So you need a few ideas?
You know you need to post consistently on Instagram to stay relevant, but you’re trying to figure out what to post.
What kind of posts work best? Which posts will grow your audience and the depth of relationship that you experience with them?
Ever since its creation, Instagram has grown.
It’s now become the hub for people to share photos of their dog, food, new bathing suit, and boyfriends.
And it also hosts a massive amount of influencers with massive follower counts.
The platform has 800 million monthly active users, 500 million daily active users, 1.6 billion daily “likes,” and 60 million average photo posts every single day.
In other words, there is no shortage of activity on Instagram.
For fun, let’s break it down by seconds.
Every second, Instagram sports 17,000 likes and 2,000 comments.
So don’t wonder about the potential of Instagram. There is plenty of promise on the platform.
The question you should ask is, “How do I claim my piece of the pie?
After all, that massive amount of activity provides competition to match its opportunity. How do you stand out when there are so many other people trying to stand out as well?
That’s a far more important question.
And the answer isn’t that complicated.
In the end, you only need to do one thing on Instagram to build the following that you dream of: post engaging content. Literally. That’s it.
If you post engaging content, then more people will engage with you, follow you, comment, and “like” your stuff.
If your content isn’t engaging, you don’t stand a chance.
So without further ado, here are 5 ideas for posts that your followers (and followers-to-be) will love.
- User-submitted photos
What if there was a way to produce amazing Instagram content without any of the work?
Well, now there is!
Sorry… too informercial-y.
But seriously, there is. You already have an audience. Maybe it’s hundreds of people, and maybe it’s thousands.
Whatever the case, you can leverage that audience to create content for you.
And, generally speaking, your followers will enjoy that user-generated content more than they’ll enjoy your own.
Why?
Because it’s authentic, fun, and varied.
And everyone loves those three things.
GoPro is the hallmark example of user-generated content, and their Instagram profile is no exception.
Here’s a beautiful photo that one of their users took recently, which they then posted.
Now you might be wondering, how do you get your users to engage with your prompting to create and send content your way?
Well, it’s far easier than you think.
Remember: your audience probably wants followers of their own. Let them know that if you select their photo, you’ll tag them in your post — meaning that they’ll grow their audience as well from the publicity.
If done right, user-generated content provides a win-win scenario for the business and the customer.
Here’s another photo they posted of a surfer enjoying the sunset.
GoPro treats this like a competition.
Which is good. Most people love to throw their hat into a friendly competition — especially when there’s the chance of gaining a bigger follower base.
Truthfully, you’ll never know how your audience will engage with this concept unless you try. You might be surprised at their willingness to participate.
The other side of this user-generated content coin is that you have to wisely pick which photos to post and which to ditch.
This can be a difficult process.
Here are some things you’ll need to consider when choosing a winner.
Does this photo emphasize the brand image you’re trying to create, or does hamper it?
Is the photo appropriate for your audience?
How big is the following of the person whose photo you’re going to share?
The first is important because you’re running a business, and despite all of the fun you can have on Instagram, you need to ensure that each photo is consistent with your brand’s message.
The second is important because, well, every business has a different audience. Some images will be appropriate for that audience, and others will not.
And the third is important because the street goes both ways. If you share someone’s photo who has a lot of followers, those followers might join your own Instagram crusade. Don’t be too biased to posting influencer content, but keep in mind that when you do, you’ll probably reap some follower-count benefits.
This post from GoPro does a great job implementing all three of these factors.
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Behind-the-scene shots
You’re running a business, and so you always want to put your best foot forward. I get it.
You want to send a consistent, high-quality message to your audience… every time.
And you’ve probably been aiming for that standard for a while. Which is good. If you don’t produce high-quality Instagram posts, most of your followers probably would be behind some other guy.
But every once in a while, people enjoy getting a peek behind the curtain of how all of it happens.
I, for example, am obsessed with the end of every Game Of Thrones episode where the directors discuss how the episode was created and why they filmed it the way they did.
Why do I love this?
Because the episode is always amazing, and learning how they put it together is even more so.
You can create the same effect with your Instagram photos.
Consider this Instagram post from Thinkcreativecollective.
Nicely explained!
thank you follow me