The term “social media strategies” can sometimes create a fear of having no time or not fully understanding what it entails. I will be focusing on how I utilize Instagram, and touching hints of other social media outlets, sharing some tips and tricks.
My go-to social media outlet is Instagram. It is by far my favourite way to get the word out because it is so visual. An infamous statistic that marketers use is that the average number of advertisements and branding a person is exposed to is 5000. Everyone has become so visual when it comes to receiving and absorbing information that large texts steer people away. The most common questions I get are “how do you have time to do everything?”, “how do you take good pictures?”, and “how do you get so many followers without having a business?”. There are 5 things that I take into consideration when it comes to posting on Instagram.
FIRST IMPRESSION
The key is how do YOU want people to see your brand as? How will your brand be recognizable so that when people are scrolling through their feed, they will immediately know it’s a post by you without looking at who posted it? When I browse other accounts, I follow ones that have a positive, confident branding. When I scroll through my feed, and I see a specific photo of a business, I can recognize who it’s from. A great example of a local business Instagram profile is of Bravado Gift Box. The ladies behind this brand use consistent methods of editing their photos, style of photography, and elements within the photos.
ENGAGEMENT
The pictures tell a lot about who’s behind the business and whether or not they are able to create a brand image through social media. Sure, some businesses may have followers but does it create the engagement and conversations? Cru Juice’s social media outlets have posts that stimulate their follower base to create conversations and sharing their posts to other users. This is why they are successful. In such a young city, if you are able to utilize these strategic methods of social media, you’re guaranteed to achieve more than others.
TIMING
There are so many things that can happen that can interfere with some events during the day. I remember some businesses scheduled tweets and Facebook posts during the time of the unfortunate events and all the conflict that happened during those days. It doesn’t provide a good representation of the branding. The only times I have scheduled posts is for themed posts like Christmas Day, Valentines Day, etc. Those are the days where it is easy to cater to those special events. I enjoy the authenticity of “insta”. It’s the best way to be real and true to the audience. When is best suited? Take into consideration of the city that you are in and the demographics you are targeting. There are strategies that I provide to businesses that are specifically catered to the time frames that certain posts should be published based on what generates the greatest traffic. Play around posting in the early morning around 7-9am, around 12-2pm and 4-6pm. You will begin to recognize when the most posts are made and when they interact the most.
FREQUENCY
One of my pet peeves is seeing an individual post more than three photos per day. Unless you are posting for a widely known brand where posting multiple images a day is necessary, this is telling your followers to unfollow you. Users like seeing a beautiful feed and seeing multiple posts by the same person gets redundant. It’s quite “in-your-face” whereas so by spreading out the posts to one a day or one every second day, it is a kind subtle reminder about you and your brand or business.
THEME/COLOUR PALETTE
When it comes to having an Instagram for a business, I am a lover of neutrals especially white backgrounds which give attention solely to the subject of the photo. For festive times of the year, being able to provide that focus is even more important. It is a representation of the target market, the senses they want to portray, as well as the kind of community and environment they want to offer. When there is a lot of clashing and inconsistency in colour, it doesn’t look as presentable and reputable.
For individuals for personal branding, it’s less focus on the colour palette chosen but more so about the theme. I am very particular about how the profile may look if I have opposite perspectives side by side. It showcases the individual personality which is ever so important when it comes to personal branding.
There is so much to how social media can be your best friend and companion for your goals and career. It is how you utilize it to the best of your ability or even ask someone (your girl right here!). This didn’t happen overnight or over a day of training, it takes practice and the more you learn from other people, you’ll develop skills of your own as well.
Connect with me!
IG: @xjennylee
Twitter: @jennymylee
With much love,
Jenny
A petite lady with multiple hats. I work in the tech and high-end retail industry while finishing up a degree in Human Resources, blogging by night and am a social media strategist for local businesses. I have increased startup businesses’ engagement and user/follower base by 80%. I have been lucky to have internships with some of the most innovative and reputable entrepreneurs in the startup world who provide much of the experiences that I am able to share with you all.