Waiting for those dream clients to slide into your DMs?

If you’ve been posting and putting out content consistently but still aren’t seeing the results you want, this post is for you. I’m breaking down a simple three-step process you can steal to grow on Instagram and attract dream clients on autopilot.

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Keep reading or watch the video below!

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Step #1: Get visible

You’ve probably heard this before, but what does it actually mean to “be visible?” Whether you’re brand new in business or have been doing this forever, people can’t hire you if they don’t know you exist. 

You have to get in front of your ideal audience, which means you need to be clear on two things: 

• Your niche
• Your ideal client

The best way to do this is to actually get out there and start talking to people! Interact with your ideal clients, put out market research surveys, and start the conversation. If you’re still struggling to nail down your niche, check out this video.

Now let’s dive into some specific tactics for building visibility.

Related post: How to Make Money on Instagram

Hashtags

The most important thing to keep in mind for your hashtag strategy is to use tags your ideal clients are searching for. Some hashtags are good for general growth, but the goal is to get in front of people who will buy from you (not have random people like your posts).

Fun fact: this is actually how I found my photographer! I was searching through tags like #photographerbali. Put yourself in your ideal client’s shoes and think about what they would be searching for.

Engagement

Don’t just engage with people at random–think strategically about who you interact with. 

One way to do this is to go to a competitor’s account and engage with people who have commented on their posts. By interacting with these people (who are likely part of your target audience), you’ll pop up on their feed, and the algorithm will help put you in front of the right people. 

Need help attracting ideal client followers? Check out this free guide!

Related Post: How to Increase Instagram Engagement Organically 

Collaborations 

This is one of my favorite ways to build trust and reach new audiences. Reach out to your peers, new friends, or clients and see if they would be interested in a collaboration. Think strategically about who might share a similar audience with you.

For example, as a business coach, I may reach out to a designer who has a lot of entrepreneurs in her audience. You don’t even need to sell anything directly, but by doing a stories swap or joint IGTV, you’ll bring in a lot of exposure to your account.

Another great tactic to try is tagging people in your stories and encouraging them to do the same. 

Reels

Reels should be a regular part of your Instagram content strategy by now, and if they’re not then you need to get on this! 

Reels are shown to 60% of new followers vs. your current followers, who are more likely to be watching your stories or reading your feed posts. So in order to both nurture your existing audience and attract new followers, you need to have a mix of both. 

One more thing to keep in mind about visibility: you can bring in lots of traffic using the tactics above, but if those people don’t stay on your profile then all your effort was for nothing. 

Start by optimizing your bio, content, and profile BEFORE diving into these visibility strategies. Make sure it’s crystal clear who you are, what you do, who you help, and how to work with you. Direct them to take one specific action (DM you, link in bio, etc.). 

Step #2: Create the best content possible

Now that you’ve drawn people into your world, you need to make them stick around. The #1 way to do this is to produce quality content that speaks directly to your ideal client and keeps them coming back.

Content pillars

There are a lot of different opinions floating around out there about what kind of content to post and how many content pillars you should have, but if you’re feeling overwhelmed I recommend focusing on these two areas:

• Educational content to build your authority
• Personal and relatable content to build know, like, and trust

And no matter what type of content you create, always, always, always do market research to validate your ideas. Don’t even think about skipping this! Just because you think your caption is clever, doesn’t mean it will resonate with your audience.

Focus on your ideal client’s pain points, desires, and everyday life–then create content that reflects their point of view.

The Instagram Hierarchy

To create truly captivating content, you need to understand the role of each part of your post. Here’s a general hierarchy to keep in mind:

• The image stops their scroll
• The first line hooks them in 
• The caption itself brings value
• The call to action sends them somewhere else
• They take the action and convert into a customer

Check out this example of a post that grabs and keeps your attention:

Step #3: Sell, sell, sell

After you’ve done all the hard work of attracting new your ideal clients and creating quality content, now it’s time for the most important step: you have to sell. 

So many people skip over this or don’t do it as often as they should, but if you want to grow on Instagram you have to treat it like the business tool it is! 

As a business owner, it’s your job to sell every day. You have to be consistent because at any given time, you’ll have followers who are at different stages in their customer journey–some are just discovering you for the first time and some are ready to buy. You need to be speaking to BOTH of these audiences. 

One last tip for you: if you’re not already, then get in the DMs and start building relationships–this is the single biggest thing that will lead to sales. Put yourself out there, start a conversation, and just see what happens.

Related post: How to Create an Instagram Sales Funnel 

Final thoughts on how to grow on Instagram

If you’re ready to dive into content creation and write captions that convert, make sure you check out The Content Kit. This is one of our best-selling courses, and it will walk you through the content creation system from start to finish.

And don’t forget to follow along on Instagram so you can see all these tips in action!