The first few weeks of January have flown by, so we should have access to a few pointers and strategies to make the most of our online efforts this year, particularly with Instagram. Short-form is expected to continue as a major trend this year, so you can bet that Instagram will have many cards ready for Reels, but reports also suggest that it may also take a different route and give equal love to its roots, which means more photos. With that being said, here are the top tips to get the most out of Instagram in 2023.

Evolving Vision

Instagram has been going through a sort of mini-metamorphosis lately as it works to keep up with the latest trends and remains a key app for younger audiences. This basically means Instagram will be playing catch-up with TikTok. That being said, remember Instagram’s three key areas:

  • Inspire People to Be Creative.

  • Help People Discover Things They love.

  • Spark Connections Between People.

From a marketing perspective, a key consideration here is improved content discovery, a.k.a. showing users more content from people and pages they don’t follow. This has become a key shift in approach for Instagram. TikTok has made Social Media more about entertainment and less about ‘social’, to which Instagram has made the most progress compared to the rest.

Building Brand Presence

As with anywhere, consistency will have a huge impact on building a brand’s presence on the platform. The aim is to establish a recognizable and relatable presence with each post, for which Instagram offers three primary guidelines:

  1. Have a Clear Goal

  2. Establish a Look and Voice

  3. Create a Posting Schedule

The main thing here is to keep consistency in your style, which includes branding, messaging, and the like. Establish how and what you want your brand to look like on Instagram to help build a more unique presence.

Short-Form Video

As we said, expect Reels to be a big part of this year’s theme. Reels could well be the key to maximizing your platform’s performance. If you can nail your Reels creation, then chances are that will cause your performance to skyrocket. How do you get good at creating Reels? Ironically, we recommend looking at TikTok’s ‘Top Ads’ showcase, since TikTok basically inspired Reels.

You can also make use of Instagram’s new side search bar, which displays the top results depending on what query you type in. When it comes to specific creation notes, Instagram says that businesses should highlight their brand within the first few seconds of their Reels clips. Check out this guide for marketing with Reels for some extra tips. You can also make use of Reels templates if you find yourself stuck in a bit of a ‘creative rut’.

Captions

Instagram suggests following these tips:

  • Lead with the most important information.

  • Use a consistent and personal tone.

  • Keep the copy short and to the point.

  • Encourage action with simple, direct text.

For captions, the shorter and more direct, the better, and don’t forget to always include (if you would) CTAs at the end.

Hashtags

From a relevance standpoint, Hashtags are important, but not to the extent that we initially perceived. Hashtags are more for assisting in discovery than anything else. You need to do a bit of Hashtag and keyword research to come up with an effective list of hyper-targeted Hashtags. Tools like Hashtagify and Google Keyword Planner really help. In a recent study, it was found that the sweet spot is between 3 – 5 Hashtags per post. Take a look at these other key posting tips and always keep them in mind before uploading.

The Wrap

The last section of posting tips talks about scheduling; specifically – when are the best times to post? Well, SproutSocial has you covered on that front. Currently, the best days are Mondays (11 AM), Tuesdays and Wednesdays (10 AM – 2 PM), and Thursdays and Fridays (10 AM – 12 PM).

Put everything together, and you have yourself a working Instagram calendar for 2023. Everything here is just notes, and your results will still vary, but chances are you’d at least fare a bit better with some guidance direct from Instagram itself, fueled by around 2 years’ worth of the latest insights. Good luck with your Instagram journey this year!

Sources

http://bit.ly/3J9tetA