Have you heard the big news?
A couple of days ago, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Instagram now has more than 500 million active monthly users.
For 300 million of them, Instagram has become a daily habit.
And these people are active on the platform. A recent study shows that Instagram still has the highest engagement rate among the top social networks – 1.6 times higher than the one of Facebook and 21 times higher than the one of Twitter.
Why am I telling you all this?
Because Instagram is quickly becoming a crucial component of successful online presence and brings along fantastic business opportunities.
And if you are serious about getting the most out of it, you need to approach it right.
Below we listed the 4 best types of Instagram posts that you can use to drive higher engagement, gain new followers and get more likes.
1. Video
When Instagram added functionality to post video, it created a unique way for businesses to engage their audiences.
Your videos should be between 3 and 60 seconds long, which is plenty to communicate whatever message you might have.
It’s up to you to find the most engaging way to talk to your audience.
Nike, for example, is among the few who realised the power of video.
In fact, more than half of their posts are videos.
Their latest one was about Lebron James and the Cleveland’s amazing victory on the NBA finals. This super-emotional post itself reached almost 2M views in just two days.
But even without Nike’s marketing budget you can still produce engaging content.
Product reviews, daily market insights, educational content – all these ideas among many others might prompt your audience to devote their attention to your post, without costing you your year’s revenue.
2. Inspirational and Motivational Quotes
Another type of content people tend to respond positively to is motivational quotes.
Instagram users love things that lift their spirits and inspire them.
Great example here is Lazar Angelov, who has 3M followers on Instagram. He’s a fitness guru, model, and an influencer.
But most of all, he is a motivator. And that’s why people love him.
Have a look at this post and notice how people react to it.
Comments along the lines of “You’re my inspiration”, and “Keep doing what you do!” are very common in his comment sections.
Lazar demonstrates that by inspiring your followers you can win their trust, loyalty and attention, so that they keep following your updates and engaging with your content on a regular basis.
And it’s easy to produce such content.
Apart from Photoshop and similar software, there are various more accessible solutions, like the WordSwag or InstaQuote mobile apps. They are very functional and able to can save you plenty of time.
3. Educational Content
With ever intensifying competition in the online space, companies are forced to seek organic ways to build relationships with and engage their customers. This led to emergence of the new big digital marketing trend.
Looking to maximise value to customers through their digital comms, businesses are starting to give away valuable educational content for free, thus, cultivating relationships with customers in order to capture value from them in the future.
Here is a post by Arianna Huffington, the founder of the popular Huffington Post media:
She recently published a book on how to effectively manage your sleep and why you should not reach the point of sleep deprivation.
By sharing this interesting fact, she is raising awareness of the problem of drowsy driving and announcing the partnership she has entered with Uber to fight the issue against it.
The post enhances commercial potential of the new book and helps develop meaningful relationships with the current customers and prospects.
4. Questions and fill-in-the-blanks
While sharing engaging content with your audiences is important, you must not forget that the key benefit of Instagram for users is its social aspect. Most people don’t come to social networks to just be exposed to images, videos and articles – they come to participate and contribute.
And you can proactively encourage your audience to do this.
It’s a great way to demonstrate that your brand actually cares about what they think.
Simply ask questions like this one:
That’s what NastyGal was posting around last year’s Grammys.
Great timing and therefore, great results – over 1.6K comments from engaged followers.
To further stimulate engagement, NastyGal have done a giveaway as an incentive for their followers to take part in the initiative.
Now why don’t you do the same for your business?
Think about what your followers are interested in.
If your business is promoting a healthy lifestyle, for example, ask your followers what do they like to have for breakfast or what is their favourite smoothie?
Just keep it simple. Nobody wants to spend hours answering your questions.
CONCLUSION
All in all, engaging your audience on Instagram is a challenge. A fascinating one; the one that brings endless creative opportunities – but a challenge nonetheless.
What can you talk about in your video posts that your followers watch the whole thing and are left wanting more? What inspires and motivates them? What are they interested in and how can you add value through free content? What are the right questions to ask to make them tick?
Instagram brought along fantastic business opportunities.
Make sure to do the right things (and make sure to do them right) – and best of luck to you and your business!
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