Got a burning question about Instagram, but don’t know who to ask?

In this blog, I tackle some of the most frequently asked questions about Instagram so that you can stop pondering and start posting with purpose.

Want to know what to post, when to post and how to get more engagement? Then let’s crack on... 

1) Do I need to be on Instagram for business?

As with any social media channel, this is totally up to you but, there are a number of things to consider before deciding whether Instagram is the right platform for you and your business.

1. Is your perfect client or customer on Instagram? If you specialise in wholesale engineering parts, then perhaps not. However, never say never … it’s essential to do some research to see whether other brands in your niche are doing well, ie building connections and getting some good engagement.

2. Do you already have a bank of visual assets - photography/video? Instagram is visual-focused site so you’ll need a healthy supply to prompt a “stop the scroll” action.

3. Do you even like Instagram? When you commit to a social media channel, you’re going to spend a lot of time there. It’s important that you enjoy the platform or it will quickly become a chore you dread. Commitment and belief is key.

2) Should I use a photo or logo as my bio pic?

If you’re a solopreneur or the face of your brand then I strongly feel that you should use a photo. If your business is bigger with lots of staff and your personal identity is less prominent, use a logo.

Whichever you use, just make sure you’re consistent across all your social media platforms — LinkedIn expert John Espirian refers to this as the “content DNA”.

2) What in the heck should I write in my bio?

Think of your Instagram bio as your business card. It should clearly state who you are and what you do. 

I work with mostly owner/founders so enabling a potential client to connect on a personal level is important. To that end, you’d be amazed at how many profiles I see without people’s actual names in them, so don’t let this be you. Having your actual name in the “name” field of your bio, means that if someone wants to DM, they can address you by name.

From a social SEO™️ perspective your @name and the name field in your bio are both searchable, so make sure they’re different as this will maximise your chances of being found. 

Use your bio to let people know how you can help them. You only have 150 characters so bullet points work well. Hone that message.

Inspiration: here’s the Instagram bio for artist Shazia Mahmood (one of my clients)

3) What should I post?

The $64,000 question! There’s no one size fits all answer to this, as each business and audience is unique.

But there are a few guidelines you can follow: 

1. Be clear on who your perfect audience is and address their pain points or needs

2. Post a mixture of content that is promotional, personal and problem solving (I also use an Engage, Educate and Excite model)

3. Make time each month to review what performed well and to plan what to post next

✅ How can Debbie help? I run 1:1 and small team content planning sessions that are ideal for campaign countdowns or simply getting you into a more focused habit of planning your social media content; if you just need resetting, then a Super Sixty could be all you need ie a 1hr focused session. Book a free 20min discovery call to get started.

4) How often should I post?

There’s seriously no definitive answer here. It comes down to how much time you have; how much good quality content you have; and how engaged your audience is.

If you’re posting five times a week because you saw someone with a zillion followers saying you should, but no one is responding to those posts, then you’re probably wasting your time. But testing and trying new things is rarely a bad thing.

I’d suggest posting two to three times a week (on your grid) to start with and see how you get on from there. The key is always to be consistent in your approach and to focus on what your audience wants/needs. Never post just for the sake of it or because you feel that you’ve been AWOL.

I have a post-it on my desk that says “who gives a sh*t?” it makes me pause for second to consider if I’m doing this for me or for those that I support or want to work with.

Think: customer needs/value first.

5) When is the best time to post?

With a business account (this is an easy switch to make in your settings and you should have a business account) you have access to Insights that provide heaps of valuable information about when your followers are online.

You can use this as a starting point, or you can just test it and see. In the past, I’ve had success posting on Saturday morning and Sunday evening. The more you listen and understand your clients or customers, the more you can tailor your posting schedule when they are likely to be more engaged.

✅ How can Debbie help? If you think a scheduling tool might help with your planning but are not sure where to begin, book a free 20min discovery call to get some input from me — I’ve tried a lot of them!

6) Why don’t links in my Instagram post captions work?

Instagram doesn’t support links in captions - it never has done and there’s no hint that it will change in the foreseeable. Your bio allows you to have a single link in your bio, which you can change as often as you like to promote new products or services or you can use a free service like https://linktr.ee/ which provides a single click through to an expanded menu of links.

REAL TALK how many times have you followed a “call to action” (CTA) to go and check out a “link in bio”? For me, very rarely, but it’s still useful to have a key link in your bio for those that discover your profile or are in the research stage of looking for a new product or service.

7) How do I add a link in Stories?

A “swipe up” link in Stories used to be just for those with 10k followers or more, but last year this was changed to allow everyone access to place a single link in a story. It’s really easy to do and you can customise it too. When you are creating a Story, click on the Stickers icon and you will see the 🔗 Link icon.

8) How do I get more engagement?

The super-simple answer to this is by being engaged yourself — being social. Yes, you need to reply to all comments on your own posts and your DMs - but you also need to put yourself out there and…

1. Comment on your followers’ posts (nurture your connections, the algorithms love these clues)

2. Comment on your perfect audience posts (they might not be following you yet)

3. Comment on posts featuring relevant hashtags (you can follow hashtags so posts using them appear in your feed, great for inspo and engagement triggers)

You should also include a call to action in all your posts - invite people to comment by asking questions or asking for opinions. Let people know what action you want them to take. The next steps are the final element of my “anatomy of a post” guidance (see image below)

✅ How can Debbie help? I run 1:1 and small team content planning sessions that are ideal for campaign countdowns or simply getting you into a more focused habit of planning your social media content; if you just need resetting, then a Super Sixty could be all you need ie a 1hr focused session. Book a free 20min discovery call to get started.

9) How many hashtags should I use?

There’s always so much debate about this one but my view is this: Instagram gives you 30 hashtags – that’s 30 opportunities to be found in search – so use them!

Hashtags let you categorise your posts so that they can be found by more people who are interested in your content.

Think of them as social SEO™️ - increasing visibility when people are searching for products or services related to your business.

Hashtags aren’t as baffling as some people might have you think, get the balance right, mix them up and keep an eye your insights to see what’s performing - they are a great way to attract new audiences.

The focus should always be on relevance though, don’t just chuck in any old hashtag because it’s popular.

10) What’s your burning question about Instagram?

Is it about Shops, Product Tags, Guides or Exploring or creating Highlight covers? Just ask, I’m always here to offer some SuperHelpful™️ advice and support.

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✅ How can Debbie help? working 1:1 or in small teams, I can delivers bespoke sessions on content creation and planning. My services also include social media channel audits; hashtag strategy; social media strategy; and Google My Business set up. It’s all about helping you get more confident on social.

Click on the button below to book a free 20min discovery call to get started.