SHOULD YOU CREATE AN INSTAGRAM CONTENT PLAN TO GROW YOUR FOLLOWERS

Over the next couple of weeks, I will be discussing with you about how to grow your Instagram and the necessary steps to keep your following growing at all times. Sounds good right?! 

So many people jump head first on social media, especially Instagram without taking the time to actually research and understand each step that is needed to make sure they are successful on the Instagram platform. 

Instagram is a great a very popular social media tool and has been named the fastest growing social network. You want to make sure that your business is getting the most out of what Instagram has to offer. One way to establish this is knowing who you’re talking to and how to grab their attention.

Knowing that Instagram is the fastest growing social media network, then you most know that you are completing with thousands to get your business to stand out. That’s where this post will help you. I’m going to show you how to create a banging content plan for Instagram, which is the step that most people miss but very important. 

I've even got a free workbook for you, that will assist you with creating content and guide you through this post that you can download and print out. Sound good?

Download your workbook here:

Okay, let’s do this! *fist bump*

STEP 1: WHAT ARE YOU SELLING?

Just like a business plan, your content plan is a very important part of growing your audience on Instagram. One of the first steps that people tend to overlook on Instagram and especially in their business is identifying their ideal audience. But why do you really want to do that? What advantage would you have?

Related: 15 myths about Instagram that are totally wrong

When you identify your ideal audience, it makes it easier for you to create content and easier for your audience to find you. I think that’s what you call a classic win-win situation. 

1. What are you selling

First think about what you are selling. You really want to understand your product or services before creating content. Briefly explain your product or service.

2. Identify goals of your ICA

Now think about why you created it? What advantage does it have over your competition? Why would someone want your product or services?

STEP 2: WHO WANTS THIS PRODUCT

Your business won’t be for everyone and it shouldn’t be. Your services or products should only focus on one particular market. Now this isn’t to say other’s won’t purchase what you have to offer but you want to make sure that you are attracting the right people. 

Related: 19 steps how to become a successful first-time entrepreneur

Answering these questions

1. How old is your ideal customer? (Age)

Determine which age range your ideal customer falls in. Reframe from placing a 20 or 30 year age range in this category as a20 year-old won’t be attracted to the same thing as a 50-year old would. 

2. Gender

Pretty self-explanatory when it comes to create your ideal customer. Who will benefit most from your business, males or females?

3. Occupation

Is your customer unemployed or do they work 50-60 hours a week? Understanding what they do in their everyday lives is great to determining relatable content and good times to post. 

4. Hobbies

Identifying your ideal customer’s hobbies is a good way to relate to them when it comes to posting your content on Instagram or any social media platform. Think about what they would most likely like to do and use that to your advantage. 

5.Lifestyle

This is a very important factor when identifying your ideal customer. What do you think their lifestyle is like? Is your ideal customer a stay-at-home mother? Then you may guess her life is chaotic and juggling her home, fitness, children, husband, and other personal needs.

6. Martial Status

Though there’s actually no way of knowing if your audience is single, married, or divorced, it’s still important to identify this aspect of their lives. By knowing this information, it will be easier for you to create content based off of pain points. 

7. Interest

Again, you may have no idea what they like but what do you think they would like? Remember this is your ideal customer based on your services or products.

Are you selling fitness products? Then you may can guess your ideal customer loves running, watching health eating programs, or learning about the newest gadget that keeps track of your steps.

STEP 3: RESEARCH YOUR COMPETITION

Unless you just invented a new product or service that will take the world by storm, then most likely you will have competition. It’s important for you to research your completion to see what they are doing currently. 

1. Identify their strengths 

Determine what’s working for them and how you can incorporate some of that aspect in your content. This should be a good inspiration for your own unique content. 

Understand that incorporating some ideas that are working for your competition is not a free pass for your copy their work. Copycats are frowned upon and your followers will identify you as unoriginal. You don’t want that.

Sometimes it can get a bit discouraging when you are researching your competition and you notice how far behind you are in comparison. Know that your competition had to start someone and was once in your position.

Being consist and creating a plan for your success will get you to where you want to be in no time. This content creator will assist you with getting there even faster so stay focused and getting going. 

2. Identify their weakness

I love this aspect of researching my competition. Though I get inspiration for a ton of accounts, I also get to identify what they are lacking and incorporate it into my own content. It’s a great way to set yourself apart from those in your industry. 

STEP 4: IDENTIFY YOUR CONTENT

1. How will you monetize your business

It’s great that you have a product or service to sell but just simply selling that one services (i.e. copywriting) or product (i.e. mugs with quotes) won’t completely be enough.

Related: The key to attracting your dream client with copy

You need to determine additional methods to make income for your business. It has been said that most millionaires have 7 streams of income. Though starting out, 7 may or may not be too many to juggle, adding different streams is a must to sustain. 

Write out 2-3 additional methods of income to add to your business.

Now that you have completed this entire content plan, take all the information you have gathered and create your content based off of this. Each post you have should relate to what you have identified above.

You should have a good idea of when to post based on your ideal audience occupation and what to post based on their lifestyle and hobbies.

For example, you wouldn’t post an image of a 60 minute daily bootcamp with a stay-at-home mother as an ideal customer at 12 AM. That doesn’t fit your target. If your selling fitness, then post things that can be incorporated in their lives that are quick and easy. 

Okay, now you’re on your own, my friend. By doing this, I know that you will be on your way to attracting your ideal followers and transition them into customers in no time. 

If you’re still super eager to learn how to grow your Instagram following then I’ve got something MAJOR coming for you in a couple of weeks. Make sure you sign up for the free Instagram Content Planner so that you are notified when the details are released. 

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ALREADY IDENTIFIED YOUR IDEAL CUSTOMER, THEN WHAT ARE YOU STRUGGLING WITH ON INSTAGRAM? LET ME KNOW IN THE COMMENTS BELOW. 

15 MYTHS ABOUT INSTAGRAM THAT ARE TOTALLY WRONG

With over 500 million users, there's no need to ask why you should use Instagram AND if this is where you target market hangs out then you absolutely should be there. 

1. INSTAGRAM IS NOT REALLY FOR BUSINESS

Shockingly enough, I have heard this from several of my clients. Some people believe that Instagram is just for selfies or high school students but the truth is Instagram is a great tool for marketing. There are a lot of new features on Instagram that can help you grow your business including Instagram ads.

Find a great image that you know your target audience will love and presto you have added someone to your list that will possibly be a customer.

Related: 19 steps to be a successful entrepreneur

2. INSTAGRAM ONLY WORKS WITH PRODUCT BASED BUSINESSES

Not at all. Instagram is a great place for service based businesses. I offer coaching and consultation services on my account and after the first month, I had booked myself full for the following month. 

The great thing about Instagram is that you can get creative with your post. If you have a service based business, think about posting things such as testimonials, freebies, blog posts, show analytics, show yourself with a client or at an event. If you need a bit of inspiration feel free to grab my Instagram Content Calendar.

3. INSTAGRAM TAKES A LOT OF TIME

This is a huge myth I hear from clients. The myth is that Instagram takes a lot of time to create content and post it. People think it takes years to get followers or that you have to sit on Instagram all day to gain followers.

That is totally untrue. There are scheduling apps that will keep yourself on track. Think of it as a set it and forget it type of thing. 

• Buffer
• Hootsuite
• Later
• ScheduGram
• Onlypult

These applications can’t post it for you but they can remind you when and what to post. Simply load up your content for the week and it will alert you when it’s time to post. Voila!

4. YOU NEED PROFESSIONAL PHOTOS TO GAIN FOLLOWERS

Wrong again. You don’t need to pay a professional hundreds of dollars to take your shots for you. You don’t even need to invest in that expense camera that you see on those flatlays. All you need is a phone and a app. You can take your own shots and edit them to look professional. Here are a few that i have used. 

• PicTapGo
• FaceTune
• ColorStory 

In this picture I used PicTapGo. It was really easy to use and make it look very professional. I did this with my iPhone in under 10 minutes. That’s hundreds of bucks saved. Score!

5. IT WILL TAKE YEARS TO GROW MY FOLLOWING

I use to think that it would take years to grow my following and those accounts with thousands of followers clearly have been on Instagram way longer than I had. In most cases, it is true that accounts have been on longer but it doesn’t mean your following can’t grow. 

When I first started, I thought it was simple to log onto Instagram and just start posting. I did not think about using keywords that my audience by search for. Review your bio and identify words you can change to attract your ideal audience.

Once I made the necessary edits to my bio and some other first steps that I obviously overlooked, my following begin to grow daily and I tripled my following all from a few tricks.

6. YOU HAVE TO FOLLOW PEOPLE TO GET FOLLOWERS

You don’t have to follow other people to get followers. That is truly a myth. I do agree that you should be active and follow accounts that appeal to you but simply following people so that they follow you back is not a guaranteed way to get people to follow you back. 

Your content, engagement, and visuals are important to getting followers. Before you post ask yourself, am I saying something that my followers want to hear? How is this beneficial to my followers? What do they need? Knowing your audience is key to being successful on Instagram.

7. I DON’T NEED A STRATEGY FOR INSTAGRAM

With marketing there is always a strategy needed. Just like traveling to a destination, you need a plan to know where you want to go and how you're going to get there. Think about how you will engage your audience and keep your business appealing. Caitlin Bacher (on the left) and Violet Tinder (on the right) both do a great job with their Instagram strategies. 

Find something that will make you stick out like a sore thumb. Play around with a few ideas. Try a few A/B test to see which works best and how you can optimize the time you have with your followers. 

8. ONCE YOU POST, YOU’RE DONE

Don’t be a post and run type of person. If you’re an introvert or anti-social, this totally shines the light on that characteristic. The entire point of social media is to be social.

Once you post, stick around for awhile. Leave meaningful comments on accounts that intrigue you and on accounts that follow you to show them support. Engagement is key to transiting followers into customers. Instagram has an average of 11% engagement rate so be sure to monitor your engagement and reach or exceed this mark.

9. YOU CANT MEASURE YOUR RESULTS ON INSTAGRAM

Totally untrue. There are several ways for you to track your progress which is very important with any business. There are different programs that track your success and notify you of your best or most liked post, your engagement rate, the best times to post, and even the amount of followers you have gained, lost, and your growth. Here are few option to get you started:

• Iconosquare
• Crowdfire
• Websta

Recently, Instagram rolled out a lot of new features including the new business feature. By linking your Facebook account to your Instagram account, you can analyze data such as how many people seen your post, the number of times your link has been click, and where most of your followers reside. 

10. I DON’T TAKE SELFIES. INSTAGRAM IS NOT FOR ME

You don’t have to take selfies on Instagram. In fact, there are multiple business accounts that rarely show their face. It’s not just product based companies but companies that offer services as well. You can be a coach and use this platform to teach lessons on coaching or you can be a graphic designer and only display your work. You can also use stock photos to in the place of yourself to give your followers that personal connection.

You can get creative with this and come up with your own ideas about how you would like your visuals and what message you want to send to your audience. 

11. YOU CAN’T GET LEADS FROM INSTAGRAM

Instagram is a great platform for getting leads for your business but some businesses go about this the wrong way. It’s very important that you utilize all that Instagram has to offer.

One way that brings in a ton of leads is by using your website link. You can edit this in your profile and change it as many times as you need. I recommend switching the link a few times out of the month to keep your material fresh and engaging to your audience. 

Another way is using your hashtags. This is an important step that people tend to overlook. Know the difference between a great hashtag and a not so good hashtags. Once I did my research, my hashtags put my account in front of my target audience and my numbers started to grow tremendously.

Using hashtags has been gotten me to as the top posts even with millions of people using the post. That alone increases my visibility to my ideal audience. Can I get a woot woot?!

12. MY POSTS WILL RELATE TO EVERYONE

As a business, you’re post should not relate to everyone. Your post should relate to your business and the products or services that you are selling.

Therefore your post wouldn’t and shouldn’t relate to everyone with the exception of a quote. Remember as a business you want to attract those that are interested in you and what you’re selling. This is the simplest yet most effective way to turn your followers into customers.

Related: What is a niche and do I really need one

13. I ONLY NEED TO POST ONCE A WEEK

This is a big myth for those on Instagram. Posting once a week will not grow your audience. In fact, you may lose followers for not being active enough. I have seen a big leap in my account when I started posting multiple times a day. This not only puts you in the forefront of your audience mind but it make your account appear relevant. No one want to follow you if you don’t keep your account up-to-date. 

Also you gain more followers when you post throughout the day. Your post will attract different sets of people. There are morning and evening people that you may attract that work the typical 9-5 or you may attract college students that aren’t up until noon and are more active at night. 

Think about your target market and post based on their schedule

14. USING AN AUTOMATED SYSTEM FOR COMMENTS WILL GROW MY FOLLOWING

WRONG! This is the quickest way to get your account unfollowed. Bots will commit what you tell it to commit. The catch here is that you can’t change the comment based off of each post. You have to select the comments you would like to post based on the hashtags you tell it to like.

Because people use random hashtags on their posts, a bot can leave a smiley face on a sad picture or say something really random like "great shot" on a quote. It totally doesn’t go with the post and shows that it's not really you. Not only does this make you appear creepy but just plain desperate. 

15. IF I POST A LOT OF PICTURES, I WILL GET A LOT OF ENGAGEMENT

If you are any kind of familiar with Instagram, you know about this myth. These are the accounts that post 5-10 photos back to back. Often known as dumping, posting a lot of pictures at once is not a good way to get engagement or followers.

Flooding someone's timeline is actually a great way to get someone to unfollow you. This method can make you and business come across desperate. Remember, as a business you want to have a plan for your content and use your analytics to guide you. Quality over quantity.  

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HAVE YOU HEARD THESE MYTHS BEFORE? IF SO, DID YOU BELIEVE THEM AT ONE TIME? ARE YOU USING THESE STRATEGIES BUT NOT SEEING ANY RESULTS? LET ME KNOW IN THE COMMENTS.

HOW TO TAKE YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA FROM LAME TO FAME

Social media is a touch cookie to crumb but you have to master it to get that credibility you deserve. 

Some businesses get confused and think that it’s a simple as posting once on Twitter and again on Facebook and that’s the end of social media marketing. 

NOPE!

That’s not quite what you need to get your business rolling. If this sounds like you or you feel that your social media account is lame, follow these to steps to change that lame to fame. 

ENGAGE WITH YOUR FOLLOWERS

The entire reason you are on social media is to connect and engage with potential or current customers.

You’re customers like to be heard and related to so your job is to make this happen. You must create that feeling of trust and reliability with your customers. 

When I first was on social media, I did not make responding to my followers a priority but as soon as I did, I immediately noticed an influx in followers. 

TAKE ACTION:

-Responded to comments on all post as soon as you have time

-Create more post with CTAs (call to actions) 

-Post quotes that your followers will relate to encourage conversation 

TRACK AND ANALYZE DATA

I can’t stress enough how important this is for your business. If you don’t know how to track this information, please, please, please hire a freelancer to track this information for you. 

I started out not tracking this type of information because I actually had no idea what I was doing. Little did I know, I was doing myself a disservice. 

Tracking your data will let you know what you’re doing right and what you’re doing wrong. That’s really important because otherwise you will continue to repeat bad habits that will hinder your business’s growth. 

TAKE ACTION:

-Use Simply Measured to track all analysis of your social media

-If you don’t want to do it, fire someone from Upwork, PeoplePerHour, or Freelancer

LISTEN TO YOUR AUDIENCE

Like I have stated before, the entire reason you’re on social media is to connect with your potential customers. When you’re engaging to build your rapport with your audience, listen to what they like or what they want. 

You can post a questions directing asking what they want or you can take data from previous posts. Either way, your goal is to make sure your customer is happy. 

You have to remember that it’s not about you, its’ about your customers. Yes, you may despise unicorns and bows but if that’s what your potential customers are in to then you must reflect that. 

TAKE ACTION:

-Post a question for your followers to answer about what they want (i.e. “What do you wish you could change?”)

HAVE A PURPOSE

I know that you have heard that your passion is your purpose so think about it? Why did you start this business? Was it for the love of helping others? If so, make your service or product to relate to your purpose through social media. 

This will give your customers a greater sense of why you do what you do and love your business even more. 

TAKE ACTION:

-Remember why you started this business

-Show that reason in your images on social media

STAY ON BRAND

Yoooo, so many people do not do this. I have seen countless Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter account that are not on brand. 

What does the mean to stay on brand?

I’m glad you asked because this one simple question will make or break your business. So let’s say for example, you have a bakery shop as your business and you advertise cupcakes as your speciality. 

A way for you to be “off brand” is by posting things on your social media account such as the latest presidential race, a new car you are thinking about purchasing, or you on a date with your significant other. 

I know that these are things you might want to share with people but your business account is not the place. If you are marketing your bakery and cupcakes, then you need to stick with just that. All things bakery. 

TAKE ACTION:

-Pick a color scheme (3-4 colors) to help you stay consistent with your post