The Shortlist Episode 11: All About Instagram

We HEART Instagram because it's a visual platform that helps brands of every shape and size share their personality and passion. But where do you start if your firm is new to the network? And how about gathering that elusive Insta-worthy content from your technical staff? We answer those questions and more in this "All things Instagram" conversation with Middle of Six's Digital Marketing Strategist, Allison Rose.

CPSM CEU Credits: 0.25 | Domain: 5

Podcast Transcript

Welcome to The Shortlist.

We are exploring all things AEC marketing to help your firm win The Shortlist.

I'm your host, Wendy Simmons, and each episode, I'll be joined by one of my team members from Middle of Six to answer your questions.

Today, we're chatting with Allison Rose, and we're gonna talk all things Instagram.

Hey, Allison.

Hi, Wendy, thanks for having me.

Absolutely, this is your specialty, your area of expertise, and we're having a lot of fun with Instagram at Middle of Six, so we're gonna take a deep, deep dive here.

I want to sort of turn this over to you as a starting point.

We've already talked that Instagram is one of our favorite platforms.

What is on your mind today?

Yeah, I'm pretty excited to talk about Instagram.

There's just so much that you can do about it, and it's grown so much, and there's a lot of engagement that comes along with it.

So I'm excited to talk about everything Instagram has to offer.

Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, it's such a beautiful visual platform, but there's way more to it too.

So I hope we can talk about stories and geotagging and all the elements that make it really come to life for your brand.

As a starting point, should everyone be on Instagram?

I think there's a good case for it.

It's so hard to go and tell a company that, yeah, you have to have Instagram, because there is no one set answer for what a company needs, and there's social media strategy.

But I would say there's a very strong case for it.

As I mentioned, there's a lot of engagement that happens on Instagram, and it is a great platform to use to showcase your culture and who you are as a brand.

Yeah.

So let's say you've looked at all the platforms, you've decided what your resources are, and Instagram feels like a good place to get into.

So you're going to start your account and kind of build it out.

Where would you recommend a team start?

What do they need to focus on?

Maybe some of the most important elements that are behind the scenes to get those boxes checked.

Yeah.

Well, I think it's important to think about the type of content that you're going to want to be posting.

So you should definitely have a little bit of a plan when you're going into starting your Instagram account.

And think about the top nine posts that you want to put out there.

I wouldn't recommend starting an account with nothing.

You know, once you start following people and people start seeing your profile, I think it is important to have a little populated.

So I've seen companies do some fun things with the way they start populating their account.

You think about when you go to someone's profile page and you see the top nine posts.

You can do something creative there and something branded.

You can really curate it.

And it doesn't matter if you have put all of those first time posts up on the same day.

There's no penalty or issue for that.

It's just kind of a best practice to make the account feel alive and full.

Yeah, I would say go ahead, post them all at once so they're all there.

Then you can start following people and when they get to your profile, you have something posted.

There's nothing worse than going to a profile account and seeing nothing or maybe one photo.

So it's really nice even again with a brand new account for your followers to land on your page and to see what you're about a little bit.

Right, and maybe this is a good time to have vetted.

What do you want to accomplish?

You know, what are you trying to communicate?

And then finding examples within your firm.

So if people is important or your projects are important, you're grabbing some of that content, so almost test it before you're going live with it to confirm, yep, we've got something to say here, and this is the voice we want to use for the rest of the Instagram account going forward.

Yeah, absolutely, and part of the fun of starting an Instagram account, or really any social media account, is once you start posting the content, you get a feel for what works and what doesn't.

So you might have a strategy of thinking, this type of post will work and people are going to love it, and then maybe that's not the case.

So just keeping track of your analytics and just seeing what works and what doesn't and you start to grow from there.

When you're planning those initial nine posts and then also the posts that are going to follow in that theme, how strictly branded or polished or on message should it be?

And how much room for flexibility, personality can be integrated into Instagram?

Yeah, I come from the school of thought that you can have some flexible consistency with your posts.

You start to get a feel for what your posts look like.

So you can make a strategy that we're going to post, only the professional photography of our projects, and that's what we're going to go with.

But maybe you have something culture related that you want to share.

There is a way that you can integrate the two.

So you're not kind of stuck to one train of thought when you're starting to think through your social media strategy.

Do you have any recommendations for gathering the content and kind of getting it into a catalog or understanding what you have to work with as you're starting to create content for Instagram?

Yeah, so I think it's really important to have a social media calendar.

It's a great way to keep your content organized, and that way you're never struggling to think about what you're going to be posting.

So you have a consistent schedule that you're going to be sharing content on.

Right.

It gives you a look ahead.

You can see if the calendar is pretty empty in three weeks, it might make you put your head down and think about what's going on with our projects and our people, what's happening that we might want to share.

And if you've got a really full social media calendar, you've got the luxury of seeing what's flexible, what could be pushed out a month with some filler content that will be good to share but not super time sensitive.

So seeing it laid out on a grid is just a really helpful tool.

Yeah, and stories are great in that way.

It's an opportunity to be able to share stuff that maybe wasn't planned out.

So maybe you have a fun culture event or a staff member sent you a photo and said, hey, this will be great for social media.

And if it is, I feel like stories is a great way to kind of get that quick content that wasn't necessarily planned out there.

Right, so stories are only around for 24 hours.

That is correct.

Although you can post them to your profile and have them saved for later, but showing up at the top of the feed, they do last for 24 hours.

Yeah, so then do you feel like that content is what I was understanding, that maybe that's a little more casual content.

There's just a slight difference in kind of the, I don't know, not level of professionalism.

That's not the right way to say it, but you know what I'm getting at?

This is like more impromptu, gritty, quick dump stuff for stories.

That's a good fit.

It's there for 24 hours.

If you want to kind of tag it for a long term on your post, that's one thing.

But then in your feed, you've got a more deliberate planned content.

I like to think of stories as the side dish to the entree, which is your Instagram post.

And let's say if you posted something on Instagram about a project, let's say, you could follow that up with a story that gives a little bit more information and maybe a little bit more of a behind-the-scenes look to it, so you're not relying on that carousel for people to scroll through.

So they see the post on your Instagram profile, and then they see the story, and it's a great way to tie everything together.

I like that.

It's a little extra flavor there, the side dish.

And you can add so much in the story.

So having a video, if you're doing a job walk, there's just all these different elements, so there's much more you can share compared to down in the feed.

Absolutely, yep.

What about other elements, just setting up your Instagram account, having a place for links?

I mean, there's some just technical components, any best practices that you'd want to share in that regard?

Yeah, Instagram doesn't really make it easy to share links, do they?

I think that the best way to go about that is, I love using the Link in Bio feature, which is a third-party app that you can get, and what it allows you is to list a bunch of links under that one link on your social media profile.

I'm interested in your recommendations on building your audience.

You know, if you're starting from zero followers, what would you recommend for a team to start growing that audience?

I like to follow the big players in the AEC industry to see who they're following, and then from there, you can start to make those connections and they'll see your posts, and you can start using the relevant hashtags, and then your account will just showing up more and more, and that's really how you build your following.

Yeah, and for us, we were looking at who are our clients?

Who do we want to support?

We want to be seeing what they're posting and celebrating their successes.

So, you know, that was another easy place to start as far as growing our following.

Okay, so we have the account set up.

We've got our nine beautiful posts.

We have a starting point of followers and then growing every day.

Now what?

How do you manage the channel?

Keep it fresh?

You know, what do you want to share related to all of those elements?

Going back to the social media calendar, hopefully, you already have some content in line.

So as you're starting to build that following, you're posting more consistently.

Outside of that, it's also really important to engage with other accounts.

So not just putting your posts out there.

You also want to see what other people are posting and go ahead and like and leave comments, and that's another great way to build some visibility to your account.

Right.

There's probably some rule of thumb, and maybe we could make it up here, but it's not just about what you're putting out there.

You want to be a supporter and promoter of others, and that's not a self-serving thing.

That helps everyone become better and get more visibility.

It's an opportunity to elevate others who could benefit from your platform in that way.

So definitely a focus area that maybe isn't the initial thing on your list, but it's a good thing to keep in mind.

Don't forget about the social and social media, people.

It shouldn't be all about you.

Get out there and engage with other people, too.

When you're creating your own content, what are your thoughts on best practices to balance hitting all of the goals that you've already set out before you started and having a uniform voice and, you know, being on message for that?

As you're making your social media strategy and thinking about the content that you're going to be posting, I think one really important aspect to think about is what is the tone of your content?

And once you have the tone figured out, you start to think about how your captions are going to look.

How are they going to feel?

How long are they going to be?

This also goes for the photos or whatever the content that you're putting on Instagram is, is really starting to think about what is the tone?

What do you want people to feel as they're looking at this post?

Is there a sweet spot as far as the length of an Instagram post?

I feel like everyone has a different answer, and there's a million articles out there that all contradict each other.

So for me, I think it's just putting out what you want to post and seeing what works and what doesn't work.

We've tried things where we post really long content that people can read in the captions, and that works well.

In other times, we post little short bits, and that also works well.

So I don't think that there's a solid answer to that, and I know that there's different things that you hear about with algorithms, and Instagram doesn't like the short posts, they like the longer posts.

But again, it's just getting out there and seeing what works for you and what doesn't.

So you're being very deliberate about what you're posting and then looking back at it after it's had some time to be out there in the world and see how people engage with it and what you might want to repeat, and then testing it again on the next one.

It's a pretty dynamic effort.

It's not just put it out there and forget about it.

No, definitely not.

I think what's most important, whether the content is long or whether it's short, is just to make sure that it's good.

Make sure that you're adding a benefit to your followers.

Do you want to tell your party analogy?

Yeah.

When I first started learning about social media many years ago, I remember reading an article that likened social media to a cocktail party.

And you should think about who are, what kind of guest are you at that cocktail party?

Are you the person that walks into the room and someone asks you a question, and all you do is talk about yourself and all the great awards and accolades you've won?

Or are you the person that engages in the conversation?

Are you the one that follows up with interesting questions?

Are you the one that has a sense of humor, you know, a little bit of personality, just really thinking about who would you want to talk to if you were at a cocktail party?

And then just really put that personality into your social media account.

That is such great advice.

And it's so memorable to me, as I'm thinking about content for our own Instagram or other social platforms.

It's very easy to think, hey, we did this.

This is something that's like looking a little too closely at ourselves.

And while it's exciting to share and celebrate that stuff, there's gotta be a balance.

And that party analogy is awesome.

And I think about it all the time.

I would say one other little tip I have for when I'm writing social media posts, whether it's Instagram or LinkedIn.

Once I have it written out, I always like to read it out loud.

And if it sounds like something that I typed in my mind and typed out, I don't want to put that on social media.

I like to read it out loud.

And if it sounds like something I would say to a co-worker or a friend, then I know it's kind of hit that sweet spot of the tone that we want to be having on our social media.

Yeah, as marketing people, we can be very formal, like what I'm saying right now, feels a little formal.

It's just sort of the way we approach messaging.

But to relax that and be genuine and have a little personality, that's where gold is.

So it's a good tip to say it out loud and hear what that tone is.

Another little tip that I'd recommend that we started using at Middle of Six is using our Teams chat to vet social media content.

And that allows really anyone within our organization to think of the content, draft the post, and put it out on a special feed where anyone can look at it, doing a QC check and maybe making small recommendations or refining the words and checking grammar.

So we get the quick input from anyone in the firm who's ready to look at it or has a little space to do that.

And that also kind of helps keep the social media moving quickly, and we can create that content and push it out there faster than other schedules.

Yeah.

And I found that channel so valuable.

I mean, as a marketer, as I know for myself, I can get so in my head about the content that I'm creating, and my wheels start to spin like, does this sound good?

Does this sound stupid?

Is anyone going to like it?

So I really enjoy having that channel to be able to go out there and post it and just say, hey, team, is this great or is this not?

Please be honest with me and feel free to edit as you wish.

That's for me all the time, right?

I'm posting pictures that I've taken from the office or what we saw in the neighborhood and that.

I'm like, I don't know, is this good or is it not?

And it's wonderful to have somebody to say, yes, absolutely.

Or, well, maybe we'll save that for this.

And that makes me feel like I'm not alone in deciding what needs to go out there.

Yeah, social media really is a team effort.

Allison, you know, we talked a bit about putting content out there and testing the long format or short format and just seeing what resonates with your particular audience.

In general, is there a type of content that you think is more effective or tends to get more people engaged?

I think whenever you can teach people something, that's the most successful type of content.

It's memorable, they learn from it, and from that, they're going to want to share that.

So I think that that's the most successful type of content that I've seen out there.

Yeah.

And then speaking of sharing, we don't have to create all the content ourselves, any best practices or suggestions for sharing and mining content from our circle that can be reused and repurposed on Instagram.

I think this is where stories comes into play.

I'm sure that you've seen those types of posts out there where a company posts something that might mention another company, and then that company will go and share that post on their story.

So they're not dedicating a full spot to it within their Instagram profile.

They're just putting it in their story, kind of as a nod, as a thank you, and to also just to help spread the message.

Instagram has so many very unique, specific functions to it, and I think we should just do a quick rapid fire here of the different tools and techniques to use.

Allison, you want to just kind of run through your favorites?

Yeah.

So hashtags, how many hashtags should you use?

The never-ending question.

I like to keep it to five or less, just it's kind of a stylistic option for me.

I think once you start using too many hashtags, it just starts to look a little cluttered, and really what are you trying to achieve with that?

The benefit of hashtags is that it's a great way for people to discover your content.

What about filters?

Love them, hate them?

No, I would never really use filters on any of the photos.

I like to keep it as a more clean look and a little more authentic, so I wouldn't use filters.

I think Instagram Reels is something really fun for companies to consider using.

The head of Instagram recently came out and said that Instagram is no longer a photo sharing platform, so they're really going to be moving in that direction, and I would really encourage us as marketers to think about the kind of creative stuff we could start creating when it comes to reels and how we can use stories.

Yeah, yeah, that makes sense.

Stories are a great way to put little short bits of content out there.

Maybe if you didn't have something planned on your social media calendar and something fun happened and someone sent you a photo, a story is a really great way to be able to get it out there, and it's not on your profile.

It's only there for 24 hours.

Okay, so here's this week's list or question.

What tips do you have to encourage people outside marketing and business development to support our social media efforts?

So for groups that have lots of technical or operations staff, people who have, I don't know, a general contractor has a huge amount of their team is actually out on a construction site.

Do you have any suggestions on the best way to grab content that's good for Instagram, that is coming from people who are not thinking in social media and their everyday job?

Yeah, when I used to manage a social media account at a former company, we actually created a whole new email alias just for content.

And it was content at, and we just encouraged the entire staff, if you're on a site walk, like don't, you don't have to think too much about it.

Just if you think if it's an interesting picture and you have something to say, take a picture, put a sentence or two about what's going on and send it to this email, and then we'll do the rest for you.

So it was really trying to make it as easy as possible for them to be able to share their content because as marketers, we can only do so much, right?

I mean, we're not out in the field as often as they are, so we do have to really rely on them to send us that type of content.

So it's just making it as easy as possible.

That's a great tip.

I think you could also add that if you've received a photo from the job site, it's very important to have a safety director or superintendent look at it.

I mean, we have a pretty good eye for do they have their gloves and their eye protection on, but there can be things that may have actually been safe in the field, but you can't see that harness well enough.

And so we don't want to put content out there that might not reflect the company in the right way.

So there are some good checks to have, and maybe as part of your social media calendar and planning, you decide when something needs to be elevated to the right person, but they're not having to approve every single post.

Yeah, I think that's a great point.

Wow.

Okay.

That's our first convo about Instagram.

I feel like we covered that pretty well, and if we think of more ideas, we'll definitely add them to our podcast page or put them in our Instagram Tuesday tips section.

We also might hit on this again as Instagram evolves and there are more best practices to share.

But, you know, Allison, thank you so much for being here today and sharing your expertise.

It's been a fun conversation.

I know there's some tidbits that people can take away if they're just starting their own Instagram page or continuing to build on that platform.

So, yeah, thank you.

Yeah, thanks so much for having me.

The Shortlist is presented by Middle of Six and hosted by me, Wendy Simmons, principal marketing strategist.

Kyle Davis is our producer with Graphic Design and Digital Marketing by Allison Rose.

If you have a question or topic you'd like us to discuss, send an email or voice memo to theshortlistatmiddleofsix.com.

If you missed anything or want more info, check out our podcast page at middleofsix.com/theshortlist.

And follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram at Middle of Six.

Thanks so much for listening.

We hope you'll tell your friends and colleagues about this show, and be sure to subscribe so you don't miss any of our upcoming episodes.

Until next time, keep on hustling.

Bye.

See ya.

The Shortlist is a podcast that explores all things AEC marketing. Hosted by Middle of Six Principal, Wendy Simmons, each episode features members of the MOS team, where we take a deep dive on a wide range of topics related to AEC marketing including: proposal development, strategy, team building, business development, branding, digital marketing, and more. You can listen to our full archive of episodes here.