Last updated on Nov 24, 2023
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Understand your audience
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Provide value and incentives
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Use interactive and creative formats
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Showcase and repost UGC
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Analyze and optimize your performance
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Learn and experiment
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Here’s what else to consider
Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms for sharing visual content and engaging with your audience. But how can you design Instagram content that encourages followers to share their experiences with your brand, product, or service? In this article, you will learn some tips and tricks to create Instagram posts that inspire user-generated content (UGC), which can boost your credibility, reach, and conversions.
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- Akshat Pandey 𝙄 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙥 𝙁𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨,𝘾𝙀𝙊 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙗𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙤𝙬𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙜𝙧𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙋𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡…
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- Amir Kashiba Global Marketing Director @ Transcom | Online Marketing Expert
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- Thomas Wakelin Digital Marketing Manager at the LEGO Group
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1 Understand your audience
The first step to designing Instagram content that encourages followers to share their experiences is to understand your audience. What are their pain points, interests, goals, and preferences? How do they use Instagram and what kind of content do they like to see and create? You can use tools like Instagram Insights, surveys, polls, and quizzes to gather data and feedback from your followers. This will help you tailor your content to their needs and expectations, and make them feel valued and heard.
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- Akshat Pandey 𝙄 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙥 𝙁𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨,𝘾𝙀𝙊 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙗𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙤𝙬𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙜𝙧𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙋𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝘽𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙙//LinkedIn Expert//Social Media Manager//Content Strategist//"𝙱𝚁𝙰𝙽𝙳 𝙱𝚄𝙳𝙳𝚈"
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See, IG already has many features which you can use- Lives, stories stickers, polls, broadcast channels, etc.These all features let your audience engage with you and you also get a clear understanding of your audience.📌Here is the catch now because of AI Revolution people are just ignoring the importance of User-Generated-Content.Where the main bonus is but they are just begging for pennies. Still, UGS gets promoted by both- A's Audience and Algorithms.🔹Lastly, Consistency and continuous learning and experimentation make the difference, because the top creator and you🫵 both started with "0".
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- Amir Kashiba Global Marketing Director @ Transcom | Online Marketing Expert
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Building on the foundation of understanding your audience, it's essential to create content that not only resonates with them but also inspires engagement. One effective approach is to craft stories and posts that reflect the common experiences or aspirations of your followers. For instance, if your audience comprises young entrepreneurs, sharing success stories or challenges in entrepreneurship can prompt them to share their own journeys.
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2 Provide value and incentives
The second step to designing Instagram content that encourages followers to share their experiences is to provide value and incentives. Value can be anything that educates, entertains, informs, or solves a problem for your audience. Incentives can be anything that rewards, motivates, or acknowledges your followers for their participation. For example, you can offer discounts, giveaways, shoutouts, features, or badges to your followers who share their experiences with your brand, product, or service. You can also use hashtags, challenges, contests, or campaigns to create a sense of community and excitement around your content.
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- Thomas Wakelin Digital Marketing Manager at the LEGO Group
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It's important to remember that your brand is unlikely going to be a high priority when Instagram users are scrolling through their feed. Keep in mind that whenever they do stop to 'consume' your content that it is going to be of value to them! Ensure that your content provides an experience, educates, entertains or engages them in conversation that they otherwise would not have had with your brand. Every touch-point between your audience and Instagram content should focus on being relatable and engaging to ensure that they continue to remain part of your community whilst also having a positive experience of your brand.
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- Alvin Gunputh Social Media Strategist | Educator | Analyst | 10+ Years in the game
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In addition to the above, highlighting key people who regularly engage with your content and contacting them to let them know how important they are, is another method. These super fans will feel valued and more inclined to comment, share and engage within the channel community.
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3 Use interactive and creative formats
The third step to designing Instagram content that encourages followers to share their experiences is to use interactive and creative formats. Instagram offers a variety of formats and features that you can use to make your content more engaging and fun. For example, you can use stories, reels, live, IGTV, or guides to showcase different aspects of your brand, product, or service. You can also use stickers, filters, effects, captions, or emojis to add personality and humor to your content. The more interactive and creative your content is, the more likely your followers will want to share their experiences with you and others.
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- Fiona Bradley Killer Social Media Marketing for Badass Brands | Founder @ FB Comms 👩🏼💻 | Keynote Speaker | Digital Agency Owner of The Year 🏆 | Startup of The Year - EU Content Awards 🏆
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Use engagement features and the platforms will reward you. Lives, stories stickers, polls, broadcast channels. Anything behind the scenes is great. Gymshark's CEO is fab at this!
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- Thomas Wakelin Digital Marketing Manager at the LEGO Group
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Instagram is much more than a still-photo platform now! It's incredible to see how much it has changed over such a short period of time. Consider using different creative formats to drive engagements with your audience; Instagram Stories offers plenty of different opportunities for you to ask questions, survey and poll your community for example. Don't forget to consider implementing Reels and Instagram Live into your editorial strategy - finding innovative ways to 'surprise & delight' your community whilst always focusing on providing value to drive quality engagements.
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4 Showcase and repost UGC
The fourth step to designing Instagram content that encourages followers to share their experiences is to showcase and repost UGC. UGC is any content created by your followers that features or mentions your brand, product, or service. UGC can be photos, videos, reviews, testimonials, or stories that show how your followers use, enjoy, or benefit from your offer. UGC can help you build trust, loyalty, and social proof among your audience, as well as generate more organic traffic and conversions. You can showcase and repost UGC on your feed, stories, highlights, or website, and always give credit and thanks to the original creators.
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- Thomas Wakelin Digital Marketing Manager at the LEGO Group
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Instagram offers an incredible opportunity to source UGC that can be used to better understand your audience and improve your entire marketing mix. Never take this for granted; consider working with your most active fans on Instagram long-term to create valuable content that encourages engagements. Feature UGC in your Instagram Stories, consider building Reels to highlight your fans or even simply quote some amazing feedback that you have had from your real customers! The options are simply endless!
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- Lohith Ramachandra🦸 Director Marketing @MPL | B2C Marketer| Brand| Social Media| Influencer Marketing| Organic Growth Marketing| Ex-Swiggy| Impact Digital Power 100|Long Distance Runner
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Showcasing UGC is considered more authentic as it helps build an image of being trustworthy and a legit brand. When brands show BTS content, Live shows, content in action, live interviews etc in the content mix it builds for great engagement and makes shareability more easier on a platform like Instagram.Another way to design sharing on Instagram is by building content that the audience follows, connects and resonates with regularly.
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5 Analyze and optimize your performance
The fifth step to designing Instagram content that encourages followers to share their experiences is to analyze and optimize your performance. You need to measure and monitor how your content is performing and how your followers are responding to it. You can use tools like Instagram Insights, Google Analytics, or third-party apps to track and evaluate metrics like impressions, reach, engagement, shares, saves, clicks, and conversions. You can also use tools like A/B testing, split testing, or multivariate testing to compare and improve different elements of your content. By analyzing and optimizing your performance, you can identify what works and what doesn't, and adjust your strategy accordingly.
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- Amir Kashiba Global Marketing Director @ Transcom | Online Marketing Expert
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As digital platforms continually evolve, staying abreast of the latest developments in their analytics systems is crucial for maximizing the performance of your Instagram campaigns. Be on the lookout for updates.
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- Thomas Wakelin Digital Marketing Manager at the LEGO Group
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It's very valuable to keep track of the performance of different post formats in addition to the various content themes that you may cover. This will really help to optimise your editorial calendar moving forward and can help you to identify which formats/themes encourage increased engagement. From these learnings, make adjustments to your editorial strategy and continue to A/B test to see what works best for your audience!
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6 Learn and experiment
The sixth and final step to designing Instagram content that encourages followers to share their experiences is to learn and experiment. Instagram is a dynamic and evolving platform that requires constant learning and experimentation. You need to stay updated on the latest trends, features, and best practices, and see how you can apply them to your content. You also need to test new ideas, formats, and techniques, and see how your audience reacts to them. By learning and experimenting, you can discover new ways to create Instagram content that encourages followers to share their experiences and grow your brand.
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Think about how crazy it is that Suzi doesn’t like store bought pesto (IYKYK). Stitching videos and trends that are designed to encourage people to share their stories isn’t just for TikTok!
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7 Here’s what else to consider
This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?
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Have a clear call to action on HOW to share content that you want shared. You can even add a campaign branded hashtag to help those sharing, share correctly. Educating those on how to share it key to get content shared.
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- Mahmoud Abdelnaby Multimedia Specialist | Website Development | E-commerce Optimization | Content Creation | Graphic Design | Video Editing | Motion Graphics | Generative AI
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Create shareable graphics that are so eye catching, they make Mona Lisa jealous. Your content should scream, "Share me, I'm irresistible!"Well, I couldn't help but disagree with the idea of using hashtags like you're a teenage detective.Let me tell you about a shareable post. A brand posted a picture of a cat wearing sunglasses with the caption, "Just chilling on a Caturday." It had nothing to do with their product, but the internet exploded with shares. Lesson learned: Cute animals trump everything! 🐾😎Remember, people love a good story. Turn your product into the hero, facing challenges and triumphs. Make followers feel like they're part of the narrative. And hey, if you can involve a cat wearing sunglasses, even better! 🌟🐱
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