INSTAGRAM 101 - PART 1/18

 

Introduction

The ways in which we use social media are constantly changing and evolving. While initially a place for users to share photos with their family and friends and post aesthetically pleasing updates for people to be able to see what is happening in their lives; social media has increasingly become more integrated within consumer culture. Social media platforms have become increasingly more geared towards driving engagement and generating ad revenue. Some audiences who are primarily still using social media to connect and be “social” have been more resistant to this switch— but others love this integration. There are a plethora of ways to bridge this gap and encourage all types of audiences to engage willingly, and happily, with business accounts.

As everyone surely knows, Instagram is one of the most popular photo-sharing platforms on social media today. According to Instagram’s own data, over 200 million users visit at least one business profile each day, 60% of users say that they have discovered a new product on Instagram and one-third of the stories that receive the most views are posted by businesses.

As with the social media market as a whole, there has been a shift from Instagram being a social platform, to it being a media platform that places emphasis on unique content creation, as well as business and marketing. This is evidenced by its recent layout change which prioritizes shopping features--at an inconvenience to many personal users but is incredibly useful for businesses trying to sell products via Instagram. While it can seem negative to discuss the poor reaction by some users to this change in the platform, it is still important to be able to gauge market reaction to certain features. For example, some demographics will require a different level, intensity, or subtleness of marketing to overcome their initial disdain for business features.

This article is divided into three overall sections: firstly, explaining Instagram Guides, secondly, how Guides can be used, and thirdly promoting the Guides.

To begin, this article will begin by providing an overview to what the Instagram Guide feature is.

Woven into this article is a discussion of the basics of Instagram. Even if you have been marketing on Instagram before, the advent of new features always means that you should consider what the characteristics are and what, if any, the problem areas are, and, naturally, where the market is going in order to make more effective marketing choices For that reason we will be discussing the other kind of posts that are available to create an Instagram standard feed posts, stories (and of course highlights), Reels, IGTV videos, Facebook integration, and external links. It is important to understand the other kind of posts to understand where guys can truly benefit you the most--and which type of post is better suited for a Guide.

To conclude the introductory section, the article will delve into the pros and cons of Instagram Guides. This will provide you will a clear and detailed explanation of the new Guide’s feature.

The next section will provide a step-by-step side to creating Instagram Guides--the instructions will be basic, yet comprehensive, in order to provide you with the tools that you will need in order to create a Guide. This article will be providing a comprehensive outline of the new features available on Instagram Guides and how you can best utilize them to further your business.

Following this, we will discuss the kind of Guides that you can create: the ability to recommend places, posts, or products, as well as providing some inspiration and ideas.

To conclude, the third section will be discussing how you can promote Instagram Guides and how to use Guides to build your following.

This article will be providing you with everything that you need to know to create effective and creative Instagram Guides to target your audience and increase your business.