Should your agency be on Instagram?

Should your agency be on Instagram?
 

 

I recently had a conversation with a friend and colleague about when an agency should be on Instagram.

It sounds obvious for a design agency to be using Instagram as part of their marketing mix. But I see so many agencies wasting so much time on Instagram; I wanted to explore and unpack when and why it's relevant with someone who's bossing it.

Through the course of our conversation, we figured out a few fundamental principles to bear in mind if you're planning to use Instagram for your agency:

Be a founder or senior person.

The person in charge of your account should be a founder or a senior person within your agency. That's because junior people are more likely to need messaging alignment and sign off before they can even post anything. And that means slower content, that is less interesting because it's out of date. It would help if you also had a level of awareness, confidence and assertiveness to have an opinion that aligns with what your target audience wants to hear.

Have a goal/follower in mind

Just like any marketing activity, Instagram will be so much more effective if you have a target audience in mind. Do a quick persona or have a favourite client that you respect in mind when you think up content - like attracts like!

Be prepared to be consistent.

This isn't an activity to jump in and out of. If you're starting to use Instagram, be prepared to be consistent with your content creation and use of the platform.

But set time boundaries.

Equally, don't spend a disproportionately large amount of time on the platform. There are a handful of other, in my opinion, more effective and faster ways to win new business. So Instagram should be a segment of, not all of your marketing energies.

Be comfortable with sharing other people's work.

Instagram is social. I don't need to tell you this. It's in the name, social media. But too many agencies use it as a platform for their news, rather than a two-way conversation. Be willing to big-up other people's work. This needn't be your competitors but could be your employee's side projects, collaborator's profiles, client's content: there are lots of options to big up others when you think long and hard about it.

Have a personality. If you daren't, don't be here. 

Don't create an overtly different persona for Instagram. You must be true to your brand personality in a face to face encounter. If you're not authentic, honest and direct, then the audience will feel a disconnect. Or get bored.

Give more than you take

Be prepared to spend 2/3 of your Instagram time on commenting and building relationships, vs 1/3 of your time on content. I've been guilty of this in the past. Content building is much easier to undertake in blocks of time and then forget about the platform for a while. But conversations happen daily, and those conversations are critical to your Instagram success.

Let it be light.

If it feels like too much effort, then it's probably not right for you. 

Offer a call to action.

Even if you don't feel comfortable selling a service on Instagram, make it clear who, when and where people should get in contact with you. Otherwise, you're entirely missing the marketing opportunity.

Don't expect the world in return. 

Don't get disheartened if the phone doesn't start ringing after you start posting. Instagram is unlikely to win you a lot of business, but it might help to build a better, more rounded view of your agency. 

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