With its video, photo and interactive capabilities, Instagram is one of the most popular social media apps. Across the world, nearly 1.4 billion users log into Instagram every day for their news, entertainment, shopping, and to communicate with family and friends.
And it’s time for you, nonprofit chorus marketer, to get a piece of the Instagram pie.
Closing out my two-part series on optimizing your Instagram presence (you can read part one here), I hope to empower you to embrace unpolished content; inspire you to experiment with new ideas; and demystify some marketing jargon along the way.
A great way to increase your discoverability and engagement on Instagram is through the use of hashtags. If you’re active on social media, you’ve undoubtedly seen the use of hashtags related to #MondayMotivation posts or #GivingTuesday campaigns to name a few.
What are hashtags? Typed as one word with no spaces, and beginning with the pound (# hash) symbol, hashtags tie public conversations from all different users on a given platform into one single stream.
How can hashtags be used in marketing? They can be used to help create buzz for a launch — think fundraising campaigns, a new concert series or an album release. Not only are they clickable and searchable on Instagram and other social platforms, but hashtags can help increase the organic reach of your content, as well as build a sense of community among your patrons and followers.
The Phoenix Chorale creatively used the branded hashtag #RACHparty to celebrate the release of its Rachmaninoff “All-Night Vigil” album in 2015. Strategic use of the hashtag helped tie together not only the social media posts related to the album release, but also the album’s subsequent Grammy win one year later.
By encouraging your patrons to share photos, videos, stories or other content on social media using your branded hashtag, this tool can be a great way to source user-generated content (UGC) to feature on your platforms or upcoming campaigns, for example.
Pro tip: Learn more about user-generated content in this handy Hootsuite guide.
What hashtags should you use? Whether you’re new to hashtags or already embrace them as part of your marketing strategy, here are some hashtag ideas:
Where should you use hashtags? Once you’ve chosen your hashtags, here are some ideas for where they can be used on Instagram and beyond:
Pro tip: Capitalization has no effect on hashtags, but you might choose to capitalize certain words or letters if it helps with readability or aesthetics. (#ChoralMusic vs. #choralmusic)
The idea of search engine optimization (SEO) can seem a little nebulous at first — especially when used in reference to Instagram. Simply put, SEO involves incorporating relevant keywords into your online content as a way to help your target audience find you.
What are the words someone would type into Google to find you online? These are relevant keywords. Make sure to include the most important keywords in your Instagram bio, in your captions, and even in image alt text.
Another way to improve your Instagram SEO is to write descriptive captions rather than fleeting captions that only contain emojis or a short sentence. A great example is the following post by Harris Theater Chicago:
Not only is the caption descriptive, it uses relevant keywords as well as a call to action.
If you’re not sure where to begin with keywords, start with some of the hashtag suggestions in the previous section and go from there.
I know, I know. This is the one you’ve been dreading, right? Look, I’m not going to create more work for you, but I am going to encourage you to keep things fresh by experimenting with Reels, and for good reason.
Reels are one of the absolute best ways to reach new audiences. Fun fact: 1 billion people share Reels through Instagram direct messages (DMs) every day! And while the thought of making Reels might feel overwhelming, you just need to start with one.
First, to learn the process of how to actually create Reels, Hootsuite’s step-by-step guide is a great resource. Once you’ve got the hang of the creation process, here’s a simple Reel idea to get you started:
One very important thing I want to emphasize is that Reels do not need to be overproduced. People enjoy real and relatable content — so try not to stress about creating the “perfect” Reel, because it simply doesn’t exist. The most important thing is that you show up, be yourself and embrace unpolished content.
Pro tip: Always film Reels vertically. No fancy camera needed, your smartphone will work just fine.
Once you’ve got the hang of Reels – you’re ready to do your first Instagram Live. Unlike Reels which are pre-recorded, Lives are, well… live! And because of this, they’re a great way to show the humanness, personality, and authenticity of your choir’s brand as well as the incredible people behind it.
Pro tip: Before diving into Lives, I highly recommend using Later’s IG Live guide to learn the step-by-step process.
Instagram Lives are a great way to increase your discoverability and stay top of mind with your Instagram followers. Not only will your followers receive a notification when you go Live, your live broadcast will appear first in the lineup of IG Stories on the main feed with a special animated border around your profile photo, and the word “live” enticing followers to join.
Before you dive into Lives, there are three things you need to do:
1. Plan - Be sure to consider the following questions so you feel prepared and confident:
Pro tip: When you invite a guest to join your Live broadcast and they accept, their followers will also receive a notification. This is a great way for you and your guests to reach new followers!
The image above, with the title Instagram Live Layouts, shows examples of what a Live broadcast looks like when done solo (left) vs when a guest joins the broadcast live (right).
Other things to consider to help your Live run smoothly:
2. Practice - Don’t worry, you can practice privately before going public. Set aside some time to practice and get comfortable. Use your talking points to see if there’s anything you might be missing.
3. Promote - You want people to watch your Live, so don’t forget to promote it. I recommend creating a static feed post two to three days in advance with some details on what the Live is about, and a clear CTA.
If your Live is for a BIG announcement, share the feed post at least one to two weeks in advance so you can create some excitement, and share some teasers as you count down the days.
Share the feed post to your Stories, and add a countdown sticker with the date and time of your upcoming Live so your followers can set a reminder.
I recommend scheduling your Live, which is something you can do up to 90 days in advance. This saves you from having to create a separate countdown sticker, and gives your followers the ability to set a reminder. It will also give you time to build some buzz and excitement – especially if it’s a big announcement!
How can you use IG Live for your chorus? Here are some ideas:
It would also be beneficial to create a feed post to promote this with the verbiage “Live Q&A”. In the caption, you could include a CTA such as “Send us a DM with your questions! We’ll do our best to answer them live.”
Want to save time… and sanity? Connect your Instagram and your Facebook accounts.
This simple action will allow you to seamlessly share content to both platforms at the same time, also known as crossposting. This low-hanging fruit can help increase efficiency, and also relieve a little stress.
Rather than posting to Instagram and then going to Facebook separately to post the same content, you can do it all in one click. And it works the other way around, too — post to Facebook and automatically share to Instagram.
If you haven’t already, check out Instagram’s guide to connecting your ‘Gram to your Facebook. If you’re one of the fortunate organizations that happens to have the time and budget to run paid ads, it’s important to make sure both social platforms are connected.
Keep in mind, there may be instances when you don’t want to share the exact same content on both platforms at the same time. For example, maybe your Facebook followers are more active in the evenings, and your Instagram followers are more active during the morning. Or perhaps you want to write a slightly different caption for Facebook. No problem. The good news is you’re able to choose whether you want to crosspost on a case by case basis.
A word on crossposting content - some people will say not to share the same exact content on multiple platforms. However, I’m not one of those people. So, take this as my express consent to crosspost your heart out!
There are several reason why I take this stance:
Pro tip: Want to save even MORE time and sanity? Social media scheduling tools like Later, Hootsuite and SproutSocial allow you to post to multiple social media accounts at various times, all within one platform. If you have more than one social media profile, give it a thought.
Chorus marketer, I see you. You are doing a great job. And if you only implement one small change to optimize your Instagram, then high five. Small wins are big wins when you’re juggling seven (more like twenty-seven!) balls.
Got more Instagram questions? Post them in the comments and I’ll reply as soon as I can!