If you’re running a business that uses Instagram as a marketing platform, I bet that it’s something you have a love / hate relationship with it. I know that for my own product business, I struggle to come up with good content on a consistent basis. From curating photos that complement your brand, to thinking of perfectly clever captions, to harnessing all the right hashtags, it can be a huge investment of time for many business owners.
When I mention Instagram to my fellow entrepreneurial friends, I’m always met with a collective sigh and eye roll as they describe the burden of maintaining Instagram followers for what sometimes seems like little return. To make matters worse, a recent algorithm change to Instagram means that it’s harder than ever to see good organic engagement with your posts, with many businesses noticing a significant drop in post interactions this year. In fact, it’s widely quoted that only 10% of your followers are able to see your posts, as Instagram attempts to only serve content that it thinks you care about. Despite the effort that it entails, Instagram really is the place to be for many product (and service) businesses, and there are plenty of examples of businesses who have gotten traction solely through this platform. So, if you want to continue to use Instagram to promote your business, but you’re struggling to come up with content, I’m going to share some ideas for ‘types’ of content that differ from the usual product sell. You can use these ideas to put together a basic content plan which will help you churn out content on a regular basis, and keep it varied and interesting. Having a plan also means you can create your posts ahead of time on days where you are feeling a little more inspired, or at times when your business is quieter, like during school holidays. Creating a content plan doesn’t need to be a scary thing. It can be as basic as a list of ideas on a Word document, or a simple Excel spreadsheet. All you need to do is list out different types of content down the left side of the page (see below for inspiration), and have dates running across the top (or ‘Week 1’, ‘Week 2’ etc.). Then, in the middle of this table, add in the specific topic ideas under the dates you would like to run them, and beside each relevant content type. Simple, right? How frequently you post is entirely dependent on you. Most social media marketers would recommend posting as frequently as possible – daily, in fact. But from my perspective, this isn’t practical for many small businesses, and you’ll quickly run out of quality content to post if you commit to doing this right off the bat. So, the answer to the frequency question is ‘Post as often as feasible for your business and lifestyle’. Here are some ideas for different types of Instagram content that you can adopt for your business today:
So, there you have it. Just a few ideas for Instagram content that’s different to simply uploading photos of your products. If you’ve got other ideas, I would love to hear them! Just add them in the comments below.
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November 2020
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