➤ What to post on Instagram in 2022: 20 content ideas to try 🎮

If this scenario is familiar to you, you are in good company.

Among other things, the platform offers great potential to establish and nurture relationships with your target audience, as well as features to convert these users into customers.

1. Product Posts

Alternatively, use the posts as a sort of presentation of the products, illustrating their features and benefits, or highlighting what makes them special. Let's take an example from Hyggekrog (ecommerce of handmade candles made in Italy).

2. Shoppable post

Shoppable posts make it easier and more convenient for users to shop instantly from their phone, which increases their chances of converting. You might consider using shoppable posts when offering an offer or discount.

3. Behind the scenes

4. Live video

Here's another type of post that can help you build customer relationships fast: live video. They earn acclaim for their authenticity and allow the public to interact with you in real time (followers are notified with a notification when the live starts).

For best results from live video:

notify the audience in advance, so that your followers can tune in;
before proceeding, create a lineup and do some tests (especially techniques!);
open the live broadcast and give followers time to connect;
if possible, place yourself in a bright area with little or no background noise.

5. User Generated Content (UGC)

Undoubtedly, user generated content (UGC) is one of the most persuasive types of content you can use. Followers love seeing user-generated content on your feed for several reasons:

show that you are in close contact with your community;
shots taken by other people and not by the brand are perceived as more authentic and less biased;
if a user spends time and energy to create a post that portrays their purchase, it is most likely because they have had a positive shopping experience;
User-generated content plays the role of social proof: the more posts, the more orders a brand has received, and the more that brand will be trusted.

You can easily share user-generated content on your page to promote your brand in a discreet but highly effective way. here is an example of Freelancer At Work.

6. Space for collaborators and employees

Do you need a source of inspiration? JM&Sons publishes photos of its artisans behind the scenes, as they work and discuss a project.

By showing this human side, JM&Sons gives value to the brand and also underlines its artisan aspect; the photo reminds the public that the company's furniture is not simply "churn out of a machine".

7. New product launch or company milestones

By doing so you will have more content to share on the platform and you will also encourage users to follow you; after all, everyone wants to stay up to date on the news regarding a brand they love.

As an alternative to this, you can announce the achievement of corporate goals (e.g. 1000 orders processed) or personal (e.g. becoming parents).

8. Contest or giveaway

Do you want to immediately get a great engagement and generate enthusiasm around your brand? Then giveaways and contests are the right solution for you.

Contests get people talking about your brand and can often increase the amount of user-generated content.

For best results, raffle a prize that is interesting not so much to the general public, but to your target audience. After all, anyone could post a comment for a free iPhone, but it's more important to you to get engagement and participation from potential customers.

In the example above, LEIF puts this into practice well by offering an appropriate prize (partnerships with similar companies), making it easy to enter, and marking the post as a PRIZE CONTEST.

In Italy prize contests are regulated by the State. For any form of giveaway, the contest must be registered otherwise you risk incurring fines.

Customers love to get into the holiday spirit. And this is true both on the occasion of important holidays such as Christmas, and for other holidays and events.

Rocket Baby's post demonstrates how effective this technique is: in fact, the company reminds users that the return to school is near by offering their own backpacks at the same time. A subtle and unobtrusive way to do marketing and interact with your followers.

11. Motivational quotes and sayings

Inspirational quotes and sayings are a bit like the cheesy movies we all love: there is so much negativity online that sometimes we just need to see them, because they are positive and uplifting.

To achieve this effect, use dynamic colors and layouts. With tools like Canva, you can quickly create similar images. And don't forget to credit the quote to its author.

12. Funny Videos and Reels

Source: Reel and work edited by Francesca Presentini (Fraffrog)

You can find some free tools to create videos at: Programs to create videos: the 11 best (free and not).

13. Interaction with the community

Many Soultricks businesses are only active online (although many others also have a local presence) and the concept of "community" in these cases can be difficult to define.

If you have an office or a physical shop, you can interact with the local community.

If your company operates in certain sectors, you can address members of the respective communities (e.g. "game industry", "tech enthusiasts"). In addition, some companies may reach out to the global community at large, perhaps by participating in fundraisers or charitable events.

Brands like Gioosto, for example, place the concept of sustainable and fair trade at the center of their mission.

14. Participation in events

Xterra boards, for example, posted this image talking about their participation in the Mission Beach races. This was a great way to demonstrate their role and involvement in the community, which made the company closer to the target audience and more credible as a brand at the same time.

15. Influencer marketing

These may only have tens of thousands of followers, but they are listened to by their audience. They are also likely to be more open to working with small businesses and do not have sky-high economic demands.

16. Exchange of advertisements

The exchange of advertising with other companies can be the result of a real agreement or consist of a simple exchange of recommendations. Whether it's a partnership or a simple mention in a post, this exchange helps build valuable relationships by showing customers that you are well integrated into the community.

By “community” we can mean the sector, the local community or something else entirely. For example, if you have a yoga clothing brand, you might partner with a merchant who sells your favorite mats.

Or, if you have a local presence like GREATS, you can recommend a bakery near you that has an ongoing promotion. Even online customers who live far away will appreciate the gesture, especially as it gives a sense of togetherness and mutual support among local small businesses.

17. Questions and Answers

You can write question and answer on an image with text; and remember that the character limit for captions is 2.200, so you can put a lot of text in the post if you want.

A video can be particularly suitable for answering questions. You can shoot it first and then share it, or go live. If you opt for live, followers will also be able to ask questions in real time and presumably you will be able to answer more questions.

18. Video tutorials

Even a thirty-second video showing users how to install, use, or care for a product can be greatly appreciated. Your customers will be happy to see this type of content; what's more, by showing how valuable or easy to use your products are, you might even make some sales.

19. Carousel posts with more media to browse

As you can imagine, this post format is very versatile. Among other things, it allows you to show:

In the example below, Sage Brush Coffee features 3 different slides with Mother's Day gift boxes. Featuring these related but different products together makes it more likely that users will find something to buy when they see the post.

20. Meme

Eliciting a smile is not for everyone and, above all, it is not suitable for every company. Adopting a meme marketing strategy may or may not be an effective choice, it really depends on the brand identity.

Memes are, by their nature, posts with a high viral content: the closer the content is to the target, the more likely they are to be re-shared, sent to friends... An excellent strategy (and generally also at a low cost) to promote word of mouth about a brand.

Among the many companies that have welcomed laughter into their marketing strategy, we have chosen Arancinotto as an example.

But putting all the ideas we've provided into practice can be difficult. That's why we advise you to create a editorial calendar for social media, preferably with scheduling software that allows you to:

Later is a free scheduling tool (for up to 30 posts per month) that you can use to get started. It also has a drag-and-drop feature that allows you to move content easily.

It allows you to plan in advance what content to publish and when, in order to plan the creation of post materials, ensuring that various types are alternated, for best results.

Conclusion

Ultimately, if you want to establish a constant presence on the platform, you will have to diversify the contents, trying to keep the interest of the followers alive. And a calendar with well-balanced content and lots of different ideas is a great place to start.

Original article by Ana Gotter, translated by Maria Teresa Cantafora.