Create and manage social media content using tools as simple as a smartphone and as advanced as professional editing platforms. Establish a consistent posting schedule that aligns with your audience’s expectations and supports platform algorithms.
Key Insights
- Smartphones are sufficient for most social media content creation, offering an authentic feel that users often prefer over highly polished, commercial-style videos.
- Third-party editing tools like CapCut, InShot, Canva, and Adobe Elements provide more robust editing capabilities than Instagram's built-in features, and users should select tools that are intuitive for their workflow and budget.
- GSUSA's Instagram Marketing Bootcamp emphasizes the importance of developing a content cadence, posting consistently, even if infrequently, and varying content types by day, to build audience engagement and improve performance in platform algorithms.
This lesson is a preview from our Digital Marketing Certificate Online (includes software). Enroll in a course for detailed lessons, live instructor support, and project-based training.
Okay, so let us just cover a couple of other points. What about capturing content? You know, there are many different tools you can use to capture content. But, you know, as has been demonstrated by hashtag shot on iPhone, you can use for much of the content you create, you can use your smartphone, right? Now, there might be some content that makes sense to have shot by a professional videographer, perhaps product demonstrations, shooting at a conference, or sometimes, you know, you do want a more polished look for maybe a brand reel or something along those lines.
But for a lot of the content that you post, actually having less sophisticated, less super polished content could be more effective because people tend to look for authenticity on social media, not the type of commercials you see on broadcast TV or cable TV, right? So even the dove ad of the woman with her daughter and doing her hair, it wasn't meant to look overly polished. It was supposed to look more like what someone would shoot in their own home, right? In certain instances, it makes sense to have high-quality content or even buy, you know, a professional-level camera, like a mirrorless camera, and do it yourself. But in many instances, just using your iPhone or Android or whatever is really going to work on this platform, right? And so we already saw how you can edit your platform directly on Instagram, but there are additional third-party tools that you can also use, such as Canva and Adobe Elements.
They might provide additional tools, more robust tools, right? And a lot of people who are high-level content creators will use a third-party tool, right? In addition to Canva and Adobe, the best tool for creating reels is CapCut because that was actually created by the same company behind TikTok, and the editing platform was made specifically for that type of content, reels, right? Vertical video. There's also InShot, another platform that a lot of Instagram content creators will use. But find a platform that, you know, once you get to the point where you want to go beyond the functionality on the Instagram app, pick a platform that is intuitive for you.
And obviously, they, of course, have different monthly rates. Some actually have a free level, but of course, not as robust as the paid platforms. Okay, so another important concept is a content cadence, right? A content cadence doesn't mean you need to post every day or multiple times a day.
If we go back to that Dove brand page, you're gonna see they post quite frequently, right? But Dove likely has an entire team of people who are creating content, maybe a team of people creating content just by Instagram, right? So smaller brands, individual, you know, entrepreneurs are obviously not gonna have that type of resource, but it's not like you have to post that often, right? As long as you post consistently, if it's four times a month, consistently post four times a month. If it's twice a week, consistently post twice a week. And even better, perhaps post different types or themes of content on different days, right? Every Monday, maybe you have a motivational quote.
Every Wednesday, you might have, you know, a link to a blog article, right? On Fridays, you might do promotions, or you might have a testimonial video on, you know, twice a month, every Thursday, right? What serves two purposes? Number one, it helps your audience begin to understand when they can expect certain types of content from you, and it's something that they enjoy; they'll look forward to it, right? You know, look to engage with it. Plus, it keeps your content in front of them over time.
But the algorithm, which we're about to talk about in a few, in the next video, that also is gonna favor content from content creators who post consistently, right? And say, look, if this one piece of content or another piece of content might be of interest to this particular audience, but the brand behind the first piece of content posts several times a week. So if I connect that person with that brand, they're gonna get more content more consistently than the other brand that posts once every few months, right? So it does have an impact on the algorithm. Here's a quote from a social media marketer.
Social networks aren't about websites; they're about experiences. And that's what you have to remember. We want to create engagement on social media in a way that you don't necessarily have to be on your website.
And that engagement can come in a form of encouraging an audience to comment, to upload UDC-type content, or simply to intrigue them, to connect with them in a way that is meaningful, right? Through your content, right? And the best way of doing this is having a clear understanding of what's important to them, what excites them, and that can only come from a clear understanding of the needs, wants, aspirations, challenges, and pain points of your audiences, where it all ties together.