3 Easy Ways to Optimize Your Instagram Posts
Sure, using Instagram to market your business takes work. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t a few easy (and I mean easy) ways to optimize your Instagram posts.
Why is this important?
Because if you want your ideal client to see your posts, you have to work with the algorithm – that super science-y tool Instagram uses to determine who sees your content.
Keep reading to learn about the three things you can do TODAY to increase your engagement rate and reach on Instagram.
Geo-Tag Every Post
Geo-tags aren’t as creepy as they sound. In fact, they’re a great way to expand your reach and increase your engagement.
Geo-tagging Instagram posts increases engagement by up to 79 percent, according to Sprout Social,
SEVENTY-NINE PERCENT!!
So, to give your content the best shot at getting seen, add geo-tags to your Instagram feed posts and Stories.
Worried about creeps? Never post your home address (instead, use your city/state).
How to Geo-Tag Your Instagram Posts
When you head to publish your post …
- Tap Add Location.
- Find your location in the suggestions, or search for the location and select it.
- Tap Share.
Break Up Your Text
Nothing – and I mean NOTHING – will keep your followers scrolling past your posts like a big chunk of text.
Blocky, dense text makes it nearly impossible for your reader to skim through your caption.
And since most people have the attention spans of a South Georgia gnat at a picnic, it’s important to make your content scan-able.
In her book “Everybody Writes,” Ann Handley said it best:
“White space is a prerequisite, not a luxury. Large chunks of text are formidable and depressing. Designers will tell you that more white space makes your work readable, and it’s true.
“It also gives your words oxygen, allowing them to breathe and live on the page with plenty of room to relax–instead of being jumbled together in a kind of content shantytown or ghetto.”
So, break up your captions by including line breaks.
The bad news is that Instagram doesn’t make this easy, so you’ll need to use a planning app such as Planoly or this line break generator.
Here’s an example of a caption with good line breaks.
What’s the max number of lines per “paragraph?” in an Instagram caption? A good rule of thumb is to have no more than 3 lines of text at a time.
Related: Check out my FREE Guide: How to Plan a Month’s Worth of Content in Less Than 1 Hour.
Use Niche Hashtags
You know how when you go to a crowded place with your kids and you dress them in the brightest colors they own to make it SUPER easy to spot them in a crowd?
That, my friends, is the beauty of niche hashtags; they make it super easy to find and engage with your ideal client (and vice versa!)
Hashtags are a great way to expand your reach and introduce yourself to new potential clients, but here’s the deal: you have to use NICHE tags – those with less than 200,000 posts.
Why? Because smaller accounts (those with less than 10,000 followers) have a super hard time getting picked up in larger hashtags.
Pro-tip: when it comes to deciding which hashtags to use, keep your ideal client in mind. Consider what hashtags they’re using, following, searching for, and engaging with in order to get the most bang for your buck.
Related: 3 Simple Tips to Grow Your Instagram
Wrapping Up
Instagram can be a beast, but there are 3 easy ways to optimize your posts:
- Use Geo-tags
- Break up your text to make it easier to read
- Use niche hashtags
Need more Instagram tips, tricks, and ideas? Follow me on Instagram!
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