Since its inception, the world of internet marketing has been a creature that refuses to be tamed. The landscape of trends, strategies and tactics on the internet requires businesses to be incredibly agile and responsive to the different services that websites and platforms can offer them.
By 2023, any smart company with an open eye to the latest trends will have noticed the vast amount of potential customers that can be gained by interacting with social media platforms. In recent years, this has especially been the case with Instagram.
Businesses are now using Instagram to promote the stories and messages they want 800 million potential customers to receive. That said, to be competitive in your customer reach, your Instagram must be valuable and differentiated to your future consumers.
Content has always been the most valuable aspect of a successful Instagram page, and improving it will increase your audience’s engagement with your page.
Here are 3 tips we’ve collected that you can try now to put your professional Instagram in the spotlight.
Buy better equipment
As a business moving into Instagram, you’ll be keenly aware that you’re not just competing with your competitors for space on your audience’s feeds – you’re also competing with their friends. It can therefore be important to improve the equipment you use to take your photos so that your audience can get truly high-quality images.
If you have been using your iPhone to take photos or an old digital camera until now, I recommend you ditch that right away and invest in a good quality DSLR. Every user on the platform has access to the same bad cameras. Therefore, every photo you take with it will have that familiar flat, grainy and low quality feel. iPhone cameras simply don’t have the pixel density to give your photos a professional look. Your Instagram is a visual expression of your brand. It might be time to step up your photo shooting game and get some decent gear.
It’s easy to sit here and imagine spending $100 on a new camera, probably wondering whether your business will benefit from such an investment. However, there are other options that can give you access to great cameras. Rental companies are often a good choice, but to really save money it may be worth checking out peer-to-peer rental platforms like Fat llama, which lets you borrow great gear from local professionals and hobbyists. The range of cameras And lenses on the site is huge, and you can really play with the kit to find out what’s right for you – the sky’s the limit (literally in the case of rent a drone!). Check it out today to boost your social media marketing.
Be super selective
You may be tempted to upload as much as possible to your Instagram feed. The reasoning is logical: more content means more involvement. It may come as a surprise to you to know that the opposite is the case.
Now, of course, I’m not suggesting that no content is better than high-frequency content. What I’m suggesting is that if you find yourself uploading content two or three times a day, your posts will bore your audience very quickly, and before they are turned off by your content. It’s simple psychology: the less there is of something, the more they want it.
So you don’t have to worry about always being at the forefront of your customers’ feeds. What you really want is for people to view, like, and share your content, because that’s the heart of marketing, right? Get people involved and talking about your product.
With professional artists in mind, don’t get attached to your work and make sure you only deliver the best of the best.
Do you know that writing better captions will increase engagement with your followers? You can create Instagram polls to collect feedback and information from your audience.
Edit like a boss
Instagram filters are good for many users, but not for you. I mentioned earlier that you’re competing against both your business competitors and your target audience’s peers, and it’s important to brand yourself as a channel that produces professional, high-quality content. Avoid Instagram filters like the plague.
The logic here holds: if everyone can use filters, then using them doesn’t make you special. In fact, it’s the opposite. You may have invested in good gear and become more selective with your content, but if you’re still using the off-the-shelf filters on Instagram, you’re probably throwing all that hard work out the window. Instead, try learning a little editing with professional software like Adobe Photoshop or its free counterpart, Gimp. Photoshop not only allows you to create great filters for your photos, but you can also use it to remove unnecessary objects from your photos, making them look more professional and aesthetic.
The difference you make to your photos this way will be extraordinary if you give it a professional, tailor-made touch. Plus, it’s a new skill you’ve learned that’s transferable to much more than just the world of Instagram. Graphic editing is a skill that is becoming increasingly important these days because it is very accessible and, if done right, it really gets any presentation, marketing or advertorial material to its intended audience.
If you don’t have the team to learn every little detail of these programs, there are plenty of presets available that can make your editing life easier. The bottom line is that it will always be much better than making your image black and white and a little blurry on Instagram.
Overall, pay attention to your competition and gain an edge over them by improving your Instagram feeds today.