How to Get Clients on Instagram (A Guide for Agencies)

Learning how to get clients on Instagram shouldn’t be your last-ditch effort. 

As a visual sharing platform, Instagram is a popular network for brands promoting their products through high-quality photos and videos. But with the right tactics, it can also be a powerful lead generation avenue for agencies and B2B service providers. 

Continue reading to find out how to get clients for digital marketing through Instagram.

1. Put your business profile on steroids

Creating a business account is a prerequisite for any company trying to promote on Instagram.

Don’t have a business account yet? You can easily create one by switching to a professional profile within the app. 

Having a business account on Instagram unlocks the “Professional Dashboard.” This comes with a handful of benefits for agencies and brands, like:

• Built-in account analytics
• Advertising tools
• Influencer marketing content tools
• Instagram Shopping 
• Instagram marketing learning resources

After creating your Instagram business account, the next step is to optimize it for lead generation. 

First, upload a professional profile picture that best represents your agency. This could be your photo or your agency’s logo. 

Be sure to write an informative and concise description of your agency. Insert links to relevant pages to enable leads to take action as soon as they find your business account.

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2. Centralize your social media lead generation with Vista Social

Instagram, by itself, can equip you with a set of lightweight tools you can use for lead generation.

But with Vista Social, your agency will be armed to the teeth with results-focused lead generation solutions. 

Vista Social is a comprehensive social media management platform that can streamline your Instagram marketing initiatives. But before we show you the good stuff, you need to connect your account first.

You can do it through the “Quick Add” feature from the Vista Social dashboard. Just click ‘Add social profile,’ pick your entity, and choose ‘Instagram.’

Follow the on-screen instructions to finish linking your social profile. When done, your Instagram business account should now appear under ‘Social Profiles.’

Why do you need Vista Social?

Simple: whatever other social media management platforms do, Vista Social does better — for a substantially lower price.

Of course, it’s also helpful to have a single platform that can manage your presence across all social networks. Rather than frantically switching between apps, Vista Social’s unified social media publishing and tracking features will help you stay focused. 

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3. Create the right kind of content

For commercial brands, content creation for Instagram can be as straightforward as uploading eye-catching product photos. Digital marketing agencies, however, need a different approach. 

There are different types of Instagram marketing content agencies use to raise brand awareness and build an audience:

• Image quotes
• Data visualizations
• Client testimonials
• Blog post title images
• Open-ended questions
• Screenshots
• Mini tutorial videos

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Some marketers like Dain Walker usually stick to a single format when creating Instagram content.

Following the same content style and format can help you make your Instagram content more recognizable. It also makes it easier to create visual content in the long run. 

Others like Peng Joon, on the other hand, like to use diverse content formats that fit different situations.

It’s up to you to decide what type of content to use. 

If you don’t have anyone in your team who can create professional-looking visuals, you can use IG tools for graphic design. Some examples are:

• Canva
• Pixlr
• Snapseed

4. Use Vista Social to build a content publishing strategy 

On Instagram, creating visuals that can engage your audience is just a part of the puzzle. 

You also need a publishing strategy that will maximize the visibility of your content to your prospective clients. 

You can use Vista Social’s post scheduling features to make sure content reaches your audience at the right time. Posts can be scheduled individually or added to a queue — following publishing times you can set from your dashboard.

Tracking your target audience’s most active times on Instagram may take a while. In the meantime, you can start with the known best times to post:

• Frequency: Once or twice a day
• Best days: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday
• Best times: 11am-1pm, 7pm-9pm 

5. Write epic post descriptions

Great descriptions matter in turning Instagram traffic into potential leads. 

They give users more context on what your posts are about. 

You can also add links to relevant pages and mention influencers who can help spread your content. At the very least, descriptions should contain CTAs that encourage users to like, comment, or share your post. 

Don’t forget to sprinkle descriptions with the right hashtags to boost searchability. But if you’d like to keep descriptions clean and crisp, you can add hashtags via an automated first comment instead. 

You can do this using Vista Social’s first comment tool. 

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6. Talk to your audience directly through videos

Other than through your feed, there are four ways to upload videos on Instagram: Reels, Live, Stories, and IGTV. 

Each format has specific uses that can help agencies generate leads.

What really matters are the actual topic and content you pack into your Instagram videos. They must be educational, thought-provoking, and contain information that can benefit your target audience. 

Ticking all the boxes will help you build brand authority and invite prospects to check out your agency.

A good example would be Peng Joon’s video on using webinars.

You don’t have to create the most viewed video on Instagram to get results with videos (although it’s a huge plus). As long as your video is informative and directed at the right audience, it can be a valuable asset for lead generation. 

Regardless, consider looking up Instagram Reels tutorial videos, guides, and courses to improve content performance.

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How to get more views on Instagram

Want to maximize the results you can get with the strategies above? 

What you need is one thing: more views. 

Below are a few ideas on how to get more views on Instagram:

Follow profiles that match your audience persona

Following or connecting with profiles in hopes of getting followed back is a time-tested strategy for getting social traffic. It’s a strategy that businesses use to get clients on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. 

The key steps to this strategy are as follows: 

• Build an audience persona based on the characteristics of your target audience.
• Find Instagram accounts that match your persona using keywords and hashtags.
• Follow those accounts and engage their Instagram content (like, comment, etc.).
• Take the first opportunity to introduce your agency and offer your services. 

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Experiment with Instagram Story hacks

Instagram Stories leave a lot of room for creativity — thanks to its collection of handy and interactive stickers. You can ask questions, run polls, insert shoppable stickers, and more. 

Agencies can also save stories as highlights and utilize them as unique branding elements in their profiles. A great example would be Dain Walker’s Instagram highlights:

Promote your Instagram content on other channels

As a digital marketing agency, chances are you know how to get clients on Facebook, LinkedIn, and other networks. 

Leverage your presence in those channels to promote your Instagram content and reach a wider audience. Also, mention and link to your Instagram page on your website as well. 

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Start Captivating Leads using Vista Social

Incorporating visuals into your content marketing strategy isn’t a simple task. But that’s how to get corporate clients who only want to work with leading experts. 

Vista Social can mobilize your lead generation strategy not just on Instagram, but on every major social network as well. Register for a free account and start exploring the platform today.