Organic content is your best bet

Fact: Social media platforms allow brands the opportunity to reach billions of consumers, target them by precise demographics, location and interests.

Also fact: Social media ad creatives are a total crap.

When social media platforms gained popularity, it was seen as a dawn of a new era for marketing. Brands could reach the consumers directly, at any time, control the message, control the discussion. Every known brand has several social media accounts and is producing tons of content.

Most of that content is useless. Don’t get me wrong — it’s well done, professional, sleek, well designed… And completely useless. You don’t believe me? Sure, don’t take my word for it — do a little experiment instead: scroll through your own social media feed!

Here’s what that looks like on my feed, at the time of writing.

Instagram feed posts:

Instagram feed ads:

As you can see, there’s a gross disconnect between the two. The accounts I follow and appear in my feed have organic, real photos. The ads that appear in my feed look like magazine or TV ads. They are obvious and intrusive. They are annoying. These ads may be sleek, professional, well designed, amazing looking… but they simply do not fit in.

What is the user’s reaction to those ads? Simple. Scroll through. Hence the abysmal low rate of engagement and even worse click through rate for any social media ads. It’s not Instagram’s fault — even though they do have issues with demographics matching that have come to light lately, they provide you with the audience, they provide you with the communication tools you need to engage your consumers, they provide you with detailed data that you can use to tweak your campaigns. It’s the advertiser’s fault for not utilizing that to its maximum potential.

There are two distinct issues at play:

1. The intent of use — recognizing why and how people use the social media platform on which you are promoting your brand.
2. The content match — fitting in your content in your consumer’s feed in a way that is organic, engaging and useful.

You can read an in-depth article about the first issue here.

https://andreitraikovski.medium.com/are-you-talking-to-me-e0f47641e2b1

The second issue is something that should be fairly easily fixable, yet so few brands get it right. Before I delve deeper into it, let me just say that as a brand, there’s no difference whether you post an ad, or you post content on your feed. All posts you make serve one purpose, and one purpose only — to bring attention to your brand, so people can buy what you are offering. Nothing more, nothing less. Therefore — all content, whether it’s a paid ad, a post, a story — they are all promotional posts. With that in mind — ask yourself, how many times have you liked an ad, like the ones I have posted above? Now, how many times have you liked/commented on a post that is showing something beautiful, interesting, emotional, funny, informative? I’m sure the ratio is staggering. The same applies to your consumers! Show them beautifully designed graphic ads — and they’ll scroll through. Show them actual, responsive content — and they’ll engage.

The million dollar question is — what does that content look like?

While the actual content may be different for different businesses, the basic principles are always the same:

• It needs to look authentic;
• It needs to communicate;
• It needs to match the user expectations;
• It needs to stand out;
• It needs to not sell.

Authentic:

This word is being very abused by various media gurus and influencers, but it’s really basic — your post needs to look like it was created by a regular Instagram user and not an ad agency with studio, budget, lights and professional equipment. Yes, you should make it look good, clean, aesthetically pleasing etc, but don’t go overboard. Finding the balance between authentic, but polished, and professional work is not an easy task. Brand managers and marketers tend to skew to the latter, so you need to work consciously on toning things down a notch.

To find the best examples, search for hashtags that match your brand. See the top posts in each list and check their engagement rate. Pick the ones that are the most successful and replicate that style, adding your own touch to it.

Communicate:

The posts are not just images. The caption that goes along is just as important. The best captions are the ones that communicate something to the user. It can be a two way communication — asking a question of the user (which I advise against when you are a small account, do it only when you have significant following and engagement), or it can be a one way communication from the brand towards the user. This requires that you give them information, get them to react emotionally (whatever the range of that emotion may be — from sad to funny), show them something interesting, something new. They will reward you with a like or a comment.

Why is this important? It will allow you to build a relationship with your followers. The better the relationship, the more likely they’ll buy from you. If they see you as a source of information, a source of emotions, as something that contributes to their lives in positive ways — they are more likely to purchase whatever you are offering. Ask yourself, what is more valuable — having an enormous following that just scrolls through your feed, or a smaller, but dedicated following that engages with your content? The concept of “true fans” is not new and it works.

Match user expectations:

Never, and I mean never, underestimate your consumers. You can’t fool them. You can’t cheat your way to success. You can’t build lasting success if you do not have absolute respect for the consumer, and that includes your social media followers as well. The social media users have certain expectations when they use the particular platform. If they are on TikTok, they expect to see light entertainment. On LinkedIn they expect to see something serious, practical and business oriented. On Instagram, they expect to see something beautiful and aspirational. Mismatch these expectations, or worse — try to post the same content on all platforms — and you will alienate your users and get bad results. When posting on Instagram, give them the best shot you can, while maintaining principles mentioned above. The accompanying captions — keep them short and to the point, very few will read a long post. People are not opening their Instagram app so they can see what you are posting (if they are, then you definitely don’t need advice from me). They are there to scroll through their feed, see what their friends have posted and see the fabulous life of the influencers they follow. You are a miniscule part of their intent and you can claim ownership of only a miniscule part of their attention span. Post 2200 characters (the limit) in your caption and no one will read it. Post under 150–200 characters — and you have a chance to convey your message.

Stand out:

How do you match user expectations and at the same time stand out? Seems impossible. Think of it this way — you have a sandbox with a very defined frame. You must play inside the frame. However, what you create inside the box — is totally up to you! You can just throw sand around, or you can build a beautiful castle. Use your imagination. Experiment. Post 10 different things, see what gets the best response. Often what you think is interesting about your business and what the audience is really interested in may be two different things. Don’t be dogmatic about it — respect your audience.

Do not sell:

This is the most counterintuitive thing for any small business owner. The main goal of any business is to sell. Without sales, there’s no business. When using social media, one has to understand that if you want to make a sale — you have to stop selling!

I’m sure you’ve been bombarded by ads, blog posts and guru content about funnels, calls-to-action, landing pages… Everything is about the sell, sell, sell! Only… It’s not. The users are not opening Instagram to learn about your amazing offer of 2-for-1 scented candles. I know, shocking! They are there to see something beautiful and get entertained. If you want them to remember you — do just that — offer them something beautiful and entertaining. Don’t show them a product photo of your candles with the words “special offer” splashed on it — show them how it feels when they are being used. Do this repeatedly and consistently. I would say at least 3–6 months, depending on how often you post. When you have consistent engagement, then, and only then, fit an offer for your followers. At that point, they won’t see it as an ad, or a sale, they’ll see it as a post from a friend, recommending something that’s good for them. Establish trust and don’t abuse it — you’ll be rewarded for it.

In conclusion — treat your Instagram followers the way you’d like to be treated. Spend the next few days scrolling through your feed. See all the things that annoy you. Write them down and never, ever make those mistakes. See all the things that you like. Write them down, analyze them and try to emulate and improve them.