Secret Formula for Instagram Success😎
Whether you’re new to Instagram or are already established and looking to boost your presence, it’s essential to start with clear goals in mind to guide the kind of content you should post on Instagram.
Let's start with Instagram goals for businesses.
Setting goals will help define your Instagram marketing strategy and narrow your focus, making it a lot easier to choose what to post!
Here are a few common goals small businesses might choose:
- Increase sales
- Grow their audience
- Improve brand loyalty
- Increase brand awareness
- Drive website traffic
- Establish business partnerships (with influencers or complementary brands)
Choose one or two goals for your Instagram profile and post content related to these goals.
Establish content themes that align with your audience
Once you know your goals, it can be helpful to choose themes that guide your content. Then your brand is more consistent, and your audience knows what to expect and gets excited to interact with you.
Instagram content themes examples to help you get started:
- Behind-the-scenes content
- User-generated content
- Polls
- Giveaways
- Product demos
- Educational (e.g., tips or tutorials)
- Culture-focused (showing the human side of your company)
- Customer stories
- Product launches
- Travel
- Productivity
- Motivation
- Food
- Exercise
- Mental health
- Body positivity
- Environmentalism
Instagram best practices for businesses
Now that you know what content you want to create use these best practices to succeed.
Be relatable, not salesy
Remember: it’s a post, not an ad. It needs to be content people want to look at. That might be your product, or it might be more general content like a dentist posting about proper tooth brushing techniques.
When you post promotional content, it should be in the mix with plenty of non-salesy content to make your account worth following.
Engage with your followers
Doing well on Instagram is more than posting pretty photos. Engage with people who are interacting with you on Instagram.
Follow them back, like their posts, keep the conversation going by responding to comments. You’ll build relationships with your followers, and it will encourage your fans to keep engaging with you.
Use hashtags to extend your reach
Hashtags help people find the content they’re interested in. Add them to Instagram captions to get your posts in front of more people and grow your followers.
If you own a local business, consider hashtags specific to your region to find people in your community.
Use Instagram Carousels to hit the same users again
Instagram Carousels are regular posts with multiple photos or videos in the same post. They act as a small photo album and enable you to show up in your followers’ Instagram feeds more than once.
Viewers can scroll through the photos, but if they don’t, the carousel post can show up in their feed later featuring a different picture.
Post regularly
Consistency and publishing frequency can help your audience learn when to expect new content from you and get them in the habit of interacting with you on Instagram. The more they interact with you, the more the Instagram algorithm rewards you — by putting your content at the top of your followers’ feeds.
Make sure your work is paying off by measuring your Instagram success
You need to make sure your marketing efforts are paying off. Keep tracking your followers and engagement to make sure you’re growing over time.
Save time with a social media scheduling tool
Adding Instagram marketing to your plate is no small task for business owners. As an entrepreneur, you have dozens of projects to manage as it is.
So, save time by using a social media marketing tool to schedule your posts in advance. You can set up posts weeks in advance, so you never go dark on Instagram.
Ready to take your Instagram strategy to the next level?
Not sure? We’re here to help you with your content and marketing strategy.
If you need any help or have any questions, send me an email at joanna@goenge.com.
Enjoy Instagramming!