Running a small business, especially one where you are also manufacturing the product you are selling, can mean juggling too many things at a time. For a candle business, it means making the candles, photographing them, promoting them on social media, optimizing your website for sales, managing your budget, and conducting customer support.
We understand your struggles. This blog describes the key strategies for successfully promoting your candle business on Instagram so that you can be rewarded for your labor.
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Define your target audience
Before you delve into creating and posting content, you must define and research the audience you are trying to reach, and create a buyer persona for your business. Who are the people that would be interested in your candles? What are their interests, aspirations, and pain points?
Collect this data from your current customers and target audience through surveys, focus groups, and the analytics of your website and social media pages. Additionally, take a look at your competitors’ socials and observe what seems to be working for them.
For instance, if your target audience includes people who are into wellness and do yoga, you can create content that features your candles in a yoga studio and the calming benefits of candles.
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Create engaging content
This is your chance to let your audience know you and your small business on a personal level. Make Instagram reels that give them a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the craftsmanship it takes to make the candles you sell.
Educational and entertaining content about the benefits of candles, especially handmade candles, is also important for promoting them on Instagram and driving sales. Candles can be useful for meditation, aromatherapy, decorations, and creating a romantic atmosphere. Make sure that your audience knows that.
Post high-quality images and videos of your candles from different angles and in various settings to show your candles in action. This is a much more effective and attention-grabbing way of informing them about the uses of your candles as compared to text.
Try Instagram Live, or post stories with the question sticker, to prompt your audience to ask you questions about you and your business. Answering these questions, and actively responding to comments and DMs, will help foster a community around your brand.
You can also leverage Instagram stories for your business by:
- Posting polls to get customer feedback
- Teasing new releases with a countdown timer
- The packing process of orders ready to ship
Another form of engaging content is posts and stories about the journey leading up to the inception of your candle-making business, or the unique features of your candles. With PosterMyWall, you can create this and other engaging content for your Instagram business with the help of easily customizable social media post templates.
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Include Hashtags in posts
To increase your reach to potential customers with your Instagram posts, use relevant hashtags in their captions. People following those hashtags will get your posts on their timelines even if they do not follow you.
You can find the hashtags relevant to candles if you type #candle in the Instagram search bar. Consider using a mix of general and niche-specific hashtags, like #CandleMaker, #HandmadeCandles, and #ScentedCandles, to increase your discoverability.
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Share User-Generated Content (UGC)
Oftentimes customers will do the content creation for you. This can include customers mentioning your products in good words under the comments of your posts, or influencers raving about your products and posting photos and videos using your products on their social media. Your job here is to share this content on your Instagram account.
Moreover, you can also ask your customers to share their experience with your products or to post pictures of them using your product on their accounts with a hashtag related to your brand, which you can then repost on your Instagram and Facebook pages.
This form of content, or UGC, is highly effective in building the trust of your customers because it comes from people who have used your products and genuinely liked them.
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Collaborate with Influencers
Working with influencers that align with your brand (e.g., lifestyle bloggers) can enable you to:
- Reach new or targeted audiences
- Build your target audience’s trust in your brand
- Increase sales
Hence, collaborating with influencers is essential to reach your goals for your business.
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Conduct contests for giveaways
This is a great strategy to boost engagement and grow the following of your Instagram account. Ask participants to follow your account, tag friends under the giveaway post who should also follow your account, and share the post on their stories to enter. Then you can randomly choose winners using tools available online.
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Promote with Instagram Ads
Using Instagram ads is a surefire way to reach people interested in your niche. You would not have to worry about the algorithms of Instagram with ads, because you will be paying for the undivided attention of your potential customers.
General tips for promoting your business on Instagram
- Post regularly and consistently
- Optimize your profile by writing a compelling bio with a link to your website
- Check your page and post analytics regularly to recognize the content that gets good engagement and the timings your audience is most interactive.
With the strategies mentioned in this blog, we are confident that you can successfully promote your business on Instagram and get your candles the love they deserve!
