I finally joined the social media platform, Instagram. It’s been a week now and I have a little over 90 followers. [insert fist pump] Yessssssss! I’d like to share what I’ve learned so far and also give ideas on what you can post on the platform.
Here’s one of the first images I posted:
BEING A NEWBIE ON INSTAGRAM
To be honest, I was a bit nervous about being on a new social media platform. I’m usually on Twitter and I hardly post images there. I like to post my ramblings on being a writer, things I see in my career and anything related to entrepreneurship. I also enjoy taking part in Twitter chats.
What do you post on Instagram, I asked my friends. Here’s what some of them advised:
Leolynn Smith: Any photos and videos you want to put up. Just remember to use hashtags.
Cassarica Nadas: A good place to start is your bio. You have a couple characters to state who you are and that is searchable on insta. Also, if you are doing it in conjunction with your blog it’s good to stick to a theme but gosh it can be tiring so I just post what I want when I want. But try not to post too many times a day it can be spammy.
HOW I DID IT
So every day since I joined the platform, I posted a photo. Then I would include hashtags like #momlife, #instatoddler, #proudmommy and #musicianswife in it. You’re probably noticing that I’m posting a lot of my family life things on Instagram.
I also joined in the August Challenge of the Hello Boss Creative team. You get a theme/ topic every day and then you post a photo relating to it. The hashtags are #HBCJustOnePic and #HelloBossCreative. [Hello Boss Creative is a Facebook group for female entrepreneurs.]
LESSONS LEARNED
I’ve checked out other profiles and noticed that people post their favourite quotes on a poster image – this is something I want to do too.
Some of the successful influencers I’ve checked out have a colour scheme to their brand on Instagram. One lady’s Instagram photo’s colour scheme is a golden brown and it shows throughout the timeline of her IG profile.
I’m not there yet.
If you are still winging it on Instagram, I’ve Googled “Instagram ideas” and here’s some advice that stood out:
Sprout Social gives a list of 15 Instagram Post Ideas to Cure Creative Block.
The ideas I find interesting are:
- Provide the story behind the image;
- Ask a question that drives an answer,
- Throwback Thursday’s and Flashback Friday’s are some of the most popular types of content you’ll see on Instagram. However, you can take it a step further by giving a history lesson about your brand in a “flashback” piece of content.
My Flashback Friday story:
Business owners might find the following useful:
When it comes to product promotion, the Hubspot Marketing blog suggests that 80% of the content you post to social media should be helpful and valuable to your audience, and 20% can be self-promotional.
I also found XO Sarah‘s 30 Ideas for what to post on Instagram very helpful. Here are some of the tips I got out of it:
- Your WHY: You’re getting new followers all the time. Share why you started your blog or business;
- What are you currently reading / watching / listening to;
- Something that didn’t work: What’s the last thing you tried that was a total fail? Flaws make us human, and luckily, make other people feel more connected to us too.
So what do you think, how did I do so far? What is your favourite social media platform and what do you enjoy about it?