Why Instagram?

This article explores the value of Instagram for businesses and individuals, highlighting its evolution from a simple photo-sharing app to a powerful social media platform that can drive culture and influence consumer behavior. It emphasizes that Instagram's impact extends beyond vanity metrics and focuses on its potential to build a strong brand, attract new followers, and generate real business results.

• Instagram has evolved from a photo-sharing app to a platform that drives culture and influences consumer behavior.
• Its value extends beyond vanity metrics and focuses on its potential to build a strong brand, attract new followers, and generate real business results.

How Instagram Works: Instagram Features

The article provides a comprehensive overview of the various features that Instagram offers, including both established and new additions. It delves into the strengths and uses of different content formats, such as images, videos, reels, IGTV, carousels, stories, lives/rooms, direct messages, Instagram Shop, and guides.

• Instagram offers a range of features for users to create and share different types of content, including images, videos, reels, IGTV, carousels, stories, lives/rooms, direct messages, Instagram Shop, and guides.
• These features provide diverse opportunities for businesses and individuals to engage their audience, promote their brands, and build a strong online presence.
• Understanding these features is crucial for developing an effective Instagram strategy.

Content Formats:

This section delves into the different content formats available on Instagram, exploring their unique characteristics and how they can be leveraged for maximum impact. It covers images, videos, reels, IGTV, carousels, and stories, providing guidance on optimal use and best practices for each format.

Images

Post photos from your camera roll or take an original photo in-app. Once uploaded into Instagram, choose from a library of filters for that finishing touch. While Instagram allows photos of varying sizes, a ratio of 4×5 is best because it takes up the most real estate on someone’s screen. More real estate equals more attention.

Videos

Instagram’s short-form video originally capped at 15 seconds. In-feed videos (meaning vids that show up on your profile and in your followers’ feeds) have since been upgraded to 60 seconds.

Reels

“Reels” is one of Instagram’s most recent features, hitting our phones in August 2020 and allowing users to have fun pairing mult-clip videos with a variety of filters, text, audio, and music clips. Unlike in-feed video posts, reels max out at 30 seconds (originally 15) and won’t be shared to your personal Instagram feed unless you choose. Instead, they live in a separate dedicated reels feed which can be accessed by the center button of Instagram’s home page, or on the top right of the explore page.

IGTV

IGTV is Instagram’s long-form content, where users can post videos up to 15 minutes (from their phones) and up to 1 hour (from the website). If you choose, IGTV videos can be added in-feed with a preview clip of the first 15 seconds before viewers have the option to click and watch the full video. 

Carousels

In 2017, Instagram launched carousel posts, where users can upload up to 10 photos or videos (or a combination) to one in-feed post, thus creating mini-albums for followers to swipe through.

Stories

Instagram’s stories feature allows users to post 15-second clips that disappear after 24 hours. Instagram stories are then archived so you can revisit them later. A great way to supplement in-feed posts, they are a huge source of engagement with 500 million people viewing Instagram stories every day as of January 2019. Users can experiment with adding stickers and gifs for a more engaging experience, drive traffic to in-feed posts, or direct followers to a specific website with swipe-up links (available for users with 10K followers or more). 

How Instagram Works: Distribution & Analytics

The article stresses the importance of understanding distribution and analytics to effectively leverage Instagram for business growth. It delves into how Instagram's different content formats are distributed across the platform, including in-feed, stories, explore, search and hashtags, and messages. It also explores various methods for expanding reach beyond your immediate followers, such as paid advertising, influencer marketing, and strategic engagement through commenting and relationship building.

Distribution

Let’s take a look at all the different places where your content can live within Instagram: 

• In-feed 
• In stories
• In explore 
• In search and hashtags
• In messages

Content that exists in-feed, in stories, or in your messages is typically only viewed by people who follow your Instagram account. On the other hand, content that lands on the explore page or that you group under specific hashtags may be found by Instagram users outside of your community. 

For even more reach, you have several options: 

• Pay — Run an ad on Instagram to promote a specific post and drive traffic back to your profile or website. You can also pick your desired audience with customizable targeting. 

• Use influencer marketing — Instead of paying Instagram, pay an influencer to promote your product or service to their following. Influencer marketing is a wildly valuable and underpriced tool that you can learn more about in my recent article, What Is Influencer Marketing?

• Pay with your TIME — My favorite method is to roll up your sleeves and put in the work through commenting and relationship building. I call it The $1.80 Instagram Strategy To Grow Your Business Or Brand, and all it means is you leave your $0.02 on the top 9 trending posts for 10 relevant hashtags. Every. Damn. Day. Why? Nothing crushes on social media like actually being social. Try it out. 

Analytics

Analytics provide important data on how your content performs. It’s important to note that only business or creator accounts are able to access specific analytics. These accounts can do everything personal accounts can, but with the added benefit of running promotions, ads, and accessing data. Unlike personal accounts which can be set to private, business pages are public. Here are the insights that Instagram provides for analytics: 

• Followers – number of followers gained or lost, as well as your followers’ top locations, gender, age range, and most active times on the app

• Reach – how many unique accounts have seen your content

• Impressions – how many times your content has been viewed in total

Content Strategy:

The article emphasizes the importance of blending creative content with data-driven insights to create a successful Instagram strategy. It advises businesses and individuals to prioritize both the artistic and analytical aspects of content creation, ensuring that their content resonates with their audience while also driving measurable results.

• A strong Instagram strategy requires a blend of creative content and data-driven insights.
• Prioritize both the artistic and analytical aspects of content creation to ensure your content resonates with your audience and drives measurable results.

The Importance of Being Human:

The article concludes with a strong emphasis on the importance of authenticity and human connection on Instagram. It underscores that while technical expertise and strategic planning are crucial, building a successful Instagram presence ultimately hinges on genuine engagement with your audience.

• Authenticity and human connection are crucial to building a successful Instagram presence.
• While technical expertise and strategic planning are important, genuine engagement with your audience is key.

Takeaways:

The article offers several key takeaways to summarize the main points discussed. It reiterates the value of Instagram for business growth, the importance of a well-rounded content strategy, and the need for authentic human connection in building a strong online presence.

• The value of Instagram for business growth is undeniable, with its massive reach and potential to drive culture.
• A well-rounded content strategy should prioritize both creative content and data-driven insights.
• Authentic human connection is essential for building a successful Instagram presence and fostering meaningful engagement with your audience.