How do you get free leads on Instagram?

Placements and their differences

Instagram offers four placements that can help you attract potential clients for your business. Each placement and format work slightly differently. You can use each placement individually or see them as a funnel, which helps you adjust your strategy for generating free leads.

I will explain each placement and how you can use it to attract potential clients while considering the funnel approach.

Top of Funnel: Reels

Reels are at the top of the funnel. This placement is the most broad because reels are great for reaching new users on the network. They have a much wider reach, allowing you to be seen by users who have never interacted with your content . 

Since reels have a fantastic opportunity to reach a large audience, it is also harder to convince users to opt in for your offer because they don't know you. So, it is essential that your reel provides value for the viewer to decide to click on your account to consume additional content, to give you a follow, or to provide their contact information.

With video content, it is always easier to be more attention-grabbing because you can use words or an editing style that stops users from scrolling. Words on screen, in combination with spoken words, can be a powerful tool to generate leads.  

If you see Reels as a top-of-funnel funnel, your goal would be to get the viewer to consume more content or to give you a follow.

You can use the "manychat" strategy that I'll explain later to increase your chances to get leads from your reels.

Middle of Funnel: In-feed post

When you want to attract leads with in-feed post you have to understand how in-feed posts work and who can see them. In-feed posts are considered middle of funnel.

Your in-feed posts appear in the feed of followers if they are regularly engaging with your content. If a user gives you a follow but never engages with your content, they will not see your posts.

Another placement where your posts might show up is in the explore feed. Posts show up in the explore feed if your post aligns with the user's interest or if the user has interacted with similar accounts to yours. My personal explore feed is full of surfing and workout videos with the occasional Love Island posts because that is the majority of content I consume.

When a user scrolls through their feed, in-feed posts are amongst many others. So, your in-feed post needs to be eyecatching and stopworthy for the viewer to take the time to view your photo and read the caption. The golden opportunity lies in your caption when it comes to in-feed static posts.

There are three approaches you can take:

Number 1: Another strategy that you can use with in-feed posts is to direct viewers to the link in your bio. This approach has been around for ages, and it is a bit clucky since the viewer has to leave your post and visit your profile. This involves lots of clicking and scrolling with the potential to lose the users. So an easy workout is to include your Instagram handle at the bottom of your caption after your CTA about your offer. For example, "Click on my handle @thesocialwisdom to land on my bio for easy access to the link". This way all a user has to do is click on your IG handle to go straight to your profile.

Number 2: Use a good 'ol CTA that tells your viewer what action to take next. This could be calling the phone numbner in your caption or visiting a certain link. The disadvantage here is that the phone numbers and links in your caption are not clickable.

Number 3: Talk about your offer in your caption. Ellaborate why your viewer needs it, how it solves their problem, and how to get it. Now the last part is the most important one. You can tell the user to comment with a specific keyword for example "Roadmap" to receive your free roadmap to gaining 50 followers in a week, or "Consulation" to step up a free consultation with you. In order to use this strategy, you need to sign up for a tool called Manychat.

Enbaling a tool like this allows your viewers to comment a keyword which then triggers a direct message conversation. Everything is an automated workflow that you set up. Throughout the direct message conversation, you can obtain the users email address and provide them with the offer. You can use this strategy on your in-feed static post, reels and stories.  

Bottom of Funnel: Story

Story posts are seen by your existing audience or users who go directly to your profile to consume stories. Stories are bottom of funnel placements because they are consumes by your followers. Story content tends to be more unedited and personal.

You can use the link sticker feature to drive viewers to a specific landing page, this langing page coud be an opt in for a freebie, course, to book a consultation or to purchase a product. Instagram lets you customize the link sticker text which adds a personal touch and makes it clear where the link is directing visitors.

Within your sotry analytics, you can track how many viewres clicked ont the link to evaluate the success of your story combined with your backend data of how many poeople completed the action you asked them for.

What's great about story is that these are mainyl seen by your exisitng audience, meaning they know who you are and what you are all about. Depending on how long they have been followuing you, you build a connection with them. They got to knwo you and your prodcy or service. Since they are following you and engagng with your content (they are watching your story) you already established a certain credelvity wichi makes it easier for your viewer to trust you to click on the link to either buy your product or book a consultaiton.

Posting story content including links to your landing page is a great way to convert existing followers into leads.

Bottom of Funnel: Bio

Your bio is another placements to get users to visit your offer. A user would only see your bio if they are checking out your profile after clicking on your IG handle. Instagram does not offer many ways to get users off the platform and onto your landing pages. The platform is designed to keep users enagged on the platform so your bio is the at the bottom bottom of every funnel.