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Okay, we hear you. Instagram can be frustrating. There’s rumors going around about your posts being hidden, algorithm hacks, and other things to memorize. Stop listening to all the noise, here are the 10 ways to conquer Instagram to grow your business and brand!

It’s a storytelling platform, not a photo sharing platform!

Firstly, people want to hear stories! Instagram is the king of storytelling content, so be sure to leverage that. The brands who focus on storytelling are the ones who build trust with their audience and grow the fastest. Make sure to tell stories that tie into your mission, values, and purpose.

Figure out what your goal is with Instagram

Are you creating brand awareness, driving sales or building a community? Once you’ve narrowed down your goal, map out relevant content so that each post leads in some way to that endgame.

Provide value and don’t sell in every single post

Who is your audience and how can you help them? Ask your audience through polls or questions and figure out what type of content they enjoy. Use the 80/20 rule, 80% percent valuable content and 20% sales. Remember, it’s about your audience, not about you. It’s still OK to sell on Instagram, so long as it’s done in a tasteful way.

Work With What You Have

You don’t need fancy software or apps. Being authentic will take you farther than you think. There’s a debate as to whether to or not to make your feed perfectly curated and filtered. I personally believe that we’re stepping away from that and becoming much more real, showing up through photo and video in an unfiltered way to really connect with our communities. Include videos from your iPhone if that’s what you have! Some of the best ads and content have converted from iPhone photos and videos.

Stories, Stories, Stories!

This is where it’s at and where you want to be daily. Start off small. Most people don’t like being in front of the camera which is totally understandable, but even if you don’t post videos of yourself, remember that the aim is provide value through your stories. Add different stickers to your stories to encourage engagement, whether through polls, questions or even gifs!

Have a CTA (call to action)

Invite your audience to participate in your post! Ask them a question, invite them to tag a friend who might resonate with your message, have them check out the link in your bio or invite them to other spaces you’re in, etc. The options are endless. You’ll have to do a bit of testing to see what works best for your audience.

Moreover, I recommend you do your best to get them to your email list. You don’t own your social media accounts, but you do own your website and email lists, so the more people you send there, the more you can grow an audience and customer-base that will stay with you no matter what happens to Instagram tomorrow.

Analytics

Your analytics will tell you what type of content is popular with your audience. Pay attention to this. What types of posts are people liking, commenting on, visiting the links to, saving? Analyzing these trends and planning content around these popular posts will help your brand grow exponentially.

Engage

Most importantly, engage. I cannot stress this enough. If you want people to engage with your content, you have to go engage with theirs. Don’t just leave emojis or “cute skirt!”! Take the time to actually read their copy and leave a meaningful comment. Show that you care!

Hashtags

Go through relevant hashtags and engage with accounts that use them! Hashtags are a great way for people to find your posts and for you to find new people to follow that may be in your target market.

Also, for hashtags, it’s all about testing. Some accounts use all 30 hashtags, others use 10-12, and larger accounts may only use 2 to 4, if any at all. Find what works best for your through experimentation and analytics. There’s a lot of trial and error involved here, so don’t worry if one strategy doesn’t work! That just means it’s time to move on to the next.

Stop Listening to People About Algorithm Myths

Lastly, things like posts being “hidden” or shadow-banning, aren’t a real thing. Sure, the algorithm works differently than it used to because the amount of content being posted every second to the app. Furthermore, we follow hundreds, sometimes, thousands of people, it wouldn’t make sense for the algorithm to show content in chronological order. Instead it shows you posts you typically engage with and what it believes you want to see from what you typically engage with.

Bonus – Instagram isn’t an end all, be all. It’s only one small part of running a successful business. Above all, ask yourself, “If Instagram and Facebook shutdown tomorrow, would I still have a business?”. Give yourself grace and know that everything takes time and consistency. Keep at it and believe in your purpose, the right audience will too! Are we connected on Instagram? Or if you’re looking for more guidance to use Instagram, shoot us a message here.

When Instagram Stories first rolled out in August 2016, many IG users were trying to figure out the best way to use them. As we saw more brands intentionally using Instagram the last few years, we quickly learned that IG stories are a great way to connect with your audience.

Stories are something that should be posted everyday for your brand, which is overwhelming, especially when you want to be creative and do different things to keep your audience glued and coming back for more.

Stories are where your warm and hot audience lives! It’s a great place to not only showcase your brand, but also build trust, position yourself as an expert, and increase sales.

If you can, mix face to cam stories and trainings with graphics you have already created. Our best advice is to do this in advance by batching your content. That way, you’ll be prepared and don’t have to scurry around everyday to get content up for your brand!

We have put together a handful of story ideas to keep you organized and ahead of the game!

Give a BTS Look

Show behind the scenes of your work space, a project you’re working on, how you create your product or service, or how you plan your day! People are nosey and want to see and get to know the person or people behind the brand. This humanizes your brand and also connects with your audience on a different level.

Do a Mini Training

This can apply to both product and service based businesses. If you have a service based business, share a mini training on how to do something. Make it quick and applicable. While you may be worried that if you share mini trainings or how to’s, your audience won’t hire them because they’ll just do it themselves. This may be true in the short-term, but mini-trainings position you as an expert and most of the time, people want to know that you know what you’re doing. If you have a product based business, share how to use your product or how it will solve people’s problems.

Share Reviews/Success Stories

What better way to show off your expertise than to share your results or success stories from your clients/customers?! Share results or ways your products or services have helped people. Remember, businesses solve peoples problems, so share case studies with your audience! Your audience wants to know you have proven success in your methods or the quality of your products.

Ways to Work With You or Purchase Your Products

People don’t know what they can’t have. Share ways your audience can work with you or how they can purchase your products. If you aren’t driving sales and making money, you don’t really have a business. Driving sales through stories is a great way to increase revenue. Remember, it’s usually a warm or hot audience watching your stories!

Conduct Market Research

Yes, that’s right. You can conduct market research on stories. By asking your audience what they want to see for content, what they want to learn, or even what type of product or service they would like to see from you next. Your stories is a great place to gather information and serve your audience the best way you can!

Quotes/Wallpapers/Mood-boards

Anyone else a sucker for quotes or cute wallpaper? Create on brand quotes or wallpapers to share with your audience. Or even put together a monthly brand aesthetic wallpaper and encourage your audience to do the same and share it to their own stories!

Fun Quizzes

Whether you’re doing a this-or-that, fill in the blanks, or adding poll stickers to your stories, adding fun quizzes to stories is a great way to engage your audience. There’s a lot going on online and in the world, sometimes all people need is something fun to interact with.

So, this is your reminder that Instagram isn’t about you, it’s about your audience and what they want. At the end of the day, your audience is who will be buying from you or referring you to people they know.

Looking for more tips? Head over to our Instagram or check out our other blogs!

So long are the days of salad pictures and overly filtered selfies. Many people actually put a lot of thought into their Instagram captions and know they’re serving up a story for their audience. Good news is, you don’t have to be the best copywriter in the world to get this aspect of your IG post down pat. When it comes to copywriting for Instagram, there are a few things to consider to capture your audience in a saturated market (which by the way is what every single industry is facing). Strong copy allows you the opportunity to capture your brand voice, as well as the attention of your current audience and future customers.

Write for your audience, but stay on brand.

Firstly, you need to know who your audience is. Is your content geared more towards millennials or the corporate crowd? Once you have nailed down who your copy is for, this allows for a more clear direction of who to write to. If your account is geared towards a younger crowd you may want to include pop culture references or slang from the latest TikTok trend ie. cheugy anyone? While if your audience is more mature, you might want to keep your copy simple and straight to the point. Whichever direction your brand goes, make sure it applies to your brand though. Copywriting or even creating Instagram posts become difficult when your brand doesn’t resonate with your own voice.

Make your copy bite-sized.

If you have a longer caption we recommend breaking it up within the Instagram caption itself. Start with a one-liner of what your post is about allowing the opportunity to capture the attention of your audience and go from there. Make the first line controversial, ask a question, or state a fact – how will you keep your audience’s attention?

Offer a call to action and invite your audience to engage.

This is also another great way to start or end your post. Use terminology like “comment if you agree” “we want to hear from you” “double tap if you love this as much as we do” or “save this post for later”. This is an invitation to how you want your audience to engage with your post.

Add value.

The best way to write for your consumer is to think like your consumer. What is their pain point and what do you help solve? Or share a success story and build trust with your audience. While you may think a review isn’t “adding value” directly, it does when it comes to strengthening your relationships with your community. 

Copywriting for your brand is forever evolving! There is no harm in testing out your copy on your social posts and seeing what works best for your audience.

We want to know, what works best when writing for your brand and/or company? Need help with scheduling posts or copywriting for your brand? Fill out our Work With Us application!

If Instagram Reels aren’t on your brand’s radar, it’s time to rethink your social media strategy! 

Instagram Reels might not sound like a foreign concept to a lot of people – many have compared Reels to the infamous video-sharing app, TikTok. Either way, both of those should play a crucial role in your brands’ marketing strategy. 

In today’s world, Instagram’s consumers’ expectations are constantly evolving, and many proactive users have already embraced the Reels feature. Digital trends are constantly changing and it’s hard to keep up. It’s often the brands and creators that get in early that reap the rewards. Keeping up with these new trends is crucial to maintaining your brand’s success and relevancy, especially if your target audience includes millennials and Gen Z!

The tricky thing about Reels, is even if you don’t want to start creating and posting them due to the lack of understanding, which we’ve all gone through, it will hurt your brand’s social presence and reach, considering Instagram’s algorithm are favouring accounts that are regularly posting and engaging with Reels!

Not only are Reels a great way to grow your following and increase the amount of new loyal customers, but it’s also a fantastic way to educate your audience about your brand, highlight your products and services, and showcasing your business’s personality! Behind-the-scenes content, for example, always does extremely well in terms of engagement.

Here are a few tips to help you get started on perfecting Instagram Reels:

Research is key!

Even though it’s a new feature, people have already started to publish videos, racking in millions of views. Spend some time watching Reels that’s popular amongst your target audience, and grab inspiration from that. Find out what works well and what doesn’t!

Practice makes perfect

Well done and thought out Reels can easily land you a spot on the explore page. Good Reels show your brand’s professionalism! It takes a while to get the hang of making Reels, so practice a couple times and save some drafts before publishing!

Show, not sell

Reels aren’t meant to be used to hard sell your products. It’s important to catch the attention of your consumers and make it interesting for them. For example, instead of advertising a product or service, use it as a way to show off “How To” use your products. Show off ways to wear something if you own a clothing brand, or your favourite recipe if you own a food company. Showing off quick ideas like these are such an amazing way to increase that connection with your audience!

Repurpose content

TSP is a HUGE supporter of repurposing content! If a piece of content does well, use it again! Posts that garnered significant traction with your audience are there for a reason. You could even take a successful photo or blogpost that did well, take that information and turn it into a great Reel!

The options are endless when it comes to Reels. As a brand, you need to differentiate yourself from your competitors. Showing the behind-the-scenes, brand personality, how-to’s and ideas, before and afters, sneak peeks, jumping on trends and product tips and tricks are such amazing ways to stand out in the Instagram space.

It takes work, time, and effort, but the results are worth it. No matter how big or small your brand is, you never know when your Reel could go viral – that’s the beauty of it! Looking for more marketing tips? Head to our Instagram or our other blogs!

The holidays are upon us, like you pretty much have had to have finished your shopping yesterday! We’ll be the first to admit that thinking of intentional, creative, and thoughtful gift ideas for every person in your life can be a chore. Not to worry about those ‘office’ or entrepreneur friends in your life though, we’ve got you covered. Here are six holiday gift ideas that your entrepreneur friends and fellow co-workers will love. 

1.    Create & Cultivate 2020 Planner 

You know you’re a true business owner when you get excited over a pretty planner. We’re currently loving this planner from Create & Cultivate. Not only is it an Instagram worthy desk piece, it also is an extremely helpful tool for setting goals and staying organized- all things we promise your entrepreneur friends will love. 

2.    Portable Charger 

Any other business owner absolutely panic when their phone dies mid work day? We know we aren’t alone in this, after all, these days it seems like business can’t operate without a smartphone. Help spare your fellow business friend the dead cell phone stress and give them the gift that keeps on giving all year long, a portable cell phone charger. 

3.    Essential Oils and Diffuser 

If you’re not on the essential oil trend yet, well you should be, and so should your entrepreneur friends. Diffusing essential oils in the office can help you calm your stress, enhance production, and increase focus. One of our favorite diffusers is this one from Saje Wellness. We also love their Brainstorm and Tranquil essential oils for diffusing in the workplace.  

4.    Yoga Class Pass or Massage Gift Card 

Every entrepreneur knows that stress comes with the job description and there’s no better stress release than yoga or a relaxing massage. Give your friend the gift of a class pass to a local yoga studio, or a massage gift card. These activities will force them to put the phone down, detach from work, and relax for a minute. 

5.  A Book on Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Mindset

Some of the best gifts you can give come in the form of books. It sparks ideas, helps us grow and tells stories! A few of our favorites are:

1. Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook by Gary Vaynerchuk
2. You Are a Badass at Making Money: Master the Mindset of Wealth by Jen Sincero
3. Start With Why by Simon Sinek
4. Building a Story Brand by Donald Miller
5. The Lean Startup by Eric Reis

6. Beekeeper’s Naturals

There are so many times entrepreneurs get overwhelmed, might overwork themselves and burn out, have brain fog, and need ways to optimize their performance. After all, so many wear different hats! Beekeeper’s Naturals are superfood solutions, straight from the hive! The benefits of their products are outstanding and also founded by a female who has an incredible story as well! Their B.LXR Brain Fuel and B. Powered Superfood Honey is our founder’s favorites!

The busiest shopping days are coming soon – Black Friday weekend/week/month! The holiday season offers businesses opportunities of all sorts! You will want to make sure you grab your audience’s attention amongst the noise and make a profit while you do so. This means it’s the perfect time to ramp up your social media marketing strategies to ensure you have a successful campaign-filled weekend! 

Fun fact: Instagram and Facebook are some of the most powerful social channels marketers can use during the holiday season. We have a feeling that we can throw TikTok into that mix as well this year! When used correctly, they can help your business grow in sales tremendously, during a short period of time.

In order to increase online traffic, and to attract your customers with the exciting deals and offers you get on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, take a look at our top marketing ideas you should be using for your business this year!

Have all your content planned out and set your budget!

With apps like Planoly, Plannthat, UNUM, there’s no reason you shouldn’t be posting your best content during the best times! This is especially important around this time of year. It’s best to get the content and copy sorted early on. This way, you have time to focus on the present campaigns going on, your online orders, communicating with your audience, etc. The earlier you start strategizing, budgeting, creating, and content collecting, the more success you’ll have. Success, especially on Instagram and Facebook, always favors those who plan. Figure out what your goals are for the holidays and go from there. Advertising gets expensive during the season, so optimize your ads and make sure they are set up correctly.

Conduct Market Research.

Market research is one major key to success, always, & the holiday season is no exception. Take a look at your competitors Instagram feeds, search up holiday campaigns on Google, & look at what they chose to do previously. Was it successful? Did it seem to engage with their demographic well? Ask yourself questions to help use their holiday campaign almost as a case study into what works, or what doesn’t work for seasonal content in a social scape. Have a look at competitors, it will help make sure you are coming up with ideas that are fresh, exciting, & have never been done before.

Create pre-sale curiosity and get your audience engaged.

If your brand is posting some Black Friday teaser days, this will leave a mark in your audiences’ mind! Getting people excited to purchase from you is super important! On social media, successful campaigns always encourage followers to be interactive and are fun! An example of this is the “Elf Yourself” by Office Depot (don’t tell us you haven’t done this before?). The campaign wasn’t necessarily to drive direct sales, but to bring brand awareness.

Social media is known for being engaging & truth be told, most holiday campaigns that don’t involve some sort of follower engagement, will probably just be ignored. If you create a holiday campaign that is just focused on promoting your services, or products, with no benefits or value to your followers, we can promise you won’t have optimal success. Or, a lot of brands are now using the power of messaging to fuel brand loyalty and as always, know-like-trust is the name of the game. Make sure messaging is something your business is on top of and make yourself available to your customers.

Stay on top of your email marketing list!

List building is a great Black Friday marketing strategy to generate hype around your brand. It involves capturing the email addresses of potential customers and informing them about upcoming Black Friday deals. This is also something that belongs to you, unlike social media platforms. So, while we don’t foresee another great big shutdown of IG and FB, incase it does happen, your business will have your email list in your back pocket to continue generating awareness and sales.

Utilizing your best marketing strategies during this time is so important if you want to have successful campaigns. Black Friday and Cyber Monday marks the busiest shopping season of the year. Preparing a solid digital marketing strategy is crucial to successfully attract attention and boost your sales! Looking for a little extra help with your holiday campaigns? Send us a DM on Instagram or fill out our Work With Us form!

Raise your hand if you’ve ever been victimized by Regina George and/or buying something online that either a celebrity, influencer, blogger, or even friend has raved about?

You are not alone, friend, you are not alone. Social media gets the best of us. A couple of hours later scrolling on social media, we are about 5 online orders in.

Are you using influencer marketing for your brand? We see influencer marketing strategies implemented within many businesses, especially product based ones. Influencer marketing can not only help amplify brand awareness, but it is also a great way to build trust between your brand and new customers. Your new audience is essentially being ‘referred’ to your brand through someone they follow online. And, what’s still the number one way to market your business? You got it, referral marketing.

Recently, there has been an uptick with brands working with micro-influencers and have seen a great ROI (return on investment). Micro-influencers typically have very high engagement, brands are encouraged to work with micro-influencers now more than ever. ExpertVoice shared that micro-influencers are 22.2X more likely to bring in a conversion. They also suggested that 82% of customers said they would rather get referrals from micro-influencers,

First, what is a micro-influencer?

“A micro-influencer is someone who has between 1,000 to 10,000 followers. They focus on a specific niche or area and they are generally regarded as an industry expert or topic specialist.”

Sure influencers with large followings look like they can kill any collaboration or product they push, but the industry is changing. Don’t get us wrong, the right influencer collaboration can be amazing for you and your business, but a large following doesn’t necessarily mean it is a guaranteed success.

Micro-influencers have a smaller follower count, but establish themselves as experts in their niche through community and trust with their audience. Small influencers also have strong relationships with their followers, through authentic and meaningful conversations. These relationships feel like a friend that you have the same interests, rather than a salesperson. Overall, there can be a more engaged community, which leads metrics like engagement and website clicks to be overall stronger than their larger competitors.

A few ways to collaborate with micro-influencers for content include photos, videos, or even blog posts! Remember, make sure that collaborations are mutually beneficial. While everyone understands that your products cost money, remember that the influencer’s time and effort is money too. Creating content is no easy task! So, while some brands work with micro-influencers through exchange or products, the cost of working with  micro-influencers at most times is much more cost effective for brands, especially brands who are just starting out.

We want to know, do you prefer content from big influencers or micro-influencers? DM us on Instagram to share your answers with us!

Looking for more marketing tips? Head to our blog page to read the rest of our blogs!

Beautiful branding, matching colors and overall aesthetically pleasing…you know the Instagram profiles and type of content we are talking about. The ones that capture your attention right away for the way they flow across your phone screen.

What if we told you, it can be done with a little help from our friends?! Below are our tips to help you plan out your content in advance and have your feed on point to your brand while hitting all of your marketing goals.

Scheduling Apps.

Planoly, Later, Plann, we’ve used all of these and they are great! These apps allow you to plan, schedule and execute your social strategy for one or multiple accounts. You can also analyze your data to see what content works and what doesn’t. They all offer easy-to-use web and mobile apps that allow for seamless planning across the board.

Canva.

Okay, graphic designers don’t come for us, we know it’s not the same as Adobe. As two gals who are classically trained in graphic design, Canva is our friend. Canva is fantastic if you are looking at creating a brand identity with your page. Whether it’s through colors, fonts and/or graphics, Canva allows for cohesive branding graphics especially when it comes to Instagram posts and stories.

Content Pillars.

Are your socials all over the place? Grab a pen and a piece of paper and write down 3-5 things you want to cover on your page. Whatever it is, having this outlined will not only help keep your content organized and will help you avoid spur-of-the-moment posts.

Actually Plan.

What’s that quote…if you fail to plan, you plan to fail? It applies to social media content, too. We recommend planning out your content AT LEAST one week in advance. If you can two to four weeks in advance is ideal. Life happens and before you know it, it’s been one month since you’ve posted. Trust us, we’ve been there!

It can take some time to get used to planning everything out, but once you start, we know that you will be thinking that there is no other better way to do this!

If you plan out your social feeds, we want to know what are your favorite tips/apps? Let us know in the comments or DM us on Instagram!

How do social media managers make content plans so look so easy? By giving categories a fun twist. Cue content buckets! Content buckets allow a brand to distinguish multiple overarching topics that align with the brand’s message while producing a never-ending amount of content ideas to fill the buckets. 

Some ideas for content buckets are entertainment, relatable, education, promotion, customer-generated, and information about product/service. The group of content buckets can differ from brand to brand, but why do you even need these? 

Have A Strategy. 

Content buckets are one of the first steps to the most important part of social media… a strategy! In order to determine what you are going to speak on and about on your various social media pages, you need to first pick out these buckets to set up your business for a strategy for success. These different topics should all be connected to your brand’s story.

Reach New Audiences. 

If you have your buckets established and want to begin catering to a new audience, it’s an easy addition! Simply add a bucket that would speak to this demographic and begin brainstorming ideas that would fill into this topic. Example: Younger audience – research current trends and influencers.

Speak to Individuals. 

When your target audience is over a wider range, it might be difficult to speak directly to individuals among your followers. By having specific topics in place, you can rotate through your different buckets based on who you are toning in to speak to through your content!

Continued Creativity. 

These buckets give your business a foundation for an overflowing amount of ideas! By broadening the buckets, you can personalize all of your ideas for your brand’s audience and voice. 

If you are having trouble figuring out which Content Buckets are best for your brand or need to develop a social media strategy, reach out to us or check out our other blog posts!

The age old question of agency vs in-house. We may be biased, but keep reading. Now that the pandemic has been slowing its roll quite a bit…what are jobs looking like? Most employers desperately want employees back in their office or in-house. However, workers have come to favor the flexibility that remote work brings. 

As far as hiring new employees, the same stands true. But why should you even consider hiring a remote agency when you can have them at arm’s length 24/7? The answers may surprise you, keep this article close by when making your next hire: 

Fresh Eyes & Perspectives.

In-house team members will be working on your brand in a routine manner every single day. However, as an agency, members are working on numerous projects and businesses that keep their creativity flowing which prevents getting in a rut. As an outsider, everything from your voice, products, and services will be looked at critically and from a different perspective and having a specialized agency in your industry can bring a collaborative sense of growth to your marketing efforts.

Saves You Money.

There is a misconception surrounding agencies and their pricing. The truth? Hiring an agency can keep your costs lower! You can only hire what you are looking for to fulfill your marketing needs and scale up or down. An in-house employee requires training, software costs, salary, benefits, and more. 

Skill Range.

Hiring an agency ensures a wider set of skills and even specialization, whereas an in-house member is expected to be stretched across these capabilities. It’s a jack of all trades, master of none situation. An agency has an established team that can dive in quickly and play to their strengths!

Access To New Tech.

Agencies are constantly bettering their team with the top industry practices and utilizing new tools to enhance processes. I can speak for our agency, every morning we brief ourselves on new practices as this space changes constantly. Having us in your back pocket tools will give you a competitive edge against your competitors and other businesses in your niche. 

Next Level Experience.

Years of experience with multiple brands and businesses come with hiring an agency (they’re up our sleeve as well). When it comes time to discuss your business in particular, they will whip out their client wins and previous work to bring to the table. An in-house member might have experience with a couple of brands, but an agency will be expansive due to its upper hand with a team. 

Ultimately, you know your brand and biz, to determine whether an agency is a right fit for you, schedule a discovery call or chat with us on Instagram here! See you there!