Are your Instagram posts not producing the desired results?
Then maybe you need to consider reshaping your strategy and creating a content plan.
Content plans can help direct how content is released to make sure you meet certain goals and help your content perform better.
In this guide, you’ll learn how to create a content plan that increases brand reach and conversions on Instagram. You will also learn some useful tips to help promote your content.
1. Define your goal
The first thing you’ll want to do is create your Instagram goal or goals.
What do you want to check? Is the goal to grow your audience, increase engagement, or increase sales?
Once you define your plan, you’ll be better equipped to customize your content to meet these goals.
Then, you can set Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to highlight different points of analysis that you want to monitor along with your Instagram campaign.
After you’ve defined your goal and a few KPIs, it’s helpful to break down your goal into different stages you’d like to reach along the way.
For example, let’s say you want to grow your audience by 20% by the end of the quarter.
What are some milestones along the way that you can identify to achieve this goal? What types of content, topics or content series can you create to increase engagement?
Now that you’ve done some brainstorming, it’s time to start creating your content calendar.
2. Plan your content calendar
The content calendar is important because it’s your roadmap to guide your path, help you achieve your goals, and set an end date for the campaign.
This way, you’ll know when you’ve achieved your goal and can readjust and analyze ways to improve your content strategy for your next campaign.
Additionally, a content calendar can help keep ideas and campaigns organized, help you identify any gaps in your content, and help build consistency (which is critical to Instagram).
When creating your content plan for the last month, quarter, or campaign, it’s helpful to decide which days of the week you want to talk about.
Next, choose the topic and then the correct caption format.
Breaking down content planning into smaller, actionable steps makes it easy to create a content calendar.
Then, if you have your own goals, themes, and feedback, you can move on to the next step: creating the necessary images or videos.
Finally, you can compile your topics, days you post, captions and hashtags into a simple Google, Word or Excel document that you can easily copy and paste when you’re ready to schedule your content.
Bonus tip: Align your content with your marketing initiatives
If you already have some marketing initiatives in place, now is the perfect time to incorporate them into your marketing campaign. For example, maybe you have a new product release.
Then, you can create a content thread for that. Create a couple of flyers to promote the product release, include a giveaway, have an impact promoting your product or a video with it, and market those benefits.
Events or holidays are another great way to attract consumers and convert more consumers into customers.
If you have an upcoming event, you can create a campaign to promote the event and discuss the speakers involved, the products that will be there, or the cool grab bags you’ll be giving away at the event.
Holidays are another fun and positive way to get customers talking about your brand. Holiday gifts or deals are another way to increase brand awareness and gain followers.
3. Keep the topic and tone consistent
Creating a branding tone or guide can be an effective way to make sure you keep your posts consistent. You also want to keep a similar theme across all of your posts, including style, font, and colors.
For inspiration, you can look at your website, content, and logos to help create the right tone and theme for your posts.
In addition, Instagram He has the tools in the stories that can help you get a color scheme that complements your brand.
You also want to think about the look of your content for both photos and videos. Consider a consistent angle or filter to set the right tone and look for your content.
It’s also essential to think about your messages, whether they’re for comments, comments, or replies to direct messages.
It’s essential to have a standard operating procedure for how you respond to consumers on Instagram, especially if you have multiple people responding to comments and messages, to make sure they’re within the brand’s tone.
4. Showcase your creativity
IG is more than just a photo sharing app. There are many different ways to create content for Instagram that can highlight your brand and increase engagement.
Let’s talk through it and share some tips for when to use it.
As you know, Instagram has photos. Pictures are a great way to display products. It’s also great for sharing quotes, asking questions you answer in a photo caption, or promoting deals or giveaways.
Videos are an excellent way to show quick snapshots of something upcoming or create product teasers. You can also use BTS videos for business and show them how best to use your product.
You can use Instagram Reels, or short videos, to showcase products, share stories, and grow your audience.
IGTV or Instagram TV are longer videos on your Instagram feed. These trademarks are used to further describe a particular topic.
Instagram Shopping is a feature that allows consumers to shop for your products through your photos and videos.
Brands can create product tags and product launches where consumers can purchase products directly through Instagram.
Then, customers don’t have to take the step to leave Instagram to go to your website. Alternatively, they can quickly purchase through the app.
Stories are 24-hour photos or videos (unless you add them to your profile highlights) where you can share posts from your profile or post new content. It is a popular way to gain more followers and engage with consumers.
User-generated content or content created by influencers, clients or other users is a great way to expand your reach to different audiences and increase your product promotion.
People are more interested in learning about a new product if it is promoted by someone they already follow.
Likewise, it can help build trust with consumers who are new to your brand if they see a post by a customer they already like.
But what is the content that goes viral? It can be helpful to take a look at who your competitors are from the people who create Instagram and put your brand’s unique spin on it.
5. Craft comments and compelling calls to action
While it’s great to have high-quality photos and engaging videos, captions and calls to action are still important.
If you connect the consumer with your photo or video, you want to associate it with your caption and CTA.
Taking the time to craft the right CTA is essential to ensure that consumers follow your page, interact with your post, or purchase your product.
6. Choose the right hashtags
It is also necessary to research and choose the right hashtags to ensure that your posts reach your target audience and some new ones who might be interested in your brand.
Hashtags allow your content to reach users outside of your profile followers. As you create content for specific hashtags, take note of posts that perform particularly well.
This way, you can create future posts for specific hashtags that will increase the visibility of your content.
7. Know the best time to post
Planning posts ahead of time can help take some of the pressure off your social media strategy.
You can use Meta Business Suites to schedule posts on Facebook and Instagram and set posts for one or two weeks.
If you are not sure when to post, they have suggested days and times when the analysis indicates where you will get the most engagement and views.
Although it would be worth doing some research specific to your industry to find out the best time and day to publish your posts.
An important thing to keep in mind when planning your content is the upcoming holidays.
Will you publish a post to celebrate the holiday, use the holiday to offer a promotion or giveaway, or choose not to post on that day altogether?
No matter what you choose, it’s important to keep the holidays in mind.
8. Measuring and controlling results
Instagram Insights, whether on the app or through Meta Business Suites, can show how many views a post gets and statistics on engagement with posts to help you see what types of content work best. You can see the likes, shares, comments and saves of your content.
Brands can also use Insights to get metrics on paid activity. Insights are a great way to see trends so that you can adjust your content strategy.
You’ll also be able to see metrics on your followers for how many followers you’re receiving, the age of your followers, and information about the times they are most active online. This way, you can adjust the times you post to ensure that you are better at reaching your audience.
wrapping
Content planning is the best way to help boost reach and engagement on Instagram.
Creating a content calendar inspired by your existing marketing goals and tailoring your content with a theme supported by metrics is the best way to help achieve your goals.
More resources:
- 11 tips for promoting your local business on Instagram
- How to use Instagram Reels for Business
- Social Media Marketing: A Complete Strategy Guide
Featured image: alinabuphoto/Shutterstock
