Today I'm going to show you an Instagram Strategy for Architects and some tips on increasing your brand awareness, acquiring new clients and growing your business as an architect. Let’s get started!
1. Create great visual content
Use Instagram to showcase your portfolio and highlight your best work. You can create a portfolio highlight on your profile, use hashtags related to architecture and design, and tag your location in your posts to reach a wider audience.
Instagram is being consolidated as the fastest-growing social network - with more than 800 million monthly active users - Therefore, it is reasonable to inquire more on how to get the most out of this platform to boost our online visibility as an architecture firm.
This first point may sound too obvious but, according to brandwatch.com, over 40 billion photos have been shared on Instagram since its inception, more than 80 million images on an average day.
If this sounds crazy to you, this is because it is crazy.
Instagram is all about visual content and has countless possibilities when it comes to showcasing your projects and designs through images.
You should therefore direct a considerable part of your efforts towards creating eye-catching imagery to stand out from the crowd.
This is where we can be of great help to you.
2. Use Hashtags that are relevant to your niche
But don’t overuse them. Our advice is to never surpass 7-10 hashtags in each post. When you add too many hashtags, your post may be perceived as spam, and likely for users to swipe away from your content. Strike a balance between the most used ones and some specific others. The first group will give you a lot of visibility but your posts will quickly get lost in the crowd. Being specific will help people come up with exactly what they are looking fo, making theme more likely to get engagement. These are the most used hashtags for architecture, sorted by popularity: # art 376.1 mill. # design 135.8 mill. # architecture 82.3 mill. # interiordesign 47.2 mill. # archilovers 9.5 mill. # architectureporn 5.5 mill. # architect 5.7 mill. # archdaily 2.2 mill. Here goes a practical example: Let’s say that we are showcasing a visualization of a living room for a house in Zürich which has a beautiful hard-wooden parquet floor.
We can go with the popular hashtags, as below: # architecture # archilovers # architectureporn # architect # archdaily # interiordesign
# zürich, Or we can consider using a wide while specific bunch of hashtags, something like this: # architecture # archdaily # archilovers # architektur # haus # zürich # wohnzimmer
# holzboden # visualisierung
3. Share behind-the-scenes glimpses
Share your process and provide behind-the-scenes glimpses into your work. This can help potential clients get a sense of your personality and working style, which can be important factors when choosing an architect.
When it comes to using Instagram to get clients as an architect, sharing behind-the-scenes glimpses of your work is a great way to connect with your audience and give them a deeper understanding of your process.
You can share progress photos, show off your workspace, give insight into your design process and introduce your team.
By sharing behind-the-scenes glimpses on Instagram, you can create a more personal connection with potential clients and demonstrate your expertise and creative process.
It's important to share just enough information to not overshare or compromise the confidentiality of your clients or projects.
4. Find the right time to post in your Instagram analytics
It makes no sense to post when your target audience is asleep. Do some research and find out what time when your audience is online. We have good news for you. Instagram’s new analytics (or “Insights” as the platform calls them) give you very valuable information on who your followers are and when they’re online. To access this function, you first have to set your Instagram account as a business profile. Both when people leave work in the evening, at around 8-8.30 pm., and lunchtime from 1 to 3 pm. seem to be the options that work best for us. That doesn’t mean that it will also be the best time for your audience. We suggest that you post at different times and do some research to get the most engagement out of your posts. Later is our favourite app to schedule Instagram posts. The free version allows you to upload up to 30 images per month which work like a charm for us!
4. Engage with other architects and potential clients
Last but not least, remember that Instagram is a social community.
Don't forget to respond to comments and direct messages promptly, and engage with your audience by liking and commenting on their posts. This can help build relationships with potential clients and establish your credibility in the field of architecture.
Collaborating with other professionals in the architecture and design industry can be a great way to expand your reach and connect with potential clients. The more you engage with other people in your industry, the more visibility you will have on the platform.
You can tag and mention other professionals, participate in challenges and competitions, attend and share about industry events and share and repost other professionals' work.
Think about the hashtags that you’d like to target and spend some minutes from time to time to comment and leave likes on other posts. Make your target audience see how they could benefit from collaborating with your team.
Be sure to approach collaborations with a spirit of generosity and mutual support, and always give credit where credit is due.
Instagram is a great worldwide community, much more than just an image-sharing platform and we have a great opportunity to turn our followers into real clients. Practice patience, share posts regularly and the results will come.
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