Whether you’re a yoga instructor, enthusiast, or marketer trying to promote a yoga brand online, you’ll want to check out these key TikTok marketing tips!
One of the most important aspects to a successful TikTok strategy is having a strong hashtag strategy – and we have all the key TikTok hashtag strategy tips and tricks for taking advantage of TikTok for your business.
TikTok currently boasts well over 100 million users in the United States alone. And on top of that, TikTok has been downloaded a whopping 2.3 billion times globally since it was first launched in September 2016.
By promoting themselves on TikTok, dozens of yoga enthusiasts have built successful online yoga brands.
Take the likes of @enaasharma with a staggering 115.6K followers and a solid 12.5% engagement rate, or @tiffanycroww with her 97.8K followers and a 13.6% engagement rate.
Thanks to their massive followings, regular yoga instructors like these can easily grow and maintain their brands online using TikTok as their main source of traffic.
However, reaching this level of fame isn’t for everyone.
And the fact is that building a similar following on TikTok is going to take a lot of hard work, dedication – knowing how to use hashtags appropriately will help you maximize the reach of your posts.
The Importance Of Using Hashtags for Your Yoga Studio Business
Hashtags are keywords that allow social media users to search for specific topics or themes.
Often, hashtags are grouped, which not only makes it easier for platform users to search for similar content, but it can also help TikTok’s algorithm understand what your posts are about and when to show them to its users.
In other words, hashtags can also help the platform parse, rank, and serve relevant, relatable content to the user when any given hashtag is searched for.
Hashtag Strategy For Marketing Yoga
When it comes to promoting your yoga brand on TikTok, you’re going to want to use as many popular and relevant hashtags on your posts as possible.
This ensures that your posts will be seen by any users that search for these hashtags.
In other words, you’ll want to know what the most popular hashtags are so that you can maximize the reach of each one of your TikTok videos.
However, be aware the most popular and trending hashtags change frequently, so be sure to stay on top of your hashtags.
Here are some of the most popular hashtags for yoga brands to copy and paste that you’ll see on TikTok, give them a try!
While these are currently some of the most popular hashtags for yoga-related content, it’s important only to use them when and where it’s appropriate.
For instance, if your video is about the benefits of eating a healthy, well-balanced breakfast each day, you’ll want to avoid using any irrelevant hashtags like #yogapose.
That said, you’d also want to include any other hashtags that might be relevant. Such as #yogadiet #healthydiet or even #yogalifestyletips would all be worth using.
In addition, if you’re working to promote a brand or business, you might want to start using your own branded hashtags as well. For example, if you were offering yoga classes for a brand called Jane’s Yoga, you might start using a hashtag like #janesyoga or #yogawithjane. This way, when a TikTok user sees your post, they’ll easily be able to click on these hashtags and view the rest of your content.
Conclusion
TikTok can be an excellent way to take your yoga brand to the next level and utilizing TikTok hashtags in the right way can make it an even more powerful marketing strategy!
9 Holiday-Themed Social Media Ideas for Your Small Business
The holiday season is often a festive, yet very busy time of the year –especially when you’re a small business owner. For many small business owners, the holiday season means an increase in sales, and many overtime hours worked – leaving them without much time to think about social media marketing.
To help make it easier for small business owners, we’ve put together 9 social media content ideas to help your small business make the most of the holiday season.
1. Create a gift guide
It’s not too late to create a gift guide! Many people are still trying to get in their last-minute gift shopping for Christmas. Even if you aren’t able to get the order shipped in time, many people are looking for gift ideas that can help support small businesses.
Giveaways are a great way to create buzz, boost engagement and gain new followers. Giveaways hosted on Instagram don’t need to offer a big prize or have complicated entry rules. Just be sure any giveaways hosted on Instagram align with their Community Guidelines. Check out our guide here for more insights on how to run a successful Instagram giveaway.
3. Partner with another small business
Another idea to create super engaging content – and maybe even a fun way to launch a contest or giveaway – is to partner with another small business. Find a small business with a similar customer base and create a gift bundle idea to promote on both of your Instagram accounts. This makes it easy for customers to support two small businesses at once!
Australian-based skincare brand @yumiskin.co is hosting a collaborative giveaway in time for the new year:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CJW93GwH8ok/
4. Digital advent calendar
With Christmas quickly coming up, a great idea for some last-minute holiday content is to create an advent-themed calendar to post on social media each day. You can give out discount codes, small prizes or announce new products each day. Your customers will look forward to seeing what ‘prize’ they get to open next.
5. Holiday themed video
A great idea to help some of your holiday content stand out is to create a holiday-themed video to post on Christmas. And we know you don’t have a lot of time right now, so don’t worry about trying to film custom holiday video content! With Boosted, you can find tons of different seasonally themed video templates to help you create custom marketing videos in 3 minutes or less.
Here’s an example of the holiday content you can customize for your brand using Boosted:
6. Instagram Stories Polls
If you haven’t seen the “This or That” game yet on Instagram you are missing out! It’s a fun game you can easily post on your Instagram Stories to create engagement, while offering your followers a fun activity. Simply post a quiz or poll with a series of photos or videos and ask your customers which ones they prefer. A few ideas include putting up a few classic Christmas movies, holiday treats, and asking your followers to vote on which one they prefer. Not sure where to start with Instagram Story Polls? Check out our blog Instagram Polls: The Complete Guide for Small Businesses.
7. Share a VIP discount code
This time of the year, customers are often doing a lot of holiday shopping and definitely appreciate any savings they can get. Reward your Instagram followers with a surprise discount code that is only available for a day or two to help drive last-minute holiday sales.
UK-based home designer @_heather_orr shared a Christmas discount code with her audience this holiday season:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CIyFVf7FmW5/
8. Countdown to New Years
After a particularly rough 2020, people are really looking forward to the New Year and hopefully a fresh start and a slow return to normal life again. If you’re looking to post some inspirational content leading up to the New Year, host a countdown to 2021 and post a series of motivational quotes each day to help share some positivity with your followers. Pro tip: If you are looking to give your Instagram a makeover in 2021, we’ve got some great and easy tips for you here.
9. Share your 2021 goals
Last but not least, who doesn’t love setting some new goals for a new year? We love the idea of small businesses getting more personal on social media and sharing your New Years’ goals with your customers. Not only can this help motivate you to achieve your goals even sooner, it also helps your customers get to know you better. Need some goal-setting inspiration? Check out 10 Ways to Set (and Achieve) Goals for Your Small Business in 2021 for inspiration.
We hope your small business can use these social media content ideas to make the most of Instagram during the rest of the holiday season. If you’re looking for some more social media ideas, you’ll definitely want to check out our 21 Ideas to Revamp Your Social Media for 2021 blog post. Happy Holidays!
TikTok has only been around since late 2016, but has already become an incredibly popular social media platform! In fact, it quickly turned into one of the most used social media platforms in the world. TikTok now boasts over 800 million monthly active users, making it already roughly a quarter as popular as Facebook. Just as Facebook has become an incredible marketing tool, TikTok too has become a great tool that businesses can use for marketing. If your company is not using TikTok for marketing, then you should strongly consider doing so.
Here are the top 5 TikTok business and marketing trends that you should be aware of:
1. Memes
Memes are very frequently used on TikTok and they are extremely popular amongst millennials and Gen Zs, who make up a large percentage of TikTok’s user base. Memes are oftentimes quite humorous and they also have great viral capabilities. Companies who can use memes effectively can boost their engagement and potentially even achieve viral status on their marketing campaigns.
2. Influencers
TikTok, like other social media platforms, has its fair share of influencers who have large followings. Influencer marketing can be extremely effective when it is done correctly. In 2021, as TikTok’s popularity continues to rise, more and more brands will start to use TikTok influencers for marketing purposes. TikTok influencers can help promote goods and services to their followers. The larger the following, the more power the TikTok influencer has to influence TikTokers to use your product. Some TikTok accounts have tens of millions of followers – just imagine how much influence a person with such an account can have! If you would like to use influencers for your brand’s marketing efforts, you will have to find an influencer with enough followers who is relevant to your niche and who you can afford to work with. Check out the TikTok influencer guide here.
3. User-Generated Content (UGC)
Just like with Facebook, user-generated content (UGC) is becoming increasingly important – and marketers are taking notice. User-generated content is content that is generated by customers and users and which is used by brands for marketing purposes. User-generated content is great for marketers because it is free and, because it’s created by regular people, customers tend to trust it more. In fact, user-generated content converts five times more than brand-sponsored posts. As more and more companies start to realize this, there will be an increased use of user-generated content by marketing professionals around the world. User-generated content is a TikTok marketing trend that companies simply cannot afford to ignore.
4. Branded Hashtag Challenges
A branded hashtag challenge is when a company creates a hashtag and asks followers to submit videos that are related to that hashtag and that feature the hashtag. There are many reasons why branded hashtag challenges are effective as a TikTok marketing strategy. The first is because they have the potential to attract a lot of attention and go viral. For example, Elf Cosmetics was able to get over 3 million user-generated videos and over 4 billion views for its #eyeslipsface branded hashtag challenge. This challenge encouraged people to submit their own videos for a song called “Eyes, Lips, Face” that went along with the challenge. This branded hashtag challenge was to date, the most successful branded hashtag campaign of all time on TikTok. Check out some other brands that are absolutely killing it on TikTok for some more inspiration!
In addition to having viral potential, branded hashtag challenges are an excellent TikTok marketing strategy because they create fun experiences for followers. They also engage followers in a highly effective way. One further reason why these campaigns can be so effective is because they can help draw people to your brand who may not have even heard of your brand. They can come for the hashtag challenge and end up following your company because they discover that they like your brand after checking out the hashtag challenge.
TikTok hashtags are important, get started with your hashtag strategy here.
5. Duets
Duets are another highly successful and unique TikTok marketing approach. Duets involves a brand creating a video and then letting TikTok users duet that video with a side-by-side video, with the two videos played simultaneously in a split-screen. This is another great way for brands to engage their followers and create exciting, new experiences for them. Another reason why duets will be a strong marketing trend on TikTok in 2021 is because it gives brands an opportunity to showcase their products in a way that feels organic and fun to follow. Duets allow followers to participate in something with the brand instead of just get shown ads. This participation can help followers to forge much stronger connections with the brand, which can in turn increase customer loyalty.
Conclusion
TikTok’s rise in the past four years has been nothing short of sensational. It has now become a key social media platform that cannot be ignored. If your brand is not already using TikTok to connect with your followers, then you should strongly consider creating a TikTok account and getting started today! After all, there’s a good chance that your competitors have already done so.
Once you get started on TikTok, start taking advantage of some of the key trends that are mentioned in this article right away. The more of these trends that you can take advantage of, the better your brand will fare. Although TikTok is a new platform, it is relatively easy to use, so don’t feel overwhelmed by it. Just get started and have fun with it!
Instagram Polls: The Complete Guide for Small Businesses
What is an Instagram Poll?
An Instagram poll is a poll that you can post to your Instagram Story to allow your followers to vote on various topics. For example, a poll could be created to ask followers which product they like better, A or B. The great thing about Instagram polls is that they are completely customizable – you can use them to ask your followers their opinions on just about anything!
What are the Benefits of Instagram Polls?
Instagram polls allow you to view real-time data that is highly relevant for your business. It allows you to better understand your customers and to get feedback from them extremely quickly. You can then use the data from Instagram polls to make smarter business decisions. Everything from product design to marketing can benefit from Instagram polls.
Another key benefit of Instagram polls is that many followers find them entertaining and enjoy participating in them. After all, who doesn’t like having their opinion heard? Polls are also highly shareable and if you create polls that are interesting enough to your followers, there is a good chance that they will share them!
Essentially, Instagram polls not only help you to get extremely valuable feedback from your customers, but they also help to generate attention for your brand and keep your followers and customers engaged. For all of these reasons, your business should be using Instagram polls regularly if you are not already doing so.
How to Use Instagram Polls
The first thing that you need to know about Instagram polls is that they are only available to use through Instagram Stories. So, you are going to have to create an Instagram Story if you would like to use Instagram polls. Don’t know how to create an Instagram Story? We got you covered with this Instagram Story ultimate guide. And while you’re at it, make sure to check out our complete guide for Instagram business categories.
Here is how to create an Instagram poll step-by-step:
Step 1. Create a Story Post
For your Story post, you can use a photo, text or video for your background. However, if you are going to use a photo for your Story post, then you should try to make the image as relevant as possible for the poll. You do not want to use a random photo because that will confuse your audience. You should apply any filters, text, emojis, or doodles before you post the poll. But, make sure that you leave some room in the post for the poll.
Step 2. Add a Poll to Your Story Post
To do this, you click on the sticker icon at the top of the story screen. The sticker icon is the square with the face. Once you have clicked on the sticker icon, click on the poll sticker option. After you have clicked on the poll sticker option, you will be given a choice to add your question and a “Yes/No” poll box will appear. You will then be given the chance to type in your question. You can choose any question that you want to ask. Just make sure that it is appropriate for your audience and complies with all Instagram rules. If you don’t want the responses to be “Yes/No” you can tap on the boxes and write in any responses you want. So, for example, if you want your followers to choose between a red product and a blue product, then you can write “Red/Blue” in the answer boxes.
Step 3. Position Your Poll
Once the poll sticker is created, you will have to position it on your story post. You should pick a spot where it fits and looks good. You can move the poll to any area of the screen and you can pinch it to make it smaller or larger, just like you can do with any other sticker. You want to make sure that the poll sticker is large enough to read comfortably, but not so large that it blocks out the rest of your post. This is especially true if you are using a high-quality image that is relevant for your poll – you want your audience to be able to see the image too. So, make sure to choose a position for your poll and then move on to the next step.
Step 4. Share Your Story and Poll
After you have completed the first three steps, the next step is to share your Story with the poll! You do this by adding it to your Stories. Once you have posted your Story with the poll, viewers will be able to see the post and respond to the poll question. If your followers have never seen an Instagram poll before, then they may even be given a prompt that explains to them what it is when they click on it. Hopefully, once your Story and poll are live, a lot of your followers will share the poll and give their answers. If they do this, then you can get a lot of valuable data from your poll.
Step 5. Enable Push Notifications
Make sure that your push notifications are enabled for Instagram on your phone. This way, you will be able to get a notification when someone votes on your poll. Doing this will enable you to get real-time data on the polls. This is especially helpful if you need the data quickly. For example, if you are struggling to make a business decision that needs to be made ASAP and if you want to hear from your customers before you make the decision.
Using the Poll Data
Ideally, you will get all the data that you need from the poll within the first 24-48 hours. If you have never used an Instagram poll before, you might be surprised at how clear the results are. However, even though polls oftentimes show one answer being the clear winner, sometimes the results are more even.
Instagram Story and poll data are extremely easy to use and understand. All that you have to do is look at the final results of the poll and see which answer won. Then you can take that feedback and use it to influence the business decision that you were trying to make. For example, if you set up an Instagram poll and asked customers if they preferred product A or product B, and if the results showed that they preferred product B, then you can focus a larger percentage of your marketing dollars promoting product B.
Other Helpful Tips
One great way to boost poll engagement is to create polls around topics that are trending. For example, if there is a big sports game coming up, you can create a poll around the sports game. People tend to get very excited and enthusiastic about hot trending topics, so you might be able to increase the amount of poll responses by making the polls about those topics.
Another thing that can increase poll engagement is if you use an emoji slider for your polls. In other words, if you let your poll participants respond to the poll with emojis, this can help to boost engagement. This is because many people like to use emojis on Instagram and would prefer to answer with an emoji as to a word.
Conclusion
Instagram polls are a win/win. You win by getting extremely valuable data from your followers and by creating higher levels of engagement. Your customers win by getting enjoyment from being able to give their opinions on things that interest them. Instagram polls are a great marketing tool and they can help you to get a much better understanding of the opinions of your followers and customers. If you have never tried using Instagram polls before, then you should give it a shot and see how you like the results. Many companies are very happy with the results that they get and continue using Instagram polls indefinitely.
15 Creative Ways to Boost Small Business Sales on Black Friday & Cyber Monday
For many small businesses, the holiday season is the busiest time of the year. And with days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, small businesses need to be ready to promote their products effectively in order to reach their customers and drive sales. We’ve put together a list of 15 creative marketing strategies, social media tips and more to help your small business boost sales on Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2020.
1. Host a VIP sale
Reward your loyal customers and drive repeat purchases by hosting an exclusive VIP sale or secret discount code exclusively for your VIP customers. Send out an email about the VIP deal to your past customers before Black Friday & Cyber Monday to give them a heads up.
2. Hold a countdown
Build excitement and make sure your customers are aware of any and all upcoming sales and discounts you’ll be offering for both Black Friday and Cyber Monday by posting a daily countdown on social media starting now! Using the Countdown Sticker for Instagram Stories will help build anticipation:
3. Release a limited-edition product
Part of the appeal of Black Friday and Cyber Monday to customers is the excitement of knowing they got a great deal. Release a limited-edition product that they can only get on Black Friday and Cyber Monday to boost sales for your small business and create a sense of urgency for your customers to act quickly to get the deal.
4. Write a blog article about best sellers
A great way to promote your products is by writing a round-up article about some of your best-selling products or services. Share a little more about why customers love it and be sure to include product photos and videos. Don’t forget to include lots (and we mean lots!) of links for easy shopping! You can then use the blog post for social media content, paid ads, an email newsletter and more.
5. Host a giveaway before Black Friday weekend
Giveaways are a great way to increase your followers and boost organic engagement on your social media channels. In order to build your social media following up before your Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales, host a giveaway so you’ll have an even bigger audience to promote your deals to. For insights on how to host a successful Instagram giveaway, check out our guide here.
Here’s a Boosted template you can customize for your brand’s Black Friday giveaway:
6. Host a flash sale
Host a flash sale by offering a discount code to your followers on social media and your email list. But make the discount code only available for a few hours to encourage your customers to act quickly in order to get the deal before it’s gone!
7. Donate to a charity
This time of the year is all about being thankful for what you have and giving back if you can. Partner with a charity and donate a portion of your sales for a specific product or date to that charity. Customers will be extra happy to buy your products, knowing they will also be helping support a good cause.
8. Add video content to product pages:
Driving more sales on Black Friday and Cyber Monday isn’t just about marketing tactics and sales strategies. Did you know you can also increase sales conversions by optimizing your small business’ product pages? Social Media Today reported that 74% of consumers who watched an explainer video about a product subsequently bought it.
9. Offer free shipping
If you are able to offer free shipping, 2020 is the year to do it. Customers will need to do most of their holiday shopping online this year and free shipping is a great incentive to purchase more. If you can’t offer free shipping for every order, try offering free shipping once a customer hits a certain threshold – such as $100 in their cart.
10. Provide gifting options
With many people buying their holiday gifts online this year, gifting options will be extra important in 2020. For customers who are shipping gifts directly to their loved ones, they will appreciate options like gift messaging and gift wrapping to make the gifting experience personalized, even from a distance.
11. Create a squeeze page
A squeeze page is marketing jargon for a mini pop-up website to quicklycapture emails. Before customers can access the sales you are promoting, drive them to a squeeze page to collect their emails in order to view a web page.
12. Boost video ads on Facebook
For small businesses with small paid advertising budgets, you will want to make sure you’re promoting high-quality content that will give you the best return for your ad dollars spent. With 88% of marketers stating video marketing resulted in positive ROI, you should definitely pay to boost video ads on Facebook and Instagram. Check out How to Create Your First Holiday Instagram Ad in 7 Simple Steps for more insights.
Luckily, with Boosted you don’t need to pay to create professional marketing videos. Check out the app for pre-made templates just for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, like this one:
13. Have a Cyber Monday sale on Tuesday
We aren’t suggesting to not host any sales on Cyber Monday – but have you ever wanted to buy something but got too busy or forgot to buy it while it was on sale? Customers are inundated with sales and discounts on Cyber Monday. Extend your Cyber Monday sale throughout the week to allow customers to take advantage of the Cyber Monday deals fora bit longer.
14. Create a gift-giving guide
With the holidays coming up, finding gifts for friends and family is on a lot of customer’s minds while they are shopping on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Make it easy for your customers to find gifts and support your small business by creating a gift-giving guide featuring all of your products or services.
15. Partner up with another small business
Make it easy for customers to shop small businesses by partnering up with another small business and offering a bundled product that pairs well. This will make it easier for customers to support two small businesses at once and allows your small business to build awareness with a whole new audience.
There are so many ways to make your business stand out during the busiest (and most festive) time of year. And the good news is you can do it without breaking your budget. So, happy holidays, and even happier Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales!
15 Thanksgiving Social Media Content Ideas for Small Businesses
There’s a lot to love about Thanksgiving! Besides all of the delicious food and time spent with friends and family, Thanksgiving also provides small business owners with tons of opportunities to post great content on social media. If you’re stuck trying to plan out your social media content for the Thanksgiving season, we’ve got you covered! We’ve rounded up 15 Thanksgiving-themed content ideas for small businesses to post on social media.
1. Say thanks to your customers
Write a short thank you note to your customers and share it on social media. Thanksgiving is all about being thankful so don’t forget to let your customers know how thankful you are for their support, especially during these past few months.
2. Create a ‘thankful” discount code
Another way to say thank you to your customers is by giving them a discount! Drive people from your social media platforms to your website by sharing a Thanksgiving-themed discount code valid before and/or on Thanksgiving.
3. Poll: Favorite Thanksgiving food
Thanksgiving is all about being thankful – but of course, it’s also all about the food. Create an Instagram Story poll to ask your followers to vote on their favorite foods for Thanksgiving. Not only is this a fun quiz for your fans but it’s a great way to boost engagement rates.
4. Thankful quote
You’ll likely be busy enough on Thanksgiving day, so prepare a quick graphic or video with a nice quote about being thankful and schedule it to go live on Thanksgiving morning. This way you won’t forget to post on Thanksgiving and you’ll be providing sharable content that your customers might even repost! Check out The Oprah Magazine’s list of 50 Thanksgiving Quotes to Share With Your Family for some inspiration.
5. Create a video
Videos are a super engaging content format. Never created a video for social media before? It doesn’t need to be complicated! Try downloading Boosted, the video creation app with professional, ready-to-go templates.
Here’s a video that you can customize for your brand using Boosted:
Love cooking? Everyone is always looking for yummy, new Thanksgiving recipes to try out. Share one of your family’s favorite Thanksgiving recipes and you could even create a survey for your followers to share their favorite recipes with you!
8. Tips to get through the day
As amazing as it is to spend the day surrounded by family and delicious food, Thanksgiving can also be a little bit of a stressful day. Between cooking, cleaning and spending a little too much time with the in-laws… Thanksgiving can be a long day. Share a few tips with your customers on how to ‘survive’ the holiday.
9. Promote your upcoming holiday sales
While there’s a ton of fun content to post for Thanksgiving, don’t forget about using social media platforms to help your small business drive more sales during the holiday season! Leading up to the last week of November, be sure to promote any Thanksgiving, Black Friday or Small Business Saturday sales.
Check out this Boosted video template that you can use to promote your upcoming sales:
10. Host a Thanksgiving themed contest
Who doesn’t love a social media contest? Say thanks to your customers by hosting a Thanksgiving-themed social media giveaway contest. The prize doesn’t need to be big and contests are a great way to boost organic engagement on your social media platforms. Check out our guide here for full insights on how to run a successful Instagram giveaway.
11. Share what you are thankful for
Let your customers know what you are thankful for this year (besides them of course!). 2020 hasn’t been an easy year for small businesses, so it’s extra important to take note of things you are thankful for, like your health.
12. Raise money for a homeless shelter
Social media is not only a powerful tool for small businesses to make sales, it can also be an effective way to raise money for a good cause. Utilize your social media connections to raise money for a homeless shelter to help provide a Thanksgiving meal to those in need.
13. Share fall-themed product photos/videos
If you are a product-based business, a super easy form of content to create for Thanksgiving is fall-themed product photos or videos. Simply go outside, collect some fall leaves and snap a few photos of your product staged with all of the pretty fall decor.
14. Promote your small business with a video ad
Don’t forget about paid social media ad opportunities for Thanksgiving! We recommend creating a new, custom Thanksgiving-themed video to pay to promote on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Check out How to Create Your First Holiday Instagram Ad in 7 Simple Steps for insights on how to create your first ad.
15. Celebrate Small Business Saturday
Shortly after Thanksgiving comes Small Business Saturday – and it’s the perfect holiday for small businesses to celebrate! Don’t forget to create a post to share on November 28, 2020 to celebrate the occasion. Kick your content up a level by sharing a discount code with your social media followers.
We hope these Thanksgiving-themed content ideas will help you fill your social media calendar with tons of great content that your customers will love to engage with.
How to Create Your First Holiday Instagram Ad in 7 Simple Steps
Have you created an Instagram ad yet for the holiday season? If not, now’s the time to get started! Just because you’re a small business owner with a small advertising budget, doesn’t mean that you can’t create a successful ad campaign for the holiday season.
Advertising on Instagram – even with a small amount invested – can go a long way and offer great return on investment for small businesses this holiday season. With over 1 billion total active Instagram users each month and a potential advertising reach of 928 million users, small businesses definitely don’t want to miss out on the opportunity to reach new customers and drive sales this holiday season by testing out Instagram ads.
So, are you ready to create your first Instagram ad for the 2020 holiday season? It’s easy to do, and you don’t even need an Instagram account to create Instagram ads. Simply head to Facebook and log into your Ads Manager, then select Instagram as a placement. And to help you get the best ROI for your Instagram ad campaign, we’ve put together our top seven tips to successfully create your first holiday Instagram ad.
1. Create Engaging Visuals
The most engaging type of visuals for Instagram ads is definitely video content. Small businesses who invest in video content for Instagram ads will get the best ROI –70% of marketers reported more conversions with marketing videos than any other type of content. Luckily, creating new, custom video content doesn’t need to be expensive or complicated – simply download Boosted, the video making app with ready-to-go templates, stock videos and more for professional marketing videos in just a few minutes.
Here’s an example of the type of holiday content you can create using Boosted:
2. Include Text Overlays
Did you know that 85% of videos on Facebook and Instagram are watched with the sound off? In order to ensure that your Instagram video ads are even more engaging, include text captions in your video content to make it easy for your customers to watch the ad and still absorb all of the info with or without the sound.
3. A/B Test The Content
Once you’ve created a few high-quality marketing videos to use for your Instagram ads this holiday season, be sure to test out more than one piece of content for your ads. To do a proper A/B test, only change one element of the ad at a time – for example, try the same copy with different videos. Learn more about creating A/B tests in Facebook Ads Manager here.
4. Create a Strong CTA
Having high-quality and engaging visuals aren’t enough to create a truly successful ad – possibly the most important thing to include in your Instagram ads this holiday season is a strong CTA. Make it clear exactly what you want the customer to do after watching your ad and how they can do it.
5. Target the Right Audiences
Another super important tip when creating your first Instagram ad is to consider exactly who would like to advertise to. Once you have an idea of your target audience, be sure to create a custom audience segment in Ads Manager to ensure Instagram will show your ads to the right people.
6. Avoid The Actual Holidays
In order to see the best ROI with your holiday-themed Instagram ads, you should avoid advertising on the actual holiday. Why? Many larger companies (with much larger ad spends!) will pay to promote their holiday sales on the actual holidays which means a much higher cost per view. Instead, try to increase your ad spend before and after the holidays to see a higher return.
7. Monitor the Analytics
Last but not least, do not make the mistake of creating an Instagram ad campaign and forgetting to check on it! Once you’ve created your Instagram ads, it’s important to log back in and monitor the ad analytics to see how your holiday Instagram ads are performing. If one of the ads isn’t performing well, consider pausing that ad and increasing the spend of an ad that is doing better. Learn more about monitoring Instagram ad analytics here.
We hope these 7 easy tips will help you successfully create your first Instagram ad of the holiday season! And even if you are only able to invest a small budget on Instagram ads this year, follow these tips to create Instagram ads with the best ROI for your small business and drive more sales this holiday season.
50 Instagram Marketing Tips for Small Businesses in 2021
Instagram is a new marketing frontier for small businesses that has the potential to bring in many new customers in 2021 and beyond. As of July 2019, it was ranked #6 among the world’s most popular social networks, with over 1 billion users worldwide. Users love it for its strong visual focus and upbeat vibe.
The key to successfully utilizing Instagram marketing in 2021, as with other social networks, is building an engaged following and positioning yourself as part of the online community which could very quickly become your future customer base. If you are a small business owner finding yourself wondering how to do Instagram marketing, you’re in the right spot! We’ve rounded up 50 of our top Instagram tips for small business owners.
Here are 50 tips to successfully market your small business on Instagram in 2020:
1. Use a business account
When joining Instagram, you can select whether your account will be a personal account or a business account. The latter is ideal for business because it allows you to view analytics, connect your account with your Facebook page, run paid advertisements, and it makes it easier for followers to contact you. Starting off with a separate business account is crucial towards establishing your brand presence and will allow you to strategize and implement many of our Instagram marketing tips for all small businesses.
Check out this blog for everything you need to know about switching to an Instagram Business Account.
2. Fill in your bio
Instagram gives you 150 characters to tell potential followers everything they need to know about you. Use this space wisely. You can include hashtags in the bio, which can help more people find your profile. Make sure to include a link to your website.
3. Update your bio
As a small business on Instagram, it’s easy to fill in your bio and forget about it. If you haven’t updated your bio for awhile, it’s always good practice to review your Instagram bio and see if there’s any important updates that need to be made.
4. Establish your identity and look
Because Instagram is such a visual platform, the “look” of your profile matters. You want your followers to immediately associate your content with your brand. Using certain color palettes and fonts can help with this, as well as a certain style of image that’s consistent with your message.
5. See what your competitors are doing
Not sure where to start? See what other small and medium businesses like yours are up to on Instagram and draw on their ideas for inspiration. Take note of the kind of content they post, the hashtags they use, their visual language, and so on. You can also check to see how well they’re doing: how many followers do they have? How much engagement do they get on their posts? This will tell you how well their Instagram marketing strategy is working and give you ideas for things to do and not to do when planning out your own Instagram marketing strategy.
6. Create content pillars
Now that you’ve done your Instagram marketing research, there is one more step before you can begin planning your content. A key Instagram tip for your small business, is to create content pillars. Create a few themes for the types of content you plan to post about as part of your 2020 Instagram marketing strategy as a guide when scheduling your content.
7. Plan your content
Once you’ve created your content pillars, it’s time to decide what content you want to post and to be strategic about it: plan what you’re going to post at least on a weekly basis, if not for several weeks at a time.
8. Use hashtags strategically
Hashtags are one of Instagram’s most important features for businesses. They make it possible for people who don’t follow you to discover your content. Research has shown that using 7 or 30 hashtags per post performs best, but that it varies depending on how many followers you have. Instagram recently added a feature allowing you to see how many people found your post through the hashtags. This can help you measure how effective your hashtags are at generating engagement. Don’t underestimate #hashtag strategy as a really powerful Instagram marketing tip for small businesses! Check out this blog for 7 quick tips to building an Instagram hashtag strategy.
9. Put hashtags in the comments section
Now that you know one of our top Instagram tips for a small business is to use hashtags strategically, there is one more tip you should test out. In order to keep your Instagram captions clean and easy to read, we recommend placing all of your hashtags as the first comment immediately after posting.
Here’s a post from @boosted_social that has the relevant hashtags placed in the first comment:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CBLh9KanS7T/
10. Test out new hashtags frequently
Last but not least, we can’t talk about the importance of including hashtags without sharing how important it is to test out new hashtags frequently. Create several lists of hashtags you like to use and periodically test out using different hashtags. Be sure to keep note of which posts and hashtags perform best to get the most out of this Instagram tip!
11. Use line breaks in long Instagram captions
If you have a long Instagram caption you need to use line breaks to make it easier for your customers to read the caption. If your small business has been using Instagram for a long time already, you might already know that inserting spaces in the Instagram app can actually be really difficult. The easiest way to create line breaks in your Instagram captions is by using symbols between the lines.
12. Embrace Instagram Stories
The Stories feature on Instagram has been making a huge splash and can definitely help a small business Instagram page. Stories appear at the top of followers’ feeds, which makes them stand out — and they’re a lot more dynamic than regular feed posts, with tons of cool features. You can post multiple Stories a day without cluttering up your followers’ feeds. Stories should be an integral part of your Instagram marketing strategy.
Check out this post for more insights on Instagram Stories.
13. Use video
Instagram isn’t just for stills! Videos are more engaging and fun, and you have multiple ways to post them on Instagram. Clips of up to 1 minute can be shared on the feed, 15-second clips can be strung together on Stories, and there’s even IGTV, the new feature that allows you to post videos of up to 10 minutes in length. Check out this blog for tips on how to create video content for Instagram, even if you’re just getting started.
You can also try out Boosted to create videos for Instagram – fast! Here’s a Father’s Day template from the app that you could customize for your brand:
14. Don’t be shy about direct messages
Direct messaging is more intimate than public discussion and may be considered more invasive. However, there are cases where it’s appropriate and can help your small business market on Instagram by building better relationships with your customers. For example, if someone writes a post or comment praising your business, sending a DM to thank them is a nice personal gesture. On the flip side, if someone says something negative or posts a negative review, moving the conversation to DM helps keep it out of the public eye and shows the customer that you’re taking their concerns seriously. Learn more about how to use Instagram direct messages here.
15. Actively engage with other users’ content
If you really want a strong presence on Instagram in 2021, you need to do more than simply post your own content. Interacting with other people’s posts and comments shows you are sincerely interested in your and not just trying to get their business.
16. Respond to comments
One of the most important tips for a small business learning how to do Instagram marketing is to always respond to comments. Don’t make the mistake of simply posting and forgetting about your post. Be sure to always respond to comments on your posts – your customers will appreciate the response and it shows that you care.
17. Engage actively
An Instagram business tip that is important for companies and influencers of all sizes is to actively engage with other Instagram accounts. Follow interesting accounts, like and comment on other people’s posts. The more they see you in their notifications, the more often they will think of you. And the more your customers are thinking of you, the more your small business will grow on and off of Instagram.
18. Encourage engagement with questions
The next level of engagement is posting content that encourages your followers to engage. For example, ask your followers to answer a question about themselves, or to tag another user who they think needs to see your message.
19. Use Stories to post interactive content
On Stories, you can do even more with this: use the emoji slider, quizzes, questions, and chats to get your followers actively interacting with your content. It’s always been important to create engaging content but with the rise of popularity of Stories, it is more important than ever to use stories to post interactive content as part of your 2021 Instagram marketing strategy.
Check out this blog to discover 3 things that might be negatively impacting your Story engagement – as well as how to fix each one.
20. Add calls to action wherever you can
This next tip isn’t only a great Instagram marketing tip for a small business, it’s also an important sales tip. It’s key to make it as easy as possible for your followers to move to the next stage of the sales funnel. Be straightforward and tell them what you’d like them to do next, such as clicking the link in your bio to learn more.
21. Post at peak times
Posting your content at times of highest traffic means you’re likely to get more engagement and interest. How do you know when is the best time to post? It varies, according to the nuances of your specific audience, and the best way to know the ideal time to post is to experiment and see what works best. Sprout Social conducted an experiment like this and found that the best times to post on Instagram were on Wednesdays at 11 a.m. and Friday between 10–11 a.m.
22. Collaborate with influencers and small businesses
When you collaborate with other businesses and influencers on social media, everybody wins. Having another Instagrammer review your product, run a competition with you, take over your account, or work with you to create joint content exposes you to a wider audience and can be lots of fun to launch!
23. Use paid ads
Even with all the above efforts, it can be a challenge for small businesses to reach new audiences organically on Instagram. A little paid advertising can go a long way. Instagram ads allow you to target very specific audiences, increasing your exposure to the people most likely to be interested in what you have to offer. This generates excellent conversion rates and often proves a good investment.
24. Craft unique content for Instagram
It makes life a lot easier to reuse the same content across all social networks, but this will get boring for people who follow you on multiple platforms. Furthermore, if they engage with that content on Twitter or Facebook, they probably won’t engage with the same thing on Instagram. You can still reuse content, but change it up a little: add a unique caption or alter the image a bit. And every so often, try to post something that’s exclusive to Instagram.
Instagram Story templates are a great way to create content that’s unique for IG – here’s everything you need to know about them.
25. Repost content with proper credit
While it’s great to create unique, high-quality content yourself for Instagram, as a small business you might not always have time to create content just for Instagram. A great Instagram marketing tip for small businesses especially is to repost content you like from other accounts, with proper credit of course. This not only helps solve the dilemma of what to post but this always helps you get on the original creator’s radar and they will appreciate the shout-out. Who knows, they might even repost your Instagram post and give your small business a shout-out too!
26. Offer exclusive discounts to Instagram followers
Nothing will make potential clients want to follow your Instagram account more than exclusive offers and discounts. Not only are unique offers likely to bring in new followers, they will also entice loyal followers from other platforms to follow you on Instagram, too — and that’s good news for your profile, because loyal followers who are already familiar with your brand are more likely to engage with your content.
27. Focus some of your content on your location
Especially if your business depends on a local market, put yourself on the map! Post photos of your daily life, your engagement with the local community, and recognizable local landmarks — and be sure to include some local hashtags. This will strengthen your brand image as a contributor to your immediate area. Check out this blog for Instagram marketing tips on how to reach local customers on Instagram as a small business.
28. Geotag your posts
Another powerful way to increase your Instagram small business’s connection with the local area is to tag your location in your feed posts and Stories. Geotagging will ensure that your content shows up in the results when people are searching for content from your area. To geotag a feed post, add your location on the caption editor page; to geotag a Story, use the location sticker.
29. Find potential customers by their location
Not only should you be geo-tagging your own content, but you should be finding potential customers through geo-tagged locations. Look up posts tagged in your city, tags for local businesses nearby or similar to yours and engage with those posts. Interact with content by location to strategically build Instagram follow base and find people who are most likely to become a future customer.
30. Up your photography game
The higher-quality your images are, the more professional your Instagram profile will look… and you don’t need to be a professional photographer to produce captivating images. Most smartphones have excellent cameras — and with just a little basic photography know-how, you can make your photos look amazing. Do a little research or consider taking a class to learn about the basics: lighting, composition, and so on. It’ll make a big difference. Another thing that will take your images up a level is learning to use a photo editor. You can use the native filters and editing capabilities on Instagram, or you can try your hand with something a little more sophisticated, like Photofox. Check out this Instagram Story Dimensions & Resolution Guide to ensure that all of the photos you add to your Stories are a perfect fit for your Instagram business page.
31. Craft compelling copy
Engaging copy in your photo captions and bio is no less important than high-quality images. If nothing else, double (and triple!) check your text before posting to ensure that you don’t have any embarrassing typos or grammar mistakes.
32. Use Highlights
The Highlights feature allows you to select collections of Stories to display right on your profile page. They’re a great way to showcase what your business is all about, and to get more mileage on the excellent content you produce for your Stories.
33. Announce new posts in your Stories
While we are talking about ways to use Stories to market your small business on Instagram, don’t forget to alway announce a new post on your Instagram feed in your Stories. Some of your customers might watch all of your Stories but may not see all of your Instagram posts in their feed. By sharing a new post on your Instagram Story, it’s an easy Instagram marketing tip for a small business to increase engagement on a post. Learn how to share a post from feed to your Instagram Story here.
34. Give shout-outs
While we are on the topic of shout-outs, one of our favorite and unique Instagram marketing tips for a small business to test out in 2021 is giving shout-outs to fellow small businesses. When you give a shout-out on Instagram it’s key to properly tag the accounts. Learn how to tag a small business on Instagram here.
35. Post about current events
Maybe one of the top Instagram marketing tips for 2021 is to post about current events. Traditionally, brands might have decided to not ‘get political’ but now it’s key to take a stance and post about current events as part of your 2021 Instagram marketing strategy – whether you are a big brand or a small business.
36. Keep an eye out for trends
This is another point where staying engaged with your followers and watching competitors and influencers comes in handy: there are trends in social media, and staying on top of them will keep your brand hot and relevant. Whether it’s a certain meme, a hashtag campaign, or specific types of content, adding your brand’s voice to the conversation can do a lot for your small business.
37. Organize a giveaway
Yes, giveaways are still a great Instagram marketing tip in 2021! Giveaways are a tried-and-true method of growing your following and increasing engagement. You can offer a free product, service, or coupon to be selected at random from users who follow your instructions. Asking them to tag a friend to enter the contest will help increase your exposure.
38. Monitor your following and keep tabs on your small business analytics
For small businesses just learning how to do Instagram marketing, you might not know where to start when looking at your small business’ Instagram analytics. To start, Instagram provides insights on your stats in the Insights page for Instagram business profiles — and you can learn a lot from watching them methodically. It will help you see what strategies are most effective: what kind of content creates the most engagement, optimal timing for posting new content, and lots more.
39. Follow new accounts
We already touched on following new Instagram accounts and engaging with them but this Instagram marketing tip deserves a bit more detailed explanation of why your small business should incorporate this Instagram growth tip as part of your marketing strategy going forward. Following new accounts helps you connect with more potential customers and puts you on the radar – often times people will follow you back right away and if not, they might follow you back after you like and comment on their content regularly.
40. Periodically unfollow accounts
And while we are talking about why you should follow new accounts, it’s also important for your small business to unfollow Instagram accounts periodically. This doesn’t need to be part of your small business marketing strategy everyday but this is something that you should do on a monthly basis. Go through your followers and unfollow any accounts that you do not engage with on a regular basis. In 2021, Instagram released a new feature called ‘least interacted with’ which makes this Instagram marketing tip extremely easy to do!
41. Use Instagram ‘save’ feature to save content you love
Did you know you can save content on Instagram similar to Pinterest? Use the Instagram ‘save’ feature to save content that you love, either as inspiration or content that you would like to repost eventually. Learn everything you need to know about Instagram Saves here.
42. Ask people to save your content for algorithm boost
One interesting 2021 Instagram marketing tip is to encourage your followers to save your content. It’s been said that content that has been saved is viewed as more valuable to the Instagram algorithm. So one way to give your small business a marketing boost on Instagram in 2021 is to ask your followers to save your content. Even better if you turn this into a giveaway!
43. Feature your Instagram account on your website
Is your small business already doing this super easy Instagram marketing tip? If not, be sure to make it easy for your customers to find your Instagram account on your website. This is a super simple Instagram marketing tip for small businesses to grow their Instagram followers.
44. Post important updates often
One reason people choose to follow a small business on Instagram is to get regular updates about your business. For example, have you changed your store hours? Are you hosting a sale? These are all things your customers need to know and it’s important to post about these updates when you are posting about your small business on Instagram.
45. Give sneak peeks
One of the easiest Instagram tips for a small business to market their products is to give their Instagram followers a sneak peek. Whether it’s an exclusive sneak peek of a new product or a tour of your work space, your followers will enjoy seeing a behind-the-scenes glimpse of your company and they will have another reason to keep following you.
46. Post consistently
For anyone just learning how to do Instagram marketing, our number one Instagram marketing tip in 2021 is to post consistently. Posting regularly and consistently helps keep your followers engaged and ensures your content will continue to show up in your customer’s Instagram feeds.
47. Dedicate a set time for social media every day
A great way to ensure your small business is able to keep up with your 2021 Instagram marketing plan is to set aside a dedicated time each day to work on social media. Whether you use this time to post on Instagram, respond to comments or create content for your small business to post on Instagram, it will be easier to post consistently if it’s part of your daily schedule.
48. Interact with stories
It’s very easy to respond with quick emojis to others Instagram stories. Easy way to interact frequently and stay top of mind with your customers. This lets them know you are watching their stories and you care about what they post.
49. Build relationships with influencers
As a small business you might not have the budget to pay for influencers as part of your 2021 Instagram marketing but this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t build relationships with them. Find local influencers and engage with their content frequently. After you’ve built a relationship with them through their comment section, DMs and stories you could ask them if it would be okay to send them a free sample.
50. Have fun!
And last but not least, don’t forget to have fun with it! Yes, there can be a lot of work involved when utilizing Instagram to market your small business but this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be able to have fun while doing it! If you aren’t having fun posting about your small business on Instagram anymore, maybe you can try to change up your schedule to still post consistently but less often. Or maybe it’s time to hire someone to help out with some of the social media marketing tasks so you can only focus on the Instagram marketing strategies that you do enjoy.
Check out some advanced Instagram marketing strategies & tips for small businesses:
9 Common Instagram Caption Mistakes That Tank Engagement: If you’re a small biz struggling to meet your engagement goals on IG, captions just might be the culprit. Learn about 9 caption mistakes that may be preventing your posts from reaching their full engagement potential.
3 Ways to Measure Your Brand’s ROI on Instagram: Small businesses have to stretch a dollar in order to succeed on social media – this guide will show SMB owners who to measure their Instagram ROI to ensure they are getting full value.
How to View Instagram Stories Without Anyone Knowing: You may want to view an IG Story without anyone knowing. Whether its a competing local business or you just want to remain anonymous, we will show you how.
How to Add Links to Instagram Stories: Does your business have a website or products to sell? Adding links to Instagram Stories is an underrated IG marketing tip for small business owners.
How to Delete an Instagram Story: If you uploaded an IG Story by accident, of it is no longer relevant to your business page, make sure you know how to delete it fast.
How to Tag Someone on Your Instagram Story: Tagging popular users and dedicated fan is an underrated marketing strategy for small business IG pages – learn how to do it here.
Instagram Story Questions: Asking a question on your IG Story is a great way to engage with users and help familiarize them with your business. This post shows you how to ask question on a Story, how to answer them, and more.
Instagram Story Dimensions & Resolution Guide: Everything from IG Story aspect ratio, dimensions, resolution, and format, as well as adjusting dimensions and converting files – this technical guide for your IG Story formatting will help ensure that your IG business page shines through on a professional level!
Instagram Story Games: A Guide: Whether you use Create Mode or game-like Stories, you can now begin to replicate what would be categorized as IG Story games, which could be a big hit with generating more engagement from your brand audience!
Instagram Story GIFs: A Guide: Adding GIFs to your Instagram Stories is a great way to make your IG business page more fun and engaging – learn how to add GIFs with our simple guide.
How to Create a Killer Social Media Content Strategy for 2021 & Beyond
By: Cori Widen, Product Marketing Lead at Boosted by Lightricks
In the past decade or so, social media has been an exciting new frontier in marketing. It has so much going for it as a marketing platform: it’s (mostly) free, it’s audience-driven, it’s fun, and it can be extremely effective.
But if you want to use social media to grow your business, it’s not enough to post whatever you feel like, whenever you feel like. Having a well-researched, social media content plan means the time and resources you invest in social media marketing won’t go to waste.
This guide will teach you how to create an effective social media content strategy that will help your brand flourish in 2021.
Align your social media content strategy with your target audiences
Marketing always starts with identifying and understanding your target audience. Who are the people who need your product or service most, and how can you reach them? An accurate customer profile will guide you throughout the rest of the process, and the only way to create one is to do your research.
Gather as much information as you can about your most loyal customers. Some questions to include:
What is their age range?
Where do they live? Both location and time zone are valuable to know here.
What language do they speak?
What are their interests?
What’s important to them?
What challenges do they encounter that are related to your product?
The more specific a buyer persona you build, the more effectively you’ll be able to target them on social media.
Analyze the performance of previous social content
If your company already has active social media accounts, you have some valuable data at your disposal right now. Take a look at the analytics of that platform and pinpoint what’s worked well and what hasn’t. Identify the highest-performing pieces of content and analyze the elements they have in common: what type of content was it? Images? Video? Text? What was the tone? What kind of message did it convey? When was it posted?
Once you’ve delved into the analytics, make sure to tweak your social media content strategy accordingly. Let’s say your company is focusing on its Instagram content strategy. If you have an Instagram Business account and are studying your account’s Insights, take a look at: Insights > Audience > Followers. There, you can analyze both Hours (the average times your followers are on Instagram on a typical day) & Days (the days of the week when your followers are the most active). Study when your audience is most active and then plan your future Instagram content for the hours and days when your audience is most likely to engage:
For more information on understanding your Instagram Insights, check out this blog.
Additionally, don’t be afraid to reach out to your existing audience about whether they’re enjoying your current content, as well as what type of content they’d like to see in the future. You can poll your followers to find out, like @EliseDarma did via Instagram Stories recently:
Research competitors and influencers in your field
Competitors, influencers, and complementary business accounts can provide a lot of useful information and inspiration for your own social media content plan. Some tips on when researching competitors’ social accounts include:
Be sure to analyze:
Which social platforms they’re active on
How many followers they have on each platform
Their posting frequency
The types of content they’re posting
Which content receives the highest engagement
Their feeds can also give you ideas for content of your own to develop (just be sure not to copy from them).
You may also discover gaps in types of content provided by brands in your field, pinpointing a niche that your company may be able to fill.
Another benefit of getting to know your competitors and social media influencers in your field is that you can reach out to them for mutually beneficial partnerships. Arrange social media takeovers of each other’s accounts to cross-pollinate your audiences or collaborate on giveaways. Instagram is the prime platform for creating collaborative content like this.
Choose your social media platforms
Before you start churning out content, you should make sure that you’re using a platform where your target audience actually hangs out. Different social media platforms attract different demographics. Research which platforms are most popular with people who match your customer profile.
Here are five of the world’s most popular social media platforms that you should keep in mind when planning your social media strategy in 2021:
Another thing to consider is whether the platform supports the type of content that best showcases your work. Some platforms are more text-based, while others are image or video-based.
Also, remember that your following on one platform may be completely different from your following on another platform. This is great, because it widens and diversifies your reach, but it also means you need to strategize differently for each platform. Be sure as well to look out for new and emerging platforms to incorporate into your social content strategy.
For more in-depth and platform specific guides, check out these social media content strategy guides here to guide you in 2021:
Facebook content strategy: Mapping out a Facebook content strategy can make your Facebook engagement more meaningful for your brand.
TikTok content strategy: TikTok content is a new frontier but with the right content strategy you can grow your TikTok brand exponentially, despite video time limits.
LinkedIn content strategy: A solid corporate content strategy for your LinkedIn company page can bring your many new eyeballs and customers.
Instagram content strategy: Instagram engagement is more than just likes; a brand needs a clear content strategy in order to succeed in the busy waters of Instagram.
Snapchat content strategy: Snapchat may not be the leading social platform anymore, but it still has a serious presence: your Snapchat content strategy should not be overlooked.
Pinterest content strategy: Pinterest has a TON of new customer potential if you can sharpen your content strategy to bring the right type of Pinterest user to your brand page.
Reddit content strategy: Reddit is a combo message board and social platform, but there is indeed a way for brands to utilize various content strategies on Reddit.
Quora content strategy: Quora might look like a quirky FAQ portal, but you’d be surprised at how many brands are killing in on Quora simply because they have a clever Quora content strategy.
Medium.com content strategy: Medium is the online magazine that every brand should be aiming for, as a thought leadership platform that can raise a brand’s web presence to many new relevant audiences.
Determine your social media content style
The look, feel, tone, and voice of your social media content should stay consistent with those of your brand. Decide what type of content is a good fit for your business: what are the topics your posts should address? What messages or information will be most valuable to your customers, and how can you convey those things in a way they’ll find engaging?
Set out your SM goals and objectives
A solid social media content strategy requires concrete goals and objectives. What is it you’re hoping to achieve with your social media accounts over the next week, month, or quarter? It’s a good idea to set goals for overall performance — such as increasing your following or website traffic — as well as goals for each individual post, such as click-through rates (CTRs), conversion rates and engagement.
Additionally, it is a great practice to set a meeting at the end of each month to check in and see if your brand is reaching its goals and to assess your brand’s ROI on social media. See this blog for recommendations on how to effectively measure this.
Gather the right resources for high-quality content
Your social media accounts are the interactive online face of your brand. They need to look and sound professional as well as reflect the personality of your brand.
You’ll need well-designed videos and/or images, as well as concise, crisp copy that’s in line with the voice of your business. Make sure you have the resources to produce high-quality posts — and that may include staff members who specialize in creating and managing that content as well as a budget for outsourcing, paid ads, and professional tools for management and design of social media content. And of course, a high quality video maker for ads.
If you don’t have a design team or much of a budget for design, don’t be intimidated – it is very possible to execute an effective social media content strategy without breaking the bank. Here are some tools that you can use on your own to create high-quality social media content:
Use Boosted to create social videos that look professionally produced. You can use your own footage or select stock footage, and then add text and other elements. Here are some examples of the type of content you can create with Boosted:
Unsplash is a great resource for free, high-quality images that you can share across social media.
Now that you’ve collected all this information, it’s time to draw up a social media content plan.
You can develop a weekly or monthly plan, depending on your needs. Chart a content calendar based on what you’ve learned about your target audience behavior and responses, incorporating ideas you’ve gathered for content that will engage them. This outline will serve as your guide for what and how often to post, and should include concrete concepts that your team will be able to turn into content easily.
Here are 4 few different options for creating your social media content calendar (pick the style that works best for you!):
Google Sheets
A project management tool like Trello
You can try out a social media content strategy template, such as HubSpot’s
Additional social media content strategy tips: Facebook + Instagram
As mentioned above, the top global social media sites are Facebook and Instagram. While we do not recommend that your small business be active on every social media platform, these two dominating platforms are likely to be at the center of your social media content strategy. Here are 3 content strategy tips to keep top of mind for both Facebook and Instagram.
3 Facebook content strategy tips
1) Utilize Facebook Groups – Facebook Groups are a great platform for building a digital community. 1.4 billion people use Facebook Groups in 2021! Managing a Facebook Group involves creating content, starting conversations, commenting & offering your expertise, and moderating the posts and comments from the community.
Here are some helpful guides you can refer to when building your Group:
2) Try out advertising on Facebook – Many businesses have Facebook ads at the center of their Facebook content plans. More and more brands are turning to targeted ads to boost their Facebook business pages. Facebook’s targeted advertising platform utilizes its advanced pool of data to send your message to the people who are most likely to want to see it. Check out our guide here for practical tips on how to get started with Facebook ads.
3) Use Facebook as a customer service tool – Facebook is one of the first places customers go to check out a product or service – as well as to share their thoughts about said product or service. Make sure to reply in a timely manner to comments and messages – 42% of people who have reached out to a brand, product, or company via social media for customer support expect a response within 60 minutes.
3 Instagram content strategy tips
1) Switch to an Instagram Business account – Switching to a business account is fast, free and will provide numerous benefits for your brand – including access to Instagram Insights, swipe up links for Stories, as well as contact links for your profile (phone number, email address, and directions). Check out our blog on the topic here for full insights.
2) Share more video content – Although Instagram started out as an image-driven platform – in 2021, video is more than dominating. The options for where to share video to Instagram include Stories, Feed, IGTV, Live and the newest addition, Reels. Here are 3 easy ways to get started with video on Instagram, no matter what your level of experience is.
3) Focus on engagement – On Instagram, it’s better to have 1,000 engaged followers than 100,000 silent followers who don’t interact with your content. A brand can have the most thought-out, impressive Instagram content plan – but without engagement, the strategy will prove to be ineffective.
For optimal engagement, respond daily to: Feed post comments, DMs & Story reactions. Also be sure to engage with others – comment valuable thoughts & insights on posts from accounts you follow & admire. For more tips on how to increase your Instagram engagement, here are 3 Daily Habits you can easily implement.
Keep in mind: While Facebook and Instagram stand as the world’s biggest social media platforms in 2021, TikTok is very much on the rise. Below you’ll find insights about the platform, and you can check out our guide here for tips as you build out your TikTok content marketing strategy.
15 content ideas for your social media strategy
By now you understand the value of creating a social media content plan – but what types of content should you be filling your days with? Here are 15 ideas that you can incorporate into your social media content calendar:
1. Seasonal holidays – there’s a holiday on every day of the calendar year. Obviously there are the big ones like Christmas and Valentine’s Day, but there are also fun niche ones like National Spaghetti Day (January 4th). To find today’s unique and engagement-boosting holidays, visit a site like Days of The Year or Time and Date. Find the days relevant to your brand and create content for them.
There are a number of Boosted templates you can use to celebrate seasonal holidays, such as this template for International Women’s Day:
2. Weekly hashtags – these include: #MondayMood, #TuesdayTips, #WednesdayWisdom, #ThrowbackThursday, #FridayFeeling etc. Two perks of creating a weekly content series using one of these hashtags: 1) consistency 2) if you create compelling content, your audience will continually look forward to the next weekly installment.
3. Regularly share deals & promotions – Try to advertise your sales creatively – for example, create an engaging Boosted video to notify your audience about your upcoming holiday sale, like the following:
You don’t want your entire social page to be self-promotional, so brainstorm how to incorporate your promotions in exciting, eye-catching ways.
4. Plan a live session – At least once a month, try to host a live session for your brand on social media, either on Instagram or Facebook. Remember that live videos are meant to be “raw” and unpolished. Live sessions are also a great way to build social media engagement. For more insights on the topic, check out our blog here.
5. Blog content – Sharing your blog content across your social platforms is a great way to drive traffic to your site. The insights from your blogs can be continually repurposed on social media. Two ideas for how to achieve this include: creating an infographic of interesting stats from one of your blogs or creating a quote graphic of a meaningful saying from one of your blog posts.
6. Create a tutorial – Tutorials are a great medium for content marketing. They showcase your product or service and have the potential to position you as an expert in your field. Check out our guide here to learn how to create a tutorial with Instagram Stories.
7. Share customer testimonials/reviews – Set a time once or twice a month to share positive reviews on your social media accounts. Doing so enhances social proof and builds trust with your audience. This can be a screenshot of a review from a different social platform, a share of a Story you were tagged in or a DM.
Here’s some Instagram inspiration from realtor @maegan_sold_it:
https://www.instagram.com/p/B9j_O_AHm_N/
8. User generated content – Share some UGC, whether that’s a Story you were tagged in or a photo or video of someone utilizing your product or service. For more insights on how to incorporate UGC into your social media marketing content strategy, check out our guide here.
9. Run a contest or giveaway – Giveaways on social media are a great way to boost brand awareness, increase engagement, and build your following. In fact, an Instagram contest or giveaway can help you grow your followers 70% faster in 3 months (compared to holding no contest at all). For insights on how to run a successful giveaway, check out our blog here.
10. Inspirational quotes – #MondayMotivation and other types of inspirational content are continually trending on social. Pick once or twice a week to provide your audience with a #qotd. Monday works best; as it provides an opportunity to fuel your followers with inspiring words to kickstart their workweek. Also, try to avoid quotes that are either overused or irrelevant to your brand.
Here’s a Boosted template featuring a motivational quote that you can customize for your brand:
11. Ask me anything – Invite your followers to ask you any question that’s on their mind. If you have a large following, set a specific time period where you will be responding to comments. AMAs work especially well on Instagram Stories, utilizing the question sticker, or on Twitter:
12. Behind the scenes – Regularly give your audience sneak peeks into your day-to-day life. Show them your workspace, your favorite coffee shop; whatever you think will help them get to know you better. This content style works especially well for Instagram Stories.
13. Provide regular updates – Introducing a new product? Business changing locations? Update your audience on social regularly, as these changes occur. This will help your audience feel ‘in-the-know’ and connected with your brand.
14. Instagram ideas (both feed & Stories) – Here are 50 Instagram Story ideas you can use for your brand, anytime, as well as 37 engaging feed post ideas. Many of these content ideas can be adapted for your Facebook content strategy, and for your other social media platforms as well.
15. TikTok content ideas – if you are working to build up your brand’s presence on TikTok, here are 41 ideas to help get you started.
Pro tip: As you move forward with your content schedule and chart out your ideas, you may want to try out content batching. This process involves planning out all of your content in one sitting. Block out a day (or a solid section of one) and plan out your copy, along with your accompanying visuals. Then, use a social media scheduler to schedule out your content for your selected amount of time (generally 1 week, 2 weeks or 1 month). Many marketers & small business owners find this to be a much more productive system than trying to create content every day or ‘when they find the time to get around to it.’
Thinking ahead: 4 social media content strategy tips for 2021 & beyond
While it’s impossible to know exactly what will happen in the realm of social media marketing in 2021, there are a number of predictions that can be made, based upon current social media trends. It is key to keep these trends in mind as you brainstorm your social media marketing content strategy for the year ahead. Here are 5 social media content strategy tips for 2021:
1. TikTok will dominate
With 800 million active users a day, TikTok is on track to reach the 1 billion user mark in 2021. At this pace, TikTok is set to have as many users as Instagram! To paint a picture of this rising platform, here are a few eye-catching TikTok statistics you should know about (source):
TikTok has been downloaded over 1.5 billion times on the App Store and Google Play.
TikTok ranked as the most downloaded app in the App Store for Q1 2019, with more than 33 million downloads.
TikTok users spend an average of 52 minutes a day on the app.
90% of all TikTok users access the app on a daily basis.
TikTok is available in 155 countries.
Still not sure if you should be using TikTok for your business? 41% of TikTok users are aged between 16 and 24. If your target audience is on the younger side — teenagers and young adults — TikTok should be at the center of your social media content plan. TikTok has the potential to provide your business with a great ROI. You could start your own channel & create content, work with influencers or advertise on the platform.
Even if Gen Z only makes up a small portion of your target audience – or perhaps you aren’t targeting this demographic at all – our recommendation is that it’s still worthwhile to grow your presence on the platform. While it probably shouldn’t be the main social media platform you focus on for your brand, creating an account and producing weekly content will give you an opportunity to establish yourself in your niche as the platform grows.
Here are a few reasons why you should consider growing on this rapidly rising platform as we head towards 2021:
It’s fun and casual – Unlike other social platforms, TikTok content is casual and spontaneous (think: lower production costs!)
Content can be easily repurposed – Any content you create on TikTok can be easily shared across different platforms right from the app, or you can download your content as a video or GIF to use however you like. This means more video content that you’ll be able to add to your overall social media marketing content strategy.
Drive traffic to Instagram and YouTube – You can link to your Instagram and YouTube accounts directly from your TikTok profile. That means that anyone who visits your TikTok page will instantly be able to follow you on those other platforms.
TikTok is showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon, and is on track to continue dominating in 2021.
2. Instagram will continue heating up
In addition to TikTok, we predict that Instagram will continue to be one of the hottest social media platforms in 2021.
Although it’s been a popular platform since 2010, Instagram continues to gain momentum – and users. Instagram currently sees 1 billion monthly active users, and this amount is expected to steadily rise. One of the reasons behind this is that Instagram is continually evolving. In 2020 alone, they have released countless updates to the platform. Here are a few new features that have been added:
“Support Small Business” Sticker for Stories – This sticker makes it easy for users to give a shoutout to their favorite local businesses. When the sticker is added to a photo or video and then shared to Stories, a preview of the small business’ Instagram account appears.
Today we’re launching a “Support Small Business” sticker in stories so you can show love to your favorite small businesses.💓
Use it and your photo or video will be added to a shared story where friends can see which businesses you support. 🙌 pic.twitter.com/D68cAthCtq
Co-Watching – Co-Watching allows users to “hang out” with a friend on video chat and scroll through Instagram posts that one person has liked or saved.
Instagram Direct Messages on Desktop – Instagram has recently made it possible to send DMs through desktop computers and web browsers. Traditionally, the ability to send a Direct Message was only possible via Instagram’s mobile app but now, users can read and send messages, share photos and react to responses through desktop
Instagram’s users appreciate that the platform is anything but stagnant and is constantly innovating to keep up with current trends. Looking to the year ahead – it will be more important than ever to focus on your Instagram content strategy.
3. Rise of video
Video content marketing has become an integral part of every successful social media content plan. In 2019, internet users spent 6 hours and 48 minutes per week watching videos online – a staggering 59% increase from 2016. In 2021, the global average of daily video consumption is expected to hit 100 minutes per day (source). That’s the equivalent of watching 25 videos per day!
And internet users aren’t viewing just any type of video content – 54% of consumers would like to see more videos from a brand or business they support. Here are 5 practical tips for implementing more video content into your social media marketing content strategy:
Video marketing can be cost effective.20% of marketers don’t utilize video for marketing because it costs too much. If you share a similar concern, it’s time to turn that thought process around: from tools like Boosted to platforms like IGTV and Instagram Live, there are a myriad of ways to create social content in 2021 without breaking the bank. For more inspiration, check out our guide here.
Keep your content short and sweet. When it comes to video content marketing, less is usually more. In 2021, viewers will want a video that will provide them the information that they need, faster than ever before. Plus, shorter videos can also be shared easily across more social media platforms!
Add captions! Most social scrollers listen to video without sound (an astounding 85% of people watch Facebook videos on mute!). Add subtitles to ensure that everyone watching will have a seamless viewing experience.
Don’t get overwhelmed by the need to go “viral.” Remember: Viral is an organic outcome, not a marketing strategy or goal. If content of yours happens to receive millions of views – celebrate the milestone, but don’t bank on it happening again.
Check out our guide here for more video marketing tips as you brainstorm your video content marketing strategy.
4. Stories are the way to go
Social media stories have been skyrocketing in popularity over the past few years, and are expected to continue to do so. Stories show the authentic side of businesses and influencers. Brands are expected now more than ever to have an approachable digital and a relatable voice. When consumers see the day-to-day, real side of your brand, they are more likely to want to build a connection with you.
Looking ahead, it will be greatly beneficial for your business to emphasize stories as part of your social media content plan. In 2021, Instagram will continue to prove to be the most popular platform for stories – the feature is used by 500 million users every day (source: Instagram). While Instagram should be at the center of your strategy, be sure to remember that other social media platforms have robust story features as well, including:
Whatsapp Stories (Whatsapp Status) – 500 million daily users
Facebook Stories – 500 million daily users
YouTube, LinkedIn and Twitter are developing story features as well, which you’ll likely be hearing more about in 2021.
Experiment and be flexible
Start implementing your plan — but stay flexible! It takes time as well as some trial and error to learn how to create a content strategy that works.
Keep an eye on analytics, and test different practices to see what works best. Sometimes a little tweak to the timing of your posts, their frequency, or the number of hashtags you use (see 7 Quick Tips to Build an Instagram Hashtag Strategy for insights) can make a big difference.
Social media is constantly evolving and your content strategy should evolve with it. If you do your research and stay organized, you will be sure to see social media marketing success! You’ll create a stellar social media content strategy that will grow your digital presence and generate leads as you move forward with your business.
Social Media Content Strategy Action Items:
Do a short target audience brainstorm. Who are you creating content for? What’s most interesting to them and why?
Set aside time in your calendar to review your previous content. Jot down some notes: where do you seem to be getting the most social engagement or business results? What are the common threads between your best performing posts?
Take an hour to browse the competition and influencers in your space. Write down any content ideas that come up as you research.
Decide which platforms you’ll be focusing on this year. Think: where is your target audience most likely to be?
Create Goals! What do you want to accomplish with your social media content in 2021? Create 2-3 main goals and make sure that you can measure them along the way.
Block off time to create your content calendar. Investing the time now means less time later!
Cori Widen is the Product Marketing Lead at Boosted by Lightricks. She has been leading product marketing campaigns and doing qualitative market research in the tech industry for 10 years.
