If your ultimate goal is to develop demand for your product or service, you need a good balance of primarily three types of content on Instagram.
- Content That Educates
Around 25% of your Instagram content should be “how-to’s” or quick wins. Educating your audience on a topic helps you build trust and position yourself as an expert. This is an opportunity to give people a taste of what you can provide via your paid products and services.
How-to content also helps you build traffic. Because people are searching for solutions online, this type of content will get seen a lot faster. It also tends to get the most views, likes, and shares – which is a win, win!
When you create educational content, the call-to-action is crucial. Think about the expectation you want to set and where you want to send people. Make sure you convey that this is just a small portion of what you offer and direct people to click the link in your bio, download your informational PDF, or DM you to learn more about what you have to offer.
- Content That Overcomes Objections
You’ll also want to create content for Instagram that either directly or indirectly addresses objections. While your target audience’s objections may differ from other businesses, here are the top objections that most businesses have to overcome.
“Lack of Trust”
If you frequently find that people in your sales pipeline aren’t sure you’re the expert for them or that your product is the best, create content that directly or indirectly addresses that objection. You could do that with testimonials or client case studies, as well as by sharing your own journey for relatability.
“Timing is Off”
Another common objection is, “I can’t do [this] until I have all of [that] ready.” You want to create content for Instagram to address this objection and get people to take the next step with you.
Let’s say that your business is teaching people how to get clients using Instagram. Some of the objections you might see are, “I need to figure out my niche first” or “I need to post three videos before I can invest.” To overcome these objections, you might create content that explains why now is the right time to use Instagram and gives three reasons why Instagram is still relevant.
You could also compare Instagram to other platforms, give the pros and cons of each, and explain why Instagram is great for businesses specifically. If you don’t yet have the track record to share your own successes, you can leverage examples from others in your own content. It’s still a success story, just not your customer success story.
Think of successful entrepreneurs who have followed a similar concept that you’re preaching or overcome a similar excuse that’s preventing your audience from buying your products and services and leverage their story.
“No Money”
Another common objection to overcome is, “I don’t have the money.” The thinking is that they don’t think they need to hire a professional and would rather do it themselves to save a few bucks. To address this, share some of the mistakes that people make when they try to do it on their own.
An easy topic to address in the housing industry is a homeowner trying to sell without a real estate agent, and the pitfalls they might encounter if they forego hiring a professional.
- Content That Addresses Mistakes and Myths
The third type of content to include in your Instagram content mix should address mistakes or myths that your audience blindly follows and give your recommendation of what to do instead.
The reason this content is important is that when you highlight mistakes, it makes your audience aware that they aren’t doing something right and puts them into problem-solving mode. When they’re more problem-aware, they’ll start hunting for a solution.
This is where your how-to content and content that addresses objections come into play. You want people to realize through consuming your other content pieces that your business has the solution they’re looking for. You want them to be curious enough that they’ll click on the link in your bio and find more of the solution that could help them and encourage them to buy your paid products and services.
