How to Promote Your Event Online Like a Pro

Hosting an event is a great way for businesses to gain exposure.

This holds true whether it’s a holiday or a special occasion for your customers, the community, or your industry.

You may want to promote an event even if you’re not hosting it.

For example, maybe your company will have a booth set up at a trade show or job fair.

Maybe you’re a keynote speaker at a conference or dinner event.

Your business might be a top sponsor of a charity golf tournament.

The list goes on and on.

Regardless of what kind of event you’re hosting, attending, or sponsoring, you’ll need to get people to show up if you want it to be successful.

Event planning isn’t easy.

Sometimes events take months to prepare for and require professional help.

After spending so much time, money, and preparation, it would be disheartening to see low attendance.

If you’ve been through this before, you know what I’m talking about.

While you may need some help running the event, you can get people in the doors all by yourself.

The days of hanging up flyers around town are over.

I’ll show you how to build hype and get thousands of people to attend your event by using online tactics.

Set up a website for your event

Rather than just having a small button on your current website promoting the event, you should build a completely new website.

Take a look at how Crawford Contractor Connection does this with their annual conference and business expo:

For starters, just look at the menu options.

They’ve got nine different menu tabs for the website visitors to choose from, all for this one event.

It’s much more effective than having one section or one page of their current website dedicated to this.

How else would you be able to fit all the information into such a small space?

An event like this will have people flying in from all over the country.

If you’re hosting something similar, you need to be as accommodating as possible toward the attendees.

Get in touch with local hotels to get rooms blocked off and offer discounted group rates.

Anyone attending would be able to find this information directly on the event website.

You can also use your website as a platform to get people registered.

Now you can collect money in advance and have a more official head count for the day of the event.

That way, you’ll have a more accurate estimate of the number of attendees you’ll have than you would if you were guessing how many would show up.

Blast your email subscribers with invitations

It’s best to start with the people you know.

You’ll have an easier time getting them to attend an event than those unfamiliar with your brand.

Check out this email from Marketo as an example:

This virtual event was attended by over 10,000 people.

That’s right, in today’s day and age people can attend your events without having to leave their homes.

But let’s focus on the email.

It has lots of good information you can replicate in yours:

• Always make sure the date and time are clear
• Have clear CTA buttons
• Include your contact information
• Give the subscribers a reason to attend
• Add a video to your email (emails with video get 96.38% higher CTRs)

If you have any celebrities or special guests coming to speak, don’t keep it a secret.

Nobody wants to hear from a “surprise guest speaker.”

That could mean anything.

Be upfront and clear about all the information.

Since you’ll email subscribers who may be your current customers, you can provide them with more incentives to attend.

“Register now and receive a $20 gift card and a free t-shirt.”

Something like that should do the trick.

Just make sure they need to actually attend the event to claim their prizes.

If they get the reward instantly, they may not have any reason to show up.

Use podcasts to get the word out

Podcasts are a great online resource to reach a large audience.

If you or your company has a podcast, you know what I’m talking about.

But even if you don’t, you can try to partner with other podcasts related to your brand and industry to build hype for your event.

People spend more time listening to podcasts than any other audio source.

That’s why it’s one of my favorite ways to promote anything online, but it’s especially helpful for an event.

Depending on your relationship with the person who runs the podcast, it’ll probably cost you some money.

But if you were to advertise with traditional marketing methods, such as print, television, or radio ads, you’d pay regardless.

So it’s worth it.

But try your best to keep these costs as low as possible.

Consider offering the person running the podcast free promotion for their brand during your event in exchange for airtime on their show to endorse it.

That keeps everyone happy and could expose your event to potentially hundreds of thousands of listeners.

Come up with a unique hashtag for your event

When it comes to social media promotion, take full advantage of hashtags.

The right hashtag can increase the chances of your posts and event going viral.

Whether you’re using Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or all of these platforms to promote your event, make sure you include a hashtag in each post.

Here’s an example of a hashtag from the Eurobike event in Germany:

Hashtags are great because you can use them in three different phases to promote your event.

• Before the event starts
• During the event
• After it’s over

Use hashtags in every post leading up to the event.

This will help you get an initial surge of people to attend.

Include it on all your invitations and in emails as well.

Once the event starts, the hashtag doesn’t have to die.

Attendees, speakers, performers, or anyone associated with your event can use this hashtag to share their experience in real time.

If your event lasts several days, these hashtags could encourage people who weren’t planning on attending to come to your event.

People can share all their photos and videos using the event hashtag as well.

Staying active on social media while using the hashtag during your event can help generate conversations about it.

Ask people what their favorite part was so far.

You can run a contest of the best picture from the event.

After the event is over, you can still keep the hashtag alive.

Attendees can continue to post photos, and you can stay engaged with these people through the hashtag.

You can even link this event to your next one.

Create an event on Facebook

Facebook is one of the best platforms to promote an event online because it has over 1 billion active monthly users.

If you’ve never set up an event on Facebook, don’t worry—it’s easy.

I’ll show you exactly what to do so you get it right the first time.

Step #1: Navigate to “Events” under the “Explore” menu

On the left side of your Facebook home page, you’ll see a menu that says “Explore.”

“Events” is the first option below that tab.

Once you click it, you’ll be able to see any events you’re attending, those your friends are interested in, and nearby events.

Step #2: Click “Create Event”

From here, you can click “Create Event” in one of two different locations on the page.

Click the button on the bottom left of the screen or at the top middle of the page to continue.

Step #3: Set it up as a public event

Make sure your event is public.

Private events are intended for small parties or gatherings among friends, but not for businesses.

To ensure it gets exposed to as many people as possible, it’s essential you click on this setting.

Otherwise, only people whom you personally invite will have access to this page.

Step #4: Add an event photo

Upload a photo for your event.

It can be your company logo, but I recommend including more information.

Create a customized image with your logo, the name of the event, the date, time, and any other relevant information.

This is a great spot to include the event hashtag as well, which we discussed earlier.

Step #5: Add the basic information about the event

Your event photo may or may not include this info, but you’ll need to make it all official here for the Facebook event.

Come up with a name.

Tell people where the event will be held.

Set specific start and end times for your event.

It could last a couple of hours or a week.

Whatever you decide, this is the place where you set it up.

Step #6: Add a description, and click “Create”

Here’s the part where you get to tell people more about your event.

What special guests are attending?

Are you serving food?

Is it family friendly?

Tell your prospective guests where they can park and how they can buy tickets.

Add lots of details here.

Don’t be vague.

Include a link to your special event website, which I talked about earlier.

Click on the “Create” button when you’re done.

That’s it. Your event is created.

Now it’s time for you to invite people to join.

Start by adding everyone who follows your brand on Facebook.

Encourage these people to invite their friends as well.

You can promote your Facebook event on other platforms too, such as Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

Use your hashtag to drive users towards the Facebook page.

Even people who don’t follow your page on Facebook will be able to see your event.

The Facebook algorithm will make it appear on their newsfeeds if any of their friends are interested in attending.

Reach out to your Instagram followers

Instagram is another inexpensive and effective way to promote any event online.

It’s easy to post pictures here.

Plus, you’ve already got a social following there, so take advantage of it.

This works whether you’re a global company or a local business.

Check out this Instagram event promotion from Hope Gallery:

The image is very effective.

It has all the information needed to get the attention of their followers.

The post includes the date and time of the event along with the contact information and location.

They also listed the guest artists as well as businesses providing food and drinks as additional incentives.

You can also see they added an event hashtag to the post—an effective promotional method.

The picture could be used on other platforms as well.

If you’re planning to make a customized image for Instagram, it could double as your Facebook event photo.

Conclusion

Hosting, running, and attending an event may be complicated and costly.

However, promoting it online doesn’t have to be.

As you can see from the tactics I discussed, you can expose your event to a large audience without putting in too much effort, time, or money.

You just have to be smart and direct to get the best results.

Start by creating a website designed specifically for your event.

You can use it to provide attendees with information, get people to register, and collect payments ahead of time.

Take advantage of your current marketing distribution channels, especially your email subscriber list.

Everyone on your email list is already familiar with your brand, which increases the chances of them being interested in attending your event.

Use your podcast or other peoples’ podcasts to build hype for your event.

Come up with a clever hashtag to get exposure on social media platforms.

Create an event on Facebook, and use Instagram to promote it as well.

The more people you can get to show up, the more successful your event will be.

It all starts with how well you promote it.

If you follow these online promotional tips, you won’t have a problem getting thousands of people to attend your event.

What other types of successful strategies have you used in the past to promote your events?

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How to Boost Conversions by Personalizing Your Website

Every business has room to improve their conversion rates.

If you’re looking for a place to start, analyzing your website is the first logical step.

While you may have done A/B testing or used some similar techniques in the past to get a surge in conversions, you can take your efforts one step further.

Look at your website through the eyes of your customer.

The key is, not everyone viewing your website has the same set of eyes.

Sure, your company has a general target market, but visitors of all ages and genders from different geographic locations will be viewing your website.

These people have different preferences.

How can you configure your site to provide the most relevant information, products, and services to each unique visitor?

You need to implement personalization methods.

If you’ve never done this before, it may sound intimidating.

While it may not be the simplest task you’ve ever completed, it’s not that difficult.

It’ll require a bit of thought and effort on your part, but the results will be worth it.

In fact, 68% of companies say personalization is a top priority.

That’s because personalized experiences can improve customer retention rates.

Furthermore, customers prefer retailers that personalize their shopping experience.

It’s no secret you’re monitoring the behavior of shoppers on your website.

Although 36% of customers don’t want to be tracked, 75% of people would still rather shop from a company that uses their information to enhance their experience.

Improving the customer experience will ultimately help you get more conversions.

I’ll show you the best ways to accomplish this.

Start by focusing on your primary target market

We’ll eventually increase the customer personalization much further than this, but you have to start with the basics.

Your website should be designed to please your best customers.

Here’s an example to illustrate my point.

Let’s say you’re a small clothing company with a brick-and-mortar store located in Rhode Island.

You have a global ecommerce store, but 90% of your online traffic and sales come from people located in New England.

Every once in a while, you’ll get a hit from Australia, southern California, or Hawaii.

That doesn’t mean you should be heavily promoting bathing suites on your website during the winter.

This product doesn’t speak to your primary customers.

You should be pushing sweaters, winter coats, and boots instead.

Some companies have a target market specific to one gender.

Take a look at Victoria’s Secret website:

All their products are for women.

That’s why their site has a pink theme and features strictly women’s apparel and accessories on the homepage.

This website wouldn’t be effective for a company that sells products for both men and women.

Once you start by designing your website with your most profitable customers and target market in mind, the rest of your personalization methods will become much easier.

Encourage visitors to create a customer profile

You want all your customers to shop while logged into their customer accounts.

That way, you can monitor all their shopping habits and find out what products they like the most.

When designing profile fields for them to fill out, you can also include a zip code field.

This can help you determine the best products to offer your customers based on their location and the time of year.

Not every ecommerce site has a high concentration of sales from a specific region.

Global ecommerce stores have to be able to customize the products on their sites based on the season of the region where the user is located.

Another thing to consider is your holiday season promotional campaigns.

Running a Fourth of July sale may speak to the American customer, but it doesn’t mean anything to the international consumers.

Those advertisements shouldn’t be shown to visitors from Spain or Germany.

But you have to give the customer a reason to create a customer profile.

Saying “Join now to get a more personalized shopping experience” isn’t the most enticing pitch.

Take a look at what Champs Sports offers their VIP members who create a profile:

All these exclusive benefits give the shopper a reason to create a profile.

The personalization they’ll receive is just an added bonus, but it will make it easier for you to get conversions.

Get customers to add more items to their shopping carts

Another way to personalize the customer shopping experience is to use information of your customers’ orders.

Someone has been browsing your site for a while.

They’ve considered a few different products but ultimately decided to pick their favorite.

This person may have had a couple of other options in mind, but for one reason or another, they just decided to add one to their cart.

Here’s a perfect opportunity for you to upsell to this customer.

This will help you get a higher average order value as well.

Let’s take a look at an example from SAXX Underwear:

They offer free shipping on orders over $50.

A customer spending $44.95 is likely to feel they should add something else to their cart to get the free shipping benefit.

Plus, as I said before, the customer probably has something in mind they wanted to add in the first place.

These subtle tricks can get people to spend more each visit.

Use popups to greet new customers

If someone isn’t signed into their user profile, it might be because they don’t have one.

Maybe it’s their first time visiting your website.

You can’t expect everyone to be familiar with your brand and website navigation.

To improve the learning curve and add an incentive for your customer to make a purchase, have an offer pop up on the screen.

Here’s a great example form Julep:

This method will give that extra encouragement for your site visitor to complete the conversion.

Even if they don’t make a purchase today, you’ve got their email address added to your subscriber list.

Now you can contact them via email and use additional personalization methods through that marketing channel, which we’ll discuss shortly.

Popups have an average conversion rate of 3.09%.

While that number may sound small, think about your daily website traffic.

For every 10,000 visitors you get, you’ll get 300 more conversions than you would have without the popups.

And that’s if you have average rates.

I’ve seen some companies with significantly higher conversion rates.

Multiply those additional conversions by your average order rate to find out how much more revenue you could be getting.

Plus, it’s not like it’s going to cost you anything extra to implement this strategy.

So it’s well worth it.

Reward customer loyalty

You want to make sure your best customers feel special.

If they are spending lots of money, you should reward them for this.

Why should everyone get the same discounts if one person spends $100 each year and the other person spends $500?

Take a look at this rewards program offered by Footlocker:

In order to receive the best benefits, customers need to spend $300 within 12 months.

Now you’ll get people to spend more money per each transaction so they can reach their reward status faster.

This will get you more money and keep your customers happy at the same time.

It’s a win-win.

That’s why tracking your customers’ unique spending habits is a personalization method I highly recommend.

Reward people for spending money, and it will encourage them to spend more.

Recommend products to website visitors based on their browsing behavior

When someone is browsing on your website, you need to figure out what they’re looking for.

This is essential for ecommerce companies that have a wide range of products.

According to Barilliance, 31% of the money generated by ecommerce sites was based on product recommendations.

Furthermore, users who click on a suggested product convert 5.5% more frequently than those viewing other products.

Earlier we saw that the majority of customers prefer to shop at retailers offering personalized shopping experience, and this data reinforces that even more.

So you need to narrow down the products offered on your site by category.

We’ll use clothing as an example.

• Tops
• Bottoms
• Shoes
• Accessories

Those would be reasonable categories to segment your products by.

The type of content viewed is the top method that websites use to personalize the user experience.

Amazon uses this technique on their website all the time:

I saw these results when I was browsing for a Wi-Fi extender on their website.

They recommend these items because other customers bought them after purchasing the specific product I was looking it.

Using this method is also a form of social proof.

The idea is that if other people performed a certain action, then I should too, right?

Well, that’s how the customer’s mind works.

Here’s another way Amazon cross-sells to their customers with recommendations:

What goes well with a Wi-Fi extender?

A wireless router makes sense.

If someone needs an extender, it’s a sign they are probably having some problems with their existing Internet connection.

So maybe they need a new router as well.

Apply this same concept to your ecommerce site.

If a customer is browsing for winter hats and gloves, you could recommend a scarf or ski mask to go with it.

Continue using personalization on other channels

Some of the tactics we discussed involved collecting user information.

There’s a good chance you’re able to get some email addresses added to your subscriber list based on these personalization techniques.

Well, now’s your chance to continue to market to these customers with personalization through other marketing campaigns—outside your website.

You can apply these same strategies to your email marketing campaigns.

Marketing experts agree that personalization improves their email marketing content.

Don’t limit yourself to only personalizing your website.

When you’re sending an email, use the recipient’s first name in the message to get their attention.

Use relevant content and promotional offers based on their shopping habits, demographics, and physical location to get higher conversions.

Conclusion

If you’re trying to improve the conversion rates on your website, focus on enhancing the customer experience.

One of the best ways to do this is by implementing personalization tactics.

Start by focusing your efforts on your primary target market.

Then, encourage your customers to create a unique user profile.

The information they provide you with when creating the profile will give you additional insight into their shopping habits.

But you need to give them a reason to join, so make sure to offer some kind of promotional discount or another incentive.

Try to get your customers to add more to their shopping carts by enticing them with something relevant to their current order.

Recommend other products based on what they are browsing for.

Create a customer loyalty program, and monitor how much money each customer spends. Reward the customers who spend the most.

All of these personalization techniques will help you increase your conversion rates, but that doesn’t mean you should limit this to your website alone.

Use personalization methods in other marketing channels such as your email campaigns.

What tactics have you implemented to improve the personalization of your website for your customers?

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How to Write Instagram Captions That Drive Engagement

Staying active on social media is absolutely necessary if you want your business to be successful.

This statement holds true for small, local mom-and-pop stores as well as national chains and global ecommerce sites.

Even if you’re not selling a tangible product and just run a blog or something similar, you need to have a social media presence.

But having social media profiles and properly managing them are two different things.

Did you know about 80% of social media browsing takes place on mobile devices?

That’s one of the reasons why you need to focus on your Instagram strategy.

Plus, look at the rapid growth it’s had over the last several years:

The popularity of this platform can’t be ignored.

Businesses are recognizing this trend and acting accordingly.

In fact, over 70% of companies in the United States had an Instagram profile in 2017.

That number has skyrocketed from 48.8% in 2016.

If you are one of these businesses, I’m sure you’re taking advantage of everything Instagram has to offer.

You post photos daily.

You’re always adding videos to your story.

You may even go live once in a while too.

But how are these actions engaging your followers?

Taking and posting the perfect picture can grab someone’s attention, but your captions will give them a sense of direction.

It’s important you write actionable Instagram captions.

If you need help writing your captions, you’ve come to the right place.

I’ll tell you everything you need to know about writing captions that drive engagement.

Let everyone know where you are with location tags

I’ll start by telling you something that does not need to be in your caption.

When it comes to the location of the photos, do tell your followers where the photo was taken.

But here’s the catch: you don’t need to put that in your caption.

That’s a waste of valuable space.

I see people make this mistake all the time.

Instead, tag the location of the photo.

Here’s an example.

Rather than saying, “Here we are at the United Center,” the Jordan brand geo-tags the location of the photo instead.

Now they can put other information in their caption.

They used this post to promote a new product launch.

But that message could have been lost in the shuffle if they wrote their location in the caption.

Another reason why you should tag the location is because it will appear with all the other photos and videos tagged at that location.

The posts with the most likes and comments will show up as “Top Posts” on that location’s page.

It’s a great way for people who might not follow you to see your posts as well.

If the Jordan brand included their location in a caption, it wouldn’t be exposed to such a wide audience.

Plus, location tagging drives engagement, which is our ultimate goal.

Keep your location out of the caption, and tag it instead.

That’s a much better engagement strategy.

Don’t write the first thing that comes to your mind

You took 20 different pictures of the same subject from different angles and with different lighting.

Then you spent time finding the best one, adding a filter or two, changing the exposure, brightness, and saturation, and playing around with all the other editing tools.

But then you write your caption in 10 seconds because you want to post it right away.

That’s a mistake.

You should take just as long, if not longer, to write your Instagram caption for that photo.

Think about all the other written content you’re putting out on the Internet, like your blog, for example.

You write a draft and then you edit it.

Maybe you edit it a second or even a third time before adding the post to your website.

Apply that same concept to your Instagram captions.

Write drafts—and several of them.

Take your time. The photo isn’t going anywhere and neither are your followers.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying you should take all week or a month to write these couple of lines of text.

But you need to put some thought into it. Concentrate on your captions as much as you focus on taking the photo and editing it.

Writing drafts can also help you make sure you don’t have spelling errors or make any other blunders.

While Instagram allows you to edit your caption after it’s posted, by the time you realize there is a mistake, thousands of followers could have already seen it.

Those are careless mistakes.

You don’t want people to think you don’t care.

Put the most important information first

If you’re writing a longer caption, don’t be clever trying to ease into it with a creative introduction.

Instead, lead with your most important message.

Be direct.

Instagram allows you to have 2200 characters in your caption, but that doesn’t mean your followers will see it all. Well, at least not right away.

Longer captions get cut off.

The example above shows the caption before and after the user hits “more.”

And this caption isn’t even that long.

While in general, I think shorter captions are more effective, I don’t want to discourage you from writing longer ones.

Just make sure your most important content isn’t at the end.

Not everyone will click on the “more” button to see the whole thing.

Keep in mind, users are just scrolling down their newsfeeds glancing at photos.

They probably don’t care enough about your caption to read the whole thing.

So at least try to hook them in with the first couple of lines to give them a reason to keep reading.

Find ways to encourage comments

You want each post to have lots of engagement.

One of the ways to do this is by getting people to comment on your pictures.

Users can talk in the comments with each other or reply directly to you.

Another way to get more comments is by replying to users and driving a discussion.

For this method to be successful, however, you have to get people talking in the first place.

End your caption with a question to invite comments from your followers.

If you don’t ask them something, they may not have a reason to write anything.

Another way to get comments is by encouraging your followers to tag their friends in photos.

Here’s an example from MVMT Watches:

This post received nearly 900 comments in less than five days.

Clearly, this is an effective strategy.

Drive traffic to your website

If you have an ecommerce store, the ultimate goal of your Instagram page should be to get more sales from your followers.

To get people to make a purchase, you have to get them to your website first since purchases can’t be made directly from the Instagram platform.

You should also be tracking where your website traffic is coming from.

Create a unique URL with a tracking code to see the number of referrals from your Instagram page.

That will help you gauge how successful this strategy is.

It’s always important to measure results, so establish a benchmark to improve upon.

Add that unique link to your Instagram bio.

Then, you can use your caption to refer your followers to the link.

Here’s an example from H&M to show you what I’m talking about:

This photo shows some specific clothing items they’re selling.

If people are interested in buying one of these items, they can click on a link in the bio that brings them directly to the item.

That way they don’t have to key in the website URL first and then search for the item.

It’s too many steps that can turn them away and reduce the chances of a sale.

Here’s what that link looks like in the H&M bio:

This makes it really easy for customers to shop, leading to more sales.

Run a contest

Nothing gets people excited like the opportunity to get something free.

You can use contests as a way to promote your brand on Instagram.

This strategy will definitely drive engagement if you can write a great caption.

First, let’s review the three different types of giveaways:

• contest
• sweepstakes
• lottery

When the participants have to do something that requires some sort of effort or skill to win a prize, it’s considered a contest. The winner is determined by judges or a vote.

If you’re selecting a winner at random, it’s called a sweepstakes.

A lottery would mean that people would have to buy a raffle ticket or something like that to enter.

But I wouldn’t recommend doing this, especially because certain state and federal laws prohibit these types of giveaways.

Your best bet is running a contest. That’s one of my favorite ways to keep your followers engaged.

Their effort will determine whether they win or not.

Here’s a great example of a strong caption promoting a contest run by Starbucks:

It’s a successful campaign strategy because it encourages user-generated content.

Here’s how it works.

Starbucks invites their customers to design a cup.

Then the customers have to post a picture of their cups on Instagram with the hashtag #WhiteCupContest.

Think about your brand and your current contest.

If you own a coffee shop, there are only so many pictures of coffee and pastries you can post.

Your followers will get bored with that real quick.

That’s why your captions have to be engaging.

Try running a contest the next time you post a picture on Instagram.

Here’s a contest example from Mint:

You can use this caption as a template for your own contest, using your own information: name, hashtag, prize, and deadline.

Use hashtags

We’ve discussed hashtags a few times already, but they are important enough to mention on their own.

You want to include hashtags in your captions.

For the same reason, we tagged location.

Your post will appear on a page with all the other images with the same hashtag.

You’ll expose your brand to a wider audience.

I’d recommend putting hashtags at the end of your caption.

As we saw earlier, long captions can get cut off.

But your hashtag doesn’t have to be visible to be effective.

It will group your picture with all the other posts with that hashtag.

If you’re not sure which hashtag to use, start typing and Instagram will suggest the most popular ones.

Pick the one with the most posts.

This will give you the greatest user engagement.

While you want to include hashtags, use them sparingly.

Going overboard with them could look like spam, and it’s not appealing to your followers.

Make sure your hashtags are relevant.

Don’t just use trending hashtags as a way to get exposure if they have nothing to do with your post or brand.

Again, this will make people think you’re spamming them, which is counterproductive to your engagement strategy.

Conclusion

Don’t overlook the importance of writing a good Instagram caption.

You spend lots of time selecting and editing a photo. Make sure you’re putting just as much effort into the caption.

Write several drafts before deciding on the best.

While you want to let users know where you are, that doesn’t mean it should be part of your caption. It’s a waste of space. Use location tagging instead.

Long captions will get cut off, so write the most important information at the beginning.

Encourage user comments by asking a question or telling your followers to tag their friends.

Drive traffic to your website through a link in your bio. Mention the link in your captions.

This will help you get more sales if you have an ecommerce site.

Promote a contest or giveaway in your captions too.

Add hashtags as well, but use them sparingly.

If you follow these tips, you’ll get more engagement on all your Instagram posts.

Which caption strategy has been the most successful for your company’s Instagram profile?

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How to Develop a Customer Persona That Improves Conversion Rates

Customers are the lifeline and driving force of your business.

Without them, you wouldn’t exist.

That’s why you need to spend the time and use various resources to develop a better understanding of your customers’ thinking.

The idea is to put yourself in your customers’ shoes—their minds, really.

You want to figure out their perception of your company.

Creating an accurate customer persona can help you accomplish this.

It will help you learn about their habits, behaviors, and interests.

That way, you’ll be able to market to them accordingly.

Customer personas can help you get more money from your existing customers and even help you acquire new customers.

You’ll be able to keep your customers engaged.

Ultimately, this will improve conversion rates.

If you’ve never created a customer persona before, it can sound a little intimidating.

Don’t worry—it’s not as difficult as you might think.

I’ve created the ultimate guide for developing customer personas that can help you improve your conversion rates in a dramatic way.

Here’s what you need to know.

Customer personas are not the same as a target market

One of the first steps to starting a business involves identifying your target market.

This should be done before you officially launch to make sure people will be interested in your brand, products, or services.

But target markets are not the same thing as your customer personas although they will have some similarities.

Here’s an example of what it takes to identify your target audience:

This is a logical place to start, especially if you’re a new business.

Even if your company has been operating for quite some time, it doesn’t hurt to go back to the drawing board.

Re-evaluate your target market if you’re struggling with conversions.

You need to have a firm grasp of this topic before you can develop a customer persona.

Demographics are a key component of your target market.

I’m talking about factors like:

• geographic location
• age
• sex
• religion
• marital status
• income

All of these play a role in determining your company’s target audience.

But your customer persona is going to break that down even further.

While your target audience encompasses the elements that show what different groups of people have in common, the customer persona looks for differentiating factors.

What makes each person within a certain demographic unique?

Just because two people of the same gender and same age live in a specific city doesn’t mean they have similar interests.

One may be the perfect customer for your company, while the other would be a waste of time and money to focus your marketing efforts on.

Relate the customer persona to your brand

Ultimately, you want this marketing profile to be related to your company.

For example, if your company sells cars and you don’t have any information that relates to the customer’s driving needs, you’re approaching this the wrong way.

You have to ask yourself,

“Who wants and needs the product I’m selling?”

To illustrate my point, here’s a perfect example of someone who needs to buy an SUV:

There’s a ton of information on this marketing profile such as the customer’s name, age, and race.

You also learn he has two kids and enjoys playing hockey.

These factors impact his need for an SUV.

Since Kyle has children, he can’t buy a coupe. Plus, safety is important to a family man.

Since SUVs are larger, he might feel safer driving his kids in a full-size vehicle.

The fact that he plays hockey means he needs room in his car for big, heavy, and bulky equipment, so an SUV makes the most sense.

But now I want you to notice the specific information I emphasized in this customer persona.

These points are related directly to what Kyle is looking for when he’s shopping for a vehicle.

You want to make this information as specific as possible.

This is what differentiates one customer from another.

It shows the number of miles he drives to work each day, which is why fuel economy is important to him.

The profile also includes some recreational activities he uses his car for such as family vacations, coaching, and driving his kids to and from their sporting events.

Can you see how this persona can be drastically different from that of another 42-year-old male who lives in the same area but doesn’t use his car for any outdoor activities?

The key here is you always need to relate the persona back to what you’re selling. Otherwise, the information won’t be as helpful.

Start with the basics, and be specific

The first step to developing a persona should be the person’s name and age.

Refer to your target market for this.

Let’s say your brand appeals to men in their early 40s. If he’s 42 years old in 2017, that would mean he was born in 1975.

These are the top 15 baby names from that year in the United States:

Based on this information, we can refer to this customer persona as Michael.

Next, determine where he lives.

While geographic location such as state, city, or region from your target market is a good start, you want to break this down even further.

Does Michael own property or does he pay rent?

If he’s a homeowner, is he in a condo complex or a single family home?

Does he rent an apartment or a house?

What are his monthly mortgage or rent payments?

Notice that we started with some broad facts but slowly came to more specific information.

That’s how you need to approach this.

From here, you can begin to come up with more information about Michael’s personality based on his living situation.

For example, you could say he owns his house because he’s raising a family and doesn’t plan on going anywhere.

Alternatively, you could write that Michael pays rent because he’s single and doesn’t want to commit to one area for long periods of time.

Just make sure you’re relating this persona back to your brand.

Let’s say your brand sells expensive furniture. You wouldn’t be marketing to a renter who moves to a new city every year or so.

You’d focus on the man who owns his home and plans to live there for the next 30 years.

Include information about their career and income

Assuming your customer has a full-time job, their career is an important part of who they are.

They’re spending at least 40 hours a week at this job, so it’s a huge part of their life.

Think about how much of your schedule revolves around your profession. I’m willing to bet it factors into many of your decisions.

Here’s another example that includes this information:

Look at how much detailed information about his career this customer persona has.

They even related his top objectives and biggest fears to his job.

All of this is important for creating an accurate marketing profile.

Furthermore, while a person’s job may impact their happiness, schedule, and mindset, it also is directly related to their spending habits.

That’s essential to your goal of improving your conversion rates.

The more money someone makes, the more money they spend.

Take a look at the differences in average annual spending for high- and low-income homes:

Higher income homes spend more money annually in every category on this list.

In some instances, the differences in the amounts are drastic.

When you’re developing a customer persona, make sure the hypothetical person you’re creating can afford your product.

Here’s an example.

Let’s say they make $45,000 per year after taxes.

They spend $14,000 annually on housing and $7,000 on transportation.

The essentials, such as their insurance and food, cost $12,000 in total.

This leaves them with an extra $1,000 per month of disposable income to spend on everything else.

Can they really afford the $450 pair of headphones your company is selling?

Probably not.

In this case, you’ll need to develop a customer persona with a higher paying job.

Find out how their interests and behaviors impact their consumption habits

This part is going to help you reach your customers when it comes to your marketing efforts, which we’ll discuss shortly.

For example, what do they use to determine the credibility of a company?

Refer back to the first customer persona we analyzed earlier: Kyle, the prospective SUV buyer.

He actively uses social media but doesn’t post anything.

Instead, he uses it as a research tool to read reviews.

You’ll also want to include information about their hobbies, likes, and dislikes.

What is this person good at?

Are there certain things they can’t do?

For example, depending on your industry, it might be valuable to know whether or not this person can cook or whether they tend to eat out.

If they eat out, you can also assume they don’t have as much of a disposable income since they are spending more money on food even if they have a higher salary.

How does this person buy their products?

Are they an impulse buyer? Or do they take time to research their options and compare different brands?

Use this information to improve your marketing content.

Apply your customer personas to your marketing strategies

Now that you’ve developed an accurate and detailed customer persona, it’s time for you to use it to improve your conversion rates.

Let’s say you are getting plenty of traffic to a particular landing page, but not many visitors follow through with your call-to-action.

You may want to re-evaluate the source of that landing page and the message that entices customers to convert based on the persona.

For example, your customer persona may be a 20-year-old female who goes to college in New York City and has a part-time job paying $20,000 per year.

Based on this persona, it’s safe to say she has an active Facebook profile.

You should be trying to improve your marketing efforts so that she gets brought to your landing page through some kind of Facebook campaign.

Now let’s get to her buying behavior, which we just discussed.

If she’s an impulse buyer, you can use scarcity tactics to get her to make a purchase:

• Sale ends tomorrow
• Only three tickets left at this price
• Sign up before midnight and get 25% off your first purchase

Marketing campaigns like this can get her to buy something.

Conclusion

Customer personas are not the same as a target market—although you need to have a clear target audience to help you come up with an accurate persona.

The persona will include much more detail about your customer.

That’s because two people with similar demographics aren’t necessarily going to shop the same way. You want to focus your efforts on the ones who fit your persona.

Your customer persona needs to be relevant to your brand and whatever you’re selling.

Start with basic information like their name and age.

Then get more specific with their job, income, location, and living situation.

Find out how their interests, hobbies, lifestyle, and personal life impact their buying behavior.

Use this information to improve your current marketing campaigns.

Now you can target people based on specific factors to improve your conversion rates.

Don’t stop after your first customer persona.

Make as many as possible so you can come up with different ways to appeal to specific types of customers.

What information will you include in your customer personas to increase conversions on your website?

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