How to plan an Instagram content strategy for turning followers into leads

Have you ever wondered why some people go viral and others simply feel stuck with growing their account? There is no secret to Instagram growth, and while I’m a web designer, Instagram content strategy is often the main priority for sooo many of my clients, which is why I needed to create this blog post to make you fully understand the purpose of your Instagram content, and how you can actually get better results with it if you combine the power of your social media presence and a powerful website!

Welcome! If we haven't met before, I'm Natalia, the founder of Green Studio Marketing. My mission is to help industry leaders stand out, gain visibility, and sell with confidence through strategic web design. Today, I want to share some valuable insights on how to develop a successful Instagram content strategy that will not only attract your dream clients but also turn them into loyal followers and leads.

If you’ve been trying to grow your Instagram presence, but nothing seems to work. Or perhaps you're struggling with low engagement rates and finding it hard to stand out among the sea of competitors or you feel discouraged that you’ve been putting in a lot of effort into curating your grid, only to hear crickets, trust me I hear you!

I’ve started more than 3 IG accounts from scratch, the first got 3k followers, the second 7k and the third 300, and now I’m with m y fourth IG acco unt and slowly growing with aligned followers.

So before I jump in to the ins & outs of what I’ve seen is working on IG from 6-7 figure accounts I follow + best practices that some of my own clients with 100k followers implement, I want to discuss with you why I decided to start my IG from scratch this year.

Why I ditched my IG with 7k followers and decided to start a new account

Ok, so the reason I primarily did this is because my past IG account with 7k followers had I would say 90% of people who followed me because of my ads, and since they didn’t really follow me for any other reason other than what they saw in one ad, they were disconnected followers.

I also was completely silent with my IG through my maternity, postpartum and never kept a consistent strategy other than paying for ads.

So why did this hurt my account? When I decided to restart posting content the only people watching my stories or engaging with my content was actually my friends or family, and my content wasn’t being pushed to new audiences. And before you start telling me: yeah maybe your content sucked, actually it didn’t. My content was exactly the same content I am posting today, but after doing a 10 day content sprint and just feeling like energetically I wanted a refresh and start over from scratch, I simply decided to take the opportunity to start a new account as fresh start. I also feel we all need to detach our self-worth or value with a follower metric.

And you have no idea how liberating it felt to start fresh, embrace a new era of committing to posting consistently on IG and happily posting 5-7 times a week (without burning out) and showing up for my first 10, 20, 30 and now almost 100 new followers. 100% from scratch. No friends or family involved and purely organic, no ad spend whatsoever.

I think this is a very powerful exercise to do, especially if you feel stuck with your IG, because at least for me, it makes you feel like you are committing to try something new, experiment, and have fun showing up for every single new person that decides to follow you from now on.

So anyway, you might be thinking yeah well what results is this bringing in to your business?

So here’s a screenshot of the total of people I’ve reached in the last 90 days

I have a 20%+ engagement rate on my IG stories, around 20 people watch my stories and that means right now my story engagement rate is 5x above the industry average which is about 3%

I connected my IG with a tool called Many Chat and I’ve been converting followers into leads on auto-pilot.

And I’ve started a ton of DM conversations with new people that follow me, not by being spammy or looking for a sale, but genuinely because they reply back to what I share on my IG stories as snippets of my personal mompreneur life, results, tips etc.

Ok, so now that we’ve covered that topic let’s get into working on your Instagram content strategy.

How do you make successful Instagram content?

Don’t post educational content, post content that turns followers into engagement

To create successful Instagram content, it's crucial to understand your target audience and what they want to see. Start by researching their interests, pain points, and preferences. Use tools like Instagram Insights and competitor analysis to gain insights into what works best in your industry.

What I like to do is use engaging Instagram caption hooks and strategically place CTA to incite engagement or turn followers into leads. You can read this post to learn more about how to do that.

If you want to stand out you need to put in the extra effort to brand your content

Next, focus on creating visually appealing and high-quality content. Invest in good photography or graphic design if necessary. Experiment with different formats such as photos, videos, carousels, and Stories to keep your feed engaging and diverse. The truth is that if you want to stand out on IG you need to put effort into creating visually appealing content.

I love this stock video site called Stock Socials that allows me to use aesthetic stock videos for my reels and combine them with my own B-roll content + I also have a Premium Canva account that allows me to create carousel posts.

I always get comments like these about my recent IG content:

So you can see that the extra effort to stand out, does make people want to stay in the know and be in your world.

Experiment with short and long captions

Captions are an excellent opportunity to connect with your audience on a deeper level and provide valuable insights or inspiration. Use relevant hashtags to increase discoverability and engage with your followers by responding to comments and direct messages.

What is the best posting strategy on Instagram?

The algorithm will push your content to your followers and new audiences if it gets engagement quickly, but this does not mean you need to obsess about when to post.

The best posting strategy on Instagram depends on your specific goals and target audience. However, consistency is more important than the specific hours you choose to post.

Aim to post regularly, whether it's daily, every other day, or a few times per week. This helps you stay top-of-mind and maintain engagement with your followers.

Additionally, consider leveraging Instagram's algorithm by posting when your audience is most active. Use Instagram Insights to identify peak engagement times and schedule your posts accordingly using tools like Later or Planoly.

It's also important to strike a balance between promotional content and value-driven content.

While it's okay to showcase your products or services occasionally, you need to plan your Instagram content with a sales funnel in mind. If you don’t do this, you can enter the constant content creation hamster wheel of pouring your heart into educating your audience and never turning them into leads or sales.

What kind of content works best on Instagram?

The type of content that works best on Instagram varies depending on your industry and target audience. However, here are some general guidelines:

1. Visuals:

Instagram is a visual platform, so prioritize leveling up your content. I mean it.

2. Behind-the-scenes with engaging stories

Give your followers a glimpse into your world by sharing behind-the-scenes content. This could include sneak peeks of upcoming projects, and your real life + client wins. Authenticity builds trust and fosters connections.

3. Build a sales-funnel content plan

Spend some time thinking about how to structure your content categories into part of your sales funnel so that you don’t over-teach with your content, and instead learn how to master hooking people and turning your content hooks into engagement.

What KPI’s are worth tracking on IG?

It’s pretty simple, if you want to make money off your IG account the only thing you need to measure is how many leads or sales you get from your content. If you are not converting into leads and sales, then you’re probably investing your time on other metrics that will help you get likes, follows and engagement, but they are not necessarily going to grow your bank account.

So here’s my priority of KPI’s I am measuring on a monthly and quarterly basis:

Leads & sales: A lead can turn into a sale so I am happy for now to just be growing my email list with my content strategy
Reach & engagement (likes, comments, shares): This one is important if you are starting a new account, because you want to make sure your content is pushed to new audiences. If your content is not getting reach or engagement it’s probably because you have a bad hook, a poor visual or it wasn’t intriguing enough to engage with it.
Followers: This one is last on my list because the amount of followers you have will never determine your success. It is just a fancy metric that we all obsess about, but I have grown my email list, traffic and made sales all with under 100 followers.

Is having a website still important even if I have an IG account?

Of course I’m going to answer HELL yess to this one, because duh, website designer right? But here’s why I think that mastering IG + a website strategy can do wonders for your business.

Because here's what happens:

People see your content on IG and they are hooked
They check the link in your bio
They go to your website
They download your lead magnet, book a call or inquire

You see you need more than just social media posts to nurture people, and that's what your website is for, to catch that hot lead and then let your website do the rest hardcore selling for you, on repeat 24/7.

And you may be wondering WHY I decided to take my IG seriously this year, and it’s because most of my ideal clients think that having a social media presence is the first step to building an online presence, but actually if you don’t have a clear BRAND and CONTENT strategy, your daily IG efforts may flop.

So instead of posting random content, let’s dive into these steps:

5 Simple steps to create an effective Instagram content strategy

Step 1: Define your niche and ideal client

Understand who your target audience is and what makes them tick. Identify their pain points, desires, and aspirations. This knowledge will guide your content creation process.

Step 2: Optimize your bio with a clear call-to-action

Your Instagram bio is prime real estate for attracting potential clients. Craft a compelling bio that clearly communicates who you are, what you do, and how you can help. Include a strong call-to-action (CTA) that directs visitors to take the desired action, such as visiting your website or signing up for your newsletter.

Step 3: Define your Instagram content goals

Set specific and measurable goals for your Instagram strategy. Do you want to increase brand awareness, drive traffic to your website, generate leads, or boost sales? Aligning your goals with your overall business objectives will help you stay focused and track progress effectively. My favorite part is picking my sales goals, and then reverse-engineer them into the type of content I will need to be posting.

Step 4: Create a monthly or quarterly content plan based on sales goals

Plan out your content in advance by creating a monthly or quarterly calendar. This ensures consistency and allows you to align your content with any upcoming promotions or launches. Consider using tools like Notion to organize and schedule your posts.

Step 5: Batch produce your content

To stay consistent with your strategy and make the most of what's working, batch produce your content. Dedicate specific days or blocks of time to create multiple pieces of content at once. This saves time in the long run and allows for better planning and quality control. Believe me with this one, content batching gives you FREEDOM and it takes so much pressure off from thinking about what to post each day. This is the single reason why I’ve been able to post consistently since Jan, and maintain a weekly newsletter + blog all while being a solopreneur with just one VA and limited working hours.

You now have a solid foundation for creating an effective Instagram content strategy
By defining your niche, optimizing your bio, setting goals, and batch producing your content, you'll be well on your way to attracting your dream clients and achieving your business objectives.