Let’s be real: Posting on Instagram for your business may appear simple. All you have to do is plan, create, and share engaging content, right? Then sprinkle in some sales posts and here you go.
But the truth is, developing a solid content strategy for Instagram can be quite the endeavor. That’s why many businesses have some sort of strategy, but most of them don’t really work.
If you’re also not seeing the results you wish from your Instagram strategy or feel burned out with your content, and wish you had a strategy that just works, then I’ve got something for you!
Let me introduce: The Minimalist Instagram Strategy
It’s the perfect starter strategy, if you’re an online entrepreneur and you…
- … want to hit the ground running NOW instead of taking a huge and expensive Instagram course first
- … have a long to-do list and can’t spend all day on social media
- .. want to finally see some results (sales!) from your efforts
After reading this post, you’ll have discovered my no-fuss, time-saving content strategy that takes into consideration your target audience, their problems and goals and is made to actually bring you results.
And if you’re ready for a free surprise, definitely read until the end!
What is a content strategy for Instagram – and why do I need one?
A content strategy is the step-by-step to reach your ideal client on Instagram.
It starts with a high-level understanding of your audience, so you can produce exactly the content they want to see. Knowing your ideal client inside out is key to reaching them with your content on Instagram.
With this information in mind you can put together a strategy, which usually consists of:
- Content types / formats (posts, carousel, reels, …)
- Content topics or content pillars
- Posting frequency
- Measurement of results
Let’s see how our minimalist Instagram strategy can help you get there faster 👇
What is the Minimalist Instagram Strategy?
It’s a simple strategy I’ve developed after working with our content strategist – to give you a framework you can use to create your own!
The benefits of this strategy are:
- It’s very entrepreneur-friendly: 3 posts and 3-5 stories per week are manageable even if you’ve got a business to run and clients to serve!
- It’s expandable and adaptable to every online business model (perfect for service-based businesses, experts, coaches and anybody selling digital products like courses or group programs)
- It’s based on simple marketing foundations and designed to give you an easy-to-follow blueprint for your content
What are you waiting for? Here is how to get started…
Let’s create your Instagram Strategy:
In the basic version of our Minimalist Strategy, you’ll share the following content pieces:
- 2 Posts / week + 1 Reel (if you’re ambitious or want to grow faster: 3 Posts + 2 Reels)
- Stories on 3-5 days of the week (depending on your workload)
Your Posts + Reels:
The goal here is to build a strategic Instagram feed that is helpful for both new followers and your existing community. Following this strategy, you’ll create posts that raise awareness, nurture your audience and create conversions (a.k.a. bring in new leads and sales).
Here is the pattern:
- 4 Posts to nurture and engage your audience: Education – Engagement – Education – Trust (or Social Proof)
- 1 Post to build a Connection
- 1 Post to Sell (or bring in new leads)
(Note that 1-2 of these posts should be Reels.)
Once you’ve posted the sales post, repeat from the start.
This way, you’ll nurture your audience with value content and sell to them actively once every two weeks. Through smart call-to-actions on your carousels and a strategically laid-out feed that automatically nurtures new followers, you’ll even have more points of sale.
Your Stories:
The goal of posting stories is to build up your community with organic and personal content. That’s why this strategy recommends posting stories on 3-5 days of the week. The more, the better, but: don’t put too much pressure on yourself. It’s consistency that pays off in the long run!
Here is the pattern:
- 3 Stories to nurture: Education – Trust + Connection (e.g. behind-the-scenes) – Engagement
- 1 Sales Story
Once you’ve posted your sales story, repeat from the start.
Sounds pretty simple? Well, because it is! Let’s see which different types of content you need to put the strategy into action.
The 6 Content Types of the Minimalist Instagram Strategy
You’ll notice that the Minimalist Instagram Strategy uses 6 different types of content. Let’s have a closer look at them:
- Engagement: This one is pretty straight forward. It’s content that is engaging your audience, which means they leave comments, like, share or save your posts or send you a DM.
- Education: You’re an expert in your topic – and this content type is here to prove it. Create posts and stories that explain concepts, solutions and talk about the problem points of your audience. Give them quick wins, so they know they can trust your with your topic.
- Trust-Building: Closely related to educational content, this one is focused on making your audience trust you. This could be through showcasing new ideas they haven’t seen elsewhere, being open and personal about your own journey and positioning yourself.
- Connection: Building a connection to your audience is essential on social media. You do that with ‘omg, this is me!’ content, for example with relatable memes and tweet posts.
- Social Proof: It’s so important that you also let your clients speak, to show your audience proof for your work. Do this with case studies, testimonials and reviews.
- Sales: Finally, it’s all about getting the conversion! Usually, in this post or story you’ll want to sell something. In other instances, you could offer a free download or a discovery call.
➡️ Put your content into action with our FREE Minimalist Instagram Planner for Notion – 30 days of content planned out for you, including Reels and audios (normally sold for $47!) 👇
To effectively use these 6 types and not re-invent the wheel everytime you post, it’s important to define content pillars.
Think of your content pillars as themes or categories that help you plan your content more strategically.
Related Article: How to Define your Instagram Content Pillars
How to Brainstorm Content for the Minimalist Instagram Strategy
Okay, now you have a simple strategy you can follow – but how do you come up with the actual content?
Let’s have a look at the different stages of your audience’s journey and how to find content ideas that directly speak to them in their current phase:
- Awareness phase: How do people find your Instagram account? In this phase, do a competitor research and note down the topics that come up on your Explore page, related to your topic. Also, Reels are perfect for reaching new eyeballs. Jumping on trends can be helpful, but always make sure it’s relevant to your brand.
- Nurture phase: In this stage, you want to create content that centers around the problems and goals your audience has, related to your offers.
- Conversion phase: Once your audience is warmed up by your content and you’ve proven your expertise and built trust, you can ask for a sale, to join your email list, download your freebie or take some other action. Think about objections your audience may have before buying – and sprinkle in some social proof or case studies.
Ideally, your content ideas are a mix of the 3 stages, with emphasis on the awareness and nurture phase! That are the phases which get people interested in your brand and show them that you’re the expert they can trust.
Now, there you have it. A simple, but highly effective Instagram Strategy you can put into action today.
Ready to get started? Download the 30 Day Minimalist Strategy Plan FOR FREE for a limited time (normally sold for $47!)
We know how important momentum is, so if you’re on fire now to revamp your strategy we’re offering our 30 Day Minimalist Strategy Plan for Notion for FREE!
In just 1 month, you will:
✅ Share valuable content across your posts, stories and Reels that nurture your audience
✅ Promote your lead magnet and a time-sensitive 24 hours offer without being pushy
✅ Post consistently 3-5 times every week and still have enough time for other important tasks
Download the Notion planner and get a plan for your first month with the Minimalist Instagram Strategy, including content prompts and ideas! 👇
