Instagram for Business: How to Nail Your Publishing Strategy

When you’re ready to optimize your social media content strategy, a publishing schedule can be a powerful tool. Here are our 5 tidbits on how to master your Instagram business account.

Let’s get down to the facts: to run a successful social media account, you basically need someone behind the wheel 24/7. Real talk… what business has time for that? Last month we introduced you to 5 Tips for increasing Instagram Engagement– which included developing a publishing schedule. In this post, we dig a little deeper and explain the do’s and don’ts of planning everything in advance.

1. Map out where your audience is and how you’re going to catch their eye.

There’s no point in perfecting your social media strategy if you don’t know who you’re trying to reach or where they are. Define your objective and remember that engagement is key. Do a little research on what your target audience is interested in and likes. Some types of social media do better than others (images, videos, text, graphics, links), so make sure to test out a couple to see which ones performs the best.

2. Pick a scheduling tool that fits your needs. 

No matter what your budget is, there’s a social calendar platform that’s designed for you (including FREE ones). Here at theFUZE, we use Hubspot… and it’s an absolute life saver. However, if your budget doesn’t allow for a monthly fee, there are free tools that allow you to do the basics. Buffer and Hootsuite are probably the most popular and will help you jumpstart your booming Instagram account.

3. Decide how often to post. 

There’s a lot of debate on how often you should post on social media. Some factors that might come into play are the industry you’re in, your resources and overall reach. There’s no magic number here, but research shows that Instagram posts should be limited to two or fewer per day. To start, 5 -8 posts per week is a safe number to aim for. Once you get enough engagement, go ahead and bump those 8 posts to 10 or 12 per week (Give the people what they want!). The best times to post on Instagram are 5-6pm most weekdays (especially Monday at 6pm).

4. Analyze, Analyze and Repeat. 

The more often you post, the more insights you’ll have for creating a successful business account (just don’t over-post and be annoying… stick to the guidelines in step 3). Oh, and you know what? Instagram comes with its own analytics that will show you the breakdown on how each post performs (including views, likes, comments, clicks on profile, etc). Hello, freebees!

5. Engage with your newfound followers and be friendly (+ have fun). 

Repeat after me… followers… friendly… fun. 

Social media doesn’t end with the click of a “post now.” Instagram (or any platform, really) requires engagement. Get to know your community and set aside some time to have one-on-one conversations with your audience. They are spending time with you, so it’s only polite to spend some time with them (plus, isn’t that the whole point anyway?).

If you have any questions regarding your own social media strategy, visit our contact page.