Social media has integrated into our daily existence, and among the various emerging platforms, Instagram continues to stand out as one of the most widely used. As a growing brand, Instagram presents an exceptional chance to engage with your target audience and foster a community of engaged followers. In the last 6 years, Instagram has launched Instagram Stories, catapulting vertical video, IGTV came and went, Reels launched, and influencer marketing on the platform has continued to dominate as an awareness and performance channel for many brands.
Bob Wolfley, a consumer-centric lifestyle marketer with experience leading social & partnerships at name brands including Canoo, MeUndies, and Flock Freight who just won a Cannes Lion, shares how he has embraced the change and remained agile as Instagram has continued to evolve.
Adapt to React
“Change is the common denominator of social media. You have to embrace the change: different formats, different features, the always-changing algorithm. Keep your fingers on the pulse and adapt your strategy to stay ahead,” shares Bob. Some of his top tips for staying up with trends include:
- Embrace Active Engagement. Be an active user. In every way possible, actively participate on the platform, regardless of your identity or interests. Engage thoughtfully with others by leaving comments, sharing your position on trends, and using Instagram to discover emerging brands. Additionally, keep an eye on established brands that are leading the way in innovation. Instagram is a great place to draw inspiration from diverse sources to infuse your content with creativity and originality.
- Cultivate a Creative Presence. Whether you're managing a personal account or representing a brand, create content yourself. consistently curate captivating content that resonates with your audience. Dive into the depths of your creativity, especially in the initial stages. Bob recalls drawing a lot of ideas and leveraging insights garnered from tests run on personal platforms to inform business accounts, elevating their appeal.
- Embrace Constant Adaptation. Regularly assess and fine-tune your strategy, every 3-6 months, acknowledging that what is effective today may not yield the same results tomorrow. Embrace a dynamic and up-to-date approach, ensuring your content always exudes freshness and agility to capture your audience's attention.
Developing Your Strategy
Developing an effective Instagram strategy requires careful planning and consideration of your goals and target audience. Bob gives insight to his step-by-step approach to creating a comprehensive Instagram strategy:
- Know Your Target Audience: Understand your target audience's demographics, interests, and behaviors (LINK TO BRAND ARTICLE). This knowledge will help you tailor your content to resonate with them effectively and define how you’re bringing value. “Value on social media comes in 3 ways: education, inspiration, and entertainment,” says Bob. In addition to identifying the value you want to provide, analyze what your direct competitors or other successful Instagram accounts in your niche are doing. Identify their strengths and weaknesses to find opportunities for differentiation.
- Establish your content pillars: Your content pillars are central topics that form the foundation of your content strategy, serving as a guiding principle to ensure consistency and coherence in the content you post. Leverage your brand identity and how you seek to provide value to your audience to help establish your content pillars. Your goal is to provide value in the form of content, don’t just talk about what your brand or service is. Having diverse content pillars can also diversify the audiences you’re speaking to.
- Define your Content Mix and Frequency: Determine the types of content you'll share, such as photos, videos, carousel posts, Stories, and Reels. Aim for a balanced mix of promotional, educational, and entertaining content. Inform your frequency by your content pillars – it’s never going to be perfect but will help strike a good balance.
- Create a Content Calendar: Develop a content calendar to plan and organize your posts in advance. This ensures you have a steady flow of content and helps maintain consistency. As you’re starting to build out social copy, consider what brand tones are within your account. Consider finding a balance between personality and formality, depending on the content type. A few of Bob’s favorite planning tools include Later and Sprout Social. Other recommended social media tools include Notion, Sprinkler, Hootsuite, Buffer.
- Utilize Analytics: Uses insights (Instagram Analytics or external analytics garnered through social listening platforms) to monitor the performance of your posts and Stories. Analyze data on reach, engagement, and audience demographics to refine your strategy over time. Your audiences’ needs are ever-evolving – your strategy must do the same.
Best Practices For Growing Following
- Deliver Exceptional Products or Services. It goes without saying, in order to build a cult following, you need to ensure your offerings are of high quality.
- Empathize with Your Audience. Step into your users' shoes and think about where you seek out new products and services. Are you discovering new brands via influencers? Podcasts? Forge strong partnerships early on, as they can be instrumental in elevating your brand's reach and visibility.
- Unleash the Power of Compelling Storytelling. Be authentic in your storytelling, captivating your audience with narratives that leave a lasting impact.
- Strive for Balance. While maintaining a polished feed is important, don't let it overshadow your authenticity and genuine connection with your audience. “The feed is dead,” preaches Bob. Broaden your content horizons to resonate with fresh audiences, enticing them with a variety of content types that showcase your brand's uniqueness.
- Revitalize Hashtags. On the converse, “hashtags aren’t dead,” and can serve as a tool to expand reach and introduce your brand to new audiences. Utilize broad stroke categories and leverage the hashtag optimizer from Later for optimal results.
Best Practices For Increasing Engagement
- Nurture Engagement. Cultivate a personal touch by responding to every comment, especially as a small brand. Doing so fosters a sense of connection and appreciation with your audience. Establish a two-way relationship by seeking and embracing feedback from your customers, using it as a valuable resource to improve your products or services.
- Stay Alert to Performance Indicators. Identify early signals of content that resonate well with your audience, enabling you to refine your strategy and cater to these favored content types effectively.
- Embrace Creative Experimentation. Fearlessly explore new content formats, avoiding excessive fixation on your "feed” appearance. Prioritize captivating content that engages your audience, even if it may not conform to a rigid layout.
Final Reminders for Instagram Success
- Be confident in your brand. Exude confidence in your brand's uniqueness, avoiding comparisons with others that might diminish your identity or lead to “shiny objects.” Resist getting overly fixated on fleeting trends that could divert your attention from your primary goals. Embrace and assert your genuine voice, ensuring your content and messaging reflect your brand identity.
- Prioritize Providing Value. While internal company culture is essential, prioritize delivering value to your users, meeting their needs, and exceeding their expectations vs. focusing on what you’re doing internally.
Revel in the early days. Embrace the excitement of the early phases of your journey, as these moments bring unique opportunities to introduce your brand in creative ways and generate buzz around what you’re building.