Christmas is the perfect time to give back to your customers and show them that you care, so this year, why not use your Instagram to say thank you to your followers and build relationships that last for life, not just for Christmas. If you are looking for inspiration, here are 5 ways your small business can give big this Christmas:
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- Instagram guides
To give something back to your followers doesn’t necessarily mean you have to offer them something physical; the majority of people would be more than happy to receive the gift of knowledge. ‘Instagram Guides’ are one Instagram’s newest features, and they allow users to view a thread of content related to a specific topic in a similar format to a blog post – all without leaving Instagram! They are a great way to share helpful tips and useful information in an easy-to-digest format and can include content from both your account and others that you feel your audience may find useful. The key thing is to include content that will benefit your audience in some way and make them feel as if they have received something of value.
Instagram Guides are not only great for your followers, but they can help to extend the lifespan of your content as it’s highly likely you will be linking back to some of your past posts. They are also a great way to expand your reach, as if your audience finds your content useful, the likelihood is they will want to share it with their followers, and word-of-mouth (WOM) communication is one of the most valued forms of marketing.
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- Giveaways
A giveaway is a great way for you to give something back to your audience whilst helping to increase engagement with your brand. When it comes to posting giveaways on Instagram, one of the most commonly adopted tactics is to set the entry requirements as things that will help you to increase your reach and drive engagement, some examples include: encouraging users to like the post and share it to their story, asking your audience to tag a specified number of accounts in the comments, or even simply getting users to follow your account.
A great example of a small business making the most of Instagram giveaways this Christmas is Katie Loxton (@katieloxton), who has cleverly adapted the ‘12 days of Christmas’ to create 12 giveaways for her followers. The giveaway has seen the engagement levels soar, with posts jumping from just a few hundred likes to over 4,500 in some cases and comments jumping from an average of less than 10 per post to more than 12.6k on the most recent post – the numbers really do speak for themselves.
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- Infographics
Infographics are a great way to offer valuable insights and educational content to your followers in an engaging way. When it comes to posting infographics, more and more businesses are making the most of Instagram’s carousel feature, which allows users to seamlessly swipe through multiple images in one post. Check out our latest Instagram post here to see a carousel post in action.
- Instagram Stories
Instagram offers a range of interactive story features – from polls to Q&As – which are a great way to encourage engagement from your audience and show them that their opinions matter to you. Along with gaining insights and feedback from your followers, you can also use Instagram Stories to offer your followers exclusive discounts, create some fun through interactive quizzes and competitions, and really just make them feel part of a community (which is something a lot of people will really value after the year we have had).
So, there’s a roundup of just a few ways your small business can give big this Christmas, but of course, there are plenty more things you can do – Instagram is all about creativity, so the opportunities are endless! If you are interested in learning more about how we can help your small business to grow, check out our digital marketing for small businesses page here.
