Steal my Instagram strategy for 2023!
Sometimes the thing that gets us the most stuck is just not knowing where to start. I can’t tell you how many countless hours I have just sat here thinking about what the best approach would be for my personal Instagram Strategy and the Creatorly Media Instagram Strategy. Today, I really want to walk you through the strategy we have established for Creatorly, so that instead of feeling stuck - you can start this year with an already planned-out for you strategy.
Taking a step back
Going into a new year, it was important that we took a step back and really thought about who we were creating content for. When you have been a content creator for a while, you might feel like you have already accomplished this step and don’t need to do it again - but you'd be surprised how often you need to rethink your target audience - because as time goes by and things change in your life and business, your audience might need to grow and change with you. One thing we noticed with Creatorly is that we were mostly only creating content for beginner content creators - which is definitely one side of the course business, as we offer tips, advice, audits, and services for people and businesses who are unfamiliar with social media strategy and content creation. However; one target audience we realized we were missing is established content creators who are looking to expand their social platforms. For example, an Instagram influencer with over 100k followers, but wants to try out YouTube. So, we are adjusting our content to target both beginners and semi-advanced. Since creatorly is a service-based business, our end goal is to convert our audience into paying customers. Now, we of course want to provide free value, build a community and develop real relationships with our audience, but we also want to help these people more in-depth with our services to truly help them find success. Based on all of this, we found a workflow and content strategy that can provide the proper content and involve our team more.
Side note, even if you are a personal brand, you can use this same strategy, just without the team and handling the creation on your own.
The Content
First things first, we had to decide on what type of content we were going to create for our audience. You won’t be surprised that our main focus is 👏 video 👏 video 👏 video!
We are making our main focus Reels and Stories, but of course, splashing in a couple of Memes and Carousels. Let me walk you through a week in the life of the Creatorly Instagram and then we will dive into how we can accomplish this.
Reels:
We decided we would post 3 Reels per week; Monday, Wednesday, and Friday - and we wanted to include our entire team. We have 6 people working with Creatorly, not including myself.
Shelby, our Creative Operations Officer
Taylor, our YouTube & Instagram Specialist
Tanja, our Podcast & Instagram Specialist
Ademusoyo, our Instagram Specialist
Kitsune, our Content Creation Assistant
…and Cass, our Video Editor Assistant
If each of the team members creates a Reel, that will cover us for 6 weeks. Each team member has their specialty, so we normally assign the content to the person who we think would be the best fit for the topic. We create content about YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Podcasts, and Entrepreneurism. We like to keep things as new and fresh as possible, but we also like to plan in advance so that our team has plenty of time to create the content, so we normally get these planned about two weeks out, assigned to the team, and have them complete the week before it’s meant to go live. We will talk more about the workflow in a bit.
Graphics:
That covers three posts per week, but to add variety we post a graphic of some sort on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We rotate between a simple graphic (something like a checklist, graphic explanation of something, etc.), a Carousel Graphic - with a new refreshed Tweet design, and Memes (this could be a pop culture reference or just a funny, relatable GIF).
With these, we only plan these a week out - so they can be more current and timely if needed. Each week, Shelby and I hop on a call where we discuss different thoughts or ideas we think would be a good fit for these graphics and then work on creating them throughout the week, scheduled for the following week.
Stories:
Now, with Stories - I think this is one of the most important adjustments to our strategy. Staying consistent with stories can truly make a huge difference in turning these “followers” into clients. This gives our community a more personal, daily connection to our account - and allows them to engage, ask questions (and receive answers), and interact with us on a more one-on-one basis. But, last year we struggled with consistency and finding a way to incorporate the team into our Stories. Now, we have a system that makes this possible - we use a Notion database for our team to upload images and video clips of themselves working and just living life - so we can grab those pieces of media and use them to create our stories. We will occasionally text a team member asking them to answer a question or provide their advice on something, just to give the photo context and provide insight into their specialty, or we will pair their media with a question box, poll, tips & advice, etc. The best part about this new strategy is that we can also create and schedule these Stories in advance. Speaking of … let’s chat about the workflow behind this strategy.
The Workflow
In order to make this strategy work, here is the workflow that takes place the week before the content is scheduled:
On Monday, the team submits their final draft of their assigned Reel, which was assigned to them a week prior.
On Tuesday, Shelby and I meet, and within our discussion, we chat about ideas for Instagram graphics and future Reels.
On Wednesday, Shelby creates the 2 graphics, creates 5 Stories, writes captions for all 5 posts, and schedules them in Later. Then sends me an email that they’re ready for review.
On Thursday, I will review all of the Instagram content and captions, and provide feedback in any.
On Friday, Shelby will review and make any changes if necessary, and everything is ready to be posted the following week.
The Why
The main part of our strategy is sticking with video. Though we do want to have a variety and include a couple of graphics each week, Reels on Instagram are a great way to engage with your followers and build relationships with them. They provide an opportunity to show off your personality and tell a story in a way that pictures and graphics can't.
Reels can also help to drive more traffic to your page and increase your reach. They can be used to promote products and services, share tutorials or tips, and even create mini-vlogs. By creating Reels, you can showcase your brand in a unique way and create content that stands out from the crowd.
Reels can also help to create a sense of community and connection with your followers, as people are more likely to engage with moving pictures than static ones.
Stories, bring your community members - new or old - a little closer and keeps them engaged even more after they have seen your feed content. It gives you the opportunity to share links, tips, and advice that expand on the content you have already been providing. It also gives you the chance to learn more about your audience - what are their struggles, questions, concerns, etc.
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We are already seeing a shift in growth and engagement since putting more focus into our strategy and can’t wait to see our results after experimenting over the next few months. If you want a simple way to track all of your content, make sure to check out my Notion Content Calendar template - it can be found in the show notes.
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