Imagine You’re on an excursion to the Amazon Forest and you get lost! 

You check your bag to take out the compass and the map, only to find that you forgot them in your tent camp by the river! The Horror, I’m getting chills even thinking about it… 

And Believe it or not but this is exactly what happens when you try to grow your Instagram account without a potent and effective strategy. Lack of social media strategy will lead to failure of your hard work, time and resources, seeing no results from such efforts. 

In order to unlock Instagram’s potential, you need a solid social media strategy that helps you stay ahead in the game, plan your content in advance, maintain consistency and build a strong organic presence online. Icing on the cake, it will help save more time for bigger goals and leave room for creativity to create better content. With a robust social media started in place, your business won’t just survive on Instagram, rather it’ll thrive. 

No more scribbling things last minute and putting up poor-quality content, it’s time to bid adieu to awful results, low reach and terrible engagement. 

Happy Reading! 

Step 1: Assess your current social media efforts and do competitor research

Start by asking the following questions. Be honest with yourself and cut the excuses!

- Which platforms are you using to promote your brand? (Eg. Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, etc)

- Is your business competitor using the same platform? (If not, it’s a sign to check whether or not the particular social media platform is viable)

- How many followers do you have? And how engaged are you with them? (Be it 100 or 100k, are you engaging with your audience on a genuine basis; look at your past content and see how well it performed in terms of engagement)

- What does your posting schedule look like? (Are you posting consistently or do you tend to wear out after a week or two?)

- What type of content works the best for your business? (Did single posts help your increase engagement? Was it reels? Take a look at your analytics)

- How many leads were you able to generate from your social media handle? Did your consumer base expand? 

Once you’re through with assessing your social media presence, you can do a competitor audit to understand how you can stand out in the market space. 

Step 2: Determine business goals 

Clear objectives help pave a clear path and show the right direction you need to follow to be where you want to be. 

- Do you wish to raise brand awareness? (Post engaging, valuable and authentic content that must speak your brand voice)

- Do you need to drive more traffic to your site (Promote your business with a clickable link to your website) 

- Do you want to generate more sales? (Start by building brand loyalty amongst your followers through customer reviews, genuine and brand-friendly comments. Advertise your products and services with links such as ‘click to shop’)

- Do you have the desire to build a loyal community? (Create a positive brand experience and come across as approachable and friendly)

Step 3: Define your target audience 

Customer is the King! Though the ways of marketing have changed over the years, the motto remains exactly the same. Before launching your social media activity, it is imperative to know who exactly you are speaking to? 

Defining your target audience helps streamline the entire social media strategy and ensure you’re talking to the right people in the right place. 

Think of your ideal audience and make a note of it along with other important details such as age, gender, location, interests, social behavior, hobbies, income bracket etc. Once you’ve defined your target audience, you can determine which platform you want to use and how you want to convey your brand voice. 

Step 4: Content Planning and platform selection 

What’s one similarity between content and customer? They both are king! I can hear a giggle. Don’t shy off, I know you found it funny! 

Okay, Now back to our important discussion. To make sure your content stays on top and brings you the results you want, I advise you to include these 5 pillars in your content strategy:

- Education: When you teach something to your audience, it helps spread your knowledge and build credibility among the followers. 

- Information: Slightly different from education as it concerns being up-to-date with what’s happening in the world and provide your audience with fresh and new content

- Inspiration: Motivating your audience to do better will help them look up to you and follow your valuable guidance 

- Entertainment: A good and entertaining piece of content makes your social media account more enjoyable and fun. It helps you break ice with your audience and make them want to come back over and over again 

- Personal: Sharing something honest and straight from your heart, allows your followers to understand that you truly care about them and think of them as your friend and not just a mere ‘follower’ amidst the pool of many 

Now that you’re through with choosing the right content pillar for your brand, it’s time to decide the platform to publish your content! Take a look at our Quick Guide on which platform serves the best function. 

Facebook: Great place to be friendly and foster a casual-fun relation with your audience 

Twitter: Promoting content in short, crisp and to-the-point details 

Instagram: Story-telling and visual graphics are the foundation blocks 

LinkedIn: Most frequently used to learn and hone skills from the professionals in the industry 

Step 5: Preparing the Content calendar 

Let’s face it! Brainstorming ideas and posting content online is grueling especially when you’ve got other work to tend to. It hampers your consistency, yields poor follower-count and low engagement. That’s why planning ahead can really help!

- Research about events and holidays happening in the upcoming month and picks the ones which are relevant to your business

- Determine the number and format (blog, single post, carousel, reel, video, etc.) of content you want to post in a week 

- Ideate on the theme and category of content 

- Pen down your captions and prepare the graphics 

- Select the dates on which the content will go live on your page 

- Schedule your posts using a schedule tool 

Step 6: Measure your progress 

In order to achieve significant results, you must track your performance and accordingly alter or improve your social media strategy. 

A few of the key metrics you should pay attention to:

- Increase in follower-count 

- Engagement rate 

- Volume of likes 

- Reach 

- Click-through 

- Conversions 

If you want to build a strong social media presence that actually brings you the results you want, then you’ve come to the right place!

UpfluencingYou will help nurture your vision by providing appropriate professional guidance in framing the perfect marketing strategy for your business. Contact us now!