Creating good compelling content for Instagram is a pressure on every brand or individual who wants to excel on Instagram. Every time, the creative juices won’t flow. Moreover, coming up with new concepts and actually finding the right aesthetics for Instagram is easier said than done. Posting just photos or videos in the name of content is not going to help the brand to grow.
One has to create content which sets it apart from other competitors and helps to gain followers and engagement.
Each day almost 95 million photos and videos get posted on the app and posting different kinds of content might become difficult so we have compiled a list of 5 things which a business can do that sets it apart from other companies operating on Instagram. The list provided below is not exhaustive and one might not feel pressurized that he has to post accordingly only.
Creating own Instagram content using templates
There are loads of free websites available on the net that offer pre designed templates which can be used to create content with minimal effort. Whatever message the business wants to convey, one can use templates to convey it. There may be a post to promote a special offer or a post announcing something new offered by the brand or a post sharing a client’s experience or story.
Once you have selected an Instagram template, you can edit it as per your choice and change font and style. After that, you can just download the template, upload it on Instagram with an attractive caption.
Finding high quality stock images
Stock images have recently been less popular but that totally doesn’t mean that these cannot be used to gain real likes and increase engagement. These images can help in contrasting the feed as it gives a varied angle to Instagram feed when mixed with templates.
To find high quality stock images, one can check out sites Unsplash and Stocksnap.io. These sites are free and offer something which you will definitely find intriguing according to your niche.
Another site to look out for is Stocksy which provides paid services and as you would expect, paid images will have a better quality and quantity. The ideal size for any Instagram image is 1080p *1080p so keep in mind these dimensions while selecting the pictures. The images can also be customized as per your choice through the addition of text layers, filters, borders, etc.
Reposting Instagram content from brands within the business’ niche
It’s not always necessary to post everything unique. Our brain sometimes does not understand as to what to post. In such cases, the businesses should play a smart move by reposting content from other brands which are similar to their niche.
There is nothing wrong in reposting content from other brands until and unless the brand has taken permissions and is giving proper credits to the brand.
In order to repost content from similar brands one must follow the given steps –
- Following different accounts and hashtags belonging to the niche – Following other brands helps to get ideas about what they are posting. You can save such posts which you might think are worthy and share later. You can also make a list of hashtags that are relevant to the brand and search associated content.
- Reaching out to users to seek permission to post – if one finds something good on other’s feed and wants to repost it, he should first DM the person, seek permission and repost the content.
Running User Generated Content (UGC) campaign
Brands and businesses can also encourage their existing followers to create content around the given ideas which can be posted by the business on their feed. This is what we call by the name User generated content. This term might not be restricted to brands encouraging followers; it can be anything posted by users on their feed whether done by brands or not.
They can organize competitions or campaigns where they can host major giveaways for people who come up with the best content ideas. The brands should not be too bothered about the content that their users generate. But you should be careful that you are not posting too much UG content otherwise followers may feel that they are getting exploited and the feed might lose its aesthetics.
Collaborating with influencers
Content influencers have been a major trend nowadays. People are taking up influencing as a career option. Buy collaborating with influencers which have a huge fan base, the business can expose themselves to a large audience and get more real followers.
Small businesses can go for micro influencers if their budget is not much as the micro influencers would agree to do so at a minimized rate.
We hope that you might find these tips useful to amp up your content strategy and plan content accordingly which users will love and engage with. Happy Instagramming to you!!