Clients love to feel like they're getting a look behind the curtain. It makes them feel more connected. By sharing shots of you and your colleagues at work, perhaps accompanied by a fun fact or funny caption, you can give clients the impression that they’re getting to know you and your firm better. 

If you or your firm is participating in a charity or community event, take and post some pictures. Be sure to tag the charity as well and inform followers of how they can donate to the cause. Doing so can both help the event be an even greater success and draw some attention to your firm’s impact in its community.

The hassle of traveling for work is something that just about everyone can relate to. By sharing photos of the airport or city you happen to be visiting, or even the occasional shot of your humdrum morning commute, you can make an easy connection with followers struggling through the same grind, while demonstrating that your firm’s reach extends far beyond its local office. 

If your client tells you about something interesting that they’re planning on doing or some award that they’re winning, consider asking them to take some photos for you to share (with their permission). Doing so can help show that you care about your clients beyond the business that they do with you and can demonstrate the breadth of your network to any potential clients.

Note: Pay particular attention to any compliance or ethical rules governing your profession when posting client images, particularly those dealing with products the client may be selling or services you’ve rendered. It kind of defeats the purpose of marketing your firm if you end up getting sanctioned in the process.

Though this one may seem obvious to the more social media savvy advisors out there, it’s still important to note. Hashtags are how most non-followers will find your posts on Instagram. As such, using broader, more general hashtags (which are still associated with your image) can help you piggyback on some of the traffic that those hashtags are already generating. However, try to strike a balance between popular and relevant, otherwise your posts risk getting lost in the sea of other content marked with those hashtags.

Although the Instagram community is generally more tolerant of multiple hashtags (considered a breach of etiquette in certain other social networks), there’s definitely a tipping point. If your posts are stuffed with hashtags, it smacks of trying too hard and looks like advertising spam. This probably isn’t the message that you’re trying to send, so keep your hashtags under control.

Follow up on your posts and engage with the (reasonable) commenters. The entire point of what you’re doing here is to build your own little community. If someone takes the time to comment on your post, it means that they want to be part of it (or that their brother makes $500 an hour working from home…), so oblige them. By demonstrating your willingness to respond, you also encourage future engagement. Josh Brown offers some excellent insight in this regard in his article, noting:

“Your comments are your personality. Make sure to pay close attention to what you’re saying, down to the last word – all your followers could read what you write, so your writing must have mass appeal to be perceived overall as positive. When you relate to your target audience members … they will be more likely to trust you and buy from you.”