Finding it difficult to think of content strategies that would work to drive new traffic to your Instagram account? That sounds like a familiar issue. Let’s face it, people today don’t enjoy reading long posts. Ten years ago, that might be a different story. Back then, chances were high that people would care enough to scroll past your first few lines. But that’s a decade ago. Times have changed, and so should you.
Your Instagram content strategies should revolve around your market’s interests.
The truth is that people don’t care about what you have to say. Now that might hurt, but knowing how your readers’ minds work is to your advantage. That tells you that anything you post about should be about them. When you produce content on Instagram like that, it’s only going to be a matter of time before you get a huge following.
Of course, that all sounds good in theory. But the reality is, it’s not always that easy to grow your audience reach and boost your brand engagement on Instagram. So if you notice that your posts are no longer generating as much traffic as your previous posts used to, or if your posts just aren’t performing well ever since, then it’s about time you switch things up. That means you have to learn how to produce quality content that would engage your readers and make them want to read on and hit the Follow button.
Wondering what Instagram content strategies you can use to attract high-quality followers on the platform? In this article, we’ll cover 10 tips to help get you started.
- Spice up your post caption
- Make your post easy to read
- Make your Instagram post worth sharing
- Use your own voice
- Keep it short and sweet
- Come up with a catchy first line
- Master the art of storytelling
- Don’t sound spammy
- Use the right hashtags in your captions!
- Don’t forget your Call to Action
Tip #1: Spice up your post caption
Plain text for your post captions can be great to drive your point across, but it won’t be so effective at keeping your readers interested in what you have to say. You see, no matter how great your ideas are, or how perfect your grammar is, if your caption looks dull and dreary, don’t expect that people are going to read past the first few lines.
Of course, spicing up your content doesn’t mean you have to use tons of emojis on your caption. A few relevant emojis will do, and you can try adding infographics and quotes too. Just so something pops out to your reader and wakes him up in case he fell asleep reading halfway through.
Tip #2: Make your post easy to read
Again, we go back to our first statement that people don’t like reading long posts. But you can ‘trick’ them to doing that by segmenting your thoughts. Oh, and did we mention that rule number one in writing content is to make your write-up easy to follow? This principle is very similar to what bloggers do with their posts. They use subheadings to create a list in their reader’s minds, helping them identify where they’re headed with their words.
Of course, you can’t really use subheadings in your Instagram caption, but you can make use of line breaks to help break a long post into something more readable. Not sure how to add line breaks to your caption? Try checking out this free Instagram tool to create one. Emojis are also great to help you turn your caption into a short list. If you craft your words well enough, chances are high that they’ll want to read on to the next lines of your caption, and the one after that.
Tip #3: Make your Instagram post worth sharing
People love it when they get to be the first of their friends to share something interesting or something new. It’s probably just a psychological thing, but we’re sure you notice that too. It’s like when you hear some shocking news and you can’t wait to tell everyone about it just so they hear it from you first.
If you consistently put out good content—great graphics, engaging caption, aesthetic feed, etc.—people are going to tell others about you. They’re going to share your content to their friends or even share your post on their IG feed or Stories. Great Instagram content strategies naturally bring in more traffic your way, so always prioritize content quality over quantity.
Tip #4: Use your own voice
Grammar is very important, of course, but it’s not everything. When it comes to doing social media, you have to have your own identity—your style of posting your ideas. If you sound just like the rest of those who post about the same topics as you do, and if your feed lacks creativity and originality, you won’t stand much chance against your competitors.
Remember, you’re not the only one who posts content on Instagram! There are a billion other voices on the social media platform. So if you want to stand out, then you better come up with a distinct voice—one that readers would remember and would come back to your feed for.
Tip #5: Keep it short and sweet
When it comes to writing captions, you don’t have to write 1,000 words just to get noticed by your audience. Blogs would need that much words to rank on Google, but that wouldn’t work for you on Instagram. In fact, you can only up to 2,200 characters on Instagram. So make it a habit to keep your thoughts short and sweet. Also, most audiences prefer a no-nonsense type of approach, so try not to beat around the bush with your words. Go straight to your point. Your followers and would-be followers would love you for that.
Tip #6: Come up with a catchy first line
One of the first things that your followers and visitors are going to see when they tap on your post are the first few lines of your caption. Depending on how you word those first few lines, people may spend time reading your entire post. Some content creators who are not so good with their visuals make up for it with their captions.
That’s a trick you can also do for your feed. If you’re not feeling so confident about your visuals, make sure to write a short but punchy first line for your caption. Remember, people do judge content by the ‘cover.’ So start your caption strong. Go for something striking—something that would instantly catch your readers’ attention.
Tip #7: Master the art of storytelling
People love stories. Even before computers came into existence, storytelling has already been a part of human history. When you know how to tell your stories in a way that connects to your audience, people will start to listen. They’ll interact with you. They’ll tell you how your story makes them feel. They’ll start commenting and telling you their stories too.
Let your visitors peek into your personal life. You don’t have to open up on every personal detail, but feeding them just a few bits of content that would tell a portion of your personal story is highly effective in increasing your feed’s appeal. Also, why not post video content on your feed as well? You can probably post a short clip of yourself on your IG Stories, or do a live post on Instagram. That would be a great way to tell your audience a story.
Tip #8: Don’t sound spammy
There’s nothing wrong with talking about a product or a service that you really like. But if you constantly post content to endorse somebody else’s products or services, you risk sounding spammy. Also, don’t make it look like you’re forcing products and services on your visitors, even if they know you’re an online business. People don’t like being told all the time that they have to buy something.
And one more thing, if you have to endorse something, make sure that you actually believe in what you’re endorsing. You may end up losing your credibility on Instagram if people find out that what you’ve been promoting wasn’t really worth checking out.
Tip #9: Use the right hashtags in your captions!
Humans are not the only ones who go through your posts—bots do too! So if you want Instagram to feature your post, and we’re pretty sure you do, then make sure that your content contains the right keywords. Yep, you read that right. Keywords don’t just work for SEO, they also work for your social media content. Your posts should have your target keywords in your hashtags. These hashtags will help other people discover your content.
There are two types of hashtags that you can use for your Instagram posts. There are the general hashtags—these are general keywords that refer to your topic or your graphic. And then there are the branded hashtags. These branded hashtags include your business name and is very useful for curaing user-generated content.
Tip #10: Don’t forget your Call to Action
Now that you’ve hooked your reader with your graphics and with the first few lines of your caption, what do you want them to do next? Whether it’s to sign up for your course or to subscribe to your channel or buy one of your books, you have to have a clear Call to Action. Don’t waste a potential sale by forgetting to add that.
If you’ve crafted your content right, people will most likely want more content from you, increasing the chances that they will follow through on your Call to Action. You can also use your caption to promote the website you indicate in your bio, which could lead to a potential sale on your end.
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