10+ Things I Do Every Time I Post

It's 2024 and this year we are posting with purpose. Don't post, just to post. Create value, highlight offers, and exercise creativity. Each time we post on social media, we are checking for these 10 things. You should be too.

The Point of Your Post

Glance at your grid, and if you can't identify what your post is doing or its intention on the grid...archive it. For social media platforms, like Instagram, your grid should be treated like a portfolio. A way to showcase your most powerful content. Stories could be treated as a more spontaneous way to capture the day-to-day happenings. Lives in raw form, do not belong on your grid. A post should do one or more of these things...

• Educate
• Entertain
• Engage The Audience
• Evoke an Emotion

We highly suggest using at least two at a time.

Use Your Voice

In the caption of your post or reel, be sure to proofread and edit your text. Decide who you are trying to reach, and use your natural voice to speak to them. Use a captivating hook, be yourself, but don't wax on. Long-form captions have their place, however, use them sparingly or your audience is going to glaze over them. Eliminate redundancy. Eliminate unnecessary words. Less is more, most of the time.

#MoreThanAHashtag

Hashtags are keywords for your content. IG removed guides in 2023, but they still exist with the proper use of hashtags. Make it easier for people to find your content. You can research hashtags in your niche to find ones that make sense to you. Regularly check on trending hashtags to see if you can play around with them and get in on a trend. Lots of accounts became accustomed to using 30 hashtags each time they posted on IG. In our own experience, that's not always the case. Thirty keywords aren't necessary and can confuse the audience. We like to use 12-15 in our brand's content strategy. In rare cases, we will use the full 30 strategies periodically. Watch out for hashtags that are raising flags in the community standards. Your content will suffer.

Pick Your Format

Not everything deserves to be a post. Just like not everything needs to be a reel. Pick your formats and keep them varied. Decide what make the most sense for the message. We like to look at the grid and evaluate the current content mix. What is missing? Is it carousels, is it reels? Is it stories?

Our Favorites

• Story- a great way to highlight unpolished, or spontaneous news off the cusp.
• Carousel- Fantastic way to outline the value in a topic or service. Oftentimes just as powerful as a reel.
• Static Image- These are easy to produce and deserve a spot, however, make sure you are using them sparingly as they aren't as impactful as many other formats.
• Meme- ugh more memes (said no one ever) If you can create your own meme or gif or recreate an existing meme and use it in your favor, GO FOR IT! We have seen a lot of success with memes in our strategy.
• Reels/Video- There's no denying the impact this type of content. With a great hook and quick edits, your reel should entertain, engage, and get traction in your community.
• Go Live- LIVE events are an intimidating way to get noticed. Lots of brands are reluctant to use this feature although, it is an effective way to get to know your audience in real time. Go Live once a month and have a topic in mind. Stick to a 20-30-minute session to start. Collaborate with others in your niche and reap the benefits and exposure that both accounts offer.
• UGC- Mix in UGC if it makes sense to your brand, and if you don't see the connection for your brand, look again. This is a powerful way to gain insight and feedback from your customers.
• Threads- Use Threads as an extension of IG. Don't cross-promote here, alternatively, join conversations and share general musings in your community.
• Poll- Use polls to generate engagement. Use them in your stories and your posts. Share your results.
• Text- Text templates can be powerful tools in your strategy. In a sea of images that are perfectly curated and edited to match aesthetics and style, a text-style post breaks up that pattern.

Find Your Timing

We highly recommend analyzing when your audience is online so that you aren't posting when they are least active. There are so many social calendars out there, but we do have our favorites.

Optimize Your Image

It happens to all of us, we have the perfect shot and we post it. It goes live and some crucial part of your image is cropped out. Someone's face, a logo, or worse. Familiarize yourself with the different formats and ratios that each social media platform has so that your image looks great across ALL platforms.

ALT Text?

Not everyone is using ALT text and it shows. Organic reach can receive an additional boost by using this convenient feature that's available on nearly every platform. This makes your content more accessible to everyone. Alt text is used in two ways. Search Engine Optimization and for people that couldn't otherwise access your content. Just like we add subtitles to our video content for those who are hearing impaired. ALT Text provides a way for the vision-impaired to hear the context of your content.

Tags

When you post; add tags. Use the location tags and profile tags. This is one way that your content gets organized and filtered through the algorithm.

Cover Image For Reels

This is an optional task that can add a level of thought and purpose to your grid's look and presence. At least make sure that the cover image makes sense for the content.

Music

Music is a touchy subject. Trending Audios often strike a heated debate. You don't always need music in your reel, or story. Use it intentionally. Don't pick a trending audio because it's trending and pair it with any video. Take the time to select music that your brand identifies with as well as the content.

Share As A Story

This is a bonus task. We like to share any grid content as a story as well, because most of the people that are already following the account is going to the highlights reel first. They aren't scrolling the feed as soon as they open the app. Stories are our favorite way to increase engagement with the people that are already following.

That's it! 10 ways to ensure that your content will perform it's best every. single. time. Get the Checklist when you subscribe to the email list.