Here’s 9 tips on how to use Instagram to grow enrollment for your Dance Studio!

1: Be clear about your brand and create content your customers love.

Have a steady mix of dance advice, news from your studio,  motivational quotes, and personal foolishness that resonates with your users.It’s up to you to figure out what your students want to see. Are there themes or styles that resonate? Once you know what works, populate your account with images, quotes and promotions that tie into your business.

(A good way to find out what your customers are looking for is by scoping out what your competition is posting. If you’re way ahead of the game, then look to popular blogs and websites in your space.) Always remember … engagement is king.

2: Post images that attract people’s attention and make them want to share.

How to get active audience engagement? The key is to make sure that you’re offering both great design and value. A picture is worth a thousand words…so make sure you’re saying the right ones!!I like to use apps like WordSwag and Typorama to create all of my posts. These tools make your stuff look completely professional for absolutely no cost (and they’re EASY to use.)

3: Use strong calls to action (in your bio, images, and comments).

A lot of companies are starting to post on Instagram. Unfortunately for them, they never tell people what to do or where to go! You can make use of the bio section in your profile by using a strong “call to action” that directs viewers to your enrollment page. You have up to 150 characters, so a fun snappy CTA works best.

Post photos of your dancers and your teachers. But less obvious is using the comments section to tell people what to do!  Lastly, you can make use of the images themselves to drive up engagement. Tools like WordSwag make this so easy, a first grader can learn it.

AN EXAMPLE

And remember … You don’t always have to push to sell. “Warming up” your audience is a long term strategy to sell. Have some fun and it’ll pay back!

use instagram to grow

4: Post all the time. Instagram is a volume game.

The company hasn’t released statistics to confirm or deny this, but experience tells me it definitely favors accounts who post more regularly.

Some instagram specialists say to post between 5-10 times per day, with about 2 hours between each post.  This can be done with a scheduling program like ONLYPULT.

5: #Hashtags!

Hashtags can be extremely powerful for creating awareness of what you’re up to. Think of them as a “search” tool that helps viewers find topics and ideas they’re interested in.So how do you use them?

Every time you make a post, write a caption before posting up the photo. Then, AFTER you post it, go to the comments section and attach your #hashtags you’ve very cleverly saved on your phone…More on that below 🙂

Here is an example of a well followed INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT:

Attaching hashtags to your images allows your content to be found easier from people who don’t already follow you. As seen above,Instagram allows for 30 hashtags total per post.

use instagram to grow

Pro trick: Put some time in and research the most popular hashtags in your niche, and then compile them together in ‘Notes’ (for iPhone users) and save them. From there, it’s a simple copy and paste into Instagram.(And it doesn’t look “spammy” because after five comments, your first comment containing all the hashtags goes hidden. No one will know!)

This Instagram account for a dance studio in Spain has 18,000 followers!!!! WOW.  Awesome website too!

6: GET YOUR STUDENTS TO BE YOUR ADVOCATES!

The more your students share photos using your studio’s hashtag, the more popular your hashtag will become!  So let’s get them going!  Have contests to see how many likes and shares they can get on their photos.

7: SFS (“share for share”).

SFS is a tactic whereby you share and promote other partner’s work on your page. Look at other players in your space with similar-sized (or slightly larger) accounts.

You can start by reposting their images and tagging them in the image and then, over time, they’ll start doing the same for you as the number of your followers increases.(You can DM their account to expedite this process after you’ve shown some love.)Having other accounts share your content is huge. Creating a team (or ‘syndicate’) of partners all cross-promoting each other’s work is great for exposure, brand awareness, and building authority in your space.  This is a great way for all studios to help each other! And it’ll grow your account … FAST.

8: Make sure you answer questions FAST when people message you on Instagram.  Everyone wants an answer NOW man your Instagram account.

9: Integrate Instagram with your website.  Here at Dance Studios Web Design, we will do that for you as part of your website.

Hope these tips have helped you! And if they did, let us know! Email me at Lori@weareimmediate.com (that’s our parent company!)