Why Interior Designers aren't Finding Good Clients on Instagram
Does your interior design, organizing, or home staging business seem to get clients from Instagram? While we don't see this very often in my agency (nor do my colleagues in the marketing industry) we do come across the occasional home pro who gets good clients and projects from Instagram.
Or rather, they seem to at first glance.
Upon interviewing these interior designers and after tracking the path their leads took to initiate contact with them, we discovered something that will bring you a sigh of relief — especially if you've been wondering what the heck you're doing wrong if you are getting ZERO leads from Instagram.
Friends, you aren't doing anything wrong. Let's dive into what is actually happening here. By the way, this blog post is a continuation of an earlier post, "3 Reasons Luxury Interior Designers Don't Get Clients from Instagram."
Instagram Fact Check: Where Did Those Leads Actually See You First?
We work with enough luxury design firms to know that, by and large, the luxury client isn't very active on social media, and if they do use social, they rarely like or comment. They also don't tend to use social media as a determining factor in who to hire. They will hire you based on a referral from someone they trust or from your SEO. After receiving that referral, they'll head to your website (or Google will send them directly to your site). Then, after working with you, they might follow you on social media to stay in touch and interact with the photos you post from their project.
This lack of social media interaction can frustrate the luxury designer, especially when their colleagues tell them about all the clients they are getting from social media. If this frustration describes you and if your colleagues are getting all sorts of great clients from social media, here are a few reasons why that might be happening for them and why it likely won't happen for you:
Your colleagues are selling retail products; you don't sell any products, and if you do, they are higher-end or designer-only brands.
Your colleagues are targeting younger demographics who, by the nature of their age, usually can't afford to pay for luxury services or aren't ready to establish their forever home (or second or third residence) quite yet.
Your colleagues prefer smaller projects.
(And adding a fourth reason to this that we recently discovered...) Your colleagues are actually connecting with / being found by people in other ways (referrals, events, etc.), after which those people choose to follow the designer and contact them via social media.
This is a prime example of FINDING your community on Instagram versus BUILDING your community on Instagram. Your community is built elsewhere — through referrals and events and past clients — and is reflected on Instagram when those same people track you down and hit "follow."
There is a massive difference between this situation and the one we are all told we should be experiencing. You know, the situation where you set up an Instagram profile, post some photos, and strangers from the internet end up hiring you. That statistically just isn't happening for the home industry, nor should we set those types of expectations.
Next time someone from Instagram contacts you about a legitimate project, run this little test:
Ask them if they knew about you prior to following you on Instagram.
Most often, they did! This means it wasn't your social media presence that drew them to you, but rather, a third-party source altogether. Instagram was just the mechanism they used to contact you, much like someone else might use email or a phone call to initiate contact.
Think about it: If someone calls you to inquire about a project, do you then record that person as a "phone lead" or do you drill deeper to learn how they actually found you and then record that lead source? Obviously, the latter is what you should do if you want accurate data.
I'm not against anyone getting new clients from Instagram (no one is mad about new clients!), but what bothers me deeply as a professional marketer for the home industry is the misinformation that is being pushed. When you hear of colleagues raking in the projects "from Instagram" without hearing the actual, full story of those leads, it might make you think that you are doing something wrong on Instagram.
Let me just say it point-blank: You aren't.
If you aren't getting leads from Instagram, but you have colleagues that claim to be, it isn't that you are making a social media marketing mistake, but instead that your colleagues are likely not uncovering the actual source of their leads. The point-of-contact, whether Instagram or phone or email, doesn't equal point-of-entry into the sales funnel.
You need to know the point of entry to determine where to place your marketing efforts. Where did these people enter your sales funnel? Find that doorway and widen it. The method they use to contact you, whether an email or a social media DM, doesn't really tell you anything. You need to figure out where they saw, heard of, or met you first - that is the data that matters.
Why the Average Instagram User Won't Invest in Your Services
Here is the reality about trying to market your custom interior design, home staging, professional organizing, or window treatment business on social media:
The average engagement on an Instagram business account’s post is 0.83%.
Instagram helps 80% of users decide whether to purchase products, not services.
Anecdotally, home professionals who report having received clients from Instagram note the resulting projects are small.
Try googling the data around how well services sell on Instagram. That data doesn’t exist, which tells us something key about where we should and shouldn’t expect to gain clients.
If your clients tend to spend $5,000 or less on services, fees, and products (combined) with your company, you might be able to find clients on Instagram. However, due to a lack of data surrounding even this low number, I definitely can't make you any promises.
What I can tell you is that retail products do well on Instagram and Facebook — if they are priced on the lower end of the spectrum, akin to Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware.
Why? Well, the Instagram user demographics speak for themselves:
The two major age groups of users on Instagram are 18-24 years old (75% of people worldwide in this age range) and 25-29 years old (57%) with over 70% of ALL USERS making less than $75K annually. There is nothing wrong with their ages or income levels, but it would be unrealistic to expect them to invest a significant amount of money into your services.
[source]
Instagram users have specific interests and reasons for using the platform. Users have named their primary interests as travel (45%), music (44%), and food and drink (43%). Because interior design, home decor, organizing, and real estate don't fall into these categories, you have yet another statistical reason not to expect quality projects to emerge from Instagram.
[source]
Trying to sell your services via a social platform with a user base that is too young or too broke or too uninterested to buy from you, while that platform also provides no statistics around how well it can even sell services in general, should make you think twice about spending large amounts of time or money on the platform itself.
Reality Checks and Fact Checks that will Save Your Marketing Budget
Think about the biggest purchase you've ever made (or think of one that is financially equivalent to how much people will spend with you). How did you make that buying decision? Did a social media post from an unknown company sway you? Or, did your friend's raving review of the business / brand win you over? Did you meet the service provider in person at an event? Were you referred to them?
Often, your clients make big decisions the same way you do — not flippantly, not based on how many followers the business has, not on how pretty their posts are, but on actual 5-star reviews, word of mouth referrals, and a good, old-fashioned Google search.
Why is this? Simply put, most people know that social media isn't reality. It's easy for any service provider to appear successful and talented in a newsfeed or nine-grid, but it's entirely another to hear praise about them from someone you trust, especially when you are about to drop five, six, or even seven figures on a project with them.
If your clients are discerning and professional, and if they have dispensable income, they aren't going to be nearly as impressed by your social media presence as the DIYer might be. The DIYer isn't about to make an investment and therefore has no skin in the game. A real client might glance at your social media as the last step in their research phase, but by then, they've already made up their mind to hire or not hire you anyway.
Does this mean you should still have some sort of social media presence? Sure! It's a great way to showcase your portfolio, tag vendors, and be part of a community. However, it's time to do away with the notion that you're going to get a stream of clients finding you solely through Instagram. The data just doesn't support that claim — and the data is what should be guiding your marketing decisions.
Rather than throwing money or time at social media, invest in a long-term relationship with a PR firm, while also pursuing partnerships with other professionals who serve your ideal client as well.
Your marketing should go far beyond social media — which is true whether or not you offer a luxury service. You should place a higher priority on growing your mailing list, increasing your SEO, and staying top-of-mind with past leads and clients — all so that you can maintain and increase your circle of referrals.
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