I was a slow adopter of Instagram. Even though I knew there were a bazillion users (OK, not a real number) on the platform, I wasn’t connecting how its pretty pictures connected to the promotion and growth of my business.
Eventually, like with most things I have an antagonistic relationship with, I gave into a deep dive, researching and noting how it’s different than Facebook (and other social media platforms) and how many professional possibilities lied before me.
Instagram—a.k.a. Insta, the ’Gram, or IG (for the sake of this article, we’ll go with IG) has a handful of components you’ll find useful in connecting to your target audiences: namely your bio, feed, hashtags, IG Stories, and IG Reels. Let’s get started.
Your Bio
Your bio is a 150-character space under your name where you can tell users about yourself. You can format it in paragraph form, or you can use bullets to let people know who you are and what you do. You can also be personal, since you want to convey who you are, why people should follow you, and what sort of content people can expect from you. What will visitors find on your page when you come up in their search? Share a selection of relevant information out of the abundance of what you would share with your clients. And don’t forget to include a call to action! Include a link to your website in your bio that users can click to find out more about your business and the services you offer.
Your Feed
Let’s start with some distinction here: There’s your feed—this is where the photos or videos you upload will live—and the homepage (the main page you see when you go on IG, where you can see other people’s posts). For someone to view your personal feed, they have to either search for your handle (a.k.a. username) or click on your profile from a photo or Story they saw you posted on the homepage. For your feed, put a little more care into what you choose. Carefully curate and thoughtfully pick what images best represent your business so they will look cohesive when someone views them on your profile.
Hashtags
Hashtags are the main way people will find you when they search Instagram for specific keywords or click on ones they see. These are keywords you add to your captions using the symbol “#.” The use of hashtags is how you can be part of a bigger conversation, where you are potentially speaking to anyone who searched for specific hashtags, not just your followers. Note: It’s important to “camel case” hashtags for accessibility, meaning no spaces and capitalizing each word. Screen readers won’t be able to read it correctly otherwise. Example: #YouGoGirl and #MassageIsTheBest.
IG Stories
While your feed is mostly pictures and videos about your business, IG Stories is where you can post more personal photos and videos. Through IG Stories, you can show users bits and pieces of your life that reflect how you live the values you share on your feed.
When using IG Stories, you can be as creative as you want. You can even use filters as you show people who you are as a business owner.
You can also take advantage of the highlight feature in IG Stories and use it as a digital brochure for potential clients. You can include client testimonials or show your audience the different modalities you do to give them a bit more understanding of what you offer and who you are as a practitioner. IG Stories are more fleeting and will disappear after 24 hours.
IG Reels
Reels are IG’s answer to TikTok. Reels are 15-second videos you create that are public. For example, you can do a time-lapse video of you performing a treatment, or show snippets from your life as a massage therapist. Reels are meant to be fun, but massage therapists can also harness them to educate users.
IGTV
On the other hand, IGTV offers long-form videos up to 10 minutes. Essentially, it’s IG’s version of YouTube. There is a separate IGTV tab on your profile, but it also has an option to be visible on your main profile.
How do You Start an IG Page?
To initiate your IG presence, first download the app to your smartphone or other device, or go to Instagram.com on your computer and sign up for an account. Add your bio and upload your business logo or photo. Your first photo can be a selfie of you with a caption that introduces who you are and what you do. Plan out a strategy for the first, most important posts and then start posting away. After you set up your first page, invite your family, friends, and relatives to follow you on IG to get the word out.
Action Precedes Clarity
One big thing we know about IG is that it rewards early adopters of new features to the platform. The Reels part of IG was only launched in Australia in August 2020, but therapists I know who use Reels are getting much higher engagement and more likes because they are publicly searchable (you don’t have to follow an account to see their Reels).
Now remember: Action precedes clarity. No one got good at IG because they got lucky. Everyone figures new things like this out along the way. Out of the 1 billion users on IG, 25 million are business accounts. And of the daily users on the platform, 80 percent have discovered a service or product from the platform.
Of course, there is more to learn—and lots of strategy to be applied to IG—but don’t let that put you off. None of the learning or strategy makes a squat of difference if you haven’t even started yet! Now is your time to go and try IG! #YouGotThis #InstaChamp.
4 Steps to Engage Clients
Just getting yourself up and running on IG is great, but the goal of any marketing strategy is to attract clients—so let’s talk about four steps to attracting and booking clients using IG.
Sign Up
If you don’t have a business Instagram account, create one so that you can easily link your Facebook or other social media accounts. This will give you the ability to do things like run paid advertising and track statistics in the future. Enable your IG business account by going into “Settings,” then “Account.” Tap “Switch to Professional Account,” select the category that best describes your business, and select “Business.” Then, link your IG business account to your Facebook page by following these steps:
1. From your profile page, select “Edit Profile.”
2. Under Public Business Information, select “Page.”
3. Tap “Create Facebook Page” or “Connect an Existing Page.”
4. Choose a Page that you’d like to connect to or select “Create a New Facebook Page.”
5. Tap “Done.”
Post Photos
You need followers, and to do that you will need photos. So off you go! Armed with your smartphone, take pictures of you, your team, your happy clients, and your clinic. Feel free to add other nice things that are in alignment with your brand, like some of the retail products you offer. Maybe this week’s soundtrack. Remember to post consistently (2–7 times each week). The Insights feature on IG lets you know when your people are online and scrolling and what they are engaging with..
Activate
It’s time to start using the platform, so go and follow other businesses and people. Post in your clinic that you are on IG and encourage your clients to follow you. (Then you should follow them back too.)
Engage and Share
Instagram is about community, and it rewards engagement by boosting you in the algorithm. This is not a platform to set and forget, or hope that if you build it, they will come. Follow, like, and comment on posts. Reply to Stories in a genuine and authentic way, and share Stories that shout out businesses or products you love and use—and tag them. Collaborate. Each save, comment, and direct message reply to a Story on your account equals the platform pushing your posts to more eyeballs (called “Reach” in your Insights feature).
Elicia’s Not-So-Secret Success Tips for the ’Gram
1. Follow 100 people a day for seven straight days. This will help boost your numbers right out of the gate (if you’re just starting), or give you a nice boost if you’re straggling bringing in new people following you. Find businesses and people who match massage and bodywork and related lifestyles.
2. Use 30 hashtags after each post. Examples include #massage #massagetherapy #bodywork #healthylifestyle #bowen #craniosacral. No, you don’t have to type them out each and every time for every new post. Simply write them out once, save them in your notes, and then copy and paste them at the conclusion of each post.
3. Color coordinate. Want to really take your feed to the next level? Because your visible feed is nine images, I’ve seen people color coordinate those nine images using a similar filter or background, then switch to a new filter or background for the next nine images. It certainly can set your page apart and make you look like an IG pro.
Elicia Crook is a business coach and mentor for massage therapists, sharing the tactics she used to create her business success over 16 years. She is a diploma-qualified remedial massage therapist, using modalities such as Bowen and craniosacral therapy, and has a Cert IV in Workplace Training and Assessment, which she used while teaching massage for several years. Through her career and business experience, Crook discovered who she needed to be and what is required to run a deeply satisfying massage business. Now she takes the Fully Booked Without Burnout blueprint to other therapists around the world to create more success and passion. For more information, visit massagechampions.com.