Simple Instagram strategy for 2022

Are you thinking about creating an Instagram strategy this year? In today’s post, I’m going to walk you through the very basics of getting started on Instagram and creating an easy doable Instagram strategy.

A lot of people want to get on Instagram and are overwhelmed by the number of features Instagram has, the type of content you can create, the strategies involved, and so I’m gonna really make this as basic and simple and straightforward as possible so that you have a place to start! let’s go..

Want to skip the read? Watch the video here

Establish your account

Whether you have a personal account, business account, or a content creator account, or you haven’t started at all, you want to get started and set up some of your very basics

• Create a personal Headshot or upload your Logo
• Create a unique and keyword friendly Username
• Completely fill out your bio

Establish a simple content posting schedule.

A simple content posting schedule is really just something that you can be consistent doing. If you’ve never posted on Instagram daily, or this is new for you, you should just start with the basics. 

My recommendation for a beginner schedule is to start with basics: 

• 2 posts + 1 reel a week + 1 story a day

The above tends to be very doable for new content creators on Instagram but also pushes you a little bit to start creating Instagram content consistently, including video!

Once you’ve established a consistent routine of doing this, you’re going to want to move and work up to a more frequent posting schedule. That might look like working up to one post or reel a day and three stories a day and see how that feels.

You can adjust up or down based on the results that you’re getting and how you feel as a content creator creating this much content. It’s going to be very helpful for you to batch content if you plan to post one post a day.

Establish an easy set of content themes

You’ll also want to establish an easy set of content themes. This will help you establish what type of content you’re going to post every day. 

It might look something like this:

• Monday = a quote or story 
• Wednesday = tutorial or list 
• Friday = product feature or a poll 

These give you a structure for the type of content and the themes that you’re going to share each day so that you can repeat it easily. Remember, we’re working with a beginner basic content plan and having some theme for the day is going to help you simplify your content creation process!

Establish your important hashtags

Hashtags can help you get more exposure for your posts and connect your content with other users who are interested in the same topics.

To start using hashtags, I like to recommend starting with 5. Eventually, you may work up to a total maximum of 30 hashtags on each post.

But, for your first 5, it’s important to use hashtags that are related to your content and your niche topics. 

If you’re content  is about dog treats, look for hashtags with the words #dogtreats in it or similar.

This may seem straightforward, but its hashtags are an in-depth topic you can learn more about here in this blog post.  

Establish your caption style/tone of voice

Creating a tone of voice for your brand can be daunting, but it’s important to make sure that all of your content is consistent.

What kind of personality do you want your brand to have in your captions? 

• Witty
• Friendly
• Profession
• Short and concise
• Longer story telling

Once you decide on a tone, make sure to stick with it. This will help create a cohesive interaction with your brand and make it more recognizable to followers.

Consider using caption templates from the content membership to help you get started.

Write out your common call to actions

Remember your goal for starting an Instagram account? I’m sure it’s anything from driving traffic to your business or to grow your following. Whatever your goal is, make sure you have some basic call-to-actions planned to remind your audience to take action. 

Take some time to write some call-to-action templates for yourself that you can use and rotate through in your content.

For Example: 

“Ready to learn more about Instagram? Sign up free for my 60-minute training at the link in my bio.”

You could use the above call to action in an Instagram caption, an Instagram video or an Instagram Story. 

Having templates makes our lives easier and makes the content creation process faster. 

Learn more about our social media caption templates here.

Establish your aesthetics 

What is your Instagram feed going to look like?

This includes everything from what the photos are gonna look like, what graphic templates are you gonna use, and what branding or general style do you want to have?

If you’re just getting started with creating a brand and want to work through this more thoroughly you can head to my video on creating an instagram mood board right here

Establish a daily engagement schedule

When you’re just getting started on Instagram, it’s important to create a daily engagement schedule for yourself. When you do it right, you’re not just posting content and then leaving the platform, but you’re actually engaging with the people who are showing up to react to comment on and like your content.

For example, as a daily practice in your basic Instagram strategy, you can do 20 minutes of engagement. This would be 10 minutes before you post and 10 minutes after you post.

What do I mean by engagement? This means being on the platform and actively exchanging comments or dm’s with people who follow you, comment on your posts, or people who you might want to follow you, or comment on your posts.

That type of engagement is important for you to do before you post and after you post because it establishes some activity on your profile. This also gives you an opportunity to engage with the people who you’re trying to attract to your Instagram account.

Utilize a batching routine for your content

Now that you have the basics of an Instagram strategy, you’re going to want to utilize a batching routine for creating your content. I love to batch my content as much as I can. It allows me to get ahead and it frees up my schedule. It’s also extremely efficient!

What you’ll want to do is put a date on your calendar once a week, or once every two weeks ( whatever it happens to be for you) and make that day the day you’re going to batch your Instagram content for the upcoming week or two. 

An example of that would be, every Thursday you create next week’s posts for Instagram.

This will establish a routine out of your content creation and help you consistently create and post on Instagram.

Use tools to schedule your content

You do not have to use content scheduling tools when you’re just starting out on Instagram. But, it does become very helpful to have a scheduling tool when you do create a batching schedule for your Instagram content. 

When you create next week’s content, you can actually schedule it all so that it automatically posts on your Instagram for you.

There are many different tools that you can use for scheduling.

Free:

• Facebooks Creator Studio

Not Free:

• Planoly
• Later
• Canva
• Tailwind

As you find consistency is easy for you…

Give yourself some time to implement this strategy and be consistent with it. Once you’ve mastered a basic strategy, you can start to explore other ways to create content on the platform. That might look like trying longer videos or maybe going live or collaborating with other people.

Remember:

• Plan your breaks and take them
• Create a place where you’ll save your content ideas
• Stick to your schedule

Ready to make Instagram Content Easy? Join The Content Membership

Join the most comprehensive content membership of stock photos, Canva graphic templates, captions, and marketing resources built to empower busy creative entrepreneurs so they can easily and confidently create content that grows traffic, leads, and profits in their business.

Conclusion

Now that we’re through, I want you to save this so you can refer to it later! I’ve also put together this free resource for you to continue your learning!

If you like this article, let me know by sharing your favorite part in the comments below, and if you decide to save it or share it, go ahead and tag me on Instagram so that I see it . You’ll get your chance to be featured in my Instagram stories every week!

What Next?

Want to learn more about Instagram? Click below to learn more from our latest articles.

• How to create an Instagram reel in Canva (tutorial)
• Create an Instagram mood board in Canva
• How to repurpose your video for IGTV with Canva 
• Create a customizable Instagram bio link in Canva