Instagram is the place to be for visual storytelling. Pictures and videos are what Instagram is all about, after all. But if you’re just posting your pictures and leaving it at that, you’re missing out on many opportunities. Instagram features help you get the most out of your posts, which can lead to more followers, more site traffic, and, ultimately, more patients in your door.
Insights
You’re posting content, which is great! But how are those posts being received? It’s hard to know without doing a little digging, and with Insights, you don’t have to do much work to find what you want. As long as your Instagram account is linked to your Facebook business page, you can view insights on your posts.
These insights will help you see where your posts are getting the most views (i.e., are you reaching your local audience?); how many unique profiles have seen your posts; the number of likes, comments, shares, and saves for each post; and how many profile visits your post generated. Diving into these insights will help you know what’s working and what really doesn’t do much. Find what works and do more of that!
Reels
Essentially, Reels is Instagram’s TikTok, although it will still be different. It allows users to shoot videos of up to 15 seconds long. These videos work how you would expect them to on TikTok but are native to Instagram. Unfortunately, these Reels are currently available only in Brazil as Instagram is still testing the feature, so keep an eye on your Instagram if you don’t have that feature yet.
Alt Text
While Insights are informative and Reels are exciting, alt text is as generic as it sounds. However, don’t cast it aside due to its mundane name. Just how alternate text is important on your website’s images, alt text in Instagram is just as important. Alt text is helpful for the visually impaired, helping them know what is on the screen. Likewise, if your image fails to load due to a user’s poor connection, they can see what it should have shown. But, perhaps the most important use of alt text is for ranking higher in SEO.
Hopefully, your practice is using hashtags to get attention. Adding your brand’s hashtags as the alternate text will help those tags rank higher. Don’t forget to describe your image in the alt text so search engines can pull them up. You have a limited number of characters, though, so make it clear and concise while still trying to sound human.
Videos
Instagram loves videos. In fact, videos are prioritized in the feed…at least, they’re prioritized when posting to IGTV. Pictures and videos, when posted normally, have the same priority on Instagram’s algorithm. However, post a video to IGTV, and you get FOUR TIMES the priority!
Of course, it’s still important to post videos to your main feed. Even a short, 3-10 second video will help spice up your content. And while the video may share priority with pictures, engagement on videos tends to do better anyway.
We Are Instagram Pros
At Virginia Creative Group, we follow the trends of social media marketing, so you don’t have to. We know what content works and where you can focus for the best results. Aside from that, we craft and publish quality posts geared toward engagement and, ultimately, more patients in your office. When it comes to Instagram features, we know what will power your practice.
Ready to work with a marketing team that knows their stuff? Let’s talk.
