Tag: instagram tips

Instagram Fact V Fiction

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One of our offerings at Pursuit is social media management.

We pride ourselves on creating great content, that will engage and drive results for your business.

We also make sure we’re all over what’s fact and fiction when it comes to social media.

Below you’ll find some clarification about some of the myths that have been circulating about Instagram.

  1. Shadowbanning is a real thing…

Nope. FALSE. Instagram has stated, “it doesn’t hide people’s content for posting too many hashtags or taking other actions”. **

 

2. Instagram will “punish” your account if you don’t post at least once a day

What? I’m sorry, how does this even make sense? In Australia alone Instagram has 9,000,000 Monthly Active Australian Users (FB/ Instagram data)*. Trying to monitor all that data alone is a mammoth task.

Instagram is (and always has been) about quality over quantity.  

So think about your style and what your customers will want to engage with, remember you’re posting for THEM, not for yourself.

Suffice to say this one is also FALSE.

 

3. The old “Only 5%, 7%, 10% of my audience will see this post, please comment to ensure more people see this post” post!

Instagram reached out to users via Twitter to clear this one up. They said; “What shows up first in your feed is determined by what posts and accounts you engage with the most, as well as other contributing factors such as the timeliness of posts, how often you use Instagram, how many people you follow, etc.”**

So drops in engagement are due to content not anything behind the scenes.

 

There are dozens if not hundreds more that we could clarify – and new myths popping up every day.

If you’d like some advice regarding social media, give us a call. We’d love to have a chat and share some ideas on how we think this medium could work wonders for your business.

 

Photo by Katka Pavlickova on Unsplash
*= Source
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Liking the new Instagram changes…

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We’ve all had some time to digest the fact that Instagram has removed likes in what is being called a “test” across seven countries. 

In case you missed it, no longer will you be able to see how many times an image (that isn’t yours) has been liked or viewed that has been posted by someone else – unless you’re looking at Instagram on a desktop computer!

You’ll be able to see WHO has liked the post in some circumstances when people you follow like an image from an account you follow. 

The

I think this is a fabulous step from Instagram /Facebook. 

Why?

Because for many of us, (including yours truly) we’re guilty of focusing on the number of likes our content receives rather than the content itself.

Speaking of content – it’s all well and good to post the things we love but business accounts are about the customers and what *they* want. In short, post the aesthetically pleasing pictures on your personal accounts. 

I’m not saying that your business account should be a “hodge-podge” of images, but it should serve your followers well. 

Employ a local photographer for a day, have a plan of what sort of shots you want to get and then you’ll have social media content for at least a couple of months.

So, now that the number of likes has been removed, what will this mean for metrics? 

In short, nothing. 

Some influencers may argue with that point, but you’ll still have the data in the back-end, so in my opinion, it’s a moot point. 

While it’s been called a “test”, I don’t think we’ll see likes come back in the way they were.

My thoughts? In the future, I think Instagram will allow business accounts to see the numbers, perhaps not directly under the image but perhaps somewhere on the home screen.

Perhaps the whole issue is best summed up by this quote;

“Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change.” – Dyer.

 

Insta tips from our Intern

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Our Intern Jordyn has created a list of the ways to make your Instagram profile stand out. 

Image quality is my number one tip. Make sure the image is high quality (not blurry) and it looks good on your grid (ask yourself does it flow with the image before it?) and matches with the overall aesthetic.
Hashtags are a great way to reach a niche audience. Use a few of the most important hashtags where appropriate within the caption and then paste up to 30 hashtags in the first comment of your post.
Stories are a fun way to engage your audience in recent activity. Share ‘behind the scenes’ content or get creative with campaigns and videos i.e. share a sneak peak of your ‘new post’ on your grid to redirect your followers to your insta page.
These Insta tips are important in boosting engagement of your targeted audience and current followers. Ensure you use the best quality camera that is available to you, a professional camera would be the ideal option for maximum aesthetics of your grid.
Instead of using ‘general‘ hashtags, use hashtags that are directed more toward the audience you want to reach i.e. hairdresser and add the location on the end and this way it is easier to reach your niche audience.
Make sure to utilize all the options that stories provide you i.e. the hands-free option is a great way to make short videos of recent activity or a way to discuss your latest project with your followers and overall making your stories look more professional.
Finally, have fun with it, you don’t want to get too bogged down in the specifics!

Instagram Developments

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Instagram is Testing a New, Simpler Way to React to Stories

I’m sure we’ve all jumped on the bandwagon of reacting to friends posts and messages via an emoji on Facebook which launched in 2016. Well, Instragam is trialing just that through “stories”.

As us Instagram users already know, the option to comment on a story which goes straight to the persons DM’s (or Direct Message Inbox) or sharing a story with a friend are both great features but Instagram is making it even easier for us to react to stories through emoji.

friend-emojis.png
This allows you to quickly “react” to a story through a set of emoji instead of filling up someones DM’s.

Only the person who posted the story is able to see this, appearing in the viewer’s list.

This awesome feature is only being tested in selected countries, however, if rolled out to the masses this will be the perfect way to get closer to friends and eliminate clogging up someone’s inbox and make responding quicker!

What do you think?

Is messaging becoming too reliant on emojis?

Instagram Apps we’ve recently discovered

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I’ve been searching for apps to up our Instagram game.

 

Here’s a list of a few that we thought might help YOU.

Hype Type

They Say: “Hype your Stories with automatically styled and designed motion typography.

Stand out.
Don’t use those tired tools that everyone else uses and expect your content to shine bright, like a diamond.

Short of words? We got you.
With the tap of a magical little button automatically pull random, meaningful quotes to give context to your story that may have not been there to start. ”

We Say: An awesome app to take your Instagram stories to the next level.

Adobe Spark

They Say: “Adobe Spark is a free online and mobile graphic design app. Easily create beautiful images, videos, and web pages that make you stand out on social”

We Say: This is our GO-TO app for all things social. Trust us on this one and download the app immediately, if not sooner!

Cut Stories

They Say: “Just import a long video, and CutStory will cut it up and save it in your smartphone’s camera roll as fragments of 15 seconds or any other length”

We Say:  Genious! Who hasn’t wanted their video to stop cutting out on Insta Stories, right at a critical moment?

Also, take a look at Continual which does the same thing!

 

Tell me, what apps are you loving at the moment? I’d be interested to discover more!

 

 

5+ Ways to Improve your Instagram

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The most recent #b2bpc series on our Instagram we covered “Five ways to improve your Instagram.”

So lets jump in to the tips;

  1. Plan. It’s one of our favourite four letter words!
    ✔️
    There are sooo many resources out there to help you schedule your posts, stories – that there’s really NO excuse not to have a strategy for your Insta. ✔️
    Many scheduling tools will allow you to move your posts until you have a layout that suits! ✔️
    If you need assistance with this – Contact US! 

  2. Your Audience – or YOU yes this is about YOU! Yes YOU reading this right now.
    You are the reason I’m offering these tips. I write these to benefit your business.
    Your feedback, comments, likes tells me what you’re enjoying & what’s not so good.
    Ultimately it all plays a part in what you’re looking at right now. My feed. So in fact it shouldn’t be “my” feed, it’s yours.

  3. Your biography is your story. 🏈
    It’s your “30-second” commercial.
    Just like the #superbowl commercials, it’s priceless and the best ones always stand out!🥇
    Check out the @pursuitcommunications bio for an example. 🏆

  4. post at the right time 🕰
    What’s the right time?
    🤷🏼‍♀️
    If you have a business account you’ll be able to explore your insights and get this data. ⏰
    So make time every day to check your insights, write down the best times and post when you have the highest level of engagement!
    💁🏼‍♀️
    Remember to check your engagement times regularly to keep the momentum.

  5. It’s all about the #hashtag !
    If you aren’t following hashtags in your account- you’re missing out on connecting with likeminded businesses and potential clients!🙋🏾‍♀️
    Think for a minute like a customer. 🤷🏼‍♀️
    What would you search to find your business?? 🤷🏻‍♂️Use those terms as hashtags and follow them!

  6. TURN. IT. ON. BABE! 😉
    Your notifications that is!
    Turn on notifications for businesses in your local area, businesses within your industry and comment, connect and watch your network blossom. 🌸🌺

If you need assistance with your social media channels – check our services to meet your needs here.