Social Media has become a necessity for any online business. One question that I get asked often is “What should I post on Instagram?” At times things can get a little overwhelming and confusing, especially if you don’t use social media on a regular basis. Today I want to share a simple social media strategy that you can use to get started with consistent Instagram posting. This particular strategy was created for an online tutoring business, but you could apply the same strategy for your business… just switch up the hashtags to align better with your industry.
When creating a strategy, you want to outline as much as possible. I recommend creating a Word or Google Drive document and use the days of the week as an outline. Then under each day add your caption and hashtags, and your graphic/video/image.
EX.
Caption: Peace, my name is Olivia and I love WordPress. I also love teaching business owners how to use WordPress and how to make their sites work for them. Now that you’ve met me, tell me a little about yourself. #meetme #monday#tutor #tutoring #wordpress #learning #math #teacher #tutorial #study #maths #onlinetutoring #students #school #mathtutor #teaching #student #learn #tutors #studygram #tutoringservices #privatetutor #online #mathstutor #covid #homeschool #teachersofinstagram #homeschooling #kids #onlinelearning #classes #hometutor #studymotivation #motivation #parents #mathematics #educator #class #studytips
Simple and strategic…right?!
Here is a 5 day Instagram just for you. Each day has a topic and hashtags that you can use. I’ve also included 37 extra hashtags you can use. Remember, you can only use 30 per post
Monday Instagram Post
MEET ME MONDAY – Share something about yourself
Hashtags: #meetme #monday and any hashtags from below
Tuesday Instagram Post
TEACH ME TUESDAY – Teach your followers a skill from your subject area
Hashtags: #teachme #tuesday and any hashtags from below
Wednesday Instagram Post
WORK WITH ME WEDNESDAY – Let potential clients know about opportunities to work with you
Hashtags: #workwithme #wednesday and any hashtags from below
Thursday Instagram Post
TESTIMONIAL THURSDAY – Share a testimonial from a happy client
Hashtags: #testimonial #thursday and any hashtags from below
Friday Instagram Post
FUN FRIDAY – Ask followers to share a GIF to represent their weekend plans
Hashtags: #funfriday #Friday and any hashtags from below
I’ve been discussing social media planning and strategy with my clients lately. I thought I’d take a moment to create a tutorial for you on how I bulk create content for Instagram using Tailwind. I use Tailwind to post to my Instagram account as well as my Pinterest account. It’s the perfect tool to use to bulk upload images, plan posts and join tribes/communities of users that have a shared interest. One way to utilize Tailwind is to install the Google Chrome extension and click it when you land on a page that you want to pin or post to Instagram. You have the option of posting immediately or scheduling future posts. Getting set up is easy.
After watching the video below, If you are interested in trying tailwind for yourself, click here to sign up with Tailwind and try it out for free. If you have questions, do not hesitate to contact me.
Creating posts for social media doesn’t have to be difficult. I want to share my strategy for creating a quick on the go social media post. Today I’m going to show you how to quickly create a post that can be used on Instagram or Facebook.
Step 1: Start with a picture
I always always always start with a picture or create my graphic in Canva first. It works for me because I am a very visual person. If you don’t have a picture to use, you can create an Instagram post sized graphic using your logo, brand colors, and desired font. Regardless of what you decide, keep it simple.
Today I’m going to use a recent picture of my daughter Journey and her big brother Kweli.
Step 2: Write from a space of inspiration
Use your own voice or your brand voice and write. What does the picture say to you? What message or lesson are you trying to teach? Is it meant to inspire or create laughter? You don’t have to overthink it or try to get it right or perfect. Just speak/write freely and edit later.
Here’s my caption for the demo post :
My brother came to visit this weekend and as usual he just won’t get out of my face . I appreciate the love , but can a baby breathe?
Step 3: Hashtag and tag it up
This part is easy. What hashtags are in alignment with your industry? I use tailwind’s Hashtag finder to find relevant hashtags. I have a pdf of 300 Instagram hashtags that you could use to get you started. For this particular post, I’m going to use comedy-related hashtags as well as any baby hashtags.
Now that you’ve taken the first step in creating your new Business Instagram profile, it’s time to focus on creating a profile with purpose. Today we are going to discuss the anatomy of a good effective bio and get our creative juices flowing and get into a little into branding.
Anatomy of your bio
You only have 150 characters to tell the world all about you and your business. Let’s make the best of it. I prefer to start out simple and tweak as I go. In my opinion, your profile should include the following:
Who you are (Titles, accolades, etc)
what you offer (Services, Products, Interests)
how to contact you ( Email, other social profiles, etc)
What action you want them to take ( Call to Action)
Who Are You
Who are you? What title or titles do you or others give you? If you are a Life Coach, then you should include that. Here are some examples.
Life coach, Brand Coach, Social Media Consultant, Hairstylist, Natural Hair Stylists, Master Cosmetologist, Certified Personal Trainer, Personal Trainer, Blogger, Food Blogger, Food Enthusiasts, Web Developer, Web Designer.
What You Offer
What services or products do you offer? Here is a basic phrase I like to use:
I help ____________________________
I help soloprenuers find clarity in their lives and businesses
I help small business owners with their WordPress websites.
or
I create _______________________________
I create handmade soaps and products for children who have sensitive skin
Custom handmade jewelry for free-spirited women
Keep it simple and use the least amount of characters as possible
How to contact you
This section is pretty self-explanatory. This a great opportunity to use emojis in the place of letters. You can either include your other social media account names or your email address:
Example: FB: OneMooresolutions or
Call To Action
What action would you like your audience to take? Do you want them to sign up for your newsletter? Perhaps you want them to check out your website? This is the perfect space to include this link in your profile. If you have multiple places that you want them to go, you could sign up for a free Linktree profile. Linktree gives you the ability to link to multiple sites. You could also create an Instagram Landing page, but I’ll save that for another discussion.
Put the pieces together
Now that we’ve broken it down, it’s time to put the pieces together. I created a fillable worksheet that you can use to help you revamp or clean up your Instagram bio. Click here to download the sheet.Click Here to download the worksheet. Once you complete the worksheet, take action and update your business profile.
Branding
As a bonus, I wanted to discuss branding. This section will help you when we start to discuss Layout and design. In order to create some consistency, it’s a good idea to incorporate your brand colors into your profile when you start creating content. If you already have brand colors, then you’re ahead of the game. If you need help with choosing colors. I always suggest choosing 2-3 colors. I use this site to create color palettes and get ideas. Save your palette and keep it handy for our next lesson on creating graphics and planning a layout for your Instagram profile.
I hope this is all helpful . Contact me if you have any questions or concerns.
Recently, my role at my job has changed. I was asked to take over some of the social media accounts for 3 different charities. It’s a task I could handle, but because I don’t work weekends, I need a solution to automate as much of the social media marketing as I could. My first focus is Instagram because each charity has great images. I also have a word document containing hashtag and topic ideas. I needed an Instagram Marketing Automation tool ASAP! SO after taking a day or two to create a game plan, I had to decide which tool I could use to help me manage this content and schedule and automate posts. Today I’m going to share 2 tools I found that could be used to automate your Instagram posts.
The first tool is Tailwind. I use Tailwind to create posts for each Instagram account ( 2 different accounts) as well as 3 Pinterest accounts.
I use the publisher to upload multiple images. I also use the chrome extension when I need to bulk upload blog posts from each site. It saves me time! I no longer have to download the image from each post and log in. It also has suggested time slots and a super cool calendar view.
I’m very visual, so I love that Planoly has a calendar view and that I can see my previous posts and stats and easily reschedule them or quickly view my plan for the week or month.
I hope that you get a chance to utilize one of these tools for your business. The important thing to remember is that none of these tools can do the planning for you. It’s on you to make sure that you have great content and a game plan.
If you have any questions or you need any assistance with getting set up, do . not hesitate to reach out.
Today I want to get a little more specific and introduce a tool that I use to help me decide the best hashtags to use. For the past month or so, I’ve been using Tailwind to post to my Instagram account as well as my Pinterest account. It’s the perfect tool to use to bulk upload images, plan posts and join tribes/communities of users that have a shared interest. One way to utilize Tailwind is to install the Google Chrome extension and click it when you land on a page that you want to pin or post to Instagram. You have the option of posting immediately or scheduling future posts. Getting set up is easy. Use my link here which is an affiliate link and connect your Pinterest and Instagram accounts. My favorite tool within Tailwind is the hashtag finder. Check out a demo video of the hashtag finder here:
What tools do you currently use to post to Pinterest or Instagram? Post your tools below.
