1. Posts, Carousels, Stories & Reels
2. Hashtags
3. Recommended Content Sizes
4. Optimize your profile
5. Content Strategy
6. Consistency
7. Micro-influencer strategy
8. Sponsored Ads and Real-Time Marketing
There is no denying that with an estimated 1.452 billion global users in April 2022 Instagram is one of the top ranking social media platforms on the planet.
But what comes as a shock is that only a fraction of businesses on Instagram know how to engage this global audience with the average engagement on Instagram business account posts being just 0.83%!
The Top 08 Instagram fundamentals we discuss below will ensure you are well above average.
But what comes as a shock is that only a fraction of businesses on Instagram know how to engage this global audience with the average engagement on Instagram business account posts being just 0.83%!
The Top 08 Instagram fundamentals we discuss below will ensure you are well above average.
But before we start diving into making your Instagram a success, the following prerequisites need to be fulfilled:
- An Instagram account
If you don’t have an Instagram account then click here to learn the basics of setting up an Instagram account!
- An Instagram account
If you don’t have an Instagram account then click here to learn the basics of setting up an Instagram account!
1. Posts, Carousels, Stories & Reels
Instagram as at 2022 has several key features that make social communication and content creation possible.
Posts are the square photo and video posts that appear the feeds of all your followers. This is the core content of your account and is the first thing that anyone who visits your profile sees.
Instagram posts generally also have the most engagement in terms of comments.
Carousels are posts that contains multiple photos or videos that you can swipe or left-click to view. You can add and share up to 10 images or videos as a single post in your feed.
Carousels are leagues better with 1.4x more reach and 3.1x more engagement than regular posts on Instagram
Posts are the square photo and video posts that appear the feeds of all your followers. This is the core content of your account and is the first thing that anyone who visits your profile sees.
Instagram posts generally also have the most engagement in terms of comments.
Carousels are posts that contains multiple photos or videos that you can swipe or left-click to view. You can add and share up to 10 images or videos as a single post in your feed.
Carousels are leagues better with 1.4x more reach and 3.1x more engagement than regular posts on Instagram
Stories are a feature of instagram that lets users to post photos or videos which automatically disappear within 24 hours unless you save them as “highlights”.
They appear in a vertical format and are fast, memorable, and fun by design allowing brands and businesses to show a much more lighter side to them and test out new content strategies. Instagram stories also allow brands and businesses to create interactions with customers a more direct manner, with polls and questions features.
Reels are short videos designed to compete with TikTok, and thanks to aggressive algorithmic pushes (and front and middle spots for app navigation), Reels have become one of the cornerstones of the modern Instagram experience.
As mentioned Reels boost exposure or engagement and thus is quite valuable tool for businesses.
They appear in a vertical format and are fast, memorable, and fun by design allowing brands and businesses to show a much more lighter side to them and test out new content strategies. Instagram stories also allow brands and businesses to create interactions with customers a more direct manner, with polls and questions features.
Reels are short videos designed to compete with TikTok, and thanks to aggressive algorithmic pushes (and front and middle spots for app navigation), Reels have become one of the cornerstones of the modern Instagram experience.
As mentioned Reels boost exposure or engagement and thus is quite valuable tool for businesses.
2. Hashtags
Hashtags are keywords or phrases used by Instagram to enable users to describe and categorize their content thus enabling said content to be easily found by other users on the platform who are interested in those same keywords or phrases.
When used properly, Hashtags will ensure your post will be seen by more people who are likely to be interested in your product or brand.
When used properly, Hashtags will ensure your post will be seen by more people who are likely to be interested in your product or brand.
However, used improperly the wrong hashtags can actually do harm, from irritating potential followers to being punished by the Instagram algorithm gods.
hashtags help you expand your Instagram audience and get more reach
hashtags help you build a community of people around a certain phrase (e.g. TOMS #oneforone movement) are wiling to engage with your brand
A post can have a maximum of 30 hashtags, however Hashtags work best when they are limited between 1-8 hashtags per post.
With so many words and phrases that would be so appropriate like #bestpostever Picking Hashtags seems like an insurmountable task.
Not to worry we have the easiest guide to help you pick the most appropriate hashtags for you
Niche vs Popular Hashtags
Whilst it may feel safer and more attractive to go with a Popular hashtag that has a mass appeal, you risk being lost in a sea of similar content using the same hashtag. Niche allows you to really be in the eyes of your ideal target market, however its reach will be limited, so your post might not get the viewership that you are looking to get.
Instagram advises that using combination of both would have the most effective outcome
Types of Hashtags
Product or service hashtags: hashtags that relate to your product or service e.g. #hat, #darthvaderhelmet
Niche hashtags: hashtags that are specific to your industry/niche e.g. #darthvadercosplay, #usedhats
Instagram community hashtags: hashtags of certain Instagram communities that you think are in your target audience or your industry e.g. #instacosplaycommunity #hatownersofinstagram
Special event or seasonal hashtags: hashtags of certain seasonal holidays and events e.g.#comiccon #internationalhatday
Location hashtags: hashtags of your location (despite having geo-tag having a hashtag might be beneficial if for example you’re opening a new branch in that location)e.g.#denverusedhatstore or #LAComiCon
Daily hashtags: hashtags specific to a day of the week or a relatable everyday occurrence e.g. #TGIF #Throwbackthursday.
Relevant phrase hashtags: hashtags that are phrases relevant to your business or product or industry. It could act as a community insider phrase that identifies someone from the community. e.g. #cosplaylife #usedhatsforlife
Emoji hashtags: hashtags that are emojis e.g. add emoji
Trending Hashtags
Jumping on hashtag trends whilst sounding like the best way to grab some attention might just be inappropriate for your business. So think before you leap.
Create Branding Hashtags
What more perfect hashtag could you get other than creating your own brand hashtag. The problem here is that discovery of your posts through a branded hashtag is very low, as there is little to no reason for non followers to search and discover your business through your branded hashtag thus reducing its reach.
However you could have competitions and utilize user generated content to popularize your branded hashtag. To further promote your branded hashtag always take the opportunity to repost great content made by influencer collaborations or even normal users with the branded hashtag. It is important to follow your branded hashtag to monitor and listen to how people are using your branded hashtag.
Avoid using repetitive hashtags
Whilst it may be easy to copy and paste the exact same hashtags over and over, DON’T DO IT! Instagram penalizes you for posting repeated content and using the same hashtags repeatedly signals to them that you are posting exactly that, even though you aren't.
To avoid this take some time and change up the hashtags to fit the content.
hashtags help you expand your Instagram audience and get more reach
hashtags help you build a community of people around a certain phrase (e.g. TOMS #oneforone movement) are wiling to engage with your brand
A post can have a maximum of 30 hashtags, however Hashtags work best when they are limited between 1-8 hashtags per post.
With so many words and phrases that would be so appropriate like #bestpostever Picking Hashtags seems like an insurmountable task.
Not to worry we have the easiest guide to help you pick the most appropriate hashtags for you
Niche vs Popular Hashtags
Whilst it may feel safer and more attractive to go with a Popular hashtag that has a mass appeal, you risk being lost in a sea of similar content using the same hashtag. Niche allows you to really be in the eyes of your ideal target market, however its reach will be limited, so your post might not get the viewership that you are looking to get.
Instagram advises that using combination of both would have the most effective outcome
Types of Hashtags
Product or service hashtags: hashtags that relate to your product or service e.g. #hat, #darthvaderhelmet
Niche hashtags: hashtags that are specific to your industry/niche e.g. #darthvadercosplay, #usedhats
Instagram community hashtags: hashtags of certain Instagram communities that you think are in your target audience or your industry e.g. #instacosplaycommunity #hatownersofinstagram
Special event or seasonal hashtags: hashtags of certain seasonal holidays and events e.g.#comiccon #internationalhatday
Location hashtags: hashtags of your location (despite having geo-tag having a hashtag might be beneficial if for example you’re opening a new branch in that location)e.g.#denverusedhatstore or #LAComiCon
Daily hashtags: hashtags specific to a day of the week or a relatable everyday occurrence e.g. #TGIF #Throwbackthursday.
Relevant phrase hashtags: hashtags that are phrases relevant to your business or product or industry. It could act as a community insider phrase that identifies someone from the community. e.g. #cosplaylife #usedhatsforlife
Emoji hashtags: hashtags that are emojis e.g. add emoji
Trending Hashtags
Jumping on hashtag trends whilst sounding like the best way to grab some attention might just be inappropriate for your business. So think before you leap.
Create Branding Hashtags
What more perfect hashtag could you get other than creating your own brand hashtag. The problem here is that discovery of your posts through a branded hashtag is very low, as there is little to no reason for non followers to search and discover your business through your branded hashtag thus reducing its reach.
However you could have competitions and utilize user generated content to popularize your branded hashtag. To further promote your branded hashtag always take the opportunity to repost great content made by influencer collaborations or even normal users with the branded hashtag. It is important to follow your branded hashtag to monitor and listen to how people are using your branded hashtag.
Avoid using repetitive hashtags
Whilst it may be easy to copy and paste the exact same hashtags over and over, DON’T DO IT! Instagram penalizes you for posting repeated content and using the same hashtags repeatedly signals to them that you are posting exactly that, even though you aren't.
To avoid this take some time and change up the hashtags to fit the content.
3. Recommended Content Sizes
Post
Square posts -> Aspect ratio: 1:1, size: 1080px 1080px
landscape posts -> Aspect ratio: 1.91:1, size: 1080px 566px
Vertical posts -> Aspect ratio: 4:5, size: 1080px by 1350px
Video
Square posts -> Aspect ratio: 1:1, size: 1080px 1080px
landscape posts -> Aspect ratio: 1.91:1, size: 1080px 566px
Vertical posts -> Aspect ratio: 4:5, size: 1080px by 1350px
Video size-> 4 GB.
Video posts can be up to 60 seconds long.
Stories
Aspect ratio: 9:16, Size: 1080px by 1920px
5 seconds for images
Videos in 15-second increments
Reels
Aspect ratio: 9:16, Size: 1080px by 1920px
Square posts -> Aspect ratio: 1:1, size: 1080px 1080px
landscape posts -> Aspect ratio: 1.91:1, size: 1080px 566px
Vertical posts -> Aspect ratio: 4:5, size: 1080px by 1350px
Video
Square posts -> Aspect ratio: 1:1, size: 1080px 1080px
landscape posts -> Aspect ratio: 1.91:1, size: 1080px 566px
Vertical posts -> Aspect ratio: 4:5, size: 1080px by 1350px
Video size-> 4 GB.
Video posts can be up to 60 seconds long.
Stories
Aspect ratio: 9:16, Size: 1080px by 1920px
5 seconds for images
Videos in 15-second increments
Reels
Aspect ratio: 9:16, Size: 1080px by 1920px
4. Optimize your profile
Most businesses still to this day don’t know how much value they could be getting from their Instagram profiles. Not to worry you won’t be one of those businesses after you optimize your profile with the below points
Clickable hashtag
Using a clickable hashtag especially your branded hashtags as we talked about earlier is a good choice for most businesses and will help you work with Instagram algorithms.
Clickable profile link
Adding a “Link in bio” is the smoothest way of transfering and guiding your target audience into the next stage of their journey to becoming your customer.
Clickable hashtag
Using a clickable hashtag especially your branded hashtags as we talked about earlier is a good choice for most businesses and will help you work with Instagram algorithms.
Clickable profile link
Adding a “Link in bio” is the smoothest way of transfering and guiding your target audience into the next stage of their journey to becoming your customer.
But the issue is what if you have posts that need to be linked to different locations e.g. your YouTube channel, your website, your darthvadercosplaypinterestpage, etc.
This is where people tend to go with linktree or linkpop depending on your preference as these are both great tools that allow for multiple links to all locations you want your customer to be diverted to.
However it is much more professional to use your own website to accomplish the same outcome. The benefits of this is that you can customize the landing page to better showcase the links, leading to an overall better customer journey and building brand equity.
Story highlights
Instagram story highlights are an amazing way to optimize your profile by allowing you to showcase certain important Instagram content, good examples would be UGC and posts that highlight your brand's story, customer testimonials, etc.
View Shop button
If you enable Instagram shopping in your profile, you can also place a call-to-action button to send your followers to the in-app store.
This is where people tend to go with linktree or linkpop depending on your preference as these are both great tools that allow for multiple links to all locations you want your customer to be diverted to.
However it is much more professional to use your own website to accomplish the same outcome. The benefits of this is that you can customize the landing page to better showcase the links, leading to an overall better customer journey and building brand equity.
Story highlights
Instagram story highlights are an amazing way to optimize your profile by allowing you to showcase certain important Instagram content, good examples would be UGC and posts that highlight your brand's story, customer testimonials, etc.
View Shop button
If you enable Instagram shopping in your profile, you can also place a call-to-action button to send your followers to the in-app store.
5. Content Strategy
As an entrepreneur or a business owner you should ensure that all aspects of your business have plans of attack(operations) and defense(contingency).
Content creation is no different. Imagine ending a tiring day of work with multiple meetings, putting out countless operational fires and finally settling down on your coach with a cold beverage and a hot meal to finally realise, Oh No! you haven’t posted anything that day!
To avoid this you should have at least a 6-8 post buffer for each new week of operation.
Content creation is no different. Imagine ending a tiring day of work with multiple meetings, putting out countless operational fires and finally settling down on your coach with a cold beverage and a hot meal to finally realise, Oh No! you haven’t posted anything that day!
To avoid this you should have at least a 6-8 post buffer for each new week of operation.
While seemingly daunting this will help you immensely reduce the stress of thinking what to post that day.
But before we get there you need to know what type of content to post i.e. your content strategy.
The key aspects we will discuss below will ensure that your content strategy is on point and ready to dominate.
Competitor activity
Recon your competitor’s social media, are they doing well? are they doing bad? Try to gauge why and create better content than them.
Target Audience Tailored Content
Identify your target market’s likes and dislikes and what sort of content they follow. Look at the pain points that they have that you can address and offer solutions for and make content that would genuinely add value and be helpful to them.
Brand and Content Themes
Choose and stick to 1-3 themes of content creation that intrigue and compel your audience to follow and engage with your content. Themes could range from educating, inspiring, entertaining, etc. However you have to ensure that you manage the thematic harmony of your content intelligently so that you don’t leave your audience confused.
This is where your brand identity can greatly help alleviate the choice of this. Ask yourself if my brand was a person what sort of profile would they have? Would they make jokes all the time, would they post inspirational quotes or would they try to provide value by creating educational posts.
On the same note make sure that your content strategy uses your brand’s colour theme and other guidelines so that all your content is on brand.
Guidelines for Engagement
Create guidelines for interaction and engagement with users and other brands on content that you post on Instagram.
This will not only you save you time in deciding how to react and respond to comments but will also ensure any new hires are also informed with how to handle social media interactions.
Focus on Your Niche
It is easy to get caught up in posting things you personally find cool on your business account, like the newly opened Darth Vader cosplay store or the latest sale on a mid-spring hat collection.
I can just see the confused looks on your faces reading this and that is the exact same reaction your target audience will have if you post a lot of content that does not pertain to your niche in any way.
Focusing on your niche means that you give your target audience the due attention that is required and they will appreciate your content more for it.
Be Creative
Make your content creative enough to attract your target audience, think of ways to engage them in creative ways. Be it thinking outside the box or making the best looking box from within it there’s ample opportunity to be creative with your content strategy.
Set Goals
Set Goals for your content strategy, be it increased engagement, new followers, etc. Set goals and a plan to achieve them using your content strategy.
This will not only make sure you can measure the success of your content strategy but also make sure you know where you’re going and what exactly you’re achieving.
Always audit and adapt
Both Instagram and your audience are changing all the time and for you to be successful and dominate on social media you need to keep track of your content.
Audit and assess the success of posts and try to replicate good results and adapt to learn from the bad results.
But before we get there you need to know what type of content to post i.e. your content strategy.
The key aspects we will discuss below will ensure that your content strategy is on point and ready to dominate.
Competitor activity
Recon your competitor’s social media, are they doing well? are they doing bad? Try to gauge why and create better content than them.
Target Audience Tailored Content
Identify your target market’s likes and dislikes and what sort of content they follow. Look at the pain points that they have that you can address and offer solutions for and make content that would genuinely add value and be helpful to them.
Brand and Content Themes
Choose and stick to 1-3 themes of content creation that intrigue and compel your audience to follow and engage with your content. Themes could range from educating, inspiring, entertaining, etc. However you have to ensure that you manage the thematic harmony of your content intelligently so that you don’t leave your audience confused.
This is where your brand identity can greatly help alleviate the choice of this. Ask yourself if my brand was a person what sort of profile would they have? Would they make jokes all the time, would they post inspirational quotes or would they try to provide value by creating educational posts.
On the same note make sure that your content strategy uses your brand’s colour theme and other guidelines so that all your content is on brand.
Guidelines for Engagement
Create guidelines for interaction and engagement with users and other brands on content that you post on Instagram.
This will not only you save you time in deciding how to react and respond to comments but will also ensure any new hires are also informed with how to handle social media interactions.
Focus on Your Niche
It is easy to get caught up in posting things you personally find cool on your business account, like the newly opened Darth Vader cosplay store or the latest sale on a mid-spring hat collection.
I can just see the confused looks on your faces reading this and that is the exact same reaction your target audience will have if you post a lot of content that does not pertain to your niche in any way.
Focusing on your niche means that you give your target audience the due attention that is required and they will appreciate your content more for it.
Be Creative
Make your content creative enough to attract your target audience, think of ways to engage them in creative ways. Be it thinking outside the box or making the best looking box from within it there’s ample opportunity to be creative with your content strategy.
Set Goals
Set Goals for your content strategy, be it increased engagement, new followers, etc. Set goals and a plan to achieve them using your content strategy.
This will not only make sure you can measure the success of your content strategy but also make sure you know where you’re going and what exactly you’re achieving.
Always audit and adapt
Both Instagram and your audience are changing all the time and for you to be successful and dominate on social media you need to keep track of your content.
Audit and assess the success of posts and try to replicate good results and adapt to learn from the bad results.
6. Consistency
Consistency is a key tenant of success in things beyond Instagram marketing, but for us in this context it pertains to being consistent with:
Messaging- make sure that whatever you are trying to communicate comes through clearly and consistently such that your target audience isn’t confused and doesn’t misjudge your authenticity.
Visuals - make sure that your content shares the same visual identity , e.g. layout, colours, length of content etc.
Messaging- make sure that whatever you are trying to communicate comes through clearly and consistently such that your target audience isn’t confused and doesn’t misjudge your authenticity.
Visuals - make sure that your content shares the same visual identity , e.g. layout, colours, length of content etc.
Timing - make sure the frequency and time of when you post your content is the consistent as it not only helps position you as reliable but also has a positive impact on the Instagram algorithm as it identifies you as a reliable content creator. To know when the best times to post on social media are click here!
Being consistent enables you to build a trusted and loyal audience who recognizes your content a mile away and engages with it consistently.
Being consistent enables you to build a trusted and loyal audience who recognizes your content a mile away and engages with it consistently.
7. Micro-influencer strategy
We live in in an influencer/ creator economy with top influencers earning way more than some SME and small businesses.
This is rightfully so as creators have quite an incredible sway and influence and possess the potential to not only power your brand’s visibility but also create certain legitimacy, all of which lead to increased sales.
So the bigger the influencer the higher the conversion rate right?
Wrong!
Macro influencers - 500k-1 mil+ followers
Micro influencers- 10k-50k followers
There are several problems that come with Macro influencers.
This is rightfully so as creators have quite an incredible sway and influence and possess the potential to not only power your brand’s visibility but also create certain legitimacy, all of which lead to increased sales.
So the bigger the influencer the higher the conversion rate right?
Wrong!
Macro influencers - 500k-1 mil+ followers
Micro influencers- 10k-50k followers
There are several problems that come with Macro influencers.
- More followers = Cost is higher
- Availability issues. Harder to Book
- Authenticity of Macro influencers maybe questionable as they generally shill a lot of products and brands, their audience may question their actual satisfaction in the product
Where Micro influencers shine is
- Niche audience enables better targeted marketing
- Cost is less given their number of followers
- Are more authentic as they generally go after partnerships with brands that they actually love
- More Engagement.According to Social Bakers, micro-influencers “boast up to a 60% increased engagement rate compared to macro-influencers. This is due to being smaller they have a much more intimate relationship with the followers and thus have a higher engagement
- Enables multi-market approach as they are cheaper to employ SME and small businesses can afford to approach multiple creators who have varied and diverse target audiences, thus offering unique reach that doesn’t overlap.
8. Sponsored Ads and Real-Time Marketing
Sponsored ads on Instagram are quite a powerful tool when used correctly.
This is especially so for a new business as it offers a massive reach, bringing your business directly to the eyes and attention of your specific target market.
Instagram also allows for real-time marketing. Through social media platforms like Instagram, Brands are able to respond and react instantly, be in attendance at the events, thereby increasing viewership/sales and driving product launches faster.
Real-time marketing is becoming more and more relevant in relation to its need as society now wants everything instantaneously. Real-time Marketing makes you and your business feel authentic and real and it can have a bigger impact on your audience.
This is especially so for a new business as it offers a massive reach, bringing your business directly to the eyes and attention of your specific target market.
Instagram also allows for real-time marketing. Through social media platforms like Instagram, Brands are able to respond and react instantly, be in attendance at the events, thereby increasing viewership/sales and driving product launches faster.
Real-time marketing is becoming more and more relevant in relation to its need as society now wants everything instantaneously. Real-time Marketing makes you and your business feel authentic and real and it can have a bigger impact on your audience.
Armed with the above 08 fundamentals you’re one step ahead of your competition and well on your way to being an Instagram success.
There are more resources available for you to continue this success into all aspects of your business. Just follow the white robot!
There are more resources available for you to continue this success into all aspects of your business. Just follow the white robot!
