How to build a Strong Instagram Content Strategy for your Beauty Business.
Have you ever wondered how those big beauty brand manage to nail their Instagram content? How did they get so many followers? What are they doing to get over 2000 likes on every post? How did they encourage so many users to comment on their posts?
And not to mention the beautiful visuals displayed on their Feed.
It's quite simple. They have Strategies in place that drives these amazing results for them.
I know, building a strategy can be very overwhelming, especially if you are new to Instagram or when you are a Solo Beauty Business Owner doing everything from A-Z.
First things first, you need to know that an Instagram Content Strategy is NOT only posting images on a regular basis, there's much more elements to it, like:
- content research,
- knowing who your ideal audience is,
- knowing how many times you want to post,
- when to post,
- hashtags,
- valuable captions,
- what type of content you will need to post,
- building relationships,
- communicating and much more.
Don't stress! You've landed in the right place!
Today I am here to walk you through all the steps you need to take when building an Instagram Content Strategy for your Beauty Business.
It's really as easy as Starting a new skincare routine. Yes, it is actually that simple.
What you will need:
- A Note Book / Planner,
- Instagram Insights,
- and A Content Calendar.
STEP 1: Platform and Business Clarity.
Why do we start a skincare routine? Basically because we want our skin to look and feel a certain way and we want to take care of our skin.
The same goes for Instagram.
- Why do you want your Beauty Business to be on Instagram?
- What do you hope to gain from building a brand on Instagram?
- What are your GOALS for having your business on Instagram?
Having clarity on these questions will help you make the most of your Business on Instagram while knowing exactly in which direction you should go and having the right actions steps that will take you there.
STEP 2: Platform Activity.
Then we start looking at which skincare routines will work best within our day-to-day lifestyles.
The same goes for Instagram when deciding how many times you should post and the best time to post.
Let's start with HOW MANY TIMES YOU SHOULD POST:
Keeping your daily schedule in mind -
- How much time do you have to create new content?
- Which days are you available to post and engage?
- What does Consistent posting mean to me?
- How many posts per week does my schedule allow that won't make me feel overwhelmed.
- On which days are my followers most active? (This answer you will get in your Instagram Insights)
Keeping your content in mind -
- Do you have enough content for the amount of times you want to post?
- What is your content pillars?
- Will you be able to post a diverse type of content?
- Will these amount of posts per week allow my content to still be valuable?
Now that you have an idea of how many times you want to post per day / week / month, it's time to decide at which times you will have to post.
Honestly, there is no wrong or right time to post for everyone, but there are a few ways to help you decide on the best times for you to post.
- Take a look at your daily schedule, at what time of your day will you have enough time to post and interact with followers?
- Look at your Instagram Insights to see between which times your followers are mostly active, then decide if you will be posting just before those times or during that peek time?
- Take a look at your top competitors, at what times are they posting every day? Try to post just before them or a few minutes after them. - Why? They already know when their ideal client (who is also your ideal client) is online and when they post they will see the content and engage with it. By the time you post your content, the target audience is already online and they will see your content also.
STEP 3: Identifying your Ideal Audience.
The next step in our journey to start a skincare routine is we consider our skin-type and which brands will be best suited for our skins.
The same goes for your Instagram Content Strategy:
Being on Instagram is great, posting content is fun, but you need to make sure that the content you are posting is actually attracting and interesting your ideal audience and ideal clients.
- Who is your Ideal Clients? (Be very specific about them and learn as much as you can.)
- What is their current Struggles? (How can you relate to their struggles?)
- What do they need / desire? (You need to know that your service / products can give them what they desire.)
- What will make them choose your Business?
- What content should you share to attract and inspire them that will also move you towards your Business Goals?
By knowing all of this you will be able to create content specific for them. You will know how to talk to them. How to relate with them and most importantly you will know what content to focus on sharing with them.
STEP 4: Content Source.
Now that you have found a skincare brand that you are interested in it's time to look at their products and routine specifics.
The same counts for this step in building your Content Strategy.
You want your content to be diverse but each should play an important role in leading you towards your goals.
- Decide on the different formats you will use for your content, e.g. Reels, IG Video, Posts, Stories, Carousels and IG Lives.
- Each of these formats will play a different role:
- Reels - Increase awareness and Reach.
- IG Video - Entertain or Educate your Audience in a longer form of video. You can also use IG Video to start a series on your Instagram account.
- Posts - Drives Likes and Comments. If you share a product in your post and your store is linked to Instagram you will be able to add a click product button on the image.
- Stories - Promoting / Getting to know your followers.
- Carousels - Likes, Comments & Saves.
- IG Lives - Building brand transparency and authenticity, Followers can comment and like your live stream in real time and bonus when you go live all your followers will get a notification.
- To ensure that you have a diverse set of content it's really great to have Content Pillars in place for every day you want to post per week, e.g.
- Monday - Behind the Scenes (Where you share your work and talents with your audience.)
- Tuesday - Tips / Tutorial Pillar (Where you share some of your favourite tips or educate your audience with a quick tutorial.)
- Wednesday - Wisdom / Female Empowerment Pillar (Where you share some wisdom on an industry topic or your opinion, or content to empower your audience.)
- Thursday - Promotional Pillar (Where you share any promotions, Testimonials, Give-aways and anything sales related.)
- Friday - Engaging Pillar (Where you share content that will allow your audience to learn the beautiful human(s) behind the business.)
- Saturdays - Entertaining Pillar (Where you can entertain your audience with content related to your business. A trend, A popular topic, style motivation, anything that you know will entertain your audience.)
- Sundays - Motivational Pillar (Where you share quotes, self-care or lifestyle motivation, anything to motivate your audience for the new week ahead.)
Remember that every piece of content you put out on your platform should have a strategy behind it.
- What will my audience learn from this post?
- How will this post benefit them?
- How will this post move me towards my goals?
- What do I want my audience to do after seeing this post?
STEP 5: Extras:
We all know by now that only a consistent skincare routine will not bring the results we want, we need to change our diet and do extra things to improve our health to bring out that natural glow.
The same for Instagram. You have the content you have the beautiful images and videos that goes along with it, but you will still need that extra boost to get your content in front of more ideal followers.
The best and most cost effective way is by using Hashtags with every post.
- How many hashtags will you use per post?
- What hashtags will be suitable based on your account size?
Now what should your up to 30 hashtags consist of?
- Who you are / What do you call yourself. e.g. #hairdresser
- What does your ideal audience call you. #hairstylist
- What do you do? / Niche Related. #haircare / #colorfulhair
- What does your ideal audience call themselves. #leadersinheels / #momboss
- What phrases are they using? #beautyaddict
- Community Hashtags. #hairdressersonfire / #hairofinsta
- Locational Hashtags. #hairdressersla / #lahairstylists
There is quite a lot of information about hashtags and building a hashtag strategy, but I think I have kept you here long enough so I will create another blog with all this juicy info!
Thank you Lovely for reading my blog!
Let me know in the comments what are your thoughts about my blog and if these information helped you. Feel free to share with me any other topics or information you would love to learn more about.
xoxo
Mel
Owner and Founder of Elite Sociale Studio.
Helping Beauty Business Owners to better understand Social Media and how to grow your business online without being salesy!
We assist with Done for you Content Services, Full Social Media Management, Instagram Branding Services and 1:1 Clarity Sessions.
Visit our website for more information: Website
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