Kristin Jerome - How to Turn Instagram Into a Money Making Machine: The Ultimate Guide For Small Business Owners

How to Turn Instagram Into aMoney Making Machine:

The Ultimate Guide for SmallBusiness Owners

Author: KristinJerome

Copyright 2017 KristinJerome

I can only assume that you chose to readthis book because you already have an idea of the amazing benefitsof using Instagram to get the word out about your business, andreach over 700 million potential customers. Maybe you are brand newto Instagram, or maybe you already have a good following but wantto learn how to turn those followers into actual customers. Thisbook will help to show you how to use this free app to enhance thefuture of your business and earn money with minimal effort. Whenyou first start a new business, whether it is a small home oronline based business, or a large store with multiple employees,one of the toughest hurdles to get over, is making the public awareof your existence. People cannot buy what you are selling if theydont know that you exist. So, the big question is: How do I getthe word out and start getting customers? The answer is simple,Instagram.

Instagram is not just for young kids wantingto post silly pictures for their friends, there are people of allages who use Instagram, and there are many businesses that arealready using Instagram to promote their products or services.People use it as a way to connect with others, to expressthemselves, and most importantly to us as business owners, to findgoods and services. If you are not on Instagram, these people mayend up going somewhere else and you will be missing out on growingyour business exponentially. Of course there are countless otherways to advertise and promote your business other than Instagram,but personally I have found this app to have the biggest return oninvestment of any advertising method I have used.

Everything I am going to talk about in thisbook is something that I have personally tried and found effective.I learned how to use Instagram by true trial and error, and I wantto share with you some of the keys to success that I was able tofigure out and use to gain new customers, and a steady source ofincome.

I am in charge of marketing, and managingthe front office, for a small auto repair shop that started fromground zero. They opened up the doors with no customer base (otherthan their friends and family), so it was up to me to figure outhow to turn the millions of people around the shop into loyalcustomers. The doors may have been open and a sign may have been upon the building, but all of the people passing by each day had noidea that the shop existed. I thought I had tried everything, butInstagram was not even on my radar, I had no idea of the manybenefits of using this app and how profitable it could be, and notto mention, how fun it could be.

I began with advertising avenues such as:Yelp, Craigslist, and business cards. These are all good low cost,or free, options of advertising, but the amount of customers thebusiness gained from these methods was just not enough. Once Irealized that these ways of getting the word out just werentworking like I would have liked, I sat down at my computer andbegan to do a lot of research. I spent countless hours trying tofind the secret key that would unlock the door to a constant flowof new customers and solid income, little did I know, that theanswer was right in the palm of my hand all along.

I had used Instagram for a couple of yearsfor personal use, but I had never thought of the possibility ofusing it to make money. One day, while casually swiping throughpictures of friends and family, I saw an ad for Chipotle, when Ifirst saw this I thought, Oh wow, that burrito looks amazing, andI clicked the like button. Then, the light bulb came on. IfChipotle has an ad on Instagram then it must be a good source ofincome for them, it sure worked on me; I wanted a burrito thatwhole day because of that tasty looking ad.

The next day I decided to give it a shot andcreated a business Instagram account for the auto shop that I workfor. I played around with the app for hours on end. I spent a lotof time posting new photos, tweaking descriptions and hashtags, andsearching for new followers. Only two days after starting theaccount, people started liking pictures, commenting, and asking forquotes on repairs. Less than one week after I created the account,customers started coming in, one after another, and spending money.I knew I had finally found something that worked. Who knew thatpeople actually searched for goods and services on Instagram, wellif you didnt know that you are not alone, I had no idea.

One thing I think is really important topoint out, is that there was a noticeable difference between theInstagram customers and the customers gained through other methodsof advertising. The difference was that they had trust andconfidence in the shop before they had ever even set foot in thedoor. I have been told by many of the customers that found the shopthrough Instagram, that they felt like they had a personalconnection with the shop because of the pictures they saw on theaccount; they felt like they knew the owner before they even methim and they even knew the shop dog by name. This is the key! Abusiness Instagram should give potential customers an insight intothe daily workings of the business through behind the scenes sneakpeaks. The content you post should make potential customers feellike they know you; like you are an old friend.

In this book, I will outline exactly how toearn money through establishing this type of personal relationshipwith people through the use of Instagram, and also some tips andtricks on seeking out your own target audience and keeping themengaged for years to come.

Every business has a specific group ofpeople that their product or service will sell best to. Forexample, lets say you own a shop that sells earrings, necklaces,and hair accessories; your target audience would most likely bewomen, maybe between the ages of 25-40, perhaps you sell high endjewelry so your target audience would be upper to middle classwomen. Once you know your target audience you can begin to paintthe picture of who you are looking for. If you tried to just sellto anyone, you may not have as good of luck; a single man in his20s probably doesnt have as great of a desire to buy a necklace asa woman would, not to say that everyone cant be a potentialcustomer, but figuring out who your products sell best to andmarketing directly to them is a sure fire way to increasesales.

After you have figured out who your productsor services would sell best to, there are some important questionsto answer. Where would this person shop? What do they do for fun?Where do they live? The answers to these questions, as well asothers, will be very different for each individual business and areessential when trying to seek out potential customers on Instagram,or any other platform as well. It would be great if the customerswere the ones that searched for you, but in the beginning, atleast, it will be critical for you to be proactive in finding them.So, lets go back to the example of the jewelry shop. This mid toupper class woman, between the ages of 25-40, maybe she shops atTiffanys, maybe for fun she goes golfing, and perhaps she livesnearby you in a nice part of town. Now that we have painted somefine details on to the picture of our target audience we can beginto find them and turn them into real customers.

How do you take this picture that we made ofa person and find them on Instagram? Well, hashtags of course! Forthe purpose of this book, I will assume that you already know whathashtags are. So, continuing on with our previous example, we willstart by searching for golf related words. You can search foractual golf courses, brand names, famous golfers, etc. Lets sayyou search for #Taylormade, you would search for women that usedthat hashtag, that seem to fit into your target audience, and clickfollow.