Do you get excited about the future of your business and the possibilities that still await you and how you want to make an impact? It’s hard not to! I feel that sizzle of curiosity all the time, and I know how much you want to see your business succeed. That success will come as long as you have a strong vision for not just your business but your brand, too. The way your business shows up and creates a connection to your audience online isn’t through your offers, but through the voice, emotions, and visuals of your business. Do you feel confident about your brand image?
Instagram is a vital place for your brand’s image to come to life for your audience. Engagement there goes far beyond numbers — this is where you build credibility and community. You have the chance to get to know what your audience really wants to see from you. It’s a no-risk testing ground for new ideas, evolutions of your offers or services, and customer feedback.
So, is your brand getting the engagement and connection on Instagram that you’re looking for? If you’re not at 100% yes, then maybe it’s time to refine your strategy. I have a few easy ways for you to take a step back from the app, regroup, and realign your brand with your audience so that you see real growth and meaningful results again. Don’t worry, it’s not a heavy lift! It’s a handful of powerful, actionable tips I wish I had known when I was building my brand on social media.
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Define Your Brand’s Purpose and Values
Posting on Instagram can often feel like it’s a simple task that’s easy to overthink, right? The overthinking part can be skipped when you know your ‘why’. Why is your brand showing up on Instagram? In what ways do you want to serve and engage with your audience? How do you want your audience to feel when they scroll across your posts? Get clear with how you want your brand to be perceived and what value you want to provide through your content.
While I sell courses, that’s not the only focus I carry into my content creation because it’s not the core message of my brand. When I focus on how I want to serve, selling my courses can weave itself into my content when necessary. I go into every post knowing what its purpose is, whether it’s connection, conversion, or community building. I make sure my content isn’t meaningless to my audience and feels like it carries the depth of my brand with it, even if it’s a lighthearted post or offering seats to a free masterclass! The offers change and the posts may evolve, but my ‘why’ drives them all.
Show Up Authentically, Always
The pressure to create the ‘perfect’ post every single time gets to all of us. In fact, it’s likely what drives you to that overthinking it, leading to throwing up a post that doesn’t have a clear call to action, giving you basically none of the results you were hoping for. Instead, let authenticity lead. I know its a buzz word that you might’ve started to feel like it’s lost all meaning, but it’s a powerful refocusing word for your brand. Come back to who you are and who your brand is. Where can the real stuff begin to leak in to your content?
When you batchwork your content (or create it on the fly), find ways to tie in your real stories, flaws and all, to begin to build that all-too-important trust with your audience. They don’t solely care about the value of your offers; they care about feeling like your offer is the best one for them. They want to feel like you’ve created these offers with them in mind! Your audience want to be a part of something bigger than themselves, belonging to something better than their ‘usual’, and feel like you’re a brand that sees them back.
I like to make sure my audience knows who I really am. I emphasize vulnerability and human connection, not a polished, unreachable image, and love reminding my audience that I am so aware that they’re individual humans with their own beautiful, complicated stories. And I LOVE hearing from them! So I ask, “What is on your heart? What are you pondering? What are you learning these days?” If you need somewhere to begin in deciphering how to begin showing up with authenticity, ask yourself those same questions. Let the answers start to shape your content so that your audience can start to see and feel your brand coming through the cracks of the algorithm. Trust me, your content will start to show up in more feeds the more you start to show up in your content.
Consistency Is Key—But Don’t Stress Perfection
You’ve likely heard how important consistency is when showing up online, but this isn’t a cutthroat game of perfect attendance. Consider a posting schedule that is actually feasible for you. A rhythm that works with your current workflow is more likely to happen than one that is lofty and unreachable. It’ll be too hard and you’ll crash fast, meaning you might slip away from the app for too long from the burnout of expectation.
Little steps over time can lead to big results. I heard the analogy recently that if you work out once time, you don’t see the results. But when you workout consistently, you give your muscles more opportunities to grow, your mind begins to enjoy (and crave) the habit, and you see results. It’s similar to social media. You can’t show up once and expect results!
The more you develop the muscles for posting through the lens of your brand, keeping that clear ‘why’ in mind with every post, it’ll get easier to show up without overthinking every single step of the way. The more confident and comfortable you get with showing up consistently, the quicker you’ll evolve your strategy as the app changes. Instead of getting overwhelmed at every turn of the algorithm, you’ll only have to make slight pivots to what you already know how to do so well.
Build Community, Not Just a Following
Take another second to think about what consistency really means to you. Your strategy for content creation can mean that you’re planning out how often you show up… and also the ways in which you show up! All that consistency can lead to a community. I want my audience to feel connected to me and to each other. Think about how your posts can feel like internet meeting rooms for your audience. It’s in your comments that your audience can have the opportunity to meet each other! Give people a chance to say, “OMG, me too!”
Make it a habit to engage with your audience in an honest, real-to-you way. Prioritize building meaningful, two-way connections instead of chasing vanity metrics. Throw out the canned responses wherever you can (but I get needing to save time and energy where possible!) and move past the simple heart-tapping reply wherever you can. Give your audience every opportunity to chime in, connect, and feel heard. They’ll begin to see that this isn’t just about posts worth liking or saving. They’ll want to share their voice in the crowd because it’s their crowd where they can belong!
Use Instagram as a Tool, Not Your Entire Brand
Your Instagram presence should be a reflection of your brand, but it’s not the whole picture. I’ve watched far too many businesses put all their eggs in the Instagram basket, but it should instead be one part of a larger, connected strategy. The goal cannot solely be to build your business on Instagram (or even the large network of social media.) The goal is actually to build connections, and serve, so you can get your audience OFF Instagram! That’s because social media is like a rental home. You can live there for a moment, but it won’t be forever. I’ve seen huge accounts get hacked and have to start all over.
What you really want is for your audience to become paying customers and long-term fans. You want them to go where your offers live: your website (or separate platform from socials). Also, you’ll want to drive them to your email list (i.e. a space you own vs rent.) On an email list, you can serve and sell without an algorithm telling you who gets to hear from you. So, Instagram is the connecting point, but make sure you know the connection doesn’t stop there. Create seamless pathways into your sales funnel!
Related: This ONE Strategy Earned Me An Extra 1 Million Dollars Last Year
Drive Value Through Every Piece of Content You Share
The ultimate focus for every single piece of content you share could be boiled down to one word: value. Every post, no matter the topic, can indeed deliver value to your reader! Whether you’re teaching, relating, advising, comforting, sharing an offer or resource you love, introducing them to a person they should get to know, asking for insight, or giving them a chance to connect to each other, this is the top priority. Without real value, your content is worth scrolling past in the vast sea of posts in their feed. The more they scroll past, the less they’ll see you. And soon you’ll be fighting to get any of your followers to see the value to you do post!
Remember this: We don’t want to just add to the noise. It’s not about yelling louder than everyone else. You’re whispering value to the people who need to hear your voice, and when you speak through the why of your brand, they will hear you.
Posting to Instagram doesn’t have to feel like a headache-inducing mystery for you (but I know how hard that can be to believe.) The shifting algorithm and feeling like every post is a shot in the dark can be draining on the creative soul. You want your business to be successful, impactful, and meaningful to even a small but mighty audience! This is your chance to zoom out a little and restructure (and perhaps simplify!) your approach. When you’ve got a brand-focused plan without all the comparison, pressure to post perfectly, and overthinking your content, you’ll see the results you’ve been hoping for!
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