It can be hard to grow a following on instagram, and what worked before can stop working just as quickly. Even still, some creators continue to grow their audience. The difference between those growing and those struggling to keep up is all in their content strategy.
Creating an effective content strategy is all about keeping up with the zeitgeist, whether that’s what our audience are interested in, or what formats platforms are providing to deliver your content. Things move so fast, if you have been making the same kind of content for 2 years or more, then it’s likely you’ve plateaued and are due an upgrade.
This article will talk you through how to build a content strategy that you can adapt to move with the times, and keep creating fresh, engaging content that will grow your instagram account by targeting both your audience and the algorithm.
How can you reach a new audience?
The first step to reaching a new audience is knowing your current one. What kind of content are you offering, and who are you trying to reach with it? Always create with your audience in mind.
However, reaching the right people also comes down to how you post, not just your general content and branding. Instagram gives you lots of post formats to choose from. From feed posts to stories, carousel posts, reels, igtv, lives and guides, it’s crucial to growing your instagram that you choose your post type strategically.
An instagram story won’t reach a new audience, and neither will going live. Even igtv, though it tends to bring in some new people, doesn’t lead to audience growth on a scale that’s worth pursuing. To reach new followers, your content strategy needs to include regularly posting reels, carousels, and feed posts to get your account onto the instagram explore page and find new followers for your content.
Of course, reaching new followers is just one part of your content strategy. Real growth means keeping your audience engaged once you’ve found them, rather than having people see your content and quickly forget they ever followed you. This requires a second strand to your instagram content strategy, focused on keeping your audience interested.
How to engage your audience
Part of creating interest for your instagram followers is putting out content using the full variety of posting options available to you. Though reels, feed posts and carousels are the best format options for reaching new followers, stories and lives are a really effective way to provoke discussions amongst your community and have personal interactions with your followers.
In your feed posts, try creating games for your followers to participate in in the comments, or setting challenges people can follow along with, asking them to tag you in their progress. Including this type of content in your instagram strategy gives your audience a reason to stay engaged, as they get access to an active community. People enjoy feeling part of something, and especially feeling in the know. By making games, challenges or discussions regular events, perhaps scheduling them weekly or as part of a series, you give your followers a sense of inclusion and knowing what’s coming, which secures future engagement and a sense of commitment to your page.
Building engagement into your instagram content strategy can really set your page apart from other creators and help with not just gaining followers but keeping them. Plus, if your engagement is high, Instagram's algorithm is more likely to put your content on their explore page and reach new audiences too.
What kind of content should you be making?
So we’ve talked about format, but what should your content be about? For both audience growth and audience retention, educational content is key. Educational reels, carousel infographics or picture posts with long, educational captions all perform well both with the algorithm and audiences. Educational content is more likely to end up on the explore page as well as generally getting higher engagement from users. So, when you’re creating your content, make sure to think about what you can teach your audience, and include this educational approach in your content strategy.
Though educational content performs well, it is not enough by itself to keep an audience engaged and keen to follow your page. For a truly successful instagram strategy, you should also include content with a personal touch. This often means showing some vulnerability.
You can add some personality into your content strategy by including posts which go behind the scenes to show you progress, or by sharing stories of your struggles. This could mean an entrepreneur telling the story of a challenge you faced when you were setting up your business, or a fashion blogger rating your worst teenage outfits. When your audience sees you as a real person, you break down the wall between you. People are far more likely to care about and engage with content from someone they feel they know.
How to organise your posts
Whilst there’s no exact formula for success on instagram, there are some ballpark figures you should bear in mind when planning out your content strategy. Here is a breakdown of the best percentage range to aim for for each type of content we’ve talked about:
Educational content: This should be the majority of your posts, with as much educational content as makes sense for your brand, so aim for 50-80%
Personal content: More personal posts add interest and give your page an identity, so aim for about 30-50% of your posts to have a personal focus
Community content: Content focused on community engagement, from discussions to challenges, should make up around 10-30% of your instagram content
However you decide to split up your content, the main thing is to create a strategy and stick to it - consistency is key. Below is an example of what a week’s posting might look like in a successful instagram content strategy.
Monday: an educational carousel post - maybe an infographic or ‘top 5’ list
Tuesday: an educational reel - sharing favourites or a life hack
Wednesday: a feed post with a personal touch - share a life lesson or nostalgic story
Thursday: a feed post with a discussion topic for your community + a live stream on the topic if you have time
Friday: an educational reel as part of an ongoing series
Saturday: an educational carousel post
Sunday: another educational reel in the series
Once you have a list of topic ideas for your instagram, you can format them in different ways using this strategy to have limitless, effective content.
To learn more about effective content creation and how effective it can be for you, click on the link https://www.regalroye.com/content-creationand you will be directed to our main page for more details.
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