Earlier this year, Growth Marketing Strategist Margo Ovsiienko shared some great tips for capitalizing on the testimonials you receive from your clients. She’s back today to help you understand the Instagram algorithm so you can tap into its power to generate new business. 

When growing an organizer business, you could have heard a lot about the power of social media. Internet gurus would claim, “Create your Instagram profile, show the behind-the scenes of your business – you will land more work and get rich!”.

How many times have you heard about publishing regularly, posting inspiring quotes, and engaging with your potential leads in comments? Surely, that all makes sense if you have grown your following and everyone is looking up to you as a successful organizer. Sounds like a dream!

However, whenever you start applying all these gurus’ tips, they might not necessarily work for you. A lot of such recommendations spread myths about Instagram algorithms and they seem to work only with a handful of profiles. So what’s wrong?

It’s getting more difficult to stand out on Instagram

You could guess that the Instagram influencers who have millions of followers now, started early – when Instagram was not as popular as it is today. That time, not many would foresee Instagram as a powerful sales channel.

As a result, it was much easier to stand out and grow a following – it wasn’t that crowded before. Also, Instagram was favouring new content in an attempt to encourage creators and spread the word about the new way of sharing photos. Right now, Instagram has become a red ocean of competition – as more posts appear, Instagram should prioritize better to show the posts that drive higher engagement.

It’s pretty tough to stand out, unless you harness the power of Instagram algorithms, understand how it works today, and use this knowledge to grow your organizer business.

Instagram can become one of the channels with the lowest customer acquisition cost where your time in creating content would be the only investment. In this article, we want to show you a few ideas on using Instagram today to have your posts appear on the top of the feed, attract the attention of your potential clients, and, finally, make Instagram work for you and your business.

Instagram algorithm – what’s new?

Starting in 2021, Instagram has announced the company will prioritize transparency in terms of what content is displayed on the top of the user feed. Factors such as previous user interaction with a certain content (views, likes, comments), a post’s engagement, location play a key role in defining what posts users see on Instagram.

Brands from different industries are leveraging Instagram – some of them have budgets to invest in collaborations with influencers on Instagram. While you can do the same, growing your Instagram profile is more beneficial in the long-run and can become a good source of clients.

So let’s see how you can better relate to the recent algorithm updates and create content that stands out.

1. Engage with Instagram Stories

Instead of an old good strategy of publishing more Instagram posts, try to stand out with Instagram Stories and publish them on a regular basis – a few and even dozens of times during the day. As Instagram is focusing more on its video content, Instagram Stories can be a great way to put your organizer brand out there.

Remember to use the tools Instagram offers you to drive engagement such as polls, quizzes, and questions. Don’t make it a one-sided conversation – interact with your potential clients!

2. Explore Reels

Reels is one of Instagram’s latest features; a short 15-60 second video that users can edit, add music, and share on their Instagram Stories. Later, a social media publishing tool, mentions their engagement has grown by 280% since they started using Reels.

Here is an example of this video type to give you an idea of how it works.

Instagram Reels in practice
Source: Later

Reels videos are easy to customize – you can also add some text, draw on it, and use Instagram stickers. So why Reels can be a great tool for an organizer like you?

1. It makes you look authentic in an instant –  you have to communicate your organizer’s work in under 60 seconds, but as you get better at constructing an authentic story about yourself and your business, it will resonate with your potential clients.
2. Share behind the scenes content – show how you work to give your clients an idea of what to expect once they reach out to you.
3. Communicate your services – with Reels, you can add a link, leading to your products and services. With this feature, you can direct clients to your landing pages. Selling services this way is not easy. However, you can offer a free 15-minute consultation during which you can understand project scope better and build relations with your potential clients.

3. Reply to direct messages

Who would usually write a direct message (DM) on Instagram? Family, friends, people who care about what you publish, and who relate to your content. Instead of scrolling the feed (an easy and addictive activity), they bother typing you a message. Direct messages just matter more than any other type of engagement – a like or comment.

That’s why direct messages can be one of the important factors for Instagram algorithms to measure how much your content matters. Your DM activity affects who sees your post and how often.

That’s why don’t neglect DMs even if they come from strangers – respond to them and ask questions in return. Remember that DMs are also a way to pitch your services – it’s much easier to sell organizer services to people who follow you daily and have established a bond with your content.

4. Write microblog captions

Instead of just posting photos on your profile, add a more informative description in the form of a story. Tell your audience about the background of your latest project or describe some interesting hack you usually apply as an organizer.

At the end of the day, it’s not just about getting your followers to double tap your photo leaving a like, but it’s all about building relations and connecting with your audience. As Instagram is showing only the first 125 characters in the feed, hook your readers from the beginning with something intriguing.

5. Refer to Instagram analytics

Be data-driven when it comes to planning new content. Use Instagram analytics to learn what type of topics engage your audience the most. Double your effort on creating more similar content and kill the one that doesn’t translate in engagement. Also, a good idea could be asking your audience about what content they like the most and what else they want you to cover on your feed or Instagram Stories. You can use a poll or survey to collect this information.

If your Instagram strategy doesn’t work, don’t give up. Look for more inspiration and actionable tips – learn from other people who have a track record in building a successful Instagram profile. Consider listening to podcasts on Instagram strategy or reading blog posts from other entrepreneurs (not necessary organizers).

Wrapping up

There are a lot of myths about how Instagram algorithms function. What works for a profile with a huge following won’t work out for you if you are just starting out with your organizer’s Instagram profile.

In this article, you had a chance to read about the latest changes on how Instagram algorithms work and learn about the content that is more favoured by this social media network.

Now, it’s time to test out these tips and see what works the best for you. Remember that copying someone else’s strategy with growing an Instagram profile works only to some extent. To attract your following, create unique and authentic content that you feel passionate about – it won’t take long to gain traction and get people to like what you have to say about the profession of an organizer.

Photo by cottonbro from Pexels