Have you ever spent ages making an amazing Instagram Reel only for it to get hardly any likes or views? Many marketers know the feeling.
With so many users—both individuals and businesses—competing for consumer attention on social media platforms, getting your audience to hear your message in the swelling sea of videos, photos, and stories can feel impossible.
Luckily, there’s a way to level up your Instagram marketing game and increase Instagram engagement. Here, we’ll walk you through our top tips for creating high-quality Instagram content that inspires action—whether that’s a like, a follow, or a website click.
Understanding the most important types of Instagram content
The beauty of Instagram is its versatility. It’s a wonderful place for digital marketers and creatives to unleash their ideas and think outside the box. Here’s a look at the main formats that will be important for your Instagram strategy.
Photos
Instagram homepages are an ongoing feed of images—both singular photos and carousels of multiple pictures and videos. To capture your audience’s attention, you’ll want to post high-quality photos that are visually enticing and thought-provoking.
This isn’t about pinning all your content creation hopes on one image. You’ll want to think about the big picture: your brand color palette and visual identity. When someone clicks on your Instagram page, your images should harmonize to tell a visually and narratively cohesive brand story.
Videos
Instagram videos are a powerful way to engage with your audience. Forbes research found that videos get more engagement than static images.
The best Instagram videos are often the shortest—between 10 and 30 seconds—and drop the viewer right in the action; they get to the key message quickly and leave the viewer wanting to explore more and click through to your page.
While it might be tempting to create long, information-rich videos, remember that we live in an attention economy. On Instagram, it’s all too easy for your viewers to swipe to the next video if they lose interest.
That said, longer videos can work well if you’ve got a devoted following interested in watching how-to-style videos or interviews.
Reels
With Instagram videos, you upload pre-created content to your profile. Reels, on the other hand, facilitate video recording and creation in-app, equipping you with a range of tools to capture photos and videos and edit them into engaging pieces of content.
The Instagram Reels feature is essentially Instagram’s response to its competitor, TikTok. Both formats focus on short-form content—which, in an attention economy, is critical for reaching your audience before they swipe up to the next video.
To make the most of Reels, we recommend embracing creativity. Don’t be afraid to use audio, effects, trending sounds, and popular hashtags to boost your Reels’ appeal.
At the same time, remember to stay true to your brand’s identity and values. While it can be tempting to jump on any and every trend to boost engagement, Deloitte research highlights that consumers value authenticity in the brands they buy from.
Stories
While Reels, photos, and videos live on your Instagram profile, Instagram Stories are temporary in nature. After 24 hours, they disappear from your Instagram feed, meaning your audience can only view them for a limited amount of time.
That makes Stories a great way to build a personal connection with your audience, share behind-the-scenes snippets into your life or business, and put a face to the people who run your brand’s Instagram.
Plus, the Instagram Stories feature is bursting with interactive tools that you can use to boost engagement, including polls, questions, and product links.
Our step-by-step guide on how to create great Instagram content
Now that you know about the major building blocks of Instagram, it’s time to put them to use. Here’s our tried-and-tested method for creating engaging content and skyrocketing your Instagram engagement.
Define your objective and audience
You can find almost anything on Instagram: hair products, cooking tips, bitcoin advice, and more.
To ensure your posts aren’t just drops of water in an ocean of web content, you’ll want to be clear on who you’re targeting and why. For example, if you sell men’s health products in the U.S., then you’ll want to build an audience that reflects that demographic.
As well as knowing your audience, it’s vital to understand what you’re trying to do with your marketing strategy. Whether you want to find new customers, boost brand awareness, build a community, or launch a new product, knowing what you want to achieve will give your efforts clarity and direction.
We want to stress, too, that posting organically on Instagram is very different from paying for targeted advertising.
With paid Instagram ads, you send your content directly to your target audience, and it appears in their feed as an ad. With organic content, you’re trying to naturally attract and appeal to your target audience with relevant, timely content.
Plan your content and aesthetic
Once you’ve got your overarching goal, it’s time to put your content plan in place. With Instagram’s scheduling tools, it’s easier than ever to schedule your content for the week ahead, saving you a lot of last-minute stress.
As you plan your content calendar, it’s wise to be conscious of your Instagram’s aesthetic. Consistency and eye-catching graphics are key. Mismatched colors, fonts, and messages convey unprofessionalism.
While your style should be consistent, the types of content you create should be diverse. Post a mixture of photos, Stories, Reels, and videos to keep your audience hooked and maximize engagement.
Create compelling captions
Sure, a picture tells a thousand words, but Instagram gives you the opportunity to write captions for a reason: they’re a chance to convey your brand’s personality and inspire your audience to take action.
“Shop our new Spring collection” isn’t quite as interesting or action-inspiring as something like, “Check out our stylish new Spring collection featuring formal, casual, and activewear!”
All great captions share a few common themes, which you can emulate for success:
- Start strong: Instagram cuts off captions on users’ feeds after about 25 words, so it’s wise to hook your reader quickly and stay short and snappy.
- Consider using emojis: Depending on your brand’s tone, using emojis can be a great way to humanize your organization and build affinity with your followers.
- Tell a story: Storytelling is a wonderful way to engage your audience; don’t just sell your product—focus on what matters to your audience. That’s what will compel them to learn more about your company.
- Ask questions: To boost post engagement, include questions in your captions and encourage your followers to leave comments.
- Include a call to action: If your post is about a new product, service, or blog article, give your followers a call to action, referencing the link in your bio.
Use hashtags strategically
Hashtags are a fantastic way to connect with new consumers. When you use one, anyone who searches for that topic has a chance of seeing your post, even if you have no mutual connections.
However, using too many hashtags can come across as robotic and spammy, which may put off Instagram users. With that in mind, take a strategic approach to hashtags: limit yourself to four per post, and really think about the kind of hashtag that makes sense for the caption.
You could even go so far as to create your own hashtag for your online community with your company’s tagline or campaign title. Nike, for example, often uses #JustDoIt on its Instagram posts—a phrase that’s synonymous with the brand.
Take a look at the hashtags your competitors use for inspiration. Search through Instagram for content similar to yours to see what hashtags are trending and what makes sense to apply to your brand.
Leverage user-generated content
According to Harvard University, consumers are far more likely to trust user-generated content (UGC) than brand posts. It’s easy to see why: when people see real-world users loving a product or service, they begin to trust the brand in question and are more likely to try it for themselves.
Not only is user-generated content powerful, but it’s also completely free, making it a must to add to your Instagram content strategy.
To get started with UGC, you could launch a social media giveaway: ask your followers to share their creative spin on your product, with prizes for your team’s favorite posts.
Work with Instagram influencers
A thoughtful influencer collaboration can dramatically boost traffic to your website and increase sales. Influencers are kind of like 90s magazines—they’re who younger generations look to for fashion, home, beauty, and general life tips.
Of course, influencer marketing costs money, so you’ll want to be careful about who you work with. Try to collaborate with someone who shares the same values as you, promotes products in your space (but not too many!), and has garnered credibility within their respective online community.
Schedule and publish on a regular basis
Another significant aspect of Instagram’s success is consistent posting. If you only post once a month, you won’t build a meaningful connection with your followers, and they may see your inactivity as a lack of care.
Post at least three images, videos, or Reels to your Instagram account per week and at least two Stories every day. That way, you’ll show your followers you’re dedicated to your account, which will help you gain traction over time.
To streamline content approvals and posting, you can schedule your posts with tools such as HootSuite, Buffer, or Instagram’s native scheduling feature.
But even when you schedule your content, remember to check your Instagram daily for comments and direct messages—staying active and responsive is crucial to creating a loyal following.
Think outside the box
A big aspect of hitting the Instagram sweet spot is artful experimentation. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box when it comes to content ideas.
Whether that’s hosting podcast-like episodes on Instagram Live, inviting an influencer to take over your account for the day, or putting your own unique spin on trending topics, the beauty of Instagram is that audiences welcome and appreciate creativity.
3 ways to start tracking your Instagram content performance
Of course, you should back all of your experiments with data. That’s how you learn what resonates with your followers and what doesn’t. Here’s how to start tracking your content performance on Instagram.
1. Engagement rates
Engagement rates give you an insight into how many people saw and engaged with your post—and they’re easy to find. Simply tap “view insights” on any post or Story, and you’ll see the reach and number of likes, comments, saves, and reposts you’ve received.
These metrics can help you see patterns and connections in the kinds of content that perform well with your audience. Over time, you’ll be able to refine your Instagram content strategy to deliver meaningful posts that consistently engage your audience.
2. Website clicks
Looking at engagement rates gives you a great idea of how your posts are performing, but what about your business? How can you check if your content is driving traffic to your website and boosting sales?
That’s where branded short links come in. With Bitly’s Instagram short URLs and Link-in-bio feature, it’s easy to create and share clickable, customized URLs that match your brand’s signature elements. And they fit perfectly in your space-limited Instagram bios!
Bitly’s links aren’t just user-friendly; they’re also powerful and data-driven. You’ll get access to an intuitive analytics page where you can track total views and clicks, devices, referrals, and geos driving the most traffic.
When you compare these insights to the content you’ve posted, you’ll get a firm idea of the types of posts that drive your audience to take action, which you can then repeat in the future.
3. Follower reach and growth
As well as gaining granular insights into what posts perform well, you should also analyze your follower reach and growth over time. This is one of the best ways to demonstrate the ROI of your organic content efforts.
The simplest way to check follower growth is to look at the number of new followers you accrue each month. But to check how engaged your followers are, you’ll need to do a little math.
Divide the total number of engagements on your account by your total number of followers. Then, multiply this number by 100 to get a percentage. Perform this calculation monthly to check your overall follower engagement.
Finally, it’s a good idea to regularly review your follower demographics: factors such as age, gender, location, and active hours. By understanding who your audience is and when they’re online, you can tailor your content and posting times to match their preferences, which can help boost engagement.
Unleash your strategic skills and creativity for great Instagram content
A great Instagram content strategy can work wonders for elevating website traffic and sales. Instead of taking a haphazard approach, be strategic: know your audience, post regularly in a variety of formats, and develop a growth mindset.
That means experimenting, learning what works and what doesn’t through analytics tools, and continually adapting your content to excite your audience and capture their attention.
Ready to supercharge your Instagram game? Use Bitly’s link management tools paired with our Analytics to gain a better understanding of traffic and sales from Instagram. Find your perfect Bitly plan today!