Success on the Instagram platform is dependent on the quality of content – both visual and textual, in order to facilitate engagement and expand your follower base. Content can be used strategically, telling your brand story while growing your following, using content which resonates with your target market.  Along with quality posts comes consistency, posting your content regularly in order to solidify the brand’s relationship with visitors, establishing a sense of reliability and trust for the brand.

Better Instagram posts

We look at the different types of posts which can be strategically used to create a dynamic Instagram feed.

Inspirational Instagram posts

This can be in the form of a quote, advice or something meaningful and uplifting that motivates your visitor, encouraging them to take action or change their perception about something.  This is a feel-good post which boosts your visitor and makes them feel better about something – be it their situation or themselves and in turn, by association, your brand.

Theme based Instagram posts

When there is a particular holiday such as the Festive Season or commemorative days such as Australia Day or global days such as International Women’s Day, these days can form part of a content marketing campaign, using these themes in the context of your brand.  So, for example if you are using the theme of International Women’s Day in web design, you may include posts which highlight women designers in your team or women who have influenced certain aspects of web design.

Educational

No matter what the subject, the audience’s knowledge can be expanded on some aspect about it.  If it’s décor or design – then there’s the opportunity to create content around new developments and new trends.  If you have a brand with a service offering, opportunities can be created around innovations in the industry or how visitors can use the product to enhance there lives.  (These examples are just a starting point and there are many more avenues which can be explored).

Behind-the-scenes insights

Taking your followers behind the scenes, include them in the more personal dimension of your brand.  This can be used in many ways – from setting up décor to the steps behind hosting an event and anything else in between.  This is an excellent way of making your audience feel a part of your brand.  By showing different progress points along the way, the audience gets new insights into the brand, making it a more personal experience for your follower. This builds brand loyalty as followers are taken along your journey, so that they feel part of the finished product.

Lifestyle context

This post shows your audience how they can use your product or item.  For example, if your have a clothing brand, you can combine different items to create an outfit.  The benefit here is you can use your products to illustrate your examples without it appearing as an overt advertisement to your audience.  It is rather seen as a way of enhancing their lives.

This concept of providing a practical edge can be expanded and applied for different industries such as food products which can be used as part of recipes, financial advisors can provide financial advice on how to invest or how to budget, décor brands can show combination of different furnishings.

Crowdsourced images

Displaying photographs taken by your customers using your products is a great way of amplifying your content.  Additionally, it inadvertently provides a neutral, third party endorsement of your brand, serving as an informal customer review of your product.

By inviting your customers to use a hashtag which is specific to your brand, you can then trace any related postings.

Tip:  always get permission from the person before posting it on your platform.  It is also important to credit the person which can be done by tagging the person in the post.

Giveaways

Another successful post format is that of giveaways.  This can be done by setting up teaser posts – building anticipation of the upcoming giveaway.  Details can be given of the prize.  Once the giveaway is launched, it is a good idea to host it on a separate, dedicated landing page, advising your audience that details of the competition can be accessed via the link in your bio.

Although each of these types of posts can be used on their own, their content is also interchangeable, facilitating various combinations of the different types of posts.  For example, you can have a commemorative day together (a theme based post) with a quote (inspirational post) or a giveaway using a product.  There are no hard and fast rules.  As each brand is unique with different objectives and audiences, these content ideas are a starting point which can be reworked and modified to suit your needs.  And as you are dealing with people, there is no one rigid ‘right’ answer.  The idea is to try different ideas and see which ones resonate best with your audience while serving your brand too.