Show Notes
EPISODE 3 – 4 CHANGES TO THE WAY WE USE INSTAGRAM IN 2019
Hey and welcome to Episode 3!
I hope you are enjoying them as much as I am!
Today’s episode is brought to you by my highly sort after eBook – 108 Social Media Content Creation ideas – yep 108 of them!
If you have writer’s block in 2019 left over from 2018 – then this will definitely help! Just go to www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/108 and download the eBook there!
Pro – tip though – make sure you print it out and pin it somewhere, so it can keep inspiring you!
Today we’re going to keep on our new year theme and concentrate Instagram – and how to use it in 2019.
THIS WEEK’S DISCOVERY!
But first today’s discovery!
Have you ever wondered how engaging your posts are on Instagram? How influential you are?
Well there’s a calculator for that!
https://phlanx.com/engagement-calculator
All you do is put in your Instagram handle and see what sort of score you get!
However, the score – like anything is subjective!
If you get somewhere around 8 and above is great. But don’t get too hung up on it – because if you have a small audience it’s likely your audience is engaged and intimate with you – however, as you grow your influence might come down – basic maths – due the sheer number of people you are trying to engage with.
It’s a good metric to use if you are thinking about using an Influencer as part of your marketing on Instagram in 2019– an influencer is a person who you pay or give product to, to promote you on their platform because of their audience – it’s your audience too and you want in!
The calculator gives a good measure because we all know it’s not about the numbers.
If someone has 50,000 followers but their engagement is no good – no one hardly ever comments or likes their posts – then they’re certainly not as influential as you first thought just because they have 50,000 followers– it’s about engagement peeps – engagement!
It’s not the only thing you should be looking at if thinking about engaging an influencer, but it’s a good tool, nonetheless.
So, if you’re on Instagram – have a little fun – have a look at how engaged your audience is and if you’re what where you want to be.
Start looking at the content you’re creating for the audience you have and start thinking about what you want to create to engage the people you want to attract!
4 CHANGES TO THE WAY WE USE INSTAGRAM IN 2019
Now, you don’t need me to tell you that Instagram is the IT platform at the moment when it comes to social media!
If you’re target audience is on Instagram – then you should be too! It’s that simple.
Whilst they do say Facebook is losing ground – which when it comes to millennials, I guess it’s true – I only need to look at my kids and their friends to see this trend – but they are gaining other age groups – so don’t dessert Facebook just yet!
Instagram is certainly growing.
With 9 million actively monthly users – and that’s an Aussie stat – not US –
for those interested in Aussie stats – there’s 600 million actively monthly users worldwide –
I’ll link to the website for Aussie stats in the show notes.
https://www.socialmedianews.com.au/social-media-statistics-australia-november-2018/
So, with 9 million people on the platform – how to do you use it in 2019.
In last week’s episode we chatted about people engaging and being social on social media – so that’s seriously important but I think I’ve said enough on that subject – for those who didn’t listen – perhaps head to Episode 2 and listen in but the premise was basically GET SOCIAL ON SOCIAL MEDIA in 2019 or risk becoming irrelevant.
So what else can we expect from insta in 2019,
- INSTRAGRAM STORIES
INSTAGRAM STORIES – seriously they should be near the top of your priority list – some tough love – if you’re not willing to embrace fully Instagram stories in 2019 for your business, then you’re going to get left behind.
What are stories – they are the round circles above your feed when you hop onto Instagram and they last 24 hours (you can save them of course – but they disappear from the feed after 24 hours).
The majority of people on Instagram looking each day are scrolling across (scrolling through stories left to right) before they are scrolling down (down through the feed).
And with limited time to spend on social – you need to be where your audience is going first – and that’s STORIES!
I’ll be doing an episode shortly on Stories – so make sure you subscribe and don’t miss that – but if you’ve never done stories before or aren’t sure what to do – start looking at what other people are doing – but looking strategically.
What engages you?
What calls to action are they using?
What gets you to click, watch the whole thing or come back the next time for more?
- IN-FEED ENGAGEMENT
With stories getting so much LOVE, it won’t surprise you at all to learn that your In-Feed Engagement will decrease (sorry!) in 2019 – if you haven’t seen it decreasing already.
It’s one of the inherent problems with dealing with social media – the algorithm changes, us business owners need to change too – our customers change their habits – we have to change too ….
What can you do about falling in-feed engagement?
Activate your REACH OUT STRATEGY that we spoke about in Episode 2. Get out there – go find some people to chat to and engage with on social – stop simply wishing they’d find you!
Make sure your content is what your ideal client wants to read and engage with.
Have your posts have mini calls to actions in them as a reminder to your reader that you would like to them do something when they finish reading your post!
Mini calls to actions like – double tap if you feel the same, or like this or tell me your experience or thoughts, and so on – don’t leave the thinking up to the reader – give the reader instructions on what to do next.
- HASHTAGS
In 2019, Hashtags won’t work like they used too – I feel like I just keep crushing your souls a wee bit with every point – I’m sorry!
But I want you to know all this, so you can be more strategic and find your ideal customers and have them find you – the ones that will eventually do business with you (that’s the goal right)!
Don’t get me wrong – HASHTAGS aren’t going to be irrelevant – in fact the opposite – they will be one of the most important tools you’ll have in your tool box – they just won’t work like they used it when it comes to passively growing your following.
That is simply using hashtags won’t equal people finding you.
You’ll need to make sure the hashtags you use are relevant, people are looking for them, and they aren’t the same for EVERY SINGLE POST you do!
The days of simply posting a picture and putting up some hashtags are sadly gone if you want to attract people into your world who one day will do business with you.
- BLAND CURATED FEEDS
Bland Curated Feeds Are Fading Fast – this is good news for most and bad news for some!
We’re all seen the feed on Instagram that are so highly colour coordinated that it’s like magical unicorns rested their delicate feet on their feed and rainbows appeared – ok that’s a little dramatic – but you know the ones I’m talking about!
THE PERFECT FEED
Or so it seems, because if you dig a little more – that perfect Yellow Rose photo that rests so perfectly in the yellow feed of the Gramer – has absolutely nothing (like literally nothing) to do with the post or the gramer or their business – its sole purpose is to ensure the perfect colour coordinated feed stays that way
And this my friend is the type of feed that in 2019 will fade into the pit of no engagement.
Now don’t get me wrong, investing in and posting high quality images for content is still super important but it’s less about the gallery and more about the post individually.
It’s more about the message – the story (because Instagram is a STORY TELLING PLATFORM) – the brand and the value you are giving to your reader and engager – then it is about perfection in galleries.
I’m not saying you can’t have both – maybe you do. And if you do maybe you need to come onto my podcast and tell everyone how it works for you – all I AM saying is that it shouldn’t and can’t be the goal of your Instagram feed – to have a perfect gallery.
Make your followers love you for your stories and for you rather than for your curated, magical unicorn inspired perfect feed.
Perfection is trap my fellow small business owners and it’s definitely not something you should aspire to be … ever ….
JUST BEFORE YOU GO ….
So, before we wrap up – let’s just go through the points again of how to use Instagram in 2019
- Start using stories
- Watch for falling in-feed engagement and start to activate your reach out strategy to combat this
- Hashtags aren’t going to passively growing your list like they used to anymore, get strategic with the hashtags you use – make them as important as your captions – and do some research around the ones you use and wish to use, and
- The perfect feed is not your goal – perfectly curated galleries are on the way out – it’s time to concentrate on the message, the captions, the beautiful imagery that matches both and the value you give to your audience.
Well my friends, that’s it for episode 3 of the Small Business Made Simple podcast –
I’ll be back next Thursday with some more marketing know-how, and if you’re liking the podcast already – please head over to where you listen and leave a rating – those things are GOLD for podcasters like me! I’ll be eternally grateful!
Also, if you’d like to stay in touch between podcasts – let’s connect on social. The links are in the show notes or simply search Social Media and Marketing on Facebook or Jenn Donovan on Insta and LinkedIn.
Can’t wait to become better friends!
Remember small business peeps, there’s no point in dreaming small!
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