Tailoring Your Instagram Feed to Your Desired Audience
If you’ve ever been involved with selecting photos for marketing, you know it can be daunting. If you’re providing a service or selling a product that depends heavily on great photography, you know that it can get downright overwhelming. Assuming you have a business Instagram account (if not, get on it) you can leverage this app to help select photos.
The key is remembering that you need to choose photos that attract your audience the most, not the photos you necessarily like the most. Sometimes there is overlap, but I’ve found that there is often a huge difference between these groupings of photos.
Your Business Instagram Account
Take a look at your insights, it’s very telling. I tend to look at which photos get the most likes, engagement, website clicks, shares, and saves. Any actions past a “like” can count for a lot because the world of social media is oversaturated. When someone takes the time to engage with your post in any way, that means that image and/or caption made some kind of impression.
Often the top photos surprise my clients. Especially clients that are creatives. Why? Because what we value most is not necessarily what’s valued most by our potential clients. For example, I am so impressed by a lovely joinery detail in a piece of custom furniture. However, a non-designer may not even notice it or know what they’re looking at. Neither of us is right or wrong, we just notice very different things.
If you post photos of yourself, you’ll notice that they probably typically get more hits. People love images of other people, it provides a sense of connection and shows that there’s an actual human being behind your business. That’s why I try to post headshots, I don’t actually like to post photos of myself.
Dive into figuring out what your potential clients or customers take notice of. Take note of common photography content, camera angles, colors, selected photo filters, and so on.
“The key is remembering that you need to choose photos that attract your audience the most, not the photos you necessarily like the most. Sometimes there is overlap, but I’ve found that there is often a huge difference between these groupings of photos.”
Other Instagram Accounts
Are there other businesses you follow that inspire you? More importantly, would you say that any of these businesses attract your ideal client? You can’t see their insights, but you can take a look at what type of visual content they are putting out into the world. I’m not saying you should copy exactly what they’re doing, but do take notice of what their followers seem to love. Do they favor behind the scenes type photos or formal product photography? Perhaps their posts are more quote heavy and it’s about the message rather than the imagery. Really dive in and figure out what makes their account attractive.
Do keep in mind that there are other factors like hashtags and paid advertising that influence the success of many Instagram accounts. But it’s fun to look at other accounts for inspiration.
Instagram Comments
Do some of your ideal clients seem to ask the same questions repeatedly? That’s probably something you should be creating content around.
Pull photos that highlight what people are raving about and images that can answer a particular question. This will not only appeal to your clients, but it will save you time, since you won’t need to answer the same questions over and over again. Further, paying attention to comments can help improve your business in general.
It’s an Investigation
Investigating what your clients value most through evaluating Instagram posts will ultimately help you hone in on the type of photography that will help your business grow. Identifying what makes your clients stop and pay attention will go a long way. It’s not about appealing to yourself, it’s about appealing to your ideal client.
