Social media successes don’t usually have a one-size-fits-all method. However, in most cases, social media performance is affected by the strategy an account is using. Although many factors are at play, there are basic rules that apply to most social media strategies. Here are some of the dos and don'ts when it comes to optimizing your Instagram performance.
The audience is the core of any Instagram strategy for brands big or small. Before constructing your Instagram strategy, it is crucial to determine the target audience that your brand wants to reach out to. This is often correlated with your current consumer base, which includes consumers of a certain age, location, or interest groups.
Identifying your audience helps you understand what type of content should be presented to the audience, as well as your mode of delivery when speaking to your Instagram audience. A better match between your Instagram strategy and audience leads to higher performance in engagement, reach, and more. By identifying your audience, you are also able to target a new audience with a similar demographic profile. This can also help you select an advertisement target and more.
One of the signs of a successful Instagram content strategy is having a brand that is easily recognizable. This means that your audience is able to remember your brands’ style, voice, and products and associate those things with your brand image.
In order to achieve this, it’s necessary to have clear guidelines and rules as to how your brand would appear to people. Following a certain pattern makes it easier for your audience to identify your brand image and thus remember it. By pre-formulating your brand image, you will be able to suit your strategy to your audience and plan your image in a way that maximizes performance.
Experimenting with your strategy is good and necessary. However, a legitimate brand account should show consistency in your strategy. Consistency is important both to be recognizable and trustworthy, allowing your audience to ensure that your socials and products do resonate with them.
Consistency is not synonymous with stagnancy, therefore it is possible for your brand to grow or change so long as you plan the needed changes in a way that is strategic to retain the current audience while tapping into a possible new audience.
In selecting a strategy that works, it’s good to have the help of reliable data. This includes data on content trends, engagement rate, best posting time, as well as trends data regarding hashtags and people your audience is interacting with. These insights can help you identify the likes and dislikes of your audience, and the strategic timing for your campaigns.
Data can give you a better measurement as to how your performance will be which consequently will help you measure the Return on Investment of your campaign. From your content planning to your budgeting, data can optimize your overall marketing functions.
Every strategy can work differently for different brands in different circumstances. The best way to prove the efficacy of your chosen strategy is by evaluating your performance periodically and after every campaign. Through evaluation, you'll be able to decide which moves to reenact and which to leave out of your future campaign.
Instagram analytics tools would also come in handy for this evaluation. You’ll be able to view data and insights regarding your performance and compare it to your other campaigns’ performance, or a competitor’s performance. The goal is to see your performance progressing and to have more positive insights compared to your competitors.
Strategies define whether your performance will be good or bad and whether you can sustain your positive performance in the coming future. Although there is no telling of which strategy works best for you, there are many tools and knowledge that can help you maximize the probability of success.
Author: Bradian Muliadi
