Instagram Social Media Strategy 2022
Still having trouble understanding Collabs? Have you gotten Reels to work for you yet? Or are you left unsure what to do with Guides?
It makes sense you’re feeling a bit lost. Instagram is always on a roll, releasing feature after feature, as reliably as the seasons changing over. With so much change to keep pace with, it can seem difficult to know where to put the focus of your approach to drive the best outcomes!
Instagram, like the rest of the social media scene, is ever-evolving. There’s no rest for the wicked, meaning you should be constantly updating your strategy. If you haven’t yet for this year, you’re due for a revamp to ensure you are hitting the Instagram marketing trends 2022.
A key theme for 2022 is to pair each goal you’re trying to achieve with the specific set of features you need to help get you there. By looking at it this way, you’ll have a better idea of which tactics you can rely on in your arsenal.
How to Get New Followers on Instagram
Focusing on expanding your audience should be your first priority. Your Instagram strategy can only work if you’re filling up the pipeline with more people to win over.
Instagram is delivering the features to help you in this mission. You can now employ a huge variety of tools and tactics to grow your audience on Instagram.
Here are the top features we recommend.
Instagram Collabs
As part of your Instagram influencer strategy, you should co-author a post on the Insta feed or a Reel, in collaboration with another Instagram user.
It’s like you’re coming in with a recommendation from a trusted source. That way, each of you can appeal to the other’s audience and you have someone backing you up.
Instagram Carousel Posts
For the ideal format for presenting enlightening or instructional information, nothing beats a Carousel post. Whether it’s a personalised suggestion or a set of how-to instructions that are broken down step-by-step, the idea is to keep them shareable. The more shares you get out of your audience, the greater reach you can drive.
Instagram Reels
Reels are a great way to expand your following because it makes it easier for you to get picked up for Instagram’s suggested content streams. Do all you can to help the Instagram algorithm classify your content by including a handful of pertinent hashtags to your descriptions. 3 to 5 should be plenty. You should also upload a sample of your post to your Instagram feed, which can help increase your reach.
Instagram Name Field
This is as easy as adding a keyword to your Instagram name field. A keyword is any commonly searched term that people may be searching for or looking up on Instagram. By using the name field, you increase the visibility of your profile, as it’s more likely to appear on the Explore Page of the social media platform.
How to Convert Your Visitors to Followers
Congratulations, you’re well on your way to growing your online audience and attracting new social media followers. So what’s next?
After successfully reaching out to new audiences on Instagram, the next step is to gain their support. In other words, you are trying to turn them from passive browsers and scrollers into active followers.
How do you turn the casual visits to your profile into a group of loyal followers? Here are the top tips we recommend you try as part of your Instagram strategy.
Choose Your Profile Picture
First impressions count, and when it comes to your Instagram profile, that’s your profile photo and bio on your account.
You have limited space and time to convey to your audience what you’re all about, so make each word of your bio count. But more importantly, make your photo stand out! Instagram is a visual social media site, and a well-chosen profile picture goes a long way on the platform.
The picture needs to be the hook to draw a new person in, while the bio just serves them useful information, such as what your products and services are or a link to your website where the actual ecom magic will take place.
Pick a Niche to Dominate
What do you have to offer? Don’t make your audience guess.
By having a distinct niche for your content uploads, it’s easier to persuade your viewers that what you’ve got to say is relevant to their interests. People are more inclined to follow your account if it’s obvious what your specialisation is.
Instagram Stories Highlights
This feature is a terrific way to give a brief overview of your daily content. They’re placed directly at the top of your Instagram profile, so they’ll always be one of the first things that a new visitor sees on your account.
To this end, take care to make sure that your highlights are current and relevant, as well as accurate in representing who you are and what you do. On top of that, there’s no harm in making it look good, so it can act as a visual enhancement of your brand.
Make Your Feed Look Sharp
If you want your audience to consider your brand, products or services, first, you need to make a strong impression on them. And it’s exactly what it says on the label – impress them!
For example, you’ll have seen plenty of Insta feeds that look like a curated grid, with individual squares adding up to a cohesive overall image. That’s delightful. It’s the kind of tactic to amplify your displays and turn your visitors into followers.
Build a Community around Your Brand
You’ve been able to attract new people and turn them into followers of your account. Now, it’s up to you to maintain them.
At the end of the day, Instagram is about building a vibrant community. If your audience can connect with each other, they’ll stick with your brand. That’s how your name can have staying power.
It’s a win-win scenario because as your audience becomes more involved, the more appealing your brand becomes, and the easier it will be to reach out to and convince new people in the future. By reaching out to your community and keeping them engaged, you’re setting your brand on the right track.
Instagram is brimming with tools that are excellent for driving interaction and fostering a feeling of community. Here are the best ones we recommend you try out for your social media Instagram strategy.
Use Your Instagram Stories
Want to start up a conversation with your audience? Use Insta Stories.
Because they are meant to be casual and engaging, stories are the ideal platform for conversational content. To encourage as many interactions as you can, you can try different things such as using interactive stickers; which include features like polls, emoji sliders, and the like.
You can even go a step further by going on camera and adding a face to the brand by showing who’s behind your business.
For one more idea, make sure you reward your most engaged users by reserving your exclusive content for them. Nothing drives engagement and builds community like exclusivity. You can experiment with your Close Friends lists to see who the target audience might be.
Nurture the Comments Section
Listening is the key to understanding and effectively engaging. If you want to engage with your audience, don’t talk to them; instead, just listen to what they want to tell you.
We’re no longer living in the age where brands can go ahead and manufacture how they like, or treat customers how they like. With social media platforms, anyone has easy access to giving your brand direct feedback. If your customers or potential customers have feedback or suggestions, you will be hearing them loud and clear in the Instagram comments section.
As a brand, it’s your responsibility to spend time responding to user comments and promoting more dialogue. You can try to prompt comments by putting a Call to Action (CTA) in your Instagram captions and making use of the Pinned Comments function.
Never leave a comment without a response. If people are alive and kicking in the comments section, you need to get back to them to show them that you respect what they have to say.
Broadcast with Instagram Live
As raw as they come, live broadcasts are direct and unfiltered and give your audience an unprecedented level of insight into who the team behind the name of a brand is.
Live broadcasts are an ideal platform for establishing a more personal connection with your audience. Additionally, it’s now possible to schedule Instagram Lives, so it’s easier than ever for users to tune in to listen to your broadcast. If you’re looking for the ideal way to generate interest and increase view counts, this is it.
Yes, You Should Use Memes
The meme dominates everything, from adorable animals to funny clips. Memes have always been a great way to communicate on the internet, and they will be crucial in 2022 for engaging your audience and building a connection that lasts. So be sure to stay current on Instagram trends that you can put your own spin on.
If you’re out for ideas, have a look at what your audience genuinely likes or dislikes and how this humour may come across in a meme format.
Don’t Forget the Instagram Guides
Instagram Guides are a powerful tool to build community. They are definitely an underutilised tool in the Instagram toolbox, so if you’re looking for a savvy way to get around what your competitors are doing on the social media site, this could be it.
Most of all, make sure you keep your guides useful. Usually, giving practical or functional tips is the best approach here.
From trip itineraries and product recommendations to carefully crafted compilations of informative pieces, guides can be used to offer your community an invaluable service.
How to Get Started with Your 2022 Strategy
Feeling overwhelmed with all the different possibilities that Instagram has to offer you?
Although it can seem like there are many approaches you have to juggle, it’s not actually that way. You don’t have to deal with them all at once.
Here’s how we suggest you approach your Instagram social media strategy.
For a more palatable approach, you can split your overarching marketing goals into two groups. This way, you can tackle them separately, one focus with a weekly upload and one focus that only crops up on a monthly basis.
You can adjust it to your capacity if it feels like too much, but once you’ve got your social media account streamlined, this is the kind of schedule you want to be hitting.
If you’re struggling to maintain a regular schedule, you can go for a less regular, more flexible approach. This could be in the form of increasing your uploads when you have more time or whenever you notice there’s a sudden spate of audience interaction.
The Weekly Schedule
For the weekly schedule, you could upload a Story every day, a post in the Insta feed every couple of days, plus one Insta reel on a designated day of the week.
The Monthly Schedule
As for the monthly schedule, you can think about adding one live broadcast session to engage, plus one how-to guide to inform. If you can, you should also try to include a collaboration or two, although this tactic may be harder to maintain regularity for, given that there’s another party involved.
Team Up with the Pros
If you want to take your brand to the top, you should only team up with the best. How else will you get there?
If you’re on the lookout for a stand-out Instagram advertising strategy, First Page is the agency for you. There’s no one better to handle your content production, social media marketing strategy, and digital advertising campaigns.
Don’t let a poorly planned social media approach let your brand fall behind. For an updated Instagram social media strategy, contact us today and tell us about your long-term goals.