How to Create an Instagram Strategy for Your Small Business
Whether you’re a solopreneur, an established small business, or a Fortune 500 company, these days one thing is for certain—social media (and in particular Instagram) plays a key role in how you market your business.
But just because you’re aware of how important social media is doesn’t always mean that you know how to use it, or if you’re using it in the “right” and most effective way.
At some point, most small business owners find themselves stuck between a rock and a hard place on Instagram. Feeling like a slave to their phone, overwhelmed by updates and features, and fumbling their way through content creation—all without ever seeing the results they want to actually grow their business.
Sound familiar?
The good news? The solution to this problem is actually pretty straightforward: it’s time to replace all that guesswork with strategy.
Let’s dive in!
What is an Instagram Strategy?
If you’re new to marketing or you’re used to just posting on the fly, the term or even just the idea of an Instagram strategy might be a little intimidating.
So let’s first pull a Webster and start with defining what we actually mean by strategy.
I like to define an Instagram strategy as a blueprint that outlines both why and how you plan to use Instagram to achieve your specific marketing objectives. To put even more simply, a strategy is what connects your goals to your content.
Not to be confused with a content strategy (which we’ll get to in a minute) a comprehensive Instagram strategy should tell you exactly what to post, when to post it, and why.
Does your business need an Instagram strategy?
This may come as a surprise, but I’m not here to try and convince you that an Instagram strategy is essential for growing your business. Because the truth is, I’ve seen plenty of business owners get by without one.
But what I am here to tell you is that if you’re tired of putting all your energy into social media without seeing results—a strategy is the missing piece to your marketing puzzle.
Over the last decade, I’ve worked with dozens of small businesses ranging in size and industry. And what I’ve discovered is that regardless of their differences, there are always a few tell-tale signs that indicate a business needs an Instagram strategy.
5 Signs Your Business Needs an Instagram Strategy
✔️ You’re struggling with consistency.
✔️ You’re posting without a purpose.
✔️ You have no clue if your content is working, or how to measure success.
✔️ You have a kick ass offer, but aren’t sure how to market it on Instagram.
✔️ You’re happy DIYing your social media, but wish you had a clear and data-backed blueprint to follow.
How to DIY Your Small Business Instagram Strategy
If you checked yes to two or more of these signs, it’s time to stop posting without purpose and put some well-deserved intentionality into how you market your business.
The good news is (especially for biz owners on a budget!) just because a strategy is comprehensive doesn’t mean it has to be complicated.
In fact, with a little bit of time and research, you can DIY your own Instagram strategy by focusing on these 5 key elements.
5 Elements of an Instagram Strategy
Goals and Objectives
The first and most important step to creating an Instagram strategy is defining your goals and setting your objectives. Whether you’re a solo service provider or a team selling a physical product, having clear goals is absolutely essential for measuring success and understanding what’s working.
When setting your social media goals, be sure that they:
SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound), and
Informed by your overall goals for your business
Audience Research
Next, in order to understand what type of content you should be creating, you’ll need to conduct some audience research.
You probably already have a good idea of who your ideal client or customer is, but in this step, be sure to outline their specific demographics, interests, struggles, where they go for information, pop culture references they get, and any other important details that will help you reach and resonate with them.
Competitor Research
Keep your research hat on, because now it’s time to dig into your competitors. I recommend researching at least 3-5 (or more if you’ve got the energy!) and asking questions such as:
Who are they targeting?
How often are they posting?
What content formats are they posting that seem to be performing well?
What voice and tone do they use in their content?
What conversations do you see taking place between their audience and them?
What gaps do you see in their social media presence that you can potentially fill?
Content Strategy & Pillars
Now, it’s time to dive into content! I could write a book on content marketing (and plenty of people have 🤪) but for the sake of simplicity, this step is where you’ll define the type and topic of content you plan to post in order to achieve the goals you set back in step 1.
The simplest way to do this is to establish 3-5 content pillars (or categories, buckets, whatever you want to call them!) specific to your brand and your offers. Working from content pillars gives you intentionality with key topics you can return to over and over again to build out your content calendar each month.
For example, if you’re a sustainable hair care brand, your content pillars might be:
Product & ingredient spotlights
Hair care tips and tutorials
Dreamy bathrooms
Customer testimonials and UGC
Content Calendar
Finally, it’s time to put all of the above into action by creating your content calendar! An effective content calendar should be informed by all the research you’ve already conducted. It can be organized by week, month, or quarter, but most importantly, it should detail all the details of when and where you’re posting, exactly what type of content you’re posting, and all components of your content like design, captions, hashtags, etc.
You can create yours using pen and paper or a digital option—whatever works best for you. I love pairing Airtable (for planning) and Later.com (for scheduling) for myself and clients.
So to sum it all up…
Building an Instagram strategy is hard work, but investing the time into creating one for your business can help you simplify content planning, measure success, and ultimately, invest your time and energy into creating content that gets you closer toward your goals.
If you found this post helpful, be sure to share it with a fellow biz pal!
