- [Instructor] Let's talk about some different strategies
that you can use to brainstorm
content ideas for your Instagram account.
I'm going to focus a little more heavily on services
in this video because I think that they can have
a slightly more difficult time
in finding which type of content is right for Instagram.
If you have a product, post photos of your product,
people using your product, and creative ways
in which it's used but if you have a service,
it can be a little more abstract.
Let's talk about some different ways to find inspiration.
First of all, list all of the products
and services that you offer, and then create
a second list of all the benefits
that your products and services provide.
Remember to think of the different ways
your products are used and try to be
as creative as possible here.
Think of the ways that your products are used
that not everybody's going to think of.
For instance, I mentioned the company Chobani
earlier in the course, the yogurt company,
and when I think of yogurt, I think about eating yogurt
but on the Chobani Instagram page,
they have photos of different ways
that you can cook with yogurt,
and that leads to almost endless possibilities for them.
It's also important to think about
when people are most happy using your product.
One example I can think about for this particular aspect
of Instagram is if you have a plumbing service.
Now, if you just think about taking photos
of you doing plumbing work, they may
not be the most glamorous photos to post on Instagram
but what's the end goal of hiring a plumber?
Well, it's probably to have running water
and water is one of the most vital resources on the planet.
People really like water.
They need water.
So now, we open ourselves up to all of these
different ideas of the ways that people use water.
So, if I'm a plumber, I could post some photos
to Instagram of somebody pouring
a nice, pristine, cold glass of water on a hot summer day
or the family outside in the yard
running through the sprinkler.
So, we're not just talking about the actual work that you do
but the end result of that work
and even more importantly, when are those really special
moments when somebody's benefiting from the product
that they've purchased or the service that you've provided?
Try to capture those moments.
I have a personal friend that I went to high school with
and a few years ago, I stumbled upon his Instagram account.
He inherited a landscaping service
that his father owned and I think his grandfather
owned it before him but he was the first one
that really took to digital marketing for the business.
He created an Instagram account
and he has one of the more beautiful
Instagram accounts that I've seen.
He posts photos of just about every job that he does.
So, waterfalls, walkways, gardens, flowerbeds,
all of these beautiful, beautiful landscaping designs
and he puts them on Instagram, and they look great.
This is the type of account that you'd follow
even if you're not looking to get a landscaping job done,
just because the photos are so gorgeous.
But oh, guess what?
Now I need a landscaper, who am I going to call?
Well, I have this guy on Instagram that I follow
and his work is great, and I see it every day,
so there's a good chance that I'll call him, first.
Another type of service that I'd like to mention
because I was trying to think
of the most difficult services to put on Instagram
and one of those is waste removal.
So, maybe you're a waste removal company.
How can you capture those special moments?
Well, taking out somebody's garbage
isn't necessarily going to be the most glamorous photo
but if you have a man or a woman smiling,
you know, taking the trash can, maybe it could work.
But what happens with that waste afterwards?
Maybe there's some recycling that's being done,
so you can post photos of artwork
that people have made with reclaimed metal and wood.
Maybe you could even provide some ideas
on how people could use their household waste
and reuse it to be more efficient
and more environmentally friendly.
That just opens you up to the whole
environmental aspect of things.
You could even just be posting
pictures of national parks that are nice
and clean without any waste in them.
What I'm getting at is just because you have a service
that you might not be able to digitally capture right off
the bat, remember to be unique, creative, and personal.
Capture those special moments and think about all
of the different uses that your product
or service has and then what the final benefit
that it provides to the customers are.
It's those moments and those situations
that are perfect for Instagram.
So, hopefully this will give you
some ideas of ways that you can list
the products and services that your company provides,
and then get the benefits of those services,
and the special moments that they
create uploaded to Instagram.