How can I make viral-type content for my Instagram?
Creativity can be very tricky. Something you can always do, to help you get ideas is to see what other companies or people are posting, and see how you could make something similar or better. You are guaranteed to find some clever types of content ideas if you do this.
But let’s try an exercise right now, in creativity.
Take one of the companies we mentioned above… the landscaper. This isn’t that bad actually, it would be far more challenging if it were a bank and an insurance company. The reason it is not that bad is because landscaping is a CREATIVE industry. Things are made. And when things are made, anything can be made. Things can be altered, modified, to the creators liking. He is bound only by his budget and imagination. We can’t same the same for Tax Perpetration or Insurance… not a lot of creativity there.
Let’s take the landscape company and see what we can do:
- Inspirational (use the same quotes everyone else does, these do NOT have to be industry specific)
- Aesthetic and beautiful (professional photos of gardens, with macro lens, wide lens, high saturation on the colors, unusual angles, artistic, use drone cameras for high angle still shots, or to shoot a video tour)
- Weird, silly or surprising (a landscape done a la ‘Minecraft’, or any landscaping/gardening done to replicate something from pop culture, like Disney movies, etc etc.)
- Really cool (a functioning castle and mote, built with retaining wall pavers)
- Funny (close up, macro photos of Lego people (or other popular toys), in perilous/odd circumstances in the garden. Like getting stuck in paver sealer, while being confronted by ants… etc)
As you can see, there is MUCH you can do, it just takes some digging around, persistence, looking at what people are doing, and putting your own touch on it.
Now that you have an idea of what you can post, you should make your account.
Making your account
Naturally the first thing you need to do is make an Instagram account, you will do this using a smart phone (Android or iPhone), and you can start by making a personal page, and once you have that you can make a business account. You can put your phone, address, and domain name, logo etc.
BEFORE you create your business account, you should first keep it as a personal account for a while, so you can then find and follow all your Facebook friends who have Instagram, And they will most likely follow you back. This will let you start your Instagram account with a decent number of followers.
If you start right off the business profile your Facebook friends won’t recognize that as you when you follow their Instagram accounts.
Note: Once you achieve 100 followers Instagram will then allow you to start direct messaging users.
How to use Instagram
You have your account, you’re ready to rock and roll. For now, you simply need to worry about three things:
- Right photos
- Right hashtags
- Right time/frequency
We have already gone over photos.
Let’s talk about hashtags next, and for that let us quote our friends over at Social Media Examiner:
How to use hashtags:
One of the ways people find content and contributors they enjoy on Instagram is to search with hashtags.
Here’s how that works.
Each piece of Instagram content you post can be accompanied by a short message or caption and a few hashtags. The hashtags help organize and categorize images and video content, which aids the process of content discovery and optimization.
Read their full article: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/instagram-hashtags/
Time and Frequency
You should be posting 3 time a day, honestly. The times you will get the most engagement (meaning the times when most of your followers are online), will be lunch time, dinner time, and an hour or so before bed. This holds true on many social media platforms.
Conclusion
This basic guide should get you started using Instagram for your business the right way, and give you a foundation which you can build upon, and then add further complexity once you are familiar with the app.
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