Brooke Vulinovich is an Instagram specialist, international keynote speaker and creator of the global Social Club Membership and Academy.
With more than 26,000 Instagram followers, Brooke’s advice on using social media effectively has continued to be sought-after by big brands and small business owners.
In the early stages of growing her online business, Brooke used Instagram and Facebook. But, time and time again, she noticed clients referring to her as the “Instagram go-to”.
“I decided to niche down and focus on Instagram as my main platform to teach,” Brooke explains. “Luckily, I did because that’s when the platform started to grow and evolve. Being an expert in one area has helped my business.”
After six years of running her online coaching community – the Social Club Membership and Academy – Brooke has learned a few things about business. Her top lessons and must-dos include investing in professional brand photography and learning the power of networking and business coaches early.
“Running an online business can be isolating,” Brooke says. “Having a network that I could turn to and that understood what I was going through made the journey less lonely and more fun.”
The same goes for investing in business coaching. Brooke says it’s an important part of growth because many of the intricacies of running a small business, like GST and tax rules, are unknown to first-time business owners.
Brooke has empowered thousands of businesses across 32 countries with tools and knowledge to get results when using Instagram. She’s partnered with American Express to bring this knowledge to Australian small business owners through a three-part online series, available for free on American Express Business Class.
Here’s a summary of Brooke’s five essential tips to leverage the power of social media to boost the bottom line.
Exposure and growth
The Instagram algorithm – launched after the platform experienced rapid growth – is a mathematical formula that determines what users see in their feed. This shift in how the Instagram feed highlights content meant that businesses had to rethink their social strategies to ensure their content remained visible to existing and prospective customers.
“Engagement drives the algorithm,” Brooke notes. “You need to engage with followers by starting the conversation.”
Unless it’s a celebrity, no small business owner that opens an Instagram account gets thousands of likes and comments immediately. Brooke says that professionals need to take matters into their own hands to connect with potential customers. They can do this by searching for and using relevant hashtags to their clients and always encouraging two-way communication on the platform. All this engagement will tell the algorithm to highlight a business’s content to their target audience.
“Instagram is a platform to connect, communicate and have a conversation,” Brooke says. “It’s not a microphone for your business. It’s a telephone – a two-way communication platform. When businesses realise this, that’s when they’ll see real growth.”
Clients and retention
To make sure small businesses are targeting and reaching their clientele, they need to know their market. Brooke recommends creating an ideal client profile with the following questions in mind:
- What other accounts does your customer follow on Instagram?
- What are their interests?
- How old are they?
- What is their relationship status?
- Where are they located?
- What do they value?
To ensure customer retention and decrease the chance of being unfollowed, businesses should be delivering consistent, valuable content that aligns to a customer insight. It needs to either entertain, educate or inspire its audience. “The more useful your content is, the more your followers will seek it out,” Brooke explains.
Highs and lows
The highs and lows of life –professional or personal – should not be hidden from customers.
“Many small businesses get on the app, and they want to look like they’re an enormous brand. But their followers want to see the journey and the behind the scenes,” Brooke says.
Brands that share stories and progress, including when things go wrong and the lessons learned, look authentic and relatable.
“People want authenticity from brands on social media,” Brooke confirms. “They don’t want everything to be perfect and aesthetically pleasing. So, deliver them that, and the sooner you do that, the sooner you’ll connect and grow.”
Content inspiration
Every business goes through a creative block. And with so much content on social media, posting, interacting, and reposting can get overwhelming. To reignite creativity, Brooke suggests consuming content posted by industry leaders and looking at trending hashtags. “The best place to find content is within the apps themselves,” she says.
The other valuable piece of advice Brooke shares is not to get caught up in perfection. “Done is better than perfect,” she says.
“Every account on Instagram that small business owners admire also had to create its first post. But they started and made mistakes along the way because that’s how we learn, and that’s how you grow. Don’t put off starting because you’re waiting for everything to be perfect.”
Watch Brooke’s three-part online series to get the fundamental know-how for social media business success.