Instagram users have grown from just 1 million users in December 2010 to over 1 billion <\/a>(yes, BILLION) active daily users this year!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n People respond to visual stimulation<\/a>, making Instagram an easy way to promote your business though pictures and videos. Simply put, <\/span>if your target audience is on Instagram, you need to be on Instagram too<\/span>.<\/p>\n But beyond just being<\/em> on Instagram, you need to be engaging <\/strong>with your audience.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t fall into the trap of just paying attention to \u201cvanity metrics<\/a>\u201d. Many business owners concentrate on getting as many followers as possible, but don\u2019t really take the time out to engage with them. It\u2019s important to know that:<\/p>\n Instagram Account + Followers <\/strong>\u2260 Clients<\/strong><\/p>\n Racking up followers is one step, but you still have work to do in order to turn these followers into actual clients. One way you can do this is through improving your engagement strategies.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s take a look at 7 ways to improve your Instagram engagement<\/a> to turn followers into customers:<\/p>\n People connect with people, not businesses, so be yourself:<\/p>\n Opening up about your business allows people to create a connection with you and be interested in developing a long term relationship<\/span>.<\/p>\n Instagram stories allows you to use the Questions sticker <\/a>to ask for your followers’ opinions about what they would like to see from your business.<\/p>\n Similarly, Instagram polls <\/a>are a great way to interact with your audience in real time. Polls allow you to hear different opinions from your audience, and gauge how they feel about new products you might want to offer.<\/p>\n Instagram Polls allow you to canvass your audience for their opinions, and then showcase the results. <\/p>\n Either way, questions and polls are super easy ways to spark conversation with your audience<\/span>. The more they feel a personal connection to you, the more likely they\u2019ll be to reach out as a client.<\/p>\n And be sure to make it fun. Every question you throw out there doesn’t have to be fitness-related. Get creative. Entertain people. Make them laugh. Doing so will guarantee that your audience will want to engage with you. <\/p>\n Another way you can engage with your followers is by encouraging them to message you directly<\/span>. This might be the most powerful prospecting strategy on IG, but it has potential to be a time-sucker if not done with proper boundaries. <\/p>\n In your videos, you can give a call-to-action for your followers to send you a DM<\/a> with a particular question OR if they want to chat about a specific topic. When they do, ask a few questions to engage them, and then offer to hop on a call with them.<\/p>\n IMPORTANT:<\/strong><\/p>\n The last thing you want to do is to start dispensing free advice via DMs. If people think they just got a solution from you, there’s no incentive for them to become your client. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/strong>Instead, you want to show interest by asking questions and then move them onto a call to pitch your services<\/span>.<\/p>\n While Instagram is known for its photos, an attention grabbing video<\/a> is the perfect way for your followers to invest a little bit more in your page. Not only this, but Instagram stories and <\/span>Instagram Live<\/span><\/a> allow you to post short videos in real time to engage with your followers throughout the day<\/span>.<\/p>\n You can solicit extra attention from your audience, and deliver even better content than in your photos.<\/p>\n You can use Instagram stories to show off your workouts, other clients, and capture the attention of your IG followers. <\/p>\n PRO TIP: <\/strong>Don\u2019t forget to cue viewers by waving at them or pointing to your ear when they need to turn up the volume for your videos<\/span>. Most people scroll Instagram with the sound off, so there\u2019s no point in posting vids if your audience isn\u2019t getting the full experience.<\/p>\n Instagram Analytics <\/a>and Insights allows you to figure out the time of day <\/a>most of your followers are online. These are the times you want to post the most, because this is when your audience will be ready to engage. <\/p>\n Analytics tools can help you figure out the best time of day to post your Instagram updates.<\/p>\n You can even schedule your posts using scheduling apps such as Buffer<\/a>, Hootsuite<\/a> or Later<\/a> so you don\u2019t always have to remember what times to post.<\/p>\n Even though Instagram\u2019s focus is mainly its photos, the right caption can captivate your audience<\/span>. Instagram captions can be up to 2,200 characters, so you\u2019ve plenty of space to get your message out.<\/p>\n People will engage with your post longer if there\u2019s a caption for them to read as well. Just don\u2019t overdo it – The trick is not to post super-long posts, but rather the one that will resonate most<\/a> with your audience, helping them to know, like, and trust YOU more.<\/p>\n EXAMPLE:<\/strong> If you post a video of a specific workout, you can also provide an explanation of the workout in your captions, broken down into simple steps so that people will want to read it in order to remind them how it works. <\/p>\n As you can see in this photo, hashtags boost your follower interactions, <\/p>\n Hashtags <\/a>are amazing, because they allow you to reach an audience way beyond just your followers. You can add a hashtag to your posts and stories, and your post will be compiled along other posts from all over the world with the same hashtag<\/span>.<\/p>\n So if you add hashtags like #fitnessworkout and #healthyfood to your posts, they\u2019ll show up in the feed when someone searches for or clicks on #fitnessworkout and #healthyfood anywhere on Instagram, whether or not they follow you.<\/p>\n Hashtags get your posts in front of the people who you want to target most. You can add hashtags to your profile page as well to drive traffic <\/a>to your page.<\/p>\n There are plenty others way to get the most out of your Instagram, so why don\u2019t you get started right away?<\/p>\n Over the past nine years, Instagram has become one of the fastest growing social networks. Even more, depending on your target demographic, it may be absolutely essential to growing a successful online personal training business. Not convinced? Instagram users have grown from just 1 million users in December 2010 to over 1 billion (yes, BILLION) active daily […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":5114,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","tve_updated_post":" Over the past nine years, Instagram has become one of the fastest growing social networks. Even more, depending on your target demographic, it may be absolutely essential to growing a successful online personal training business. <\/p> Not convinced?<\/p><\/div> People respond to visual stimulation<\/a>, making Instagram an easy way to promote your business though pictures and videos. Simply put, <\/span>if your target audience is on Instagram, you need to be on Instagram too<\/span>.<\/p> But beyond just being<\/em> on Instagram, you need to be engaging <\/strong>with your audience.<\/p> Don\u2019t fall into the trap of just paying attention to \u201cvanity metrics<\/a>\u201d. Many business owners concentrate on getting as many followers as possible, but don\u2019t really take the time out to engage with them. It\u2019s important to know that:<\/p><\/div> Racking up followers is one step, but you still have work to do in order to turn these followers into actual clients. One way you can do this is through improving your engagement strategies.<\/p> Let\u2019s take a look at 7 ways to improve your Instagram engagement<\/a> to turn followers into customers:<\/p><\/div> People connect with people, not businesses, so be yourself:<\/p> Opening up about your business allows people to create a connection with you and be interested in developing a long term relationship<\/span>.<\/p><\/div> Instagram stories allows you to use the Questions sticker <\/a>to ask for your followers' opinions about what they would like to see from your business.<\/p> Similarly, Instagram polls <\/a>are a great way to interact with your audience in real time. Polls allow you to hear different opinions from your audience, and gauge how they feel about new products you might want to offer.<\/p><\/div> Instagram Polls allow you to canvass your audience for their opinions, and then showcase the results. <\/p><\/div> Either way, questions and polls are super easy ways to spark conversation with your audience<\/span>. The more they feel a personal connection to you, the more likely they\u2019ll be to reach out as a client.<\/p> And be sure to make it fun. Every question you throw out there doesn't have to be fitness-related. Get creative. Entertain people. Make them laugh. Doing so will guarantee that your audience will want to engage with you. <\/p><\/div> Another way you can engage with your followers is by encouraging them to message you directly<\/span>. This might be the most powerful prospecting strategy on IG, but it has potential to be a time-sucker if not done with proper boundaries. <\/p> In your videos, you can give a call-to-action for your followers to send you a DM<\/a> with a particular question OR if they want to chat about a specific topic. When they do, ask a few questions to engage them, and then offer to hop on a call with them.<\/p> IMPORTANT:<\/strong><\/p><\/div> <\/strong>Instead, you want to show interest by asking questions and then move them onto a call to pitch your services<\/span>.<\/p><\/div> While Instagram is known for its photos, an attention grabbing video<\/a> is the perfect way for your followers to invest a little bit more in your page. Not only this, but Instagram stories and <\/span>Instagram Live<\/span><\/a> allow you to post short videos in real time to engage with your followers throughout the day<\/span>.<\/p> You can solicit extra attention from your audience, and deliver even better content than in your photos.<\/p><\/div> You can use Instagram stories to show off your workouts, other clients, and capture the attention of your IG followers. <\/p><\/div> PRO TIP: <\/strong>Don\u2019t forget to cue viewers by waving at them or pointing to your ear when they need to turn up the volume for your videos<\/span>. Most people scroll Instagram with the sound off, so there\u2019s no point in posting vids if your audience isn\u2019t getting the full experience.<\/p><\/div> Instagram Analytics <\/a>and Insights allows you to figure out the time of day <\/a>most of your followers are online. These are the times you want to post the most, because this is when your audience will be ready to engage. <\/p><\/div> Analytics tools can help you figure out the best time of day to post your Instagram updates.<\/p><\/div> You can even schedule your posts using scheduling apps such as Buffer<\/a>, Hootsuite<\/a> or Later<\/a> so you don\u2019t always have to remember what times to post.<\/p><\/div> Even though Instagram\u2019s focus is mainly its photos, the right caption can captivate your audience<\/span>. Instagram captions can be up to 2,200 characters, so you\u2019ve plenty of space to get your message out.<\/p> People will engage with your post longer if there\u2019s a caption for them to read as well. Just don\u2019t overdo it - The trick is not to post super-long posts, but rather the one that will resonate most<\/a> with your audience, helping them to know, like, and trust YOU more.<\/p> EXAMPLE:<\/strong> If you post a video of a specific workout, you can also provide an explanation of the workout in your captions, broken down into simple steps so that people will want to read it in order to remind them how it works. <\/p><\/div> As you can see in this photo, hashtags boost your follower interactions, <\/p><\/div>![\"Instagram](\"https:\/\/www.totalcoaching.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/7-Ways-to-Instantly-Improve-Your-Instagram-Engagement-for-Better-Lead-Generation1.jpg\" "\\"7")
<\/span><\/p>\n1. Show “Behind the Scenes”<\/h2>\n
\n
2. Ask a Question or Run a Poll<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.totalcoaching.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/47052902_10156451531286117_6550526460199698432_n.jpg\" "\\"47052902_10156451531286117_6550526460199698432_n\\"")
<\/span><\/p>\n3. Ramp Up Your DM Game<\/h2>\n
4. Upgrade to IG Stories & Videos<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.totalcoaching.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/story-instagram-takeover.jpg\" "\\"story-instagram-takeover\\"")
<\/span><\/p>\n5. Schedule Strategically<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.totalcoaching.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Sprout-Social-min.png\" "\\"Sprout-Social-min\\"")
<\/span><\/p>\n6. Find the Perfect Caption<\/h2>\n
7. #Hashtag #Hashtag #Hashtag!<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.totalcoaching.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Hashtags-and-Interaction.jpg\" "\\"Hashtags-and-Interaction\\"")
<\/span><\/p>\nHave more questions on how to maximize your Instagram engagement? Leave them in the comment box below!<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Instagram users have grown from just 1 million users in December 2010 to over 1 billion <\/a>(yes, BILLION) active daily users this year!<\/blockquote><\/div>
<\/span><\/div>1. Show \"Behind the Scenes\"<\/h2><\/div>
2. Ask a Question or Run a Poll<\/h2><\/div>
<\/span>3. Ramp Up Your DM Game<\/h2><\/div>
The last thing you want to do is to start dispensing free advice via DMs. If people think they just got a solution from you, there's no incentive for them to become your client. <\/blockquote><\/div>
4. Upgrade to IG Stories & Videos<\/h2><\/div>
<\/span>5. Schedule Strategically<\/h2><\/div>
<\/span>6. Find the Perfect Caption<\/h2><\/div>
7. #Hashtag #Hashtag #Hashtag!<\/h2><\/div>
<\/span>