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7 Ways To Create Instagram Success For Your Business

content creation tips digital marketing agency instagram optimization instagram reels social media content Jun 24, 2022

A common theme seems to be emerging, and it's that business owners are finding it harder and harder to grow on Instagram.  It makes sense, with so many businesses being started, and people vying for attention, it's made Instagram, and all social media platforms for that matter, crowded spaces.

Today, we want to share with you the 7 steps that we take on Instagram every single day, in hopes that it will help you start reaching more of your targeted audience, and relieve some of the stress that comes with running a business on Instagram.

The first thing we do is make sure that we post every single day.  If you look back through our feed, you will see that since day 1, we've posted every single day.  I get really confused when I see other Instagram "experts" saying that you don't need to post every day and that it's actually a bad thing.

Because I'm here to tell you: the person that shows up every day for their audience is the person that's selling the product or service.  There's simply too much competition in every niche for you to post, then take a week off, then post again, then skip two days.  Consistency will always win in the end, I can promise you that.

The second thing that we do is answer all our comments . . . every single one.  I can't tell you how frustrating it is for someone to DM us asking how they can get more engagement, only to go to their page and see that they don't answer any of their comments.

That's like someone texting you, then you never texting them back . . . it's annoying, and after a while, don't be surprised if those people STOP commenting.  If you want your audience to continually show up for you, then you need to continually be showing up for them.

The third thing we make sure to do every day is to answer all of our DM's.  I don't know why people make it such a big deal like it's a difficult thing to answer DM's.  These are people that want to build a relationship with you, get a question answered, or inquire about a product or service that you offer.

These are warm/hot leads, and ignoring them is the LAST thing you want to do.  If you find this to be something you forget, make it one of the first things you do each day, that way you get it off your plate as soon as possible.

The fourth thing we do is that we support our friends.  We don't like calling it engagement because that makes it sound like a chore or a job we have to do.  Personally, I feel like too many people "engage" with other people in hopes of getting something in return.

That's not what it's there for!  It's meant to be used to support people who are your friends, who you look up to, or people you'd like to collaborate with.  Stop looking at it like a chore, and if you are, then maybe you need to rethink who you're spending time "engaging" with.

The fifth thing we always do is post stories.  We like to use stories for two main things: first, giving people an inside look into our life.  People really love seeing us out and about living our life, so we make sure to always show some of that.  The second thing we use stories for is talking about our products and services.  Honestly, no one likes selling posts on feeds, let's just be real, and the more we see them, the less we like them.

This is why it's hard for me to understand why people do so much selling in their feed???  A much better solution is to provide massive value in your posts/reels, then follow it up with a little teaching and selling in your stories.  That way, they disappear after 24 hours and you're not left with a bunch of selling posts on your feed.

The sixth thing we make sure to do is to make a couple of new friends every day, and Instagram has now made that easy with "suggested posts."  Now you can simply scroll down your feed and Instagram will suggest people for you to connect with based on who you're following and the content you've engaged with in the past.

This makes finding new friends really easy because you can't simply expect people to always come to you . . . you have to meet them halfway.  By making new friends, you're allowing your network to expand and increase the number of people you know, the collaborations you can do, etc.

Don't sleep on connecting with new people every day!

The last thing we do is to make sure we're updating our highlights every week.  Nothing is more frustrating than going to someone's highlights and seeing that the last ones they did were 89 weeks ago . . . that's not going to entice people to spend time in your highlights.

Even if it's taking them down and re-uploading them, you need to make sure that you take out older highlights (more than 3 months old) and are replacing them with new ones . . . and making sure to let your audience know as well.  The more time people spend on your profile, the better it is for your overall reach and engagement.

I hope these 7 tips help you start to curate a plan for your Instagram that takes the stress and hassle out of it and allows you to start having fun with Instagram again because you now have a plan!  If you have any follow up questions, you can always reach out to us on Instagram @michaelandjill