12 Mar Best Practices for Instagram
Let’s be real, if you aren’t on Instagram, you’re missing out. Instagram remains the golden child of the social media scene for marketers. With over 1 billion monthly active users, it’s not hard to see why. With so many people and brands being on the platform, let’s chat through some Instagram best practices to help your content be seen by the right audience.
- Be consistent
Try and see when your audience is more active on the platform and plan your social content accordingly. In order to attract and obtain followers, posting consistently is key.
- It’s not all about you!
Try to stick with a 4:1 ratio. This means that you shouldn’t talk about yourself on every. single. post. Instead, add in promotional posts so you aren’t blabbing about yourself all the time.
- Be creative
This is the platform to be creative! Test and try different things like GIFs, cinemagraphs, short form videos, etc. Try not to go too crazy! Remember that you want to post creative that is consistent with your brand guidelines so when people are scrolling fast, they know what brand that post is coming from without even looking at your profile picture.
- Utilize Instagram features like Instagram Stories and Highlights
Instagram stories are a great opportunity to bring your brand to life, in real-time, to your audience at home. As a helpful tip, shoot everything vertically and if uploading content, make sure it fits and fills the screen. It helps to tell a story, using the editing features- such as text, drawing and stickers to make it interactive. To further your reach, tag your location! When people watch your story, they’ll be able to tap the sticker to learn more about the location you tagged.
After you build a library full of stories, turn those into highlights so they last longer AKA continue to drive people to popular products, to your blog or website, see behind-the-scenes and so much more.
- Using the right hashtags
When selecting hashtags to add to your post, it can be overwhelming when deciding which ones to choose. Be sure to mix up your hashtags with generic and industry-specific hashtags to find the best hashtags to connect with your targeted followers. Instagram allows up to 30, but with a mass amount of tags underneath your caption risks looking both untargeted and spam-like. That’s why we recommend using 7-10 hashtags. Experiment with different hashtags on your posts until you find that sweet spot.
- Drive to your website and/or blog
You’ve probably heard this often, but it’s true – Instagram is a great tool to help boost visits to your website, blog and other resources via a single clickable link in your bio. You could also include promotional posts that include special offers to encourage people to click through.
- Track and learn from your content
Most importantly, be sure to deploy analytics software to gain insights on top and bottom performing content. This will help give you key insights when editorial planning and figuring out what worked well on this platform for your brand.
If you need help on how to elevate your brand on Instagram, check out our free 30-minute on-demand webinar on Converting Customers with Social Content.
