Someone visiting your business Instagram page gains an immediate, visual insight into your brand. Without reading a single word, they can see your values, get a feel for the quality of your products and services and even see how professional you are. You want to get it right, and that takes time and planning.

You need a strategy

Create five or six funnels, or themes, for your posts. You don't want to post about the same thing everytime, so theme it. Look at all aspects of your business and divide it up. Offers, new products, testimonials, customers content, behind-the-scenes snapshots, industry news… mix it up.

Think about what you want to post, and what content you can create. Can you create videos and take great photos, can you write engaging copy, or do you need help with those aspects?

Create a wow

When a customer clicks on your feed, make them say 'wow'. Plan your posts and spend time making it right. Draw it out if you have to, and think about your brand colours. For example, look at the grid and plan a square of nine posts. Play around until it looks good and represents your business. Give your posts some white spaces, split pictures over two or three posts, use your logo in the same places, think about colour themes and be creative. It's your chance to shine.

Words that give value

You want to create a beautiful feed, but you also want to write posts that give value to your customers. Tell them something, give them insights, make them laugh, show them your personality and demonstrate your products, you also want to ask them questions, start a discussion and invite them in.

Hashtags

Create separate hashtag-collections for your different themes. You are allowed 30, and although some people say not to use that many, that's 30 opportunities to be seen. Can you afford to miss out?

When you search for hashtags on Instagram, you can see how many posts each one has generated. You need to be seen, so try not to get lost in the noise. Use 15 of the niche ones under 100k, 10 between 100k and 999k, and just five of the extremely popular ones above that. Mix it up and test which ones are best for you.

You can use techniques to hide your hashtags if you don't want them to be seen. For example, post your hashtags in a comment to the post, or create five line-spaces after your caption; so they are not visible on first click.

Find the best time to post

Optimise the 'insights' Instagram provides to decide which times of day your customers are reading your posts. Keep on this, keep testing it. When do your customers like to browse Instagram, is it at lunchtimes, early morning, late at night? You need to know.

Instagram allows you to be creative, and there are so many great ways to reach out to your customers. There is a lot of trial and error involved, so keep working at it.

Always, plan ahead.

This article is just the tip of the Insta Iceberg. If you need help with your instagram posts, I'm here for you. I can write posts that engage your customers and provide value; create a solid marketing strategy; find the hashtags that work best for your business; and even source great designers to create videos and branded images.

Call me today for a free consultation, or just some free advice.