There has been a lot of buzz around the growth of Instagram for quite a while. It's been especially attractive to dance studios as a platform to try to advertise in part because of it's popularity with a younger demographic.
I talk to a ton of dance studio owners and most of them tell me that they're trying to use Instagram as a way to "get their name out there."
I empathize with this. Studio owners want to be able to post images and videos that show how "awesome" they are and have that translate into loads of dedicated students. There's just one problem. It doesn't work well.
And that's frustrating.
It's frustrating because it takes so much time to maintain good content on any social media.
It can be a time vampire. Instagram and Facebook can suck the time right out of your day. THEY ARE DESIGNED TO DO THAT.
Trying to keep social media updated is a chore no matter what platform you're trying to work with, but Instagram presents some special problems for advertising dance studios.
There are at least three reasons that Instagram doesn't work as well as studio owners hope:
1. Every studio thinks the same way
If every studio owner thinks that posting more to Instagram is a good way to get more students in the door that means that it's just that much harder to cut through the clutter. There is so much content being posted to Instagram from one minute to the next that it's too hard to get through.
And who's looking at this content? It's almost exclusively people that already follow your account. Most of those people already train at the studio they're following.
Think about it. How is that supposed to work?
2. Business posting is being pushed out
Remember, Facebook owns Instagram. Not too long ago business pages in Facebook could get some good traction by just posting organically. That doesn't work any more. Facebook consistently updates their algorithm to push more and more people to use their paid advertising platform.
Of course, now they're doing the same thing with Instagram.
"The good news is you CAN get off the social media hamster wheel."
Organic posts promoting businesses on Instagram are intentionally being pushed out in favor of those that are willing to fork over big bucks.
3. Visibility and volume
Once somebody sees a post that they like and reacts to it, Instagram now knows what type of content that person likes and will actively find other channels of that kind of content to present to that person. THEY WILL LITERALLY SHOW YOUR COMPETITION'S CONTENT NOW.
The artificial intelligence that runs these social media platforms is working against you!
If somebody reacts to a post you've made, now you have to CUT THROUGH EVEN MORE CLUTTER!
It's becoming a constant treadmill with diminishing returns. No wonder so many studio owners are frustrated with the results they're getting.
The good news is you CAN get off the social media hamster wheel. Stop running in circles and let's start working on the marketing strategies that are WORKING TODAY!
If you could use a constant stream of new prospective students willing to pay you what you're worth then we should chat.
We'll spend 30 minutes or so talking about your specific situation and your own goals for your studio. I'll walk you through what's working today and help you to come up with a specific plan to get you where you want your studio to be.