A recent shift in Instagram’s focus requires you to take a new approach to how you show up, the kind of content you share, and how you engage with your audience. As a designer, you need to realign your strategy to avoid dips in engagement.
In this episode, I speak with Leslie Swink, the founder of Swink Social co, a social media marketing agency catering specifically to interior designers. We’ll discuss Instagram’s changes with new strategies to boost Instagram engagement.
What’s going on with Instagram?
Adam Maseri, the head of Instagram has acknowledged that there is a shift towards entertainment and away from the social aspects of the platform. This can have a big impact on designers’ Instagram strategies. It can also explain why you’re seeing a dip in engagement if you’re sticking to the same approach to your content.
What you need to change
While there’s no silver bullet solution to regain your traction, there are a few things designers can do to help re-engage followers such as:
- Showing your face more often
- Using professional images
- Create engaging video
If this is a far cry from your current strategy, you need to get used to these ideas and become more comfortable with “putting yourself out there.”
What it means to put yourself out there
You can start with selfies and sharing thoughts about what you’re thinking or doing that day. You can then progress to videos and lose the text, so your voice is heard, and you become more comfortable with being centre stage. You can also point the camera at something else like your favourite showroom’s trending kitchens, faucets, or tile. From there you can consider turning that camera around and talking to people like old friends. You can also share something that resonates with you and explain why.
The art of storytelling
Storytelling is the oldest form of entertainment and feeds seamlessly into the Instagram shift to entertainment style content. There are many ways to tell stories to engage followers and gain new ones, but it has to be relevant to your brand and tie in with what you do and who you are.
Showing up authentically
Nobody can replicate your personal story, which is the strength of showing up authentically. Storytelling is your own brand using the path you walk, the customers you serve, and your experience to weave an ongoing story line.
Identify yourself as a differentiator
What you’re passionate about tends to be your differentiator, but it can take some time to get to the point where you recognize it. Discussing what you do, how you do it, and interests in your personal life that tie into your passion for design all helps you find your differentiator and define your own personal way of storytelling.
How to find your unique selling proposition (USP)
If you can’t seem to pinpoint your USP you need to search for it by discussing your strengths with people who know you, have worked with you or who have benefited from your services. What keeps coming up? That’s likely your USP.
Understanding Instagram reels
Now, whenever you upload a video on Instagram, it immediately goes to the reels tab. There are also different types of videos, so you’ll need to learn what works best and why. For example, today v-roll is particularly important and popular, so you’ll need to know how to create v-roll to see the best results. It’s no longer just about before and after videos but instead about adding an element of entertainment into your reels.
Do what makes you happy
A mistake some designers make is to get too caught up in the stress and worry about how they’ll come across on video. However, when you do what makes you happy and discuss things that you know about and have passion for, you might just find it’s not that hard to “entertain” followers. You can also use old content and present it in a different format so you’re not constantly trying to reinvent the wheel.
Remember, it’s all about what you know and love, which makes it easier to share content. By focusing on the idea she wasn’t creating content for followers but instead to help, guide and make connections, Eva discovered the secret to social media success.
Episode highlights
Here’s some of the top highlights from this episode:
- 8:56: What’s going on with Instagram?
- 12:19: What you need to change
- 18:05: What it means to put yourself out there
- 21:39: The art of storytelling
- 25:35: Showing up authentically
- 28:53: Identify yourself as a differentiator
- 30:19: How to find your unique selling point
- 32:08: Understanding Instagram reels
- 36:53 Do what makes you happy
If you feel like you’re getting left in your competitors social media dust, you can make up for lost time creating entertaining content that resonates with your ideal clients. Book a consultation to learn how to use storytelling on social media to grow your online presence.
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