What is the purpose of Instagram? Instagram is a social networking app that focuses consistent posting of images and video.
1. What Do You Want? (Goals)
It may seem like an easy question, what do I want from someone who sees my Instagram account or posts? Well, what do you want? Do you want them to be aware of your existence? That you have a big sale in November? That you are hiring? Once you have established your goal you’ll need to develop a game plan.
2. Have A Game Plan (Strategy)
Posting for postings sake is a waste of your efforts, not to mention it can be discouraging when you are putting a ton of work into a bunch of posts and not getting any return for it. Once you have decided on your goal, set up a content posting schedule. You can often find great examples with a quick google search. Creating your content plan will rely heavily on what you’ve decided as your goal. In understanding your goal, you’ll have figured out who you want coming to your big sale, what type of person you’re looking to hire, or who you want to know you exist.
3. Acting On Your Content Plan (Tactical Execution)
So now that you’ve decided on what you want and have made a game plan, it’s time to drop the puck. If you know who you are trying to get a hold of with your post completely tailor the post to them. Use an arrow instead of a shotgun. Being hyper specific will help you use the language and images that are more likely to cause action from your targeted group whether it means they click through to your account, look up your store address, or go to your website to fill out an application. Instagram loves to be provided with information, the more information you can provide it while posting the better, that means locations, tagging people who appear in the post, and hashtags. (Click here for my Instagram post template.)
Insights, Metrics, and Waiting
Once you’ve identified your business’s marketing goals, developed your strategic plan for connecting with your target customers, and tactically executed on your content plan, you will see slow, but steady growth across your Instagram metrics, in time you’ll be able to see what is effective for your preferred client or customer.