Author: Claire Winslow

Creating unique and informative Reels can be great marketing for your business and a way to simultaneously get more followers and engagement.

Instagram has had many changes over the past 12 months, and one of the most significant changes has been the rising success of Reels. Creating unique and informative Reels can be great marketing for your business and a way to simultaneously get more followers and engagement. Right now, Reels are it, so we have put together some tips on making engaging and informative Reels that stand out from the crowd.

Tip #1: Create Original Content

Creating original content is essential when it comes to successful Instagram Reels. With so many creators making daily Reels, you must stand out for all the right reasons. That’s not to say you can’t jump on a trend, but you should add your unique twist to it. Make it educational or entertaining and “on brand” for your business. You can easily take any idea, put your spin on it and make it fresh and engaging.

Creating original content is also essential because Instagram will push videos that have not been visibly recycled from other apps (like TikTok). Using original videos will boost your visibility, and it is the easiest method of hacking the algorithm and setting yourself apart from all other users. Once you find your niche, make sure you post consistently.

Tip #2: Encourage Followers to Head to your Link in Bio

If your goal is to drive traffic to your website using Reels, the easiest way is to include a clear CTA (call to action) that encourages viewers of your Reels to click on the link in your bio. You could add some on-screen text in your video caption or even a verbal call-out to drive traffic to your website via your bio link. Some tools can also help you to create a mini landing page from the link in the bio with multiple link buttons and clickable images.

Tip #3: Use Captions on your Reels

As we talked about captions in tip #2, we highly recommend using on-screen text and closed captions in your Reels. If we told you that 85% of videos are watched without sounds, adding captions and on-screen text to your Reels makes sense. Subtitles are not just great for those who watch Reels without sound but also help those with hearing difficulties. You can use Instagram’s closed caption sticker to add video subtitles to your Reels. Simply tap on the sticker icon and select “Captions.” Be patient, as it can take a few seconds for the audio to transcribe, but another great thing is that you can go in and edit the text afterward in case there are any wrong words/spellings. Make sure your captions are positioned in the center of your screen, so they are visible in every part of the Instagram app!

Tip #4: Jump on a Trend FAST

As with TikTok, trends come and go in a flash, so it is essential to jump on a trend (if it fits in with your brand) as soon as possible before it is old news. To see what exactly IS trending on Reels, check the Reels each morning and see what other creators are sharing. You may notice a specific audio used, a particular song, or even a dance trend. You can click on the audio to see how many other creators have used it, and this will give you a good indication of what is trending right now.

Tip #5: Share your Reels to your Instagram Feed

Arguably, one of the best ways of boosting views on your Reels and hedging your bets on going… the V word (VIRAL!) you should always share your Reels to your Instagram feed. When you create your Reels, there is a tab option to share the Reel to your feed, so make sure this tab is on, and it will go directly to your feed when you publish it. If you don’t do this, there is a chance that your followers and community might miss your Reel, and we don’t want that.

Tip #6: Use Hashtags

For your Reels to get to relevant audiences and work well with Instagram’s elusive algorithm, we suggest using between 3-5 hashtags per Reel. It can help push your Reels to those who actively engage with similar content. A newer feature being rolled out that is not available to all countries so far is a keyword research feature where users can search for related topics, so relevant hashtags will become more critical than ever.

Making great Reels is worth all the time and effort they take to make, especially when you see a rise in engagement and followers for your brand. At Best Practice Media, we create Reels for many of our clients, so if you need some help with your Instagram strategy and execution for your business, get in touch with us today!

Over 2 billion people use Instagram monthly, making it a serious marketing tool for your business.

As a business, big or small, Instagram is a lot more than a place online to post cute pictures of your dog (although, who doesn’t love a puppy pic!). It is a potent tool for building your brand and creating an audience online.

Over 2 billion people use Instagram monthly, making it a serious marketing tool for your business. Growing an audience is great, but the real test is getting engagement from your audience. Engagement is things like shares, likes, comments, and other visible actions that your audience does to prove that your content is a hit with the people who are seeing it.

More importantly, engagement needs to be genuine from real people who care about the content you are producing. There is no easy shortcut to getting quality engagement, as with anything; you get what you put in with Instagram. The best way to get good, genuine, and consistent engagement is to make the time (or have us make the time!) to create fantastic posts, encourage conversations, and genuinely connect with your followers. Below we show you some proven methods of making a positive impact on your Instagram audience and organically creating strong and long-lasting engagement.

What Exactly IS Instagram Engagement?

Engagement measures the interactions your audience makes with the content you post. On Instagram, engagement could be:

• Saves
• Comments
• Shares
• Likes
• Followers and growth
• Mentions (tagged or untagged)
• Branded hashtags
• Click-throughs
• DMs

The above actions show that people are more than just SEEING your content. They are also actively interested in it, so much so that they interact with you. But why is engagement so critical? Well, if your post, story, or reel gets engagement, it shows that the content you are producing impacts your audience. It means you are doing something right!

The other reason is that solid engagement is a massive factor in Instagram’s algorithm. The more engagement you get, the more likely your content will get boosted in the newsfeed, which will attract more attention to a broader audience.

Get to Know your Audience

If you don’t know anything about your audience, how can you create content they will enjoy and interact with? The simple answer is – that you can’t. Looking at your target audience’s demographics will help you define the type of content you want to produce, your brand voice, and even when is the best time to post your content.

Be Authentic

It is better to be honest and relatable than perfect and polished, showing the real people and story behind your brand. This could mean sharing behind-the-scenes footage in a story or showing humor in a reel or photo. This appeals to people scrolling through Instagram rather than unobtainable images of perfection.

Post Video Content

Videos statistically have more success than images, so much so that they receive around 38% more engagement. Video content can be imperfect too, but if you are worried about quality or editing, thousands of tools can help you make the best videos for your business OR get an agency like us to do it all for you!

Write Solid and Captivating Captions

A good caption can capture your audience’s attention, add context, and showcase your brand’s personality. An Instagram caption can be up to 2,200 characters long and use up to 30 hashtags. So, go forth and caption!

Share Amazing Images

As a visual medium, Instagram is the best place to showcase images that stand out from the crowd. You can use many tools to create amazing images and designs, but there is nothing better than having a graphic designer produce your content. At BPM, we have in-house graphic designers and content specialists to ensure you get the best engagement on your Instagram content. If you want to chat about what we offer our clients, fill out the form below and book an informal chat with us!

Share Audience Content

Instagram isn’t a one-way street; like all social media, Instagram is a conversation, not a broadcast. So it is essential to listen to your audience and engage with them. A great way of doing this is to repost or share your audience’s content. Not only does this provide you with some great content, but it also makes your followers feel special, and they can see that you are looking at and listening to the content they produce.

Post Carousels

Carousels are Instagram posts with multiple images and are a fantastic way to build engagement. Globally, they have the highest engagement rate of all Instagram posts, at 1.01%. The algorithm reserves carousel posts to followers who perhaps didn’t interact with the post the first time, giving them a second or third chance to engage.

Respond to Questions and Comments

If someone goes out of their way to comment (something positive, of course!), it is a good idea to respond. Acknowledging your commenters and taking part in conversations makes your followers feel seen and heard, and they will be more likely to comment on other posts in the future.

Post Consistently at Strategic Times

It makes sense that the more often you post, the more chance your followers have to engage and interact with your brand. Making sure you commit (or have us commit!) to posting regularly will keep your feed fresh and keep your followers interested. We have tools that tell us the best times to post content for our clients individually, so it is essential to look into the best times to post on Instagram for your brand.

Create Engaging Stories

Instagram stories have great reach, and over 60 % of users say that they got more interested in a brand after watching a brand’s stories. You also have the opportunity to engage with stickers and can ask questions, do polls and connect directly with your followers.

Engagement is critical on all social media platforms. If you want your business to succeed online, creating engaging content on Instagram is an excellent way to raise your profile and introduce people to your brand. At Best Practice Media, we can work with you to create the very best Instagram strategy for your business and begin your journey to fantastic engagement. Fill out your name and email below, and let’s get started!

Social media platforms are not the place to showcase your English Degree writing skills. This is the place to get clever with (a small amount of) words!

Good captions can arguably make or break a social media post. Social media platforms are not the place to showcase your English Degree writing skills. This is the place to get clever with (a small amount of) words! Here we have some tips for you if you are struggling with great post captions, OR we can help you develop your own social media strategy, including caption writing, using our in-house creative team at Best Practice Media!

Speak to your audience

Think about the age group demographic of your audience when you are writing your captions. You wouldn’t talk to 20+ age groups like you would talk to the 40+ demographic. Arguably, the younger the audience, the more to the point you will need to be, or they may keep scrolling. The language you use needs to match your audience. Also, find out as much about their interests as you can. The more you know about your audience, the better. So before writing any captions, work out your audience and their interests BEFORE writing your copy.

Keep it short and sweet

People don’t want to read long stories on social media – there is a time and a place. Captions should be short and sweet, relevant, and well-targeted. A great way to practice is writing Twitter captions, which have very short character restrictions (280 characters per caption). You will be forced to learn how to write your copy concisely. You can then use this skill on all your other social media captions.

Decide on the intention behind your captions

Think about your end goal and intentions before writing your captions. This is a crucial step in creating your engaging copy. Think about whether your caption is written to:

• Take a specific action
• Talk about your brand
• Share a story
• Connect with your audience
• Get to know your audience by asking a question

Ask good questions to increase engagement

Asking questions to your followers on social media is an easy way to engage with your audience. A clever and exciting open-ended question in your caption can go a long way. It is also essential to encourage your audience to comment, like your post, and share your post.

Give clear CTAs (but not ALL the time)

When writing CTAs to your audience, be clear about what exactly it is that you want them to do. When writing your caption, there is a better time to be specific and bold. You want to get your reader’s attention and interest. Only use a CTA on some of your captions because asking people to do something too often may cause your followers and audience to lose interest in you. After all, would someone still be friends with you if you always asked them for things? Nope.

Be creative; be YOU

In the world of social media, it is vital to stand out from the crowd. Get creative with your captions and write uniquely. You need to find the specific parts of your brand and business that differentiates you from the rest. Show your brand’s personality and always be true to your voice in all communication.

So, there we have it. Some easy-to-follow tips when deciding the best captions for your social media posts. If you want help with any aspect of your brand’s social media, contact us at Best Practice Media today! We can’t wait to meet you.

Over 433 million people use Pinterest, and 83% of these users make a purchase from content they have viewed on the platform.

Pinterest is not just for collecting pretty pictures of wedding dresses or your dream homes. It is also a fantastic marketing platform to grow your business, get leads, send more traffic to your website and make sales! With over 433 million people on Pinterest and 83% of these users making a purchase from content they have viewed on the platform, Pinterest marketing is a fantastic marketing platform if you know what you are doing (and if you don’t, we can help!).

Isn’t Pinterest just for wedding boards and travel pictures?

Pinterest is a social media platform where users can share, explore and save visual content that they find helpful, inspiring, or entertaining. Users create boards with common themes, and they can add content to their boards to keep them organized, and other users can see what you have saved related to your shared interests.

As a business owner, once you have signed up to Pinterest, you can start sharing your content and marketing your brand immediately. Engagement on Pinterest is vital, so make sure that you follow the boards of competitors and similar businesses and like, comment, repin, and share content with links to your website and blog in your Pins.

There are two types of accounts you can have on Pinterest. We recommend having a business account, as this gives you access to Pinterest Analytics and other features, including a native video player, a visual search tool, and the option to run Pinterest ads, making it the ideal platform for marketers.

Pinterest converts browsers into buyers

Unlike many social media websites, Pinterest reduces the number of steps from discovery to conversion. This means that Pinterest users that visit your website convert into sales or leads faster than any other social media platform. “See it, like it, buy it” frequently happens on Pinterest. It increases conversion rates and reduces sale cycles. How exciting is that? (Answer – VERY!)

Pinterest drives traffic to your website

Pinterest is an excellent tool for increasing links back to your website and driving more traffic. Research indicates that Pinterest is more effective at guiding traffic back to a website than any social media platform, even Facebook.

Pins get you more inbound links

With Pinterest, every pin includes a link, which leads back to the source of the image. Around 95% of images used on Pinterest were either pinned or repinned from the web, which could provide valuable inbound inks. Even though these links are no-follow links, any link which directs people back to your website is always helpful.

User engagement is very high

If you are a Pinterest user, you know just how addictive it can be. It is simple and easy to use, and users seem most interested in the next “big thing” and sharing their stuff with small groups of people. This is an excellent sign for businesses and retailers because your pins are more likely to be seen and possibly go viral. It might be that the main reason Pinterest sees so much high engagement is that it is so easy to digest information from Pinterest due to its visual nature. It is much easier and more fun to scan images than to scan tweets, for example.

It integrates with your website, Facebook profile, and Twitter account

A critical factor for social media success is often connectivity. The site connects with Facebook and enables users to automatically post new pins to their Facebook news feed for others to see. You cannot link your Facebook with your business page. You still would have to share the link manually, but you can connect it to your profile which is better than nothing. For Twitter, if you sign up for Pinterest using the same email address for your business Twitter account, you can automatically share the pins you post to your Twitter account.

You can discover what your audience enjoys

Pinterest is a great place to discover new trends and what people are sharing. You can see what your followers like to look at and what inspires them, and it allows you to see the latest “hot” thing and use this information to position your products and offers.

At Best Practice Media, we can help!

If you want to use Pinterest for your business marketing but don’t know where to start, fill out your info below, and we can help you with your Pinterest (or any other!) marketing needs.