Tips & Tricks from Business Owners on Managing Your Instagram

 Raise your hand if you’ve ever felt personally attacked by that one pop culture proverb slash motivational mantra that was everywhere in 2014 from coffee mugs to crochet art on Etsy. You know the one we’re talking about. It goes something like: You have the same 24 hours in the day as Beyoncé. Newsflash – we don’t! Everyone knows Beyoncé exists outside of the regular time-space continuum.

In 24 hours, she can likely write, produce, edit, and debut a whole 12-track visual album about bees. But if you’re a small business owner or entrepreneur, you know 24 hours can often feel like 6 back-to-back meetings, a LUNA bar, and three hours of sleep. Time is the multihyphenate’s most finite resource, and trying to juggle everything from business operations to actual creation leaves very little room to focus on running your Instagram. But, when 81% of people use the platform to find the products and services they trust, you’d be doing your business a disservice by not tapping into the resource. 

We checked in with a few entrepreneurs, Melody Price, Gigi Robinson, and Olivia Howell, who’ve perfected the art of doing everything at once – like maintaining a consistent brand presence while growing a community of engaged followers on Instagram. Check out a few of their go-to tips, tricks, and tools on how to streamline and maximize your strategy on Instagram.   

 

Melody Price | @MealswithMel__ 

Understand Your Analytics

Understanding your analytics is important to maintain efficiency, and accuracy with your Instagram content strategy. I routinely monitor and track key data surrounding my posts and overall profile, like engagement rate, follower count, top performing posts, and apply these learnings to next month’s content planning.

Make Use of all Your Resources

The Social Calendar feature in PLANOLY’s Instagram Planner is so clutch. It’s an easy way to ensure you don’t miss creating content around any key social and cultural holidays.

Utilize quick replies when responding to direct messages! It saves so much time when responding to frequently asked questions.

And lastly, always edit the “Alt Text” of your posts with relevant key words when scheduling. It ensures your content is accessible to everyone, and adds a little boost in engagement.

 

 

Gigi Robinson | @ItsGigiRobinson

Batch Your Content

Batching content is a way to optimize your schedule and social media feeds. Also, making sure to dedicate time to create batch content, and reply with your audience in an efficient way is imperative to running a small business. Too much focus in one area can cause what I like to call, "creative tangenting," leaving you burnt out and unsuccessful in getting what needs to be done, done.

Make the Most of Your Shoot

On photo shoots, something as simple as changing a shirt or adding a jacket to a look can change the vibe of a photographic image, thus creating two separate looks all shot in one day.

I personally do this when I have a suite of collaborations to do or am building out a set and want to shoot different looks on it. I absolutely love doing this because I can get my images for a week and up to a month set out. Sometimes, I will shoot a lot in a batch of content and end up not using it, I could repurpose it down the line if I did not have something scheduled to post.

 

Olivia Howell | @MarchLionMedia

Be Mindful of Burnout

My number one tip for small business owners and entrepreneurs when it comes to managing Instagram is aim to prevent overwhelm and burnout. If you get burnt out, you will shy away from the platform, and you need that digital footprint! So, how do you prevent it?

3 easy ways:

1. Plan ahead - both for your content, and your concepts! PLANOLY really helps my agency plan ahead for clients, and we love filling our library up with content to recycle, as well.

2. You do not need to post every day! Make it work for YOU. If you're a busy business owner, you simply don't have all the time in the world to post on Instagram. I always recommend posting at least three days a week and engaging another two days.

3. Keep it simple. You don't need to post a million Reels or IGTVs. Make your Instagram work for your audience. The key is consistency, cohesion, and authenticity.