Be where your target audience is. Market to them there. Be one of them. Support them and they’ll support you back.

Instagram is the place to be for teenagers and young adults online. They are starting to prefer that over Facebook and Twitter. In fact, young teens only have Instagram accounts. Why? That’s where their friends are.

If you want to understand your students better, get on Instagram.

Here are a few tips to get started:

1. Use hashtags –  A hashtag is the #symbol and is used to mark keywords or topics in a tweet, Facebook post, or Instagram photo. People use the hashtag symbol # before a relevant keyword or phrase (no spaces) in their post to categorize those posts and help them show more easily in searches. Clicking on a hashtagged word in any message shows you all other posts marked with that keyword. [Read more about hashtags here.]

2. Post compelling content – Share photos that your fans will like. Are there any motivational quotes you can share? What about photos at your business? Maybe even funny photos of your staff – your students will relate to them and have an instant connection. Humanize your business. Show that you are people too. Bad hair day? Messes in the kitchen? Busted radio? We all have the same life problems.

3. Share widely – Reposting photos from your followers gives them a bit of celeb status. Pick a student once a week to repost a photo from. This will make them anticipate who will be chosen next week. Hopefully, it will get them to engage with your account more. Don’t be afraid to follow people back – users will love it.

4. Be generous with likes – Supporting your followers via Instagram means liking their photos. Reposting will also show support. Making them feel special can be done with one like.

One great thing about Instagram is the ability to link your account to your Facebook and Twitter. This lets people know you’re on all of the sites. Post about being on Instagram on Facebook encouraging them to follow you.

So, what does all of this mean for the growth of your business? The answer is simple – publicity and word of mouth. Separate yourself from the competition by being the organization who is involved in social media, connecting to customers, and being relatable.

Create relationships with your customers to be more than just a dance studio, swim school, gymnastics center, etc. Be the place they look forward going to and connect with you outside of class.