Instagram is the perfect social media platform to inspire people with images that tell a business’ story. The visual aspect of Instagram uses the power of simple imagery to get the message out to current and potential customers, while humanizing and showcasing the company. With over 400 million active users that share 80 million photos every day, those photos garner more than 3.5 billion likes per day and awesome comments, lots of sharing and engagement as well. This is a community that is very passionate and upbeat; sharing content on Instagram spurs interaction between businesses and customers, establishes trust and solidly brands a business to allow them to magnify their message cost-effectively. And you thought Instagram was nothing but selfies!
What (and how) to post on Instagram
Though that first post might be intimidating, you will quickly become a pro and look forward to posting on this fun and dynamic social media site. Here are a couple of ideas to inspire you:
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Behind the scenes at your company: Funky and authentic, these really personalize your business. Describe what’s going on, and be sure to add relevant industry hashtags and funny ones, too. Hashtag ideas: #beforecoffee #meetingsarefun #hardatwork
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Selfies: These are everywhere, but we don’t mean a picture of you in the bathroom mirror with your best pout. How about grabbing a selfie of the creative group at lunch, or brainstorming a new Instagram campaign? Hashtag ideas: #teamatwork #bondingtime
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Quotes: Share inspirational or funny quotes for strong engagement and sharing. Even better if you pair it up with an image to match. Lots of apps are available to do this; some favorites are WordSwag, Phonto, Font Candy and Typic. Hashtag ideas: #quote #quotes
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Memes: Funny and irreverent, but so memorable and shareable! Sprinkle memes throughout your account for a lighthearted feel. Use meme generators to create custom memes for your business in minutes. Hashtag ideas: #memes #funny #pleaseshare
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Newsjacking: Positive posts about things going on in the world, but tread lightly so you don’t offend people. Donald Trump’s hair? Fair game. His ideas about immigration? Steer clear. Hashtag ideas: #newstoday #whatshappening
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Content promotion: Use a great image and caption to promote your recent blog posts, and ask people to follow your bio link to read it. Hashtag ideas: #readthis #ourblog
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Product or service promotion: Do this sparingly or you will turn off your audience; but showcase your company products or services occasionally using the 90/10 rule–90 percent of what you post should be valuable to your followers and 10 percent can be self-promotional. Of course, it is Instagram, so make your promo content fun and compelling for best results! Hashtag ideas: #ourproductinaction #checkoutournewest
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Reposts from followers: There is no better way to get someone’s attention on Instagram than to curate and repost their images; this is the ultimate form of IG flattery. Be sure to @tag them, so they know you did it and gave them credit. Hashtags: #repost #coolstuffwefind
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Action requests: Ask your followers to tag their friends when you post a funny meme, or request that they follow you on Twitter or Facebook. Broaden your reach with these requests. Hashtags: #tagyourbff #followusonFB #doyoutweet
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Videos and GIFS: You can post short videos on Instagram and make them funny or functional. Either way, it is another way to increase engagement. Hint: people love babies and animals, so if you can somehow relate either to your business, you are golden! Hashtags: #howwedoit #playfulpuppies
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Throwback Thursday: Save your vintage images for Thursday and give everyone a peek into your past. Hashtags: #TBT #throwbackThursday
Businesses of all sizes, from really small companies to major household names, are successfully using Instagram to drive ad recall, engagement and customers! These ideas will get you started, but you will quickly find lots more inspiration for posts. Remember, make people laugh and they will double tap and like your post, probably leave a nice comment and follow you. It takes time to build engagement and trust, but post on Instagram regularly and you will see much more of both.
Now the sales bit, we’ve been training businesses large and small how to get the best out of their social media activity for many years, indeed we run over 20 social media seminar with our sister business GrowMyCharity.com. If you think your business could do we help getting your social media engagement focused then please contact us through the website here for a no obligation chat or call us on 01392 241653.
