New Instagram Marketing Strategy For Small Business (2023)

as i'm sure you're probably already
aware the head of instagram adam asari
recently came out and said but today i
actually want to talk a bit more about
video and i want to start by saying
we're no longer a photo sharing app or a
square photo sharing app naturally this
was met with a combination of skepticism
concern and a level of panic among
marketers and business owners alike that
can only be compared to that horrible
sinking feeling you get when you realize
there's snakes on your plane
anyway i'd like to be able to tell you
that it was just a simple comment from
the head of instagram a declaration that
everything you thought you knew about
the platform was in fact completely
wrong but it's a little trickier than
that because this wasn't just idle
gossip rather this was a proclamation of
change a statement of fact that
instagram was quick to back up by
radically and dramatically wiping many
people's reach and engagement completely
off the platform so if you saw changes
to your account over the past few weeks
just know that you're not alone and if
you haven't yet seen changes then
congratulations but change may be coming
and it probably is but not all is doom
and gloom my friend so today i'm going
to show you what's actually going on and
give you some tips so you can prepare
yourself and not just survive but come
out even stronger on the other side
alright so the very first thing that we
need to cover here is instagram's kind
of reactionary approach to the features
that it launches you see back when
instagram first came out well it wasn't
even a photo sharing app it was actually
a photo filter app but that quickly
evolved and quickly adapted to the
market and well it became a photo
sharing app that people knew and grew to
love now the instagram feed kind of
evolved or kind of changed into a quasi
facebook news feed copy type of thing
but a whole lot more picture oriented
but we're going to give them a free pass
on that one because facebook owns
instagram and so you know do what you
want to do but then the waters start to
get a little bit murkier because they
introduce stories which let's be honest
are a pretty blatant and obvious rip-off
of snapchat now ethics aside the reality
is is that the adoption or borrowing or
implementation of stories well it cost
billions of dollars to snapchat's
valuation and severely slowed their
growth but i mean hey i guess that's
just business still though stories were
a success so we'll give them a point for
that one not content to just do that
though they also introduced igtv which
is kind of a blatant rip-off of youtube
i guess blatant rip-off is kind of cruel
why don't we just say a copy or their
own version yeah
that's nicer now it could be argued and
probably quite compellingly that igtv
never really took off certainly nowhere
near like youtube and in fact on that
note it's kind of almost like facebook
watch which yes is a thing but a thing
that not a whole lot of people know
about certainly nowhere near in
comparison to netflix or youtube or
amazon not content to just keep doing
their own thing though they also went
and well let's be honest on this one
blatantly ripped off tiktok with reels
but unlike many of the other features
that instagram adopted from other
channels they at least seem to be doing
something right with reels and the fact
that it's based more on recommendations
than the algorithm but more on that in
just a minute but first we need to talk
about the elephant in the room the fact
that instagram came out and said we're
no longer a photo sharing app so why
would they do this why would instagram
take everything that it's known for and
simply throw it away in favor of the
next new and shiny thing
video well my friend the answer is
actually really simple first of all
video isn't really that new and there
has been a very clear and very
compelling and statistically driven and
validated and research reported
direction and move towards video for the
past many many number of years it feels
really weird for me to sit here today
and talk to you about the importance of
video because we already know well now
instagram knows too but they've kind of
already known it which is why they tried
with more video style stories why they
tried with igtv and why they've
introduced reels as well the only thing
that's really happening now is they're
making their position official really
all they're doing is admitting the facts
and saying something we already know
which is videos important and people
like it and they watch a lot of video so
why did instagram do this well it's
simple it's because video means more
people on the platform having more fun
and staying longer and staying longer
means more views and more engagement and
all of that means more money because
they can sell more ads i mean just think
about it for a second how long does it
take for someone to interact and engage
with a photo we're talking about two to
three seconds at most before they scroll
by and that opportunity is pretty much
lost a video on the other hand well this
could be 20 seconds or 30 seconds or two
minutes or three minutes we're talking
orders of magnitude larger which means
orders of magnitude more revenue and
growth and honestly more user enjoyment
as well as people simply like engaging
with videos more doesn't mean that
people hate photos and never want to
look at photos anymore it just means
they like videos more at least most of
the time how did they come to this
conclusion well simply by looking at
user behavior and time on site every
single social media network and platform
has its own algorithm and has its own
user signals that it uses to measure
success and content quality and if
people are actually enjoying it or not
for example here on youtube the easiest
thing you can do to help a video with
the algorithm is simply to click the
like button you know the like button
down there the platforms use these
metrics to measure what's good what's
not what people want more of so they can
serve them more so they can keep them on
the platform longer so everybody's
happier everybody makes more money long
story short video keeps people on
platforms longer period anyway this is
one of the main reasons that they've
said hey no more photos we're doing all
this it's not that they're not going to
support photos at least for now or text
or anything like that it's just that
they're really pushing this new
direction they want people to do more
reels they want people to create more
lives and in fact they're even
experimenting with compensating people
for going live by actually paying you to
go live again kind of feels like they're
taking a bit of a page out of the
youtube monetization book but hey all
good the more people that are paid to
create content well the more people are
going to create content and the more
incentive they're going to have to
create better content so it's really a
win-win all around anyway just in case
you haven't picked up on the trend just
yet there's a solid theme here towards
more video which isn't unique to just
instagram in fact if you take a look at
pretty much any other social media
network out there right now they're all
promoting more video and they have been
for years
gotta get props to instagram for at
least coming out and saying it alright
next let's talk about hashtags while
other social media networks do allow
hashtags do use hashtags like tiktok and
youtube well it's their recommendation
algorithm that really sets them apart
and sadly instagram's recommendation
algorithm at least up to this point has
been severely lacking essentially what a
recommendation algorithm does is it
tries to match up the user or the viewer
with content that they would find
enjoyable and relevant and it does this
automatically behind the scenes
essentially just judging by the kind of
content they've been consuming by the
retention rates of it by how many people
end up clicking the like button you know
that kind of thing instagram however has
kind of been lacking in this department
which is one of the biggest reasons that
hashtags up until this point have been
so incredibly important we've
essentially needed to go in and tell
instagram hey this is what my content is
about and hey you should show it to
these people it's kind of very in your
face and aggressive and almost overly
what's a word i'm looking for silly
almost simple i mean especially today
with the advanced algorithms the way
they are in fact taking a look at
youtube's algorithm it has the ability
to essentially watch through an entire
video and really decide what's in that
video no matter what title you give it
what descriptions you give it what tags
you use you can't really beat the
algorithm they know what's going on they
know whether your video is about a
rabbit or if it's about a cat dressed up
as a rabbit yeah as a that's a weird
example but i think you get the picture
anyway this is one of the main reasons
that a lot of content on instagram well
it just doesn't really seem to go viral
it's because it's based on kind of this
old and outdated and almost archaic
system of finding relevant content and
delivering it to the right people now
there is an exception and that exception
is reals which has adopted a lot of the
more advanced algorithm characteristics
which makes it a better discovery
platform and allows for more
recommendations for more relevant
content to the right people which is why
we're seeing at least today real content
go viral or at least get an inordinate
amount of views and shares and likes and
all of the stuff around it compared to
traditional content on the feed or
through stories alright so how do you
grow on instagram today what are the
best strategies and tactics and tips
that you can use to go out there and
actually protect and secure your account
from total annihilation regardless of
whatever new algorithm updates or
changes happen well the first thing you
do want to do is you really do have to
stay on top of things things change fast
especially in social media but also in
marketing really the world at large the
next thing you can do is try not to make
too many massive short-term changes to
your overall content and strategy of
course there are opportunities for you
to evolve and adapt your content mix and
really make more video after all this is
clearly what they've said they want you
to do ignoring it would be crazy but
also if things are still working for you
well keep doing what you're doing which
means if you're still seeing good
engagement on your feed you're getting
good interaction in your stories you're
getting good messages from the people
you want to interact with keep doing
that as well just try to ramp up a few
more videos next don't panic even if
you're seeing some massive swings and
fluctuations in your reach and your
engagement and you're freaking out
trying to figure out what's going on and
why all of a sudden all of your reacher
engagement has just fallen off a cliff
take a breath it could just be the
algorithm trying to sort things out over
the next few weeks but there are a few
things you can do you probably already
know that it involves just creating a
few more videos at least for the next
few weeks and seeing if that kind of
revamps the algorithm at least for you
also if you're all in on instagram right
now this is your core marketing platform
your main social media platform well
it's probably never been a better time
to diversify start looking at other
platforms whether it's youtube or
facebook or linkedin or tick tock or
snapchat wherever it is that your ideal
market that your ideal audience is
present and active that's really the key
there's no point going to a new or fancy
or shiny social media site just because
everyone thinks it's great if none of
the people you actually want to reach
aren't there and of course as always
probably the single most important thing
you could do is try to build up your own
controllable marketing assets ideally
your email list because you have control
over it you have ownership of it it
doesn't matter what happens with
algorithms you'll always be able to
engage and interact with your audience
alright so with all that said the next
thing you're going to want to do is
check out the video i have linked up
right here on digital marketing 101
which will help make sure you've got all
the pieces in place to set you up for
the future so make sure to check it out
now and we'll see in the next episode
the next thing that'll really help you
become a better digital marketer is to
understand the differences between
strategy and tactics and when to use
them strategy is all the