
I repeat, Instagram is not where most successful businesses make their sales.
This rings even more true for you if:
Your offer is high-value and high-dollar
Your product or service is needed only 1-2 times per year
You are a service provider
Sounds hard to believe? Every business is on Instagram, after all. Why would they be on it if it weren’t to make more money?
Well, they have other, more long term goals in mind…
What is Instagram good for?
Instagram is great for two things:
Snap decision making
Visibility
The first is why someone with a low dollar, inconsequential offer can easily make a profit selling directly off of Instagram. People don’t mind impulse buying when the price tag is small.
But something that is worth more than $25, maybe $100? That takes a moment of pause before you press buy. And a pause on Instagram means “I’ll just keep scrolling while I think about it…” and poof, they forget.
Visibility, on the other hand, is valuable. Visibility is how new people get introduced to your business. It’s why everyone tries to get more views and followers.
Keeping your eye on the prize
But visibility, on its own, is meaningless. It has to lead to something more. Something that helps people realize they want (or even need) what you’re selling. Something that shows them you are the right person to sell it to them. Something that seamlessly allows them to buy from you.
Remember, your goal is not for people to know you exist. Your goal is for the right people to pay for your product or service.
Enter: your website.
(Aka the bridge between visibility and sales)
Your website is yours to create with no algorithm to worry about, no hidden fees, and no other businesses fighting for your viewers’ attention.
And if your website is strategically written and designed, it literally acts as your personal, 24/7 salesperson.
But even if you have the most amazing website of all time, you have to have a way to get people there if it’s going to get you results.
SEO is an option that comes up a lot (you know, the secret strategy that helps you pop up under google search results that only a select group of people seem to understand). But, SEO takes a lot of time and patience. Time and patience that you’ve already dedicated to your Instagram…
Instagram, your hidden goldmine of potential buyers that you’ve spent hours and hours forming connections with and peaking the interest of.
So, how do you turn your Instagram followers from passive observers into paying clients?
Step 1: Using social media to promote your website
You have the followers, and you have their attention, but you know you need to get them off the app and onto your website so the real selling can start happening.
Luckily, you really only need one thing to get them there: a promise to deliver something they want.
Now I know, I know, the thing you’re selling is supposed to be something they want. But I’m talking about something they can easily identify as something they want, right then and there, without further prompting or risk assessment required.
How to form an offer your followers won’t want to miss
When someone is on Instagram, they are there to be entertained, connected, or sometimes informed. So if you want them to end their mindless scroll, you have to offer them something more entertaining, more connecting, or more educational. And, most importantly, it has to be valuable.
Usually, it should be something you are offering them for free, or for a very low, inconsequential price.
For example, you could link to a blog post with an eye-catching headline, promise them a new offer they won’t want to miss, or reference a joke from a blog post that they’ll only get if they read the whole post.
And, all the person should have to do to receive that free value is click on:
A link in your story
A link in your bio
Your DMs (followed by the link you send them)
One click, and they can immediately access your offer. Except in the case of Direct Messaging, which is a two step process, but can be useful for relationship building.
In other words, your offer has to be:
Full of value (either educational, entertaining, or engaging)
Free of barriers (no credit card required and easy to access)
Will promoting your website be a huge time commitment?
Now, this isn’t a one time, magic solution to your passive follower problem.
You probably won’t come up with the perfect offer right away that magically gets all of your followers onto your website. But by making this a regular part of your posting schedule, you’ll start to see results much more quickly than if you didn’t do this at all.
Now remember, I promised you no extra posting was required in the title of this blog. And now I’m telling you to post. So I’m either a hypocrite, or about to propose a solution…
The swap.
These posts should be way easier to put together than any other post you would have made otherwise. Think about it — all you are doing is repurposing content that already exists on your website or blog and turning it into a post with a link.
So you can skip that day's original content creation. Give those creative muscles a break, and pull some inspiration from your website instead.
Of course, there are ways to be more strategic about these posts, but it really just boils down to reusing content you’ve already created. You can keep it simple, I promise.
Now, if you don’t have a blog or a website set up yet, that’s another story. The initial time investment there can definitely be a big one.
But once it’s done, it’s yours, serving you all day every day (and, you can always hire help *wink wink*).
Plus, there are simple steps you can take to make sure you get the best possible results out of your website, which means you make the most of every view you’ve ever gotten on Instagram, without adding too much work onto your plate.
Step 2: All roads lead to Rome (aka your offer)
Once your Instagram friend has made it on to your website, the trick is to lead them down a journey that ultimately ends in them making a purchase from you.
This means that whatever page you sent them to - a blog post, for example - should have a clear next step for the reader to take.
How do you make the next step “clear”?
Make it visually obvious, like a button or a hyperlink in a different color than the rest of the text.
Use clear language. People should know exactly why they should take the next step and what will happen after they click the button. (In other words, don’t label a button “next step”).
Make the benefit obvious. People don’t just need to know where a button will take them; they need to know why they should click on it in the first place, just like in your original Instagram post.
Where should the next step take them? Straight to your offer?
The next step should lead them one step closer to working with you. But to know what that step is, you have to have some understanding of your buyer’s journey.
A buyer’s journey goes something like this:
They wonder…
Who are you and what do you offer?
Well, is your offer made for someone like me?
What will I get out of it? Is it really worth the money?
How can I know you’re telling the truth? Is this offer for real?
Ok, I’m sold, how do I buy?
Most of the pages on your website should answer multiple of these questions.
Generally, if your visitor landed on a blog, your blog should send them to other blog posts, your newsletter, and your services page. That way, people can choose where to go depending on how much they know about you and what their current goals are.
From your home page, people should be able to access the other main pages of your site, like services, about me, and contact.
Your services page should link to your contact page.
As you probably guessed, this will make a sort of path on your site. Visitors can choose their own journey, but each journey is carefully curated by you to get the maximum amount of sales possible.
And, each of these paths should ultimately lead to Rome… aka your contact page.
(Unless you’re a product based biz, which sells directly from your site. You should lead them to a checkout page).
Once they have made their journeys and ended up at their final destination, how do you make the most of this opportunity?
Step 3: Make it easy to buy (or stay in touch)
This one may seem obvious, but it’s often overlooked.
If someone is ready to buy, and they experience any friction, they’ll probably move on to greener pastures. All that work, for nada. Zilch.
The first step is picking the best method for people to purchase from you. Then, within each method, there are ways to optimize the process.
Forms (most popular)
If the client needs to fill out a form…
Embed the form on your website. Don’t make them click off your website onto a separate page
Keep the questions to a minimum. You probably need to ask some screening questions so you have some idea of who’s inquiring and what they need, but don’t ask a million questions to find out. Save extra questions for a phone call or secondary form.
Make it very simple to book immediately, schedule a call, or see that you’ll get back to them within 1-3 business days after they submit the form.
Follow up via email. Always always always follow up.
Direct Scheduling
If you want a call scheduled asap…
Put a clickable calendar with easy to follow booking instructions on the page (Calendly is a common way to make this happen)
Have enough availability that they will be able to easily work with your schedule
Make it clear what the call is for, what they need to prepare, who will call who, and how long the call will be
Follow up via email. Always always always follow up.
Open Phone Call
Maybe you just want people to call you directly…
Make your phone number clear
Let them know when the best time to call is
Let them know what to expect from the call
Let them know what will happen if you can’t answer right away
Follow up asap after they call
And if they aren’t quite ready to buy… give them other ways to contact you and stay in touch!
In case they aren’t quite ready to buy after visiting your contact page, make sure they can easily stay in touch with you in other ways. You can direct them to your Instagram or your newsletter, and then you can hopefully get them back to your website when the time is right!
Instagram is a great tool to get your business started, but this is officially your moment to get out of your Instagram rut and start watching the real business growth happen.
I know you’re willing to put in the effort. That’s what made you land on this blog in the first place. And I know what you’re trying to sell is special.
So pat yourself on the back for getting this far. And truly, I can’t wait to see where you go next!
Now, I know this advice is heavily dependent on you having a website that you love. It’s that secret sauce you need to make this work. So if you want to give your website a little sprucing and need some guidance, you can check out my blog for website copy and general small business marketing tips.
Or, if this website stuff just feels too overwhelming and you’d rather hand over the job to someone else, I’d be happy to help. (Writing websites that people are proud of is kinda my thing). Click here to learn more about my copywriting services!
