Keeping up with social media is a task in itself. With constantly changing trends and millions of different creators, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with how fast paced it is. How are these people managing to churn out new and exciting content everyday? Here are some ideas to get you started.
1) Take people behind-the-scenes
People really enjoy seeing behind-the-scenes content for businesses because it makes them feel like they’re part of the process. This gives a sense of trustworthiness and transparency. Why wouldn’t someone trust your business when you have shown every step of your process?
The best thing about BTS videos is that you don’t need to put in much effort to edit them, the whole purpose is to keep it raw and rustic. You can show how you get your product shoots done, packaging process videos, or even show employees in the office getting work done.
2) Repost content made by customers
Surprisingly people really enjoy having their pictures reposted and used on official pages. This is a strategy used a lot by restaurants and is quite effective.
Ask people to tag your account when they take pictures of anything related to your business so that they can be featured on your Instagram account. Not only does this generate a lot of organic content, but it helps you stay consistent with posting. Just like RareBeauty reposted this unsponsored reel made by someone else.
3) Instagram live sessions
Another easy way to keep your Instagram active is to go live every now and then. Live sessions also require minimum effort, all you need is someone from your team who is good at holding a conversation.
Live sessions give you a chance to interact with your audience in real time and have a conversation with them. You can even go live in collaboration with other accounts, depending on what the live is about. Keep it short and casual!
4) Meet the team that makes it all possible
You’ve shown the product BTS, why not also show the team that gets it all done? Introducing customers to your team members creates a sense of involvement and the brand becomes so much more than just a company.
This gives people a chance to see the ‘human side’ of the business. Let your customers feel like they are part of this journey (because they literally are). At PosterMyWall we have a whole separate Instagram account completely dedicated to celebrating our employees.
5) Make fun reels with trending audios
Instagram has slowly shifted from photo content to video content, and reels tend to perform much better. Keep a look out for trending audios and use them while they are still popular. Surprisingly, most of the time the lowest effort reels end up performing the best. The key is to just move fast.
Not sure how to use audios in your own way? It’s always a good idea to follow competitors and creators to get Instagram post ideas, then you can add your own spin to it.
6) Host a giveaway
Giveaways are a sort of lucky draw competition in which customers enter themselves and a winner is picked randomly. They can enter by tagging a friend in the comments, posting a story, or using a certain hashtag.
This is a great and easy way to increase your reach, get more followers, and collaborate with other brands who would like to help you host the giveaway. Everyone loves free goodies, so that’s what you’ll give them!
7) Collaborate with Influencers
Collaborating with influencers lets you target two audiences at the same time and adds a lot of credibility to your business. Work with influencers that complement your niche and don’t bind them by too many content guidelines. Let them add their own creativity wherever they can.
You can post collaboration posts with them, and even give discount codes to their followers so you can track exactly how much traffic they are bringing you.
8) Cross promote with other brands
Much like building relationships with customers, it’s also vital to create valuable relationships with other businesses. These can range from quick shoutouts to elaborate partnerships – but the point is to show a sense of community.
For example, if you’re a makeup artist then partner with some of your favorite local makeup brands. This way both platforms can grow side by side while creating honest and useful content.
9) Run attractive Instagram ads
Instagram is a great app to run ads on. People are already scrolling in search of something to buy, why not give it to them?
Before you pay the app for promoting your business, make sure your ad looks professional, attractive, and has all the basic information a new customer may need. Unlike reels and live sessions, ads require more thought and consideration. Search for Instagram post templates online and pick one of the many professional designs available. Customize it to your needs and then get your ads rolling.
10) Tips and tricks
Useful content always gets a wonderful response. Give customers tips, tricks, and hacks relevant to your services that can help make their lives easier. The goal should be to make people save your post for later or send it to their friends.
Photographers and filmmakers could share hacks to take good photos on your iPhone by optimizing its settings.
11) Memes all day!
All work and no fun is not the way to go. Yes, your social media needs to be professional but that doesn’t mean it can’t be funny.
Create a version of a trending meme that’s relevant to your business and post it on your Instagram feed or story.
12) Store raids
Store raids are a popular new content form especially among influencers. What you do is have someone come to your store and show a customer’s POV of what it would be like to shop from there.
Store raids can be made fun and quirky by adding upbeat music and transitions. If it’s a clothing store, then you can show different outfit combinations and give your audience a sneak peek into the real-life store experience so they can come pay a visit themselves.
13) Customer testimonials
Instagram post ideas for businesses should always involve testimonials in one form or another. A review from a real customer has much more credibility to it than a sponsored ad.
Ask customers for feedback and ratings and post them on your Instagram. Most businesses have a ‘Reviews’ highlight on their pages to create an organized catalog of everything that customers have said to them.
14) Tutorials to save the day
There’s a high chance that not 100% of your customers fully understand your business, or the products and services it may offer. Instead of leaving them lost and clueless, create tutorial videos.
Tutorials serve as a visual guide to new customers. Even if other tutorials exist on the internet, your customers should get it from you. This makes the customers feel valued and cared for. They will know that you are here to help.
15) FAQ’s
If there is one thing about customers, it’s that they have a lot of questions. Creating a post on your Instagram that addresses the most frequently asked questions can save you a lot of time and resources.
Instead of messaging you, when customers can get an immediate answer to their question, they will make a purchase sooner. Just make sure your FAQ post is organized, relevant, and easily accessible.
16) Office tour!
Much like store raids, office tour videos also do really well on Instagram. This closely links with behind-the-scenes content that we mentioned earlier. People are curious to know about the aspects of running a business that they usually don’t get to see. Give them a virtual tour and keep them hooked
17) Festive and seasonal posts
Festive posts let your audience know that you are also in on their celebrations. Not only does it give you an easy content idea, but your festive posts will remind customers that they can also purchase gifts from your business.
Whether it’s Christmas, Halloween or even Diwali, share your warm wishes to everyone with a simple festive post. You can design this post in minutes by customizing a religious, cultural and international festival social media post template on PosterMyWall.
18) Discounts, offers, and codes
Speaking of the festive season, this time usually brings its own round of sales and discounts. Make catchy posters to promote your promo codes and discount offers. Use online templates to create banners, posts, and even Instagram stories.
19) Business milestones
Running a successful business is not an easy thing to do. There’s always so much to get done, but so little time. That’s exactly why every little milestone needs to be celebrated. Don’t keep the celebrations limited to your workplace, let your customers feel like a part of it. Whether you hit 100 orders or reached 1000 followers, post about it and thank the community for their support.
20) Interactive stories
Instagram stories need to be engaging and fun. They don’t need to be as thought out as other content but they still need to get the customer thinking. A few useful features to make people find your story more interesting include:
- Polls
- Quizzes
- Question stickers
- Instagram music
- Countdowns
And remember to tag all the relevant accounts in your stories, so that they can repost and get you even more traction.
21) Carousel posts
Image posts with multiple slides are called carousel posts. An exciting way to present multiple pictures is by joining the different slides to form a continuous picture.
Or if you want to be more Gen-Z then try doing ‘photo dumps’ which are a bit more casual but show random pictures over a course of time (but still relevant to your business).
Wrapping it up
Instagram is a fast paced app with even faster trends. Don’t worry if you feel uninspired once in a while. The best thing about social media is sometimes you don’t have to be completely original, you just have to be smart (and use trends to your advantage!).
You might also want to check out:
- 5 Tips for using Instagram Reels for your promotion
- How to stay on top of social media trends
- Going viral: Hook Gen Z with these marketing strategies
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