Social media becomes exponentially more powerful when you can re-purpose content you already have, and cross promote your various channels. And as Instagram continues to grow and get more saturated, it will get more challenging to grow your account. While you can find lots of targeted new followers inside the Instagram app, it’s smart to also look outside for ways to grow your Instagram. One way to do this is to repurpose Instagram posts.
Share Your Instagram Posts to a Facebook Page
Did you know you can push your Instagram post to your business’ Facebook PAGE, not just your personal profile?
To set this up, head to the settings gear on your Instagram profile. Scroll down to Linked Accounts and tap to get to the next menu. Select Facebook. Connect to your personal account.
Once connected, tap into your name again and you’ll get a list of Facebook pages you manage. Select your Facebook page… next time you post an Instagram image, you can toggle on the “share to Facebook” and it will go to your page, NOT just your personal timeline!
Pushing Instagram Posts to Twitter
Pushing your Instagram content to Twitter is a great way to repurpose Instagram posts.
If you are active on Twitter, you know one tweet per day isn’t going to cut it. You are probably tweeting upwards of 8-10 times per day, which is a lot of unique content to create! Having one of these tweets be your daily Instagram post is no big deal.
However, there is a catch here. You COULD go in to Instagram and toggle on the “Share to Twitter” button. The post would use the first 100 or so characters of your caption, and include a link to your Instagram image. It would look something like this:
What I would really prefer you do is use the site “If This Then That” or IFTTT.com to create a “recipe” that actually pushes your Instagram image to Twitter. It looks like this:
This is so much more engaging and eye catching!
Pin Your Instagram Posts to Pinterest
Pinning your Instagram content to Pinterest is another great way to drive traffic to your Instagram. Some content types perform much better than others on Pinterest.
For instance, food and fashion photos do well, but flat lays of your desk space may not. On Pinterest, tall graphics with numerous photos and text overlay is considered a “Pinterest optimized” image… this isn’t exactly feasible to post on Instagram, and then pin to Pinterest.
However, it is worth experimenting with because for some niches and accounts, this can be an effective way to drive people back to your Instagram.
Embed Instagram Images
You can embed your Instagram images in your emails or on your website. When you embed your images on to your site or into your emails, the entire image becomes a clickable link that leads the clicker back to that post on your Instagram.
Embedding images is super easy.
From your DESKTOP computer, navigate to the image you want to embed. Click the three dots in the bottom right of the lightbox. Then click the “Embed” menu item. A new lightbox with the code will appear. You can include the caption, or not. Grab the code and go paste it in to the HTML of your website where you want the image to appear.
Website Widgets and Apps
Aside from embedding individual Instagram photos as I just mentioned above, you can also embed your entire Instagram stream on to your website.
With Squarespace, you can display your Instagram feed by using the Instagram Block feature. You can read more about Instagram and Squarespace here.
If you have a WordPress website, there are numerous widgets that will display your Instagram feed, or a designated hashtag feed of your choice, on your website. I’m currently using one called WP Instagram Widget, but by simply running a search for “Instagram” on the WordPress plugin store, you’ll find tons of options!
Get Started
It can be overwhelming to try and incorporate all of these tasks in to your Instagram marketing right away. I suggest picking one or two to start using.
Which one or two of these tips will you start using today?
Molly Marshall teaches small business owners and online entrepreneurs how to systematically and simply grow a profitable online presence through social media. Get your FREE Instagram Strategy Guide now!