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Guide To Posting On Instagram (The Dos & Don’ts)

Posting On Instagram

Posting on Instagram doesn’t take an expert or guru. If you know how to use a smartphone or laptop, it should be pretty easy to pick up as a first-timer. While just uploading new content is pretty straightforward, if you want your account to thrive, there are a few dos and don’ts to keep in my mind.

Below, we’ve put together some of our best tips for posting on Instagram. Not only will this help you get your posts to more people, but it will help your brand to thrive on the platform!

7 Top Tips For Posting On Instagram (The Dos)

Create great content

Very few things can affect your success on Instagram more than sharing fantastic content. You need to leave your audience on the edge of their seat and always wanting to know what you’re gonna post next. 

There are a number of things you can do to help you learn about the kind of content you should be posting on Instagram, including:

Plan your posts

A key step that people skip when they get started on social media is the planning stage. Once you have fantastic content lined up, your first instinct may be to just jump right into posting what you have. Well, reel it in there buddy! First, we have to strategize! 

Your social media strategy is like your guide. It structures your posting, helps you identify your goals, and guides you on your progress. 

So, there are things you need to keep in mind when creating your plan:

Find the best times for posting on Instagram

Part of creating your social media strategy is knowing when to post. There are specific times when your content may get the most engagement or exposure on the ‘Gram. One thing to do when posting on Instagram is to plan your posts according to these times.

Lucky for you, we’ve gathered all the best and worst times to post on IG so you can use them immediately:

Preview your feed

Instagram is a visual platform. It’s all about how things look and your priority should be to curate that visual experience for other users. 

Use our feed preview tool to get a sense of what your content will look like before you post it. This gives you control over what your page ends up looking like.

Learn about the IG algorithm

Nailing the Instagram algorithm will help you understand what kinds of things IG looks at when arranging posts for users. This can help guide you on your content and posting choices. Read up on the algorithm here.

Prioritize video

Video gets more engagement on social media than other media forms. To increase engagement, you can include video strategically into your content plan. 

What’s fantastic is that Instagram has various ways that you can share videos like IGTV, Stories, and your feed. Leverage these cleverly and get your audience connecting to your message through video.

Include hashtags

Another tool to help improve engagement with your content is the use of hashtags. Yup, hashtags are more than just a button on your keyboard. On social media, using hashtags in your captions and posts can help you increase the visibility and discoverability of your posts. 

In other words, they make it easier for other users to find your content through searches.

When using hashtags, try and include popular keywords relating to the subject of your post. You should also see what hashtags similar pages to yours are using. This can guide you on the most effective ones to use.

If you create your own hashtag for a campaign, don’t just use it once. Repetition is key for other users to discover the hashtag.

Things To Avoid When Posting On Instagram (The Don’ts)

Winging it

This is kind of the whole reason why you need a plan to guide your posting on Instagram. You want to avoid just posting random things and ending up with a jumbled-up feed… unless that’s the look you’re going for, of course.

Not having a plan distracts you from your goals and makes your content sharing less effective.

Inconsistency

Posting little bits of everything and anything prevents you from creating a cohesive brand image with specific messaging for your followers. This makes it more difficult for them to connect to your brand and understand what you’re all about.

On the other hand, posting whenever you feel like it also creates a bit of chaos. It leaves your audience confused about when they can expect content from you which may mean they stop looking out for new stuff from you. They lose interest in your profile.

Oversaturating

Another downside of not having a plan is that you can oversaturate other users with your content. This can look like posting too frequently or sharing too much of the same content. With a plan, you can space out your posting effectively.

Posting poor quality content

Nothing will put followers off your page more than bad content. Poor quality images or videos on Instagram are an absolute no-no. The platform is all about great visual curation so if your visual content is not up to scratch then you lose tons of brownie points. 

Actually, it could ruin your potential for gaining loyal followers completely. So, always post high-quality, interesting content!

Final Thoughts

In pretty much any social media marketing campaign, Instagram is an important platform to prioritize. You have to get it right because doing so can have incredible benefits for the success of your campaign. 

If you’re an IG novice, use these tips to get you started using the social media platform. If not, you can still use these to improve how you’re posting on Instagram already. 

And remember, if you’re looking for a nifty way to plan your feed and schedule your posts, Preppr has got your back!