How to Use Instagram to Bring Attention to Important Topics

Instagram is one of the largest platforms in existence. People from all over the world log in each day to view pictures and keep up with their friends. Though known for frivolity, the enormous audience that the platform boasts makes it a prime candidate for promoting social change.

Using Instagram for good is possible with the right tools, as well as a keen understanding of how to use them. In this article, we provide you with a step-by-step walkthrough that describes how to use Instagram to bring attention to important topics.

Accumulate Support

Unfortunately, gaining traction on Instagram can be very difficult to start. The platform tends to naturally give more attention to accounts that are already receiving it. For example, if the topic you wish to spotlight is global warming, you will find yourself competing against every account that covers that topic.

That could be thousands. If you don’t have many likes or followers, your profile will probably show up towards the bottom of that list. One of the best ways to ameliorate that concern is to buy Instagram live views from buytoplikes.com.

Many people steer clear of this route based on several erroneous assumptions:

• It’s illegal
• Instagram will find out and issue a punishment
• Your followers will know.

None of this is true. There are no laws prohibiting how you market your social media accounts. And while Instagram can discover and punish purchased traffic, this risk only really arises when you choose a low-quality vendor. Purchased activity that comes from high-quality sellers will be supplied by real accounts that will not raise flags with your followers or the platform.

Instagram isn’t the only one that tends to reward accounts that have more activity. Your potential audience is also likely to assume things based on the number of likes and comments your posts have. Keep in mind that there are 1-billion active Instagram users, far more accounts than any user could review and vet. With little time to weigh the pros and cons of all the available accounts, most will select options that appear to be the most popular.

That is why everyone, from influencers to celebrities, uses paid traffic to boost their posts. If you are serious about trying to draw attention to the topic of your choosing, this may be an essential first step.

Make Quality Content

Marketing can’t do very much for you if the quality of your content isn’t there. In this case, it is likely that you care more about the substance of your chosen topic than you do the actual quality of the pictures and posts.

Your base may ultimately feel the same way, but you should still assume that there is a requisite level of quality that each post will have to meet. There are some easy ways to make sure that your content is sufficiently meeting the standards of your audience:

• Acceptable Equipment: Consider investing in your photography equipment. High-quality cameras can be purchased for under $1000 and can go a long way towards improving the quality of your posts. Alternatively, you can also upgrade to a phone with a high-quality camera. Many modern smartphones feature cameras that are comparable to DSLRs.
• Staging: Be sure to dedicate some time to the staging of your photographs as well. Taking the time to establish a thoughtful shot can make a big difference in how your pictures turn out.
• Lighting: Lighting will also have a significant impact on the quality of your pictures. Indoors can stage lighting scenarios at a surprisingly low cost with a little bit of planning and experimentation. Outdoors, light tends to be less cooperative, but even still can be thoughtfully manipulated with forethought. Photographers call the hours after sunset or before sunrise the “golden hour” because they tend to facilitate studio-quality shooting conditions naturally.

Be Thoughtful in Your Targeting

The buckshot approach to marketing very rarely produces the results you are looking for. So rather than trying to get your posts in front of as many eyes as possible, try to be as targeted as you can in your marketing efforts.

Building an audience of indifferent followers won’t have the impact you are looking for when it comes to spotlighting the issues you care about. So instead, consider taking a look at the marketing techniques of successful accounts that are operating within the same niche you wish to occupy.

How do these accounts frame their content? What sort of tags are they using? While your ultimate goal might be getting your message across to people who are unfamiliar with it, that won’t happen without a community of active users bolstering and engaging with your content. In other words, if your topic is conservatism, you probably won’t gain much traction targeting people who don’t care about the environment right off the bat. Instead, look for an audience who views the issue the same way. They, in turn, can put likes and share your posts with the broader world, helping your message gain traction.

Post Often

For an account to gain traction, posts should be updated regularly. How often these posts are made might depend somewhat on what you are hoping to accomplish. For example, an influencer is likely to post daily, while a non-profit might limit its activity to once or twice a week.

The general rule of thumb is that one post a week is the very minimum. Posting several times a week is even better when it comes to keeping your community engaged, with daily posts having the most significant favorable influence on account traction. That doesn’t mean you should post endlessly. It was found in a survey that engagement drops by up to 50% for accounts that post multiple times a day. The goal is to stay in the mind of your followers without irritating them and for them wanting to leave likes and comments on your posts organically.

Be Smart About When You Post

Posting regularly is good. Posting smartly is even better. The time of day that you post can significantly influence how many people see your activity. Current conventional wisdom seems to suggest that the majority of people use their social media between the hours of 8 AM-1 PM.

While this suggests that that would be the best time to post, other factors might also contribute to making your update decisions. For example, what do you know about your audience? Are your followers a more severe sort who aren’t likely to check their social media accounts during business hours?

If so, you may find more traction posting late afternoon or early evening. There may also be practical considerations that determine the uploading time of specific posts. For example, if you are a non-profit wishing to provide an insight into the day-to-day operations of your organization, you may wish to upload during business hours.

Whatever the case, posting at predictable intervals will help you get your content seen. If followers know to expect updates Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, you increase your odds of getting account activity simply by sticking to that schedule. Many posters make the mistake of going hot and cold with their posting cycles. For example, rather than posting three times a week at staggered intervals, they might make three posts in one day and then disappear for two weeks. Remember: consistency beats quantity every time.

Experiment With Tone

As you craft your social media persona (be it for yourself or for an organization), it will become essential to find a tone suitable for the message that you wish to convey. In this case, you are spotlighting an important topic, but that does not necessarily mean that your tone always has to be serious.

Social media posting on 4/20 of 2021 was an excellent example of how posters were able to weave serious messaging into a silly topic. For instance, Ben and Jerry’s used the well-known cannabis holiday as an opportunity to draw attention to systemic racism. On the other hand, outspoken Vermont senator Bernie Sanders used the opportunity to weave humor into a more serious conversation about legislation.

Remember: people usually go onto social media as a way to blow off steam. While there is room for severe topics on these platforms, injecting levity can make your message more engaging and accessible for people to share. A moderate amount of humor can go a long way towards building social media traction.

(Devdiscourse's journalists were not involved in the production of this article. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of Devdiscourse and Devdiscourse does not claim any responsibility for the same.)