How To Create An Effective Instagram Post For Your Business
When it comes to phone and video sharing, Instagram is king. With over 1 billion monthly active users, it is one of the most prominent social platforms. Instagram allows users to share photos and videos, add captions, engage with others, edit filters, upload stories… and so much more.
Instagram is also a great platform for companies to promote their brand, engage with potential clients, and boost sales. But all this hinges on using Instagram effectively. At The Real Social Company, Instagram is one of our favorite social media platforms, and over the years, we’ve accumulated practical knowledge for creating effective posts. In this article, we share seven of them with you.
Post Timely content
It goes without saying that you should create posts that are relevant to your audience. What many businesses miss out on is creating trendy content. Tending topics, by default, garner large attention. By creating content that’s relevant to a trending story, you leverage the story’s high note to boost engagement with your brand.
Whatever the trend is, it’s important that you think critically about the story and see how it ties with your brand. This is typically the hard part. But if you get it right, then you’re sure to get others to interact with your post.
Take advantage of Stories.
Instagram Stories allow users to post photos and videos that disappear after 24 hours both from your profile and in your Instagram feed. The great thing about Stories is that it allows you to tell better and deeper stories about your brand.
You’d typically want to post one or two pictures or videos on your Instagram feed per day. Levering stories allows you to share more without becoming overbearing. Instagram Stories is ideal for sharing announcements, highlights, polls, questions, countdowns, links, and contests, among many others.
Post Consistently
People love consistency – that’s why most people sleep and eat around the same time every day. When posting content on Instagram, it helps to post frequently and consistently. This way, your audience learns when to expect content from you.
According to a study by Union Metrics, the average brand posts 1.5 times per day on Instagram. The study also found no link between an increased number of posts and engagement. So it’s okay to make more than two posts daily – don’t just go overboard.
Thankfully, there are several scheduling apps like Sked Social, Tailwind, and HootSuite that can help you automate posting content. This makes it easy to be consistent.
Pay attention to your successful posts
As Albert Einstein once said, “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”. It’s important to come up with innovative content. That’s why you must pay attention to your posts to figure out what works and what doesn’t work. Which posts are getting the most likes, shares, or comments?
With Instagram analytics, you can easily spot some trends, identifying the content your audience likes. This way, you can create more content similar to what works and less of what doesn’t.
Engage with your audience
It’s not only about putting up regular posts on Instagram. It’s more about engaging with your audience and connecting with them. That way, you can build a strong community around your brand.
One of the pieces of advice we give businesses at The Real Social Company is to actively engage with their audience. If someone takes their time to share their thoughts with you, it’s only courteous that you respond to them. Not only would it help you to form a better relationship with your audience, but it will also help increase trust.
When people trust you, they are eager to recommend you to others. A study by the Internet Advertising Bureau found that 90% of customers would recommend a brand that has interacted with them on social media.
Leverage hashtags
Hashtags might not seem important on the surface, but they are one of the most important aspects of promoting your Instagram.
Of what use is posting if on one or only a few people see it? Hashtags are what make your Instagram content discoverable. Users can discover content by searching hashtags on their own or tapping through related posts for a particular tag.
Think of hashtags like keywords for search engine optimization. You’ve spent lots of time to come up with that post, taking a few seconds to tack on some tags will make a huge difference.
Organize contests and giveaways
Running contests is a great way to spice up your posts once in a while. Contests are a great way to increase awareness, build evangelists for your brand, and incentive your following or engagement.
When it comes to creating contests, let your creativity fly. Your imagination is your only limitation. One common contest on Instagram is the photo-sharing contest, where you ask your followers to share a photo using a selected hashtag.
Comment contests and like contests are also commonly used. Contests help to boost engagement, and they’re super easy to start.
Wrap Up
Creating effective Instagram posts can help improve your business, but it has to be done right. Because Instagram places primary focus on photos and videos, it’s important you post high-quality media that are appealing. Furthermore, it’s important to upload contents that are relevant and timely so you can keep your audience engaged. Do well to respond to comments on your posts so you can develop trust.
If you incorporate these tips, you’re sure to see a great improvement in your online presence. We’ve used it at The Real Social Company, and it’s worked for us! Good luck as you put them to practice.
Need help scheduling posts? Consider PostieBot. Need advice? Help? Schedule a call with us.
