Creating a Content Strategy on Instagram

If you’ve ever stared at a blinking cursor not knowing what to write for an Instagram caption or recorded IG stories just to delete them before hitting publish then you’re in the right place.

Instagram Strategy

In this post, you’ll learn the missing pieces that will make creating content on Instagram much easier. Every business owner SHOULD be able to use Instagram to grow their business BY creating a holistic strategy, which I’ll guide you through the foundational piece to our Instagram strategy.

Leading up to our rebrand launch our team was very intentional about the content we posted to build hype. The fruits of our labor were seen through the DM’s we were receiving from our audience.

If you remember back to elementary school and The 5 W’s: Who, What, Where, When, and Why.

Starting with the WHY

You being on Instagram should have a goal – how does being on IG work in your marketing strategy? Why are you showing up to create content?

For us, Instagram allows us to have direct communication with our audience. It’s one of the only places we can communicate in real-time with our audience and have conversations with our people. Our main goal of IG is to build our connections and relationships with our audience. We do that through education 80% of the time so that 20% of the time when we want to sell and convert, we can.

First, you need to identify your Big Picture Why.

 Big Picture Why

Then you need to identify your why for each piece of content you create. Whether that’s an Instagram Grid post or Instagram Story – why are you posting it? Pro-tip, here: it doesn’t always have to be about generating sales or leads.

95% of the time while I’m at Dunkin’ I post about it on my IG Stories. Because anytime someone drives past a Dunkin’ or drinks an iced coffee I want them to think of Carrylove Designs.

Reverse Product Placement

Comment below if you’ve ever noticed how in This Is Us they’re constantly showing Apple products or in Queer Eye they do close-ups of the Fab 5 GMC truck? That’s called Product Placement a $23 billion industry. Since we, as service providers, don’t have a physical product to place. I have coined this Reverse Product Placement. I am mentally getting people to associate our brand with a physical, larger brand. 

That now seemingly simple Instagram Story has a much greater purpose in our overall Instagram Strategy.

Before you post any piece of content you need to start with the goal of that content. I go into a lot more detail in our Next Level Instagram Workshop, which you get access to below. But we are not in the business of posting content just for the sake of posting.

How is that IG Grid post moving the needle in your business? Whether seemingly small like brand awareness with our Reserve Product Placement OR larger goal like filling up Spring Mini Session spots.

I am currently reading Atomic Habits and the author talks about the compounding process. Basically, you create this habit of showing up on Instagram creating deep roots. Then seemingly out of nowhere, your efforts are seen.

Compounding process

This can be you showing up for 6-months creating educational posts and connecting with your audience so next time you have an offer to share it sells like hotcakes.

We’re going to come back to this near the end because I’m going to show you how to measure the success of your content.

But first, we need to talk about The Who. To create goals and really engaging content you have to know your WHO. Who is your ideal audience? I go into more detail about finding your ideal client in this YouTube episode.

The Who

If you’re a brand photographer then it doesn’t make sense for you to do a post about your top 3 favorite wedding venues. It would make sense for you to post about your top 3 favorite spots for brand sessions.

Keep your ideal client in mind when posting something new. We provide all of our Signature Experience clients an Ideal Client Avatar. We do this because an Ideal Demographic or Ideal Audience can seem blurry and hard to focus on when creating new content. One ideal client, ours is named Callie, can bring into focus who you’re creating content for so it serves your entire audience better.

Remember, we don’t want to create content just because you realize you haven’t posted in a week and you need to throw up a picture.

I want to show you how to measure your analytics and see what content is working for you using Hashtag Slayer.

If you understand your big picture why – the reason you’re on IG in the first place, your why for each piece of content, and you can nail down and speak to your ideal client then your content will resonate.

Keep in mind, it’s that idea of the compounding process we’re after on Instagram. The slow-burn. The marathon, not just the conversion-sprint each time.

If you want to dive deeper on this subject and haven’t checked our Next Level IG then I recommend heading over to the CLD Shop to check that out.

If you found this post about Instagram strategy helpful, comment MVP below so I know. Here’s the helping you work smarter, not harder.