3 Instagram Posting Tips For Successful Marketing
Everyone and their mom uses Instagram now-a-days- posting that cute picture of their dog dressed as a ninja turtle for Halloween. Or showing the world their not-so-tasteful outfit while “out with the girls” for the weekend.
Have you noticed that when we Marketers, are enjoying our weekends off as regular people (not marketers, just normal, average, non-marketing people), like other people’s pictures all the time?
Why is that? Why don’t we think about marketing, or associate our friend’s and family’s social posting, with marketing?
BECAUSE REGULAR PEOPLE ARE POSTING REGULAR PEOPLE THINGS.
That’s why.
They post pictures of their ninja turtle dog! Post pictures with their friends, or pictures of the ridiculously expensive food that had last night, that they needed to brag about.
They are posting NORMAL STUFF.
They aren’t thinking beyond, “I want everyone to see how totes adorbs my ninja-dog is”.
So when we Marketers are posting for our clients, why do we need to post as if we are pushy spokesmen? Where did we get the idea that people care about our business hashtags, or the “inspiring” quote of the day.
NO ONE CARES!
So people skip it! They skip right on by that post you just spent 20 minutes robbing from the grave, because it doesn’t look appealing!
Which means they are skipping your content!
Which means NO engagement on your posts! Which means your audience is ignoring you!
So how do you fix that?
Here are 3 tips for Instagram posting, so you don’t continue to look like a buffoon:
1. REAL, RAW, REGULAR
Perhaps the most vital of all these tips.
Seriously, if you take anything away from this article today, please, let it be this…
As regular people, not marketers, we love seeing cats do silly things, pictures of our best friend’s vacation to Bora Bora.
Or even some guy dancing with a mannequin head on top of his own… Seriously why did that get so popular?
The point is, we normal people, love seeing REAL, RAW, and REGULAR content!
The 3 R’s- Remember those. I just made that up while I was writing this. So let’s go with it…
We are all normal people, so we want to see real, regular pictures and videos. Real posting. Real People.
No one wants to see a stock photo of a silhouette and a sunset.
Try getting some real, authentic content from your client! Post a selfie of the doctor in his operating room. Post a video of something hilarious that happened in the office today. Post a video of the staff making a fool of themselves.
RAW.
There’s no need to spice up your video and make it pretty with logos- it’s not always necessary.
Just slap that Raw video right on your Instagram story and let it work, work, work, work, work.
If your client is doing something, anything, real- GET THAT CONTENT GIRL. People want to see that the people behind this product or service is REAL.
We’re fun, we’re REAL, we’re raw, we’re regular, and we’re living baby!
2. Stop With The Hashtags…
I mean, no one uses hashtags anymore. The only ones who do, are businesses and marketers. Such as ourselves…
We need to stop forgetting that we’re regular people, not just Marketers.
When you make these big extraordinary plans to post 50 hashtags under a picture, did you stop to think “When’s the last time I, myself, looked something up by a hashtag?”
Never. The answer is never.
Just put away the hashtags because they are #lame….
If you feel the most ravaging itch, and you just absolutely have to use a hashtag on your Instagram post, or else? Just please, for all that is good and holy, post it in the comments. Not on the actual post…
Do the world a favor. Hide those ugly hashtags.
That way they are still there for your own desire, and can be found in the 1/1000 chance that someone looks up a hashtag. But now, it doesn’t make your social post look like a mess of hashtags that no one reads or cares about…
Does this is all sound too #salty?
3. SHORT, SWEET, AND SPACED
I cannot tell you how often I skip, or won’t even read a post, because it looks like the U.S. Constitution down there. Seriously. Like the Bill Of Rights down there.
shakes head No. keeps scrolling
Just a big ol’ paragraph of words. No spaces, no emojis. Just boring words!
Really, who wants to read that? No one wants to see your college admissions essay- put it away…
Here’s the reality- People don’t read anymore.
That’s why we have Siri and Alexa, to read to us, and even to type for us. And Audible, Youtube, Podcasts, and videos in general to read us content that we don’t actually want to, or have time to read.
So keep your posts SHORT AND SWEET, but very much to the point. Our challenge to you is to write a post that is no more than a few sentences. Then a symbol or emoji to create a space. Then give your post a purpose.
Like this post for example:
Oh look… our post includes all of the extremely important, don’t-you-dare-forget Tips from above!
It’s a REAL, RAW, AND REGULAR picture of the staff and patient after a procedure! Just a few sentences of SHORT SWEET CONTENT…. And no hashtags…
And most importantly- it USES SPACES…
Yes, I get it, Instagram can be frustrating in this way. You have to actually make a real effort to use emojis or symbols to create spaces in between paragraphs.
I hate putting extra effort into my client’s marketing, which in turn pays my bills… ugh so annoying right?
Thus- keep your posts RAW, REAL, AND REGULAR, while simultaneously keeping it SHORT, SWEET, AND SPACED OUT, without hashtags!
Don’t be that guy.
