Instagram is more than just a place to post pictures of your lattes. It can also be the perfect hunting grounds for new clients! Maybe you’ve had an Instagram for your animation business for a while now or maybe you’re brand new. Either way, if it seems like no prospects are following your account it can feel discouraging.
If you want to gain animation clients online, you need to build your social media presence by following proven tips and concrete strategies by successful Instagram animators.
Competition online may be challenging, but following these 11 tips to gain animation clients on Instagram for free will give you a huge leg up on the competition.
1) Update Your Bio
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This one is basic but hugely important. Keep your bio up to date by adding a professional-looking profile picture of yourself or your logo. Then, add a keyword next to your name that you believe your ideal client is searching for.
According to Vanessa Lau, 7-figure online business owner, and a social media and entrepreneurship content coach, this is important because your potential clients are most likely looking for an animator. When they’re searching on Instagram, they don’t know who you are, but if they’re searching for an animator, the chances of you showing in the searching results are much higher.
Also, in under 150 characters, add a short description of what you do, what you offer, your website/portfolio link, and contact info such as your email and phone number. Since this is your business account, you need to make it look as professional as possible.
2) Find Your Animation Niche
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Not enough people follow this advice, but Stray Curls, an illustrator, blogger, and artist, suggests that artists on Instagram must first know who their target audience is before posting.
Having an animation niche will make you look like an expert in a particular field. For example, if you work for animation brands and enjoy animating for food and beverage brands, it’s best if you post that kind of work on your Instagram account. This means you will need to pick-and-choose not only your best work, but the best work within a particular niche to post on your Instagram.
This will make it easier for you to attract an audience that is interested in one topic. When your online audience sees that you have interesting, helpful, and entertaining posts regarding this topic, they will want to follow you and maybe even work with you someday.
3) Have a High-Quality Feed
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You’re an animator. That means aesthetics are important when it comes to your career. What will attract animation clients to follow you and work with you is your visuals. That means you have to post high-quality videos and images with a unique aesthetic that fits your brand.
Consider choosing a dominant color to integrate throughout your photos and videos. Make sure that the details are in order as well, such as checking that your videos and images aren’t pixelated and that our background music is heard well.
According to Uplead, making sure that your videos are of high-quality makes you look professional and help you stand out from other animators posting videos of their work. It can level up your paycheck from good to great.
Another good thing to keep in mind is that people prefer watching videos over reading a wall of text. If you can make your videos high-quality, people will find them interesting and keep coming back to your Instagram account. Eventually, you want to turn your followers into clients.
4) Write Compelling Captions
Instagram may be a platform for visual storytelling, but you also have to accompany your posts with exciting and engaging captions.
Your caption is a great way to tell the story behind your animation as well as entertain and inform people about the topic at hand and encourage them to take a specific action.
In your captions, you can encourage your audience to like, comment, save, and share your post. Also, include a call-to-action that will lead your online audience to click the website link in your Instagram bio.
5) Use Hashtags
Many businesses and individuals on Instagram fail to overlook the use of hashtags, not knowing that it could widen their reach and get them more clients. Don’t underestimate hashtags!
With 95 million photos and videos posted on Instagram per day, it will be hard for you to be seen by your potential animation clients. An excellent way for your target audience to discover you is through the use of hashtags.
Remember that when using hashtags, the longer the hashtag phrase and the more hashtags you use, the better. There are limits, though: the maximum number of hashtags you can include in your post is 30. You can keep your hashtags in your comments section if you want to make your post look neat.
When choosing hashtags, you can use a few popular and broad ones, but your post is sure to get buried under a thousand other posts under the same hashtag in a matter of seconds. Instead, use more hashtags that are less popular but very relevant to your animation business.
You will want to use hashtags that your ideal target audience will be searching for.
You can also create a custom hashtag for your business. If people post about you and use this hashtag, you will know who your followers are. Another thing you could do is send them some encouragement by following them and reposting and commenting on their posts.
Later says comments have become a game-changer to increase a brand's exposure with minimum effort required. It can give your audience a sense of community and convey that you are genuinely interested in your audience and your work..
6) Post Once a Day
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Posting once a day will keep your Instagram feed updated and top of mind (and top of feed for your followers). The more a person sees your content, the more they will remember you and think of you.
However, more isn’t always better. You may have many content and animation clips to share with your followers, but be careful not to overdo it. Your followers will find this annoying and will most likely unfollow you.
When posting, make sure that you post when your followers are most active, and at the best times.. According to Media Update, the best days to post on Instagram are Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays between 11 am-1 pm and then 7 pm-9 pm.
7) Schedule Posts In Advance
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The Instagram algorithm may have changed throughout the years showing users the content that they like, but posting at the right times can still make you more visible on Instagram.
By scheduling your posts, you will be able to reach your audience and maintain a consistent flow of content at the same time.
Gone are the days you forget your time to post or have varying impressions and reach. Some tools you can use to automate your Instagram scheduling are Later, Sprout Social, and Agorapulse. Not only will this save you time, but it will also definitely maximize your success!
8) Engage With Your Followers
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Engaging with people by commenting on their posts is a must-do if you want to build connections with potential animation clients. It can be time-consuming and yet an effective technique.
When you comment on people’s posts, make sure that you seem genuine about it and want to build a real relationship with them. If you interact with people, they will most likely respond back with a comment or reaction. If you’re going to take your conversation to a deeper level, react to or comment on their Instagram Stories.
When people comment on your post, immediately respond to them. Even just an emoji or short reply will help build your relationship and convert your followers into an animation client.
9) Use Instagram Stories
Instagram Stories is one of Instagram’s most popular features, which they launched in 2016. You may think that Instagram Stories is not a great way to promote yourself because it only lasts for 24 hours, but Mention says that with Stories sitting at the top of users’ feeds, you have a big chance of getting noticed.
With Instagram Stories, you can make a more personal connection with your followers, share quotes, your latest equipment, behind the scenes, etc. You can also tag users and use hashtags, which is another great way to increase your followers, especially if people are following specific hashtags that you use. Using stickers, such as quizzes or polls, is a great way to increase your engagement with your audience as well, so make sure to utilize one next time you post!
10) Take Advantage of Trends and Pop Culture
Not sure what you can post about to gain followers? Motionhatch recommends that you upload your animation posts based on a holiday or anything trending, whether it’s a meme, movie, tv-show, music video, current events, etc.
Staying up-to-date on the cultural zeitgeist will keep you relevant and convey to your audience that you (and by association, your business) live in the now, instead of being caught up in the past.
11) Use Instagram Insights
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Instagram Insights is a great tool that allows you to track many metrics that will help you plan, create, and upload content that will attract your audience
You’ll see the number of times your posts have been seen, the number of actions people made on your accounts, the number of unique accounts that saw your posts, your audience’s age range and gender, profile visits, website clicks, and many more.
The insights that you will see may overwhelm you. To break down your data and use it to your advantage, you need to define goals for the action you make on your accounts. For example, if you want to build brand awareness, you need to look at your flower count, impressions, and reach.
It is important to note that you will be able to see more varieties of metrics if you have a business account. This is a simple switch in settings - make sure that it is turned on!
Wrapping It Up
Gaining followers and animation clients on Instagram for business is a long-term and continuous process. It takes a lot of time, creativity, and socialization. However, when you get the hang of it, it will become one of your most reliable sources for gaining new clients and income.
Follow these 11 tips and you’ll definitely be able to grow an audience interested in seeing your posts and working with you in the future.
If you want to learn more about animation and how to become a successful animator, make sure you get your copy of our free marketing handbook and join our free masterclass.
