Screen Printing - April/May 2018 - 28

HOW TO EXPAND YOUR
BUSINESS USING INSTAGRAM
Is your shop missing out on a free opportunity to showcase work,
keep clients coming back for more, and reach new customers?
DYLAN GILLIGAN

I

'm a big believer in social media. It has always been my
profile picture and bio. Use your company logo as your profile
preferred way to contact new customers and stay in touch
picture and make sure it looks good in a small circle: You want
with old ones. My company, Upstate Merch (upstatemerch.
your logo to be recognizable as users scroll by. Your bio needs
com), is a screen printing and merchandising shop located in
to be strong. Make sure it's short and sweet, but shows exactly
upstate New York and we generate a
who you are. More than likely, you
huge part of our business from social
will be establishing a business page,
media. I started my first company
so you will have options for linking
when Myspace had just come out,
to your website and email, making it
and for me it was perfect for sendunnecessary to put them in the bio.
ing direct messages to exactly who
Now comes the harder part. If
I wanted to talk to. There was no
you want a good social media preshunting around the internet for
ence, you need to put the effort in. It
phone numbers and emails. I spent
doesn't have to take up much time,
my days messaging people directly,
but your approach needs to be conasking them if they could use my
sistent. Take a picture here and there
print services.
throughout the work day. You can
Over time, Twitter and Facebook
also create a few Instagram stories
came out, and later, my personal
about the project you are currently
favorite, Instagram. I feel that Instaworking on. It really doesn't have to
Dylan Gilligan scrolls through Upstate Merch's
gram is perfect for a visual industry
be too complicated. It should be fun.
Instagram feed on his desktop, keeping an eye
like ours. Customers like to see the
Social media, in my opinion, is the
out for inspiration and ideas.
products, the cool print techniques,
best form of marketing. It's free. All
and the behind-the-scenes story of how their shirt is being
it takes is time. You don't need to dedicate an employee to it
made. With the analytics, hashtags, and discover pages, you
as a full-time job if you don't want to. Instagram stories are 15
can target exactly the right customer for you.
seconds. Taking a picture here and there takes no time at all.
You can use Instagram in one of two ways. You can post
throughout the day using your phone pictures, or you can
GETTING STARTED WITH INSTAGRAM
create curated photos that you have edited to your liking.
Starting an Instagram page is easy. Begin by creating your
28

SCREENPRINTING



Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Screen Printing - April/May 2018

Contents
Screen Printing - April/May 2018 - Cover1
Screen Printing - April/May 2018 - Cover2
Screen Printing - April/May 2018 - 1
Screen Printing - April/May 2018 - Contents
Screen Printing - April/May 2018 - 3
Screen Printing - April/May 2018 - 4
Screen Printing - April/May 2018 - 5
Screen Printing - April/May 2018 - 6
Screen Printing - April/May 2018 - 7
Screen Printing - April/May 2018 - 8
Screen Printing - April/May 2018 - 9
Screen Printing - April/May 2018 - 10
Screen Printing - April/May 2018 - 11
Screen Printing - April/May 2018 - 12
Screen Printing - April/May 2018 - 13
Screen Printing - April/May 2018 - 14
Screen Printing - April/May 2018 - 15
Screen Printing - April/May 2018 - 16
Screen Printing - April/May 2018 - 17
Screen Printing - April/May 2018 - 18
Screen Printing - April/May 2018 - 19
Screen Printing - April/May 2018 - 20
Screen Printing - April/May 2018 - 21
Screen Printing - April/May 2018 - 22
Screen Printing - April/May 2018 - 23
Screen Printing - April/May 2018 - 24
Screen Printing - April/May 2018 - 25
Screen Printing - April/May 2018 - 26
Screen Printing - April/May 2018 - 27
Screen Printing - April/May 2018 - 28
Screen Printing - April/May 2018 - 29
Screen Printing - April/May 2018 - 30
Screen Printing - April/May 2018 - 31
Screen Printing - April/May 2018 - 32
Screen Printing - April/May 2018 - 33
Screen Printing - April/May 2018 - 34
Screen Printing - April/May 2018 - 35
Screen Printing - April/May 2018 - 36
Screen Printing - April/May 2018 - Cover3
Screen Printing - April/May 2018 - Cover4
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/STMG/sp_20161201
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