If I Had to Start My Instagram Account Again, Part 4
If I Had to Start My Instagram Account Again, Part 4: Creating Content That Converts
In Part 1, we covered the importance of defining your niche and target audience. Part 2 helped you create a winning Instagram strategy, and Part 3 focused on optimising your profile. Now, let’s get to the heart of Instagram: content. Creating content that truly resonates with your audience is key to converting followers into loyal customers and clients.
Here’s how to create content that stands out and drives results:
Understand the Types of Content
Not all content serves the same purpose. You need a mix of the following:
- Educational Content: Share tips, tutorials, and how-to guides to establish yourself as an expert in your niche. For example, an interior designer might post “5 Tips for Styling Your Coffee Table.”
- Inspirational Content: Motivate your audience with relatable stories, aspirational quotes, or client success stories. Show what’s possible with your products or services.
- Entertaining Content: Use humour, trends, or behind-the-scenes snippets to engage your audience and make your brand memorable.
- Promotional Content: Showcase your products, services, or special offers in a way that feels authentic and not overly salesy.
Use Captions to Connect
Your captions are just as important as your visuals. Use them to spark conversation, share your personality, and connect emotionally with your audience. This is all part of being sociable on social media! Consider these tips:
- Hook Them Early: The first line of your caption should grab attention. For example, “Struggling to get more engagement on Instagram?”
- Tell Stories: Share personal anecdotes or customer success stories that your audience can relate to.
- Include a CTA: Encourage your audience to take action, such as commenting, saving, or visiting your website.
Prioritise High-Quality Visuals
Instagram is a visual platform, so your photos and videos need to grab attention. Ensure your content is well-lit, on-brand, and visually appealing. Here are some tips:
- Photos: Use natural light whenever possible (you will see most of my reels are shot in front of a window!), and try to maintain a consistent aesthetic in keeping with your brand. This doesn’t mean your grid has to be a perfect chequerboard! Just that when people see a post, they know it’s you from the branding.
- Reels: Keep them engaging by using trending audio, adding captions of you’re talking, and getting straight to the point. No fluff!
Balance Quality and Quantity
Posting consistently is important, but don’t sacrifice quality for the sake of posting every day. Start with a schedule you can realistically maintain, such as say 3 quality posts per week, and scale up as you get more efficient as creating content. When I first started making Reels each one took me hours. Now I can shoot B Roll and add my hook and caption in now time. But this takes time and practise.
Optimise for Engagement
Instagram’s algorithm favours content that encourages interaction. To boost engagement:
- Ask questions in your captions.
- Create carousels with valuable tips that your audience will want to save.
- Use interactive features in Stories, such as polls, quizzes, and question boxes.
- Share content that your audience will want to share with their own followers.
Repurpose and Recycle
Not every piece of content has to be brand new. Repurpose your best-performing posts into different formats. For example, turn a carousel into a Reel or a popular Reel into an infographic. If you go back through my account you will this all the time. Sometimes, I even just straight up repost something! BUT!! Only if it did well the first time it was posted. If it just did soso, and I feel like it could do better, I’ll tweak and change it, and then test it! Put it out and a few weeks later analyse it. How did it do? What did your followers think? This info informs what you do next with your content. All the time. Which brings me to:
Track What Works
Use Instagram Insights to see which posts perform best. If you’re at the stage in your business where you’re nurturing your current audience, hoping they’ll on day become customers or clients, pay attention to metrics like saves, shares, and comments to understand what resonates most with your audience. Then, double down on those content types. If you’re trying to actively grow your following to find new ideal clients and customers, pay attention to Reach.
Your Content, Your Way
Creating content that converts doesn’t mean following every trend or posting constantly. It’s about creating valuable, authentic, and engaging content that connects with your audience and aligns with your current business goals. And this will change throughout the year.
But once you have a strong content plan in place, you’ll be well on your way to building a loyal Insta following that drives real results for your small business.
Any questions? Drop me an email at hello@tcbsocialmedia.com
Suze 🫶🏽
Category: Content, free resources, Insta Tips, Marketing