Social media is a two way conversation. In your captions are you asking a question? Is it relevant to now? You know your audience well enough to put out content they engage with. See your past posts, check their engagement (analytics). How many saves/ forwards has it done? Then create similar content. IG has always been a fight for eyeballs!
"Use stories to tell a story, build awareness/ excitement and questions so your audience get a taste of whats coming, then you post your picture!"
Did you know that IG prioritise accounts which uses all their features. You need to maximise all features! Videos, carousel, stickers, quiz, polls, questions and so on. Lets think about it this way, you have a new product and you need to promote to sell it. Instagram features are the new products and we are the data.
Algorithm
It tries to figure out what content you like just from watching. It may not even be content you like or save/ forward but IG sees you watching it. Just to let you know, the algorithm do not hate you lo. When you are watching a video its used as an engagement metric. Videos are ranked much higher than photos as its a huge sense of trust.
Hashtags
You need to use hashtags from your niche, I'd recommend using 20k to 250k or lower. The most used hashtags are useless, they way over saturated. Your posts are very unlikely to show up on these hashtags. Think about it, IG has one billion active users monthly and they receive 100 million+ posts daily (Omnicore).
Here I've selected some examples from my niche: #foodporn 236M
#foodie 160M
#sneakers 39M
#sneakerhead 20M
Stories
Now these are the most engaging! This is why I am constantly on it, clearly I live on IG lol. These are where most of my DMs come from! If you're not using Stories you are missing out on so much! Get out of your comfort zone, you got this! I used to be the same but my wife kinda forced me to go on it lol. Ever since I've never looked back, now I can't shut up. I've got a dope audience which have made me feel comfortable enough to step in front of the camera and chat. The more you do it, the easier it becomes!
There are so many things you can do on Stories and IG is always adding more, so be sure to utilize on all the features! There is like 10+ things you can do on there. The great thing is that stories last for 24 hours only, there is no saving to watch later, they will have watch it now!
Connecting across other platforms You should already be linking multiple accounts on all platforms, if not this is the first thing you need to do it right now. Stop reading this for a minute and do it. Go on all your socials and look for all the fields asking to connect other socials. For example on TikTok you can link your IG and YouTube. You can even have a URL (link) in the bio, that is three different ways people can get access to you! Have you heard of Linktr.ee? Watch out for my next article, I will dig a bit more deeper on this. For now, go and grab a drink and then lets carry on.
IGTV
Did you know IGTV's latest update now plays for 15 seconds when shared on Stories? How awesome is that? This is why I love IG, the AI is learning and keeps getting better. When faces are picked up by IG they are also ranked higher than covers with just text! If you wanted to add text, you can still do it above your photo. Believe it or not IG can read what you post. Perhaps start a IGTV series?
Engaging captions
This is what can really connect you to you audience. Trigger emotions, never lose an opportunity to have a conversation. Photos you post, what do you want people to take away from it? Try to be a question starter in your caption. It helps when captions tap into lifestyle, trending topics (or Google trends) and so on. What matters to you? Does it fit your ethos?
I post about sneakers, food and lifestyle, if all of a sudden I start posting about stocks and shares, its a bit mad lol, my audience will be confused right? Your caption is your chance to captivate then people will stay longer on your posts - this connects them with you (this is real value). Stop looking at the numbers and start looking for a conversation.
Alt text
Automatic alt text uses object recognition to provide a visual description of photos for people with visual impairments. You can add text to provide a better description of a photo but keep in mind that this description will only be read if someone is using a screen reader to access Instagram. You can add this component when you create a new post, scroll right to the bottom and select Advanced settings then under accessibility, now write alt text.
Run ADs?
I'll be keeping this short, what I will say is never run an AD automatically (by default) you have to customize always. Its the same as when you are installing a new application on your computer, you always want to hit the custom install to see what other options there are. If you have extra cash laying around then definitely have a look at this.
PS, whoever shares your post, its always nice to thank them, they'll appreciate it. I hope this article has been helpful. Feel free to ask any questions, my email is hello@staremix.com
Lastly, follow me on Instagram? @StaRemix
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