It’s not as popular as TikTok or as exciting as Clubhouse, where you can eavesdrop on a celebrity panel discussion. When it comes to social media content promotion, though, Instagram is still ahead of the pack.
The visual-focused site provides several opportunities to interact with influential opinion leaders, stand out from the crowd, and build strong communities thanks to its flexible design, extensive targeting options, and personalised features.
It provides a great return on investment for content marketing efforts by companies. Instagram may be smaller than Facebook and YouTube, but it still has over 1.3 billion active users per month. TikTok, a relatively new social media platform, has nearly half as many active users (689 million per month) as Twitter (397 million) and LinkedIn (774 million) combined.
And it’s possible that Instagram’s lead in users over its rivals may widen in the near future. In June, Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri sent a message declaring the service was more than “just a square photo-sharing app,” but rather a destination where users could “go to be entertained.” Instagram is concentrating on creating new video, commerce, and messaging experiences, in addition to new products to help its professional creative community, to bring this brand to life.
There have been reports that the corporation is losing sight of the original purpose of its platform. Few advertisers, according to Instagram’s community manager Monina Wagner: “The Instagram algorithm has been skewing towards video for a while.” You may see this philosophy mirrored in recent releases like Reels and IGTV.
Instagram’s future success as a source of entertainment is up for debate, but it shouldn’t stop you from using it into your content marketing strategy right now. If you’re looking for some new ways to give your content an edge, this collection of advice, samples, and examples from the pros should quench your thirst.
Make an Instagram plan and put it into action
Microblogging service Instagram gives a visual spin to the targeted discussions that made “tweet” a marketing term in 2006. It’s a great platform for the type of emotive storytelling that may generate an empathic connection between your company and its audience, thanks to its specialised photographic filters, streaming video capabilities, mobile-friendly toolkits, and more recent additions like Reels and Live Rooms (more on those below).
Think carefully about how your Instagram actions may advance your strategic marketing goals before you start creating your brand’s profile and publishing lovely photographs or engaging video remixes. (If you need assistance figuring out what those goals should be, I’ve laid out a basic framework for you to follow in my social media marketing strategy outline.)
You should know that, unlike Twitter or Facebook, Instagram videos cannot include clickable links if generating leads is a primary objective of your video content. You’re limited to one link on your profile page unless you have a verified or business account and at least 10,000 followers. Recently, Instagram revealed a test of a feature that would allow users to link stickers on Stories, with the eventual goal of making the feature available to all users.
Create a legitimate company bank account
You can see the small blue tick that confirms Sprout’s celebrity status (no birth certificate necessary) in the top image. It’s a badge of honour that grants access to extra advertising and promotion features within the Instagram app, as well as more detailed information on your followers and the effectiveness of your posts.
Any member of your content team can create a personal profile and publish on behalf of your company, but an official corporate account is the safest choice for your brand’s content operations. You may get your verification badge from the platform once you’ve shown your eligibility.
Increase productivity in preparation with built-in scheduling tools
The ability to schedule postings is another important function of a business account. This capability was previously only accessible via add-ons. Earlier this year, Instagram launched its content publishing API, allowing companies to preschedule up to 25 photo and video postings within 24 hours, addressing a previous omission.
Carefully construct your artistic work
Instagram is all about the ‘grammes (and lewks). Exhibit the most alluring images associated with your brand and include descriptive text to entice readers into the world of your business. For companies in the tourist and leisure industries, this is essential. Still, any company with a distinguishing look may benefit from employing stylized graphics and highlighting its own distinctive viewpoints and qualities.
Exhibit the vision and value of your brand
There are many different ways to go about this, even if your content team is camera shy. Below is an example of how the SaaS company Atlassian utilises a basic, static image to express its position on an issue and draw attention to its most recent podcast episode:
Designers may also show off their font-related creativity while working with text-based communications. In order to increase your Stories’ exposure, Olga Rabo reveals nine advanced font hacks, one of which is the use of motion.