Instagram and Your Auto Shop: 5 Mistakes to Avoid

Feature   |   Posted: 10/01/2020
Posted by: Motorhead Digital

Instagram is continuing to grow in popularity in the auto industry and with so many businesses (and customers) flocking towards social media it’s important to know how best to work it.

With so many businesses using Instagram to get more customers, it’s more important than ever to do the right things and avoid making common mistakes that could cost you followers.

So, if you want to:

• Gain more followers
• Increase your audience engagement
• Drive more traffic to your website

Then you’ll need to avoid these Instagram mistakes in your posts.

Instagram Mistake 1: Not optimizing your bio

This might seem like an obvious point to you, but you’d be amazed by the number of people who don’t optimize their social media bios.

Not optimizing your bio on your Instagram page can cause it to become lost amongst the already-crowded space on the platform.

Writing a great bio gives your audience an insight into what your business is like.

Think of it as an introduction to your business.

When you don’t introduce yourself to somebody after meeting them for the first time it’s considered rude: it’s the same with Instagram.

Not showing your audience who you are can make you seem standoffish and unwelcoming.

When it comes to your bio you want to be able to show your audience who you are and what you do in a couple of sentences.

You don’t have much space so make sure you leave them with something enticing.

It’s a good idea to add some sort of social proof in your bio to show your visitors that you’re a trusted source and can provide them with high-quality work.

When adding a CTA (call to action) on your Instagram bio, remember that you can also leave a link to your website to really make the most of that chance to attract new customers.

Instagram is not Facebook, so any links you leave in your posts are unfortunately not clickable. If you want to link to a webpage or any other information keep the link very short or put the link in your bio. If you put the link in your bio make sure to tell your audience where to find it in your post – otherwise they won’t know where to go.

If you’d like to promote a sale or offer it’s a good idea to look into Instagram ads rather than playing around with links.

Instagram Mistake 2: Low quality content

So many people make this mistake!

Instagram is a very visual platform and people use it to gaze at beautiful landscapes, funny videos, awesome cars and just decent content overall.

They don’t want to look at poorly taken photos that are taken in bad lighting or at a weird angle and they certainly don’t want to look at a pixelated image.

With cell phones now having such great built-in cameras, it’s easier than ever to upload high-quality images – and your visitors will be more likely to engage with something that’s actually nice to look at.

Speaking of images, when taking your photos remember that Instagram images are square and can be cropped so you’ll need to think about how you frame your shots.

Holding your phone in landscape mode works best for posts, portrait mode works best for stories.

Make sure your posts are entertaining too!

Nobody wants to scroll through their feed and see irrelevant and boring videos and images…

Please head on over to the Motorhead Digital Blog for the rest of this article.

Barry is the founder of Motorhead Digital, providing signature Marketing Maximizer™ programs specifically developed for auto restoration, performance and restyling shops. These programs are geared towards customer acquisition and conversion to keep those project bookings coming. With over 23 years of experience in digital marketing and web development Barry’s goal is to help clients market and grow their shops through strategic marketing practices. You can reach him at (585) 766-9785, [email protected] or online at MotorheadDigital.com