Why Successful Interior Designers Don't Need Instagram
Posting on Facebook and Instagram is the most stressful part of marketing for home industry professionals. I've had many interior designers tell me that consistency is the hardest thing. I've had many stagers tell me that they aren't even sure what to say. I've had window treatment specialists tell me that they wouldn't even be on social media if they didn't run a business. I've had professional organizers tell me that they secretly hate social media and wish it didn't exist.
Is Facebook or Instagram necessary in the interior design industry? Or any home professional industry? Does any of this resonate with you? If so, you aren't broken, and you aren't making some colossal marketing mistake. Ask anyone who has been running a successful, high-end home industry business for the last decade and they'll tell you,
"We don't get clients from social media. We get them from referrals."
Referral-based business is a great sign of health and longevity for any brand, especially service-based, custom brands like yours. Your business isn't outdated if you receive new clients solely or primarily from referrals, but you might feel pressured to somehow get leads through social media as if those leads will be better or more numerous.
In this blog post, I'm going to show you exactly how you should use social media as a home industry professional and what you should and should not expect from it. Spoiler alert: If social media is causing you stress, you are doing it wrong. 😉
How You Should be Using Instagram as a High-End Home Service Provider
Social media isn't a place to sell custom interior design, professional home staging or organizing, or custom window treatments. Rather than posting non-stop (or stressing about how you don't), let's re-frame the purpose of social media so that it actually fits your business model. Your business shouldn't conform to the marketing method. The marketing method should make sense for your business.
When Do I Actually Need Social Media Marketing?
Social media isn't the solution to growing your business unless you meet ALL of these parameters:
Qualifier #1: You sell retail products with mass appeal.
Qualifier #2: Your retail products with mass appeal are priced affordably (aka not luxury).
Qualifier #3: Your affordable retail products fall into one of the Instagram product categories that are statistically known to sell well on the platform.
Those product categories are as follows:
Apparel
Jewelry
Lower-end, retail home decor
Accessories (sunglasses, watches, bags, etc.)
Health & beauty products
Fitness products
Affordable art and gifts
Personal services (salons, dance studios, etc.)
Food
Electronics
Phone accessories
3D printed products
Baby products, clothes & toys
Pet products
Cooking accessories
Organic, natural products
Notice that custom, high-end services, and home-related online courses are not included on this list of items that sell well on Instagram. Furniture, whether low-end retail or high-end trade only, is also not included among Instagram's best-selling product types. The home decor category refers to DIY inspiration and uses big box store products that are easy to ship, affordable, and widely available.
Let me repeat myself: Social media is a wonderful, amazing, and profitable place to sell the appropriate retail products, whether you are selling your own products or a brand is paying you to post about theirs. However...
(And that's a BIG, however!)
Social media is not a place to sell custom services. Custom services are sold on a one-to-one basis, such as a client referral, an interaction between a stranger and your website, a contact who reads your newsletter, or an in-person meet and greet. There is no fast, mass-appeal way to sell something that is completely unique to each person and their situation.
Should You Delete Your Business Social Media?
While most of you in the home industry would not hurt your businesses if you deleted your social media accounts, you might not be ready to do that. If you still want to use social media, go for it and keep these principles in mind:
Social Media Principle #1: You will have a DIY audience.
You aren't going to get leads from a platform who can’t afford you. The Instagram demographic earns around $70K per year or less and is not of the mind to spend their hard-earned money on your services when they could just DIY it.
Social Media Principle #2: Followers and likes are useless numbers.
Because your ideal client isn't part of the Instagram demographic, you don't need to fret about the number of likes you receive on each post or on the number of followers you gain / lose. Instead, focus on making sure each post reflects your work or represents your personality. Additionally, keep in mind that Instagram doesn't contribute to your SEO or your website traffic (but Pinterest does!).
Social Media Principle #3: Less is more effective.
If you are going to be on social media, post with consistency, but not with insanity. You don't need to post every day. That would burn out even the best of us. You don't need to create reels. Heck, you don't even have to use the stories feature. Instead, post once a week and ensure each post is either a photo of your work or of yourself / your personal life. This can include pets, events, family, and your hobbies. You can also share the occasional tip, with the knowledge that this will only appeal to the DIYers. That's perfect since they are the ones following you.
Social Media Principle #4: You aren't hurting your business by posting sparingly.
You don't have to post more than once a week to keep your brand current, to attract shelter magazines, or to provide enough content for qualified leads who are doing their research. (Do your leads check out your Instagram? Maybe, but most of them will go to your website first. If your website is well-done, that's all the research they'll need to do aside from reading your Google reviews.) Your Instagram presence is rarely a determining factor to a real potential client. If they do look at your Instagram, they'll judge you based on the quality of what you've posted, not on how many times per week you post.
A Marketing Agency that Doesn't Believe in Social Media? How Can This Be?
I once had a vested financial interest in social media platforms. My agency used to offer social media management and made significant revenue doing it. It would have been in the best interest of my agency to teach all of you that social media is completely necessary and that you should outsource it to us.
But social media doesn't make much sense for your industry. It's true. While some people get the occasional high-end client off of social media, it's rare. It's also not worth outsourcing your social media. You should be able to post once per week on your own and move on with your business.
Questions to Ask Your Social Media Manager & Yourself
If you've already hired a social media manager and are wondering if, when, and how they will help grow your business, do your due diligence. Don't blame a lack of followers or likes on your social media manager. They can only post the content you provide (images, caption notes, etc.). On that same note, beware if they are making inflated promises to you regarding followers, exposure, and media opportunities.
Ask questions like...
"If I do get new followers, how will that directly impact my business?" Is your goal to have more exposure? If so, to whom and why? What action should this audience take after being exposed to your business? Do THEY know what action to take or does your sales funnel falter, starting and ending with social media?
"Where am I getting my best clients from and can I get my past clients to refer me more often?" This is a huge reason why email marketing has an ROI of over 3000% compared to that of social media.
"I'm totally new to the industry. Is social media the best way to become known or do I actually need to meet real people in real-time?" I think you know the answer to this question. Your Instagram feed would be a sad, poor replacement for you showing up at in-person events or asking for introductions to the right people.
Guys, running a business can be quite difficult. We've been told that social media is the easy way out of marketing, but nothing could be further from the truth. Social media is shiny object syndrome, digitized for the modern age. It's a place of distraction, not intention. It's not a place serious leads look to find their next trusted home professional.
It's time to take social media more seriously and see it for what it is: A place to have fun, post your work, and stay in touch with colleagues. If you think you might want to sell retail products, your strategy will have to completely change... But only when you have products to sell and a sales funnel to support it. If you think you might want to launch an online course in the near future, you'll need to look at email marketing and blogging. Social media isn't a sales tool, and that's why more personal content will always do far better on the platform.
When you are on Instagram, don't be a business trying to contact people. Be a person who is trying to share snippets of life and work with other people. This will lower your stress, reshape your perspective, and save you a crap ton of time, money, and anxiety. Go worry about something else. 😉
