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A New Era for Instagram Profiles

Instagram has rolled out a major update to its profile grid, introducing a vertical-aligned thumbnail format. This shift aligns with Instagram’s focus on vertical content like Reels and positions the platform as a stronger competitor to TikTok. While some users have expressed frustration, Instagram is introducing new customization tools to ease the transition.

For marketers, this update presents challenges but also offers exciting opportunities to refresh your Instagram strategy, optimize your profile, and re-engage your audience.

What’s Changed in the Instagram Profile Grid?

Instagram’s new vertical grid replaces the classic square thumbnails with taller, vertically-aligned thumbnails. This change better accommodates the vertical photo and video formats that dominate the platform today.

Why the Change?

Vertical Content Dominance: Most content uploaded to Instagram is now vertical. The new grid enhances the display of photos and videos.
Competition with TikTok: By focusing on vertical content, Instagram aims to position itself as a top alternative to TikTok.
User Experience: Vertical thumbnails offer a better visual experience for users scrolling through profiles.

New Features to Customize Your Profile

Instagram is rolling out additional updates to give users more control over their profiles:

Grid Reordering: Users will soon be able to reorder their grid layout, enabling them to showcase their best posts or create visually cohesive designs.
Highlight Integration: Instagram is testing moving Highlights into the grid, with options to rearrange and customize them.
Direct Grid Posting: A new feature will let users post content directly to their grid, bypassing the feed entirely.

Challenges for Marketers and Creators

For users who meticulously designed grid layouts with square images, this update has disrupted carefully curated profiles. Instagram acknowledges this and plans to introduce tools to adjust thumbnail displays.

While this may feel like a setback, it’s also an opportunity for marketers to rethink how they present their content and use Instagram’s new tools to their advantage.

How Marketers Should Adapt to Instagram’s Vertical Grid

1. Refresh Your Profile Content

The new vertical grid provides a chance to revisit older content. Since only a small percentage of your followers see your posts the first time, reposting optimized content is an effective strategy.

Steps to Refresh Your Content:

Analyze Engagement: Identify high-performing posts to repost.
Reformat for Vertical Display: Ensure images and videos look their best in the vertical grid.
Add Updated Captions: Use new captions to provide fresh context or updates.

2. Optimize for the Vertical Format

With the focus on vertical content, marketers should prioritize content that looks great in this format:

Video Content: Reels and vertical videos should be the centerpiece of your strategy.
Portrait Photos: Avoid posting square or landscape images without testing how they appear in the new layout.

3. Leverage Grid Reordering and Highlights

Grid reordering is a game-changer for marketers, allowing for strategic profile curation.

Showcase Evergreen Content: Highlight timeless posts that resonate with your audience.
Create Thematic Grids: Organize your content by themes, such as campaigns, testimonials, or product launches.
Update Highlights: Use Highlights to keep important stories front and center.

4. Repost Content to Maximize Reach

Instagram’s algorithm limits how many followers see your posts. Studies show that, on average, only 10-20% of your audience sees a post the first time. Reposting ensures your best content reaches more users.

How to Repost Effectively:

Space reposts over weeks or months to avoid redundancy.
Refresh captions or hashtags for a new spin.
Use Instagram Insights to identify the best times to repost.

5. Test Direct Grid Posting

With the new direct grid posting feature, you can share content exclusively on your profile grid.

Use this feature for announcements or evergreen content.
Pair it with grid reordering to strategically highlight important posts.

Opportunities for Marketers

This update isn’t just about adapting to a new format—it’s about leveraging the change to stand out:

Increased Engagement: Vertical thumbnails provide a better user experience, encouraging profile visits and interactions.
Content Repurposing: Reposting optimized content saves time while maximizing impact.
Brand Creativity: The ability to reorder grids and integrate Highlights allows for innovative profile designs that reflect your brand identity.

Conclusion: Embrace the Change

Instagram’s vertical grid update is a significant shift, but it’s also an opportunity for marketers and creators to refresh their profiles, re-engage their audiences, and showcase their brands in new and exciting ways.

By leveraging tools like grid reordering, Highlight integration, and reposting strategies, marketers can adapt to this new format while maximizing their content’s impact.

Ready to take your Instagram strategy to the next level? Contact Amber 90 for expert guidance on adapting to social media updates and optimizing your content strategy.

Introduction

Definition and Importance of Value-Driven Content

Value-driven content is designed to provide genuine value to the audience by addressing their needs, solving their problems, or answering their questions. Unlike content that solely aims to promote a product or service, value-driven content focuses on the audience’s interests and requirements, thereby building trust and fostering long-term relationships. In today’s digital landscape, where consumers are bombarded with information, creating value-driven content is essential to stand out and engage your target audience effectively.

Understanding Your Audience

Conducting Audience Research

To create value-driven content, you must first understand your audience. This involves conducting thorough audience research to identify their demographics, interests, and behaviors. Utilize tools like Google Analytics, social media insights, and customer surveys to gather data on your target audience.

Identifying Pain Points and Needs

Identify the common pain points and needs of your audience. This can be achieved through direct interactions, such as customer service inquiries, feedback forms, and social media engagement. Understanding what challenges your audience faces allows you to create content that addresses these issues directly.

Types of Value-Driven Content

Educational Content

Educational content includes how-tos, tutorials, guides, and informative articles. This type of content helps your audience learn something new or improve their skills, establishing your brand as an authority in your field.

Entertaining Content

Entertaining content includes videos, infographics, memes, and quizzes. This content aims to amuse and engage your audience, making your brand more relatable and memorable.

Inspirational Content

Inspirational content includes success stories, motivational posts, and testimonials. This content aims to inspire and motivate your audience, often evoking emotional responses that strengthen their connection to your brand.

Content Creation Strategies

Tips for Brainstorming and Planning Content

Set Clear Objectives: Define what you want to achieve with your content. Are you looking to educate, entertain, or inspire your audience?

Research Thoroughly: Use tools like BuzzSumo, Google Trends, and keyword research tools to find popular topics and trends in your industry.

Create a Content Calendar: Plan your content schedule in advance to ensure consistency and timely delivery.

Collaborate with Your Team: Brainstorm ideas with your team to generate diverse perspectives and creative content ideas.

Importance of Quality Over Quantity

While it’s important to maintain a consistent posting schedule, the quality of your content should never be compromised. High-quality content is well-researched, well-written, and provides real value to your audience, making it more likely to be shared and engaged with.

Leveraging Different Content Formats

Blog Posts

Blog posts are versatile and can cover a wide range of topics in depth. They are great for SEO and can drive significant organic traffic to your site.

Videos

Videos are highly engaging and can be used to demonstrate products, share customer testimonials, or provide tutorials. Platforms like YouTube and social media make it easy to reach a broad audience.

Podcasts

Podcasts are excellent for sharing expert insights, interviews, and discussions on industry-related topics. They are convenient for your audience to consume on the go.

Social Media Posts

Social media posts allow for quick and interactive engagement with your audience. Use a mix of images, videos, and text to keep your content fresh and engaging.

SEO Best Practices for Value-Driven Content

Importance of Keyword Research

Effective keyword research ensures that your content is discoverable by your target audience. Use tools like Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, or SEMrush to identify relevant keywords with good search volume and low competition.

On-Page and Off-Page SEO Strategies

On-Page SEO: Optimize your content by including target keywords in the title, meta descriptions, headings, and body text. Ensure your content is well-structured with proper use of headings and subheadings.

Off-Page SEO: Build backlinks to your content from reputable websites. Engage in guest blogging, influencer collaborations, and share your content on social media to increase its visibility and authority.

Promoting Your Content

Strategies for Sharing Content Across Different Channels

Social Media Marketing: Share your content on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Tailor your posts to fit the platform and engage with your audience.

Email Marketing: Send newsletters or promotional emails to your subscribers with links to your latest content.

Content Syndication: Partner with other websites and platforms to republish your content and reach a broader audience.

Importance of a Content Distribution Plan

A content distribution plan ensures that your content reaches the right audience through the right channels. Plan your distribution strategy in advance, considering factors like timing, platform, and audience preferences.

Measuring Content Success

Key Metrics to Track

Engagement: Track likes, shares, comments, and other forms of engagement to gauge how well your content resonates with your audience.

Conversions: Measure how many visitors take the desired action after consuming your content, such as signing up for a newsletter or making a purchase.

Traffic: Monitor the amount of traffic your content drives to your website and analyze the sources of this traffic.

Tools and Techniques for Measurement

Use tools like Google Analytics, social media analytics, and CRM systems to track and analyze your content’s performance. Regularly review these metrics to understand what’s working and make data-driven decisions to improve your content strategy.

Case Studies of Value-Driven Content

Examples of Brands with Successful Content Strategies

HubSpot: Known for its extensive library of educational content, HubSpot’s blog covers a wide range of marketing, sales, and customer service topics.

BuzzFeed: Famous for its entertaining content, BuzzFeed uses quizzes, listicles, and videos to engage a massive audience.

TED: TED’s inspirational content, including TED Talks and articles, aims to spread ideas and inspire people worldwide.

Lessons Learned from Their Approaches

HubSpot: Consistent, high-quality educational content builds authority and trust.

BuzzFeed: Entertaining content can go viral and significantly boost brand visibility.

TED: Inspirational content can create a deep emotional connection with the audience.

Conclusion

Recap of Key Points

Creating value-driven content involves understanding your audience, choosing the right types of content, employing effective content creation strategies, leveraging different content formats, adhering to SEO best practices, promoting your content, and measuring its success.

Encouragement to Start Creating Value-Driven Content

Start by understanding your audience’s needs and creating content that genuinely addresses those needs. With a well-thought-out strategy, your value-driven content can engage your audience, build trust, and drive meaningful results for your business. Contact us today to audit your current strategy and how a collaboration with Amber 90 could improve your marketing and content efforts.

Tag: brand content strategy

Instagram’s Vertical-Aligned Grid Redefines Your Profile Strategy