9 Instagram post ideas to spice up your account
Managing an Instagram brand account isn’t easy. It’s an ongoing juggle of posting at the perfect time, engaging on the fly and coming up with new ideas to beat the algorithm. You don’t need to break what’s working for you, but if you’re needing a little extra inspiration to refresh your approach, it’s always a good idea to try out some new types of Instagram posts and Stories.
Below, we give you some fresh post ideas to try for your Instagram brand account. They cover the different types of content: in-feed, Stories, Live and IGTV. Some of these will be easy to implement while others will take some preplanning. The idea is to introduce new types of content to your account so your audience will keep up their active engagement.
Scan Blog Comments
(That’s the great thing about using comments from your blog: you already KNOW that your audience is going to love the content you put out there. They’re literally asking you to write about that exact topic.)
Competitor’s YouTube Channels
Ask your audience
If you would like open-ended replies, posting a question will be great. If you have a rough sense of what your audience might be interested in, you could create a poll and list a few options. For example, a while back, we created a Twitter poll to ask our followers what sort of content they would like to see more of from us.
Alternatively, you could email your blog subscribers and ask them what they would like to see from you. For example, at the end of 2017, we reached out to our blog subscribers with a survey. In the survey, we asked them what topics they enjoy the most and what topics they would like to see more from us.
Learn from your industry peers
It’ll be great to go beyond just your competitors. Are there other companies that you admire, which you can learn from? Maybe because they are in the same space but aren’t your direct competitor. Or perhaps their way of marketing resonates with you. For example, I often like to check out the social media profiles of HubSpot, MailChimp, and Airbnb.
On Facebook, you could use Pages to Watch. This feature allows you to quickly compare the performance of your Page with similar Pages. You can also click on any of the Pages and see their top posts for the week. For instance, here’s a recent top post from Shopify:
Here’s a point worth noting: while it’s great to learn from your favorite companies, you might not want to follow them exactly. This is because ultimately your brand is different from theirs and you would likely want to be unique with what you’re sharing on your social media profiles.
Electronic and print media ideas
14. Create a complete digital and physical experience (like Casper)
A little wit, a little comfort, and a LOT of great content.
You might think this is all about sleep, and their ultra-comfy mattresses. But you’d be wrong. This content is way more interesting and interactive than that.
“Created with the help of our friends at McSweeney’s, this 96 page, full-color volume features a love letter to comfort pants, confessions from your yoga instructor, a non-chronological history of snoring, a skeptic’s guide to crystals, introvert workouts, alternatives to counting sheep, and an adulting coloring book. Emotionally supported by Casper.”
15. Hint at a secret they can’t miss out on (like LinkedIn)
I want my baby back baby back baby back…content marketing saauucee.
16. Deepen understanding of a topic with a deep-dive ebook (like Moz)
Be prepared for these 10 biggest challenges in content marketing
1. Thinking outside the blog
The blog is probably one of the first thoughts when you hear the word content, and that’s not a bad thing. Blogs are awesome, but so are videos, podcasts, social media posts and tons of other content options. Don’t forget them.
2. Lack of resources
3. Battling quality over quantity
Take it from someone who’s been there –trying to stick to a regular posting schedule is dumb. There is lots of information about best posting times and days for different content, and there’s no doubt that this is helpful.But these tips are not from the Content Marketing Bible.
They are just best practices that might not always apply to everyone (including you).It’s better to have quality content that actually works even if it goes out irregularly than to force yourself to stick to a 3 times per week posting schedule no matter what. Don’t waste your effort or your time like that.
4. Competition never sleeps
Always be monitoring what your competition is creating. It could be inspirational, or it could be comforting to know that you are working on something that no one else has tried yet. Either way, stay up-to-date on content trends.
5. Harnessing the power of organic content effectively
Organic search is hugely helpful for content marketing, but only when people can actually organically find the content. Keywords will be your savior here, and programs like the Moz Keyword Explorer can be a great help.
6. Unrealistic expectations
This is a biggie. While you’re observing competitor content, you may be compelled to do a bunch of things that they are doing. But what if you don’t actually have the resources to do exactly what they’re doing. Easy.
7. Getting burned out
In a sea of repetitive content, how on EARTH are we expected to come up with new stuff ALL THE TIME? It’s hard, no doubt. But creating new content is not your only option. If your new idea brain is in need of a little R&R, consider repurposing or revamping previous content.
8. Providing legitimate value, not just fluff
It’s true, an article about the 10 funniest marketing memes would definitely be an entertaining read. And like I said before, there’s nothing wrong with some fun, engaging content.It just still needs to be relevant to your content strategy, and to your brand.
Our ActiveCampaign Campy content on social media is fun but still relevant to things our business does, such as opening a new office.Fluff is cute on a puppy, but less so in your content, if it doesn’t make a difference or provide value in some way.
9. Balancing creative instincts and SEO needs
10. Planning and tracking results
Resources:
https://sproutsocial.com/insights/instagram-post-ideas/
https://backlinko.com/find-content-ideas
https://buffer.com/resources/discover-content-ideas/
https://www.activecampaign.com/blog/content-marketing-ideas
