Outsource2Us shares the best ways to create a stronger Instagram content plan for you and your business
#1 – Pick a Theme
Instagram is a heavily visual platform with its content revolving around image and video posting. More often than not we are seeing companies and businesses posting without any thought which leads to an unappealing or boring page. Picking a theme is a fantastic way to combat mundanity, picking the right colours to use, filters for your images, and selectively choosing the type of content to post will vastly improve the look of your feed.
#2 – Planning
It goes without saying that if you fail to plan then you plan to fail. When making your plan, you absolutely must begin by setting goals, as these goals will help shape what you want to achieve and how you achieve it. For example, if you aim to increase the number of likes to your Instagram feed then one way to do this could be setting benchmark goals to meet. These milestones can make help break down a bigger goal to make it seem more manageable.
#3 – Scheduling Tips
When scheduling there are several key tips to keep in mind. Firstly, record each post you have made. This will ensure that there are no repeat posts or duplicates of old content for viewers. Secondly, spread out content. Posting 5 days in a row about an upcoming sale may seem good for informing followers, but in reality, it’s flooding your followers’ pages which could result in backlash and result in being unfollowed by potential clients. Lastly, we recommend planning across all platforms, using the technical affordances available to Facebook and Instagram can give unique opportunities for posts, i.e. don’t post the same things on Facebook as on Instagram.
#4 – Quality vs. Quantity
There is a very fine balance between the amount of content you post and what you are posting. Making sure not to over-saturate your followers’ feeds whilst simultaneously ensuring that the relevant information is coming across can be difficult. Before posting, ask yourself, “When did I post last? Was that too long ago? Does this post contain all relevant information?”. Put yourself in your followers’ shoes and go through this process from their point of view.
#5 – Relevance
Building on the idea of avoiding over-saturating the feed, our final tip is to only post the most relevant information. The key is to find the balance between having too much content being posted and being afraid to click on the post button. For example, the length of your caption should reflect the content you are posting. If you are trying to promote clicks to your webpage then we would recommend having a small caption with the link to avoid cluttering up the post and losing client interest. On the other hand, if you are planning to tell a story in your caption with a paragraph of text, ensure that the image matches and compliments the story.
Planning your content in advance is a fantastic way to be able to visualise what you are posting on a large scale and also ensure that you meet deadlines. Find more helpful tips on our Social Media Management page.
