Ready to grow your small town business Instagram?

I know your busy, you took the kids to school, grabbed a coffee, answered emails, and restocked the shelves before you were even on the clock this morning.  I get it, your a small business owner, in a small town.

You know most of your customers by name, and their kids are in your kids class, you probably went to high school together!  That’s the thing about small towns, you know everyone and everyone knows you, word travels fast.

While word of mouth is one of the best marketing tactics it shouldn’t be the only marketing strategy in your bag.  Leveraging the power of social media is smart even for a small town business!

Today I’d like to share some tools you can use to improve your small town businesses Instagram strategy.  When speaking about Instagram there are two types of people you are posting for.  Current customers and prospective customers.  the tools today will help you to communicate your message well through your Instagram account.

I’ve put together a list of the top 5 Apps for a Better Instagram, as part of my business tips series.

Planoly

PLANOLY is amazing. It allows you to plan and schedule your posts ahead of time. You can upload photos into your planned feed to see how they’ll look with your already posted photos. This is super helpful for creating a cohesive profile that truly represents your brand. This is especially helpful if you’re like me and need to actually see that kind of thing on the screen before you can visualize it.

Planoly is the absolute best way to get that perfect Instagram aesthetic.

It also has analytics, and a search tool to discover new content.

It’s a great Instagram tool for a better Instagram. 

You can create and save hashtag groups.  Hashtags are an easy way for clients to find all your images, and for new clients to discover your business as well! Being able to store your hashtags, can cut down on the time you spend getting images ready for Instagram!

There are 5 pricing options, take advantage of their free account to start out! You get 30 scheduled posts a month analytics going back 1 month. 

Word Swag

Word Swag is seriously the BEST app for adding text to your images!  First off its FREE! Second, there are so many awesome fonts and styles. Third, it is sooo easy to use! Use your own photos, or search through hundreds of images from pixabay. They definitely live up to their tag line – “it’s like having a graphic designer in your pocket”

Use your own photos, or choose from 100’s of free images

I love how many awesome modern layouts this app has!

You can also crop your images so they are the right size for things like Instagram, InstaStories, Twitter, Facebook!

 

 

“its like having a graphic designer in your pocket”

Canva

If you haven’t used Canva before I suggest checking it out! Canta is another app for adding graphics and text to an image. One thing I really love about it is you can work on both your computer and your phone, and make adjustments to projects from both! This means I can get started on a project on my computer adjust something on it from my phone, then download and post from my phone on the go!  I use to use photoshop for all my graphics, but I’ve found that Canva is just way quicker!

Seamlessly transition from your computer to your phone with Canva

VSCO 

VSCO is a photo editing app.  This is a great app if you like the film look and is super popular! There are a ton of great filters.  Just released this week is the ability to create and store your own recipes.  This is an awesome way to keep your feed consistent!  Check out the hashtag #vsco on Instagram!  I really like their black and whites.  This is awesome for on the go photo editing.

Boomerang

Boomerang makes those 4-second videos that look like they are fast-forwarded and rewound really quick. This is a great app for drawing attention to something that moves quickly like an ocean wave, your coffee cup filling up in the morning, or waving hello! You can also find it in the official Instagram App!

There you have it! My top 5 Tools for Small Town Business Instagram! What tools have you found useful? Any I should add to the list? Are you following me on Instagram yet? Click here to follow me!