How To Create Instagram Content Your Audience Wants To See

Creating content your audience wants to see is easier said than done. It takes continuous ideation and execution. Finding new and exciting content to post on Instagram can be a challenge. Especially when you feel like you have run out of ideas to post. 

Your Instagram content should engage and intrigue your audience. If you don’t keep your audience’s interest, then they might unfollow your Instagram page, resulting in a shrinking community. To prevent this, I have a few tips on how you can create the Instagram content your audience wants to see. 

1. Get To Know Your Audience

Develop a relationship with your audience. You want to know them as much as they know your brand or name on Instagram. This step requires research and time and can be a bit of trial and error. Every time you post content, see how your audience reacts to it. If there is content with exceptionally more engagement than another post, you’ll start to notice your audience’s preferences. Maybe you’ll see trends with your audience, such as liking user-generated content over quotes. Then you know! 

You might also notice that at certain times during the day, engagement is higher. This will help you recognize the optimal Instagram posting times. You can use platforms like Sprout to keep track of your posts and track your progress. As a starting point, take a look at the overall best posting times for Instagram across industries.

Getting to know your audience is a fun step in making content. It can help you create more posts as you know exactly what trends and preferences your audience has. And tracking your audience’s engagement will help you understand them by informing you of what they like and don’t like. 

2. Understanding Your Audience’s Wants

Let’s take a look at the most popular posts on Instagram and content with the highest engagement. This gives you an idea of what types of content perform best on the platform. For example, 61% of Canadians reported that fun or entertaining content is what they like to see. This can be used as guidance to show you what the general Instagram audience is captivated by. 

Another aspect of understanding your audience is knowing what interests them. 45% of Canadians reported that food and drink are what interests them on Instagram. So, you can experiment and create food-related posts about the team’s favourite snack or show off how your product would pair with a meal. Understanding what people are interested in seeing and why people share, can help shape how you frame and tell your brand’s story.

3. Create Authentic Templates

Templates are a huge help when it comes to content production. They help keep your content aligned and visually appealing. Taking the time to put together a collection of templates can help save you time during your content creation process. Developing effective templates, by observing audience engagement will help guide you in creating formats that encourage interaction and shareability. You will know exactly what factors you need to maximize your engagement. 

Once you know the format your content takes, you can create templates that correlate with certain Instagram posts. For example, if you post a lot of quotes, you might have certain templates designed for those. Your templates can range extensively. Having these ready to go is a huge help in creating content your audience wants.

4. Use High-Quality, Engaging & Unique Images 

Now, once you have your templates, the main thing your audience will see is the images you post. Although it’s ideal to create your own images, it can be challenging to find compelling photographs that suit your posts. But, with resources like Shutterstock or Unsplash, there are thousands of images you can access. There are images for any type of Instagram content you are producing. When you find images, remember, you want your Instagram posts to compliment each other on your profile feed. So, when you find photographs to use, try to ensure they are consistent and match your aesthetic. After all, you’re aesthetic carries your brand’s visual language. 

Your high-quality and engaging images will help keep your audience intrigued by your posts and what you have to say. When scrolling on Instagram, you want your content to stand out amongst others, think about the discover page or the scrolling experience. Try to find unique images you haven’t seen before that align with your content. But, also have images that align with the posts your audience engages with. 

5. Mix Up Your Formatting

One unique thing about Instagram is that your posts can all be different. Not only content-wise, but in the ways, you format your posts. You can post videos, carousels, and IGTVs. Try using all of the formats that Instagram has to offer. It will help keep your audience interested and help keep you top of mind, as everyone accesses different content formats depending on their behaviours. Try stories and create Instagram story highlights. Exploring the different formats Instagram has to offer is the best time to get creative and experiment. 

Creating content in different formats can also inspire new content. If you are noticing that your audience engages your stories often, post more! Or you might find that your videos are thoroughly enjoyed by others. Once again, it is trial and error and requires constant testing. So, when it comes to creating Instagram content your audience wants to see, track your successes and opportunities. 

How to create Instagram content your audience wants to see can be challenging. So start developing relationships with your audience to find out what they want with the tips listed above. 

If you liked this blog, check out this blog on How Instagram Hashtag Research Can Strengthen Your Following.