With over 700 million (and counting!) monthly active users, Instagram is one of the top social media platforms to use for your photography business to reach and book ideal clients. Because you are a busy wedding photographer, it is essential for you to find an app that helps you with Instagram management, such as Planoly.
In our Instagram for the Wedding Photographer Guide, we discuss the best techniques to use to maximize the platform and encourage interaction. One way to ensure your Instagram business account is successful is to promote your brand and measure your performance. Which program is the best choice to help you manage and evaluate your Instagram strategy? In the past, we shared a review on Iconosquare for Instagram. Today, we will focus on Planoly and the benefits it can provide for your Instagram workflow.
Planoly Review
Planoly is an all-in-one platform, geared toward helping you visually plan, manage, and schedule your Instagram posts. It is meant to simplify the process for you on Instagram. We’ve put together a quick review of the platform, as well as how to use Planoly to create an efficient workflow for your Instagram business account.
Image by Bōm Photography
1. Use the Visual Planner
Just like you should do for your wedding photography website, think of your Instagram business account as your storefront. When an ideal client accesses your account, they want to see the best of the best when it comes to your images. As you post individual photos on Instagram, it can be difficult to envision your account with all your images together.
Planoly allows you to visually plan and curate your account in a way that matches your brand and is aesthetically pleasing. Unlike other programs, Planoly gives you an option to look at all your images together so you know exactly what your account will look like on the Instagram app. You can plan out the images that look best together, which ensures you have the photos your ideal clients will be attracted to.
Related: Are you using these 5 tips in your Instagram strategy?
2. Schedule Content in Advance
As a wedding photographer, you have the tools necessary to build out your social media schedule in advance. Your engagement and wedding shoots alone provide you with a tremendous amount of content to share. Similar to when you gather images for your blog or website after a shoot, take the same approach with your Instagram posts.
Planoly allows you to schedule Instagram posts in advance and gives you the ability to store your images for future Instagram posts. With Planoly, you only need to drop the image in and schedule it. Although you need to manually post it to Instagram, Planoly will send you a reminder to do so. When you schedule posts on Instagram, you save yourself time from needing to find something last minute to share.
Related: How can you maximize your presence on multiple social media platforms?
3. Track Account Analytics
Similar to your unique photography style, your Instagram strategy will differ from others in the industry (and even others you follow outside of wedding photography). Strategies that work for other brands may not work for you on Instagram, and that is something you must learn through testing your strategy. That is where data comes in handy, so you know which techniques work and which do not.
Planoly provides analytics for your Instagram business account, which can help you make decisions that best fit your strategy and audience. You can track your followers and their activity on your account. With the analytics, you also have visibility into which posts get the most interactions during certain time frames. The more you know about your audience and how your Instagram posts are performing, the easier it is to adjust as necessary to continue your success.
4. Stay on Top of Communication
When you actively interact with followers on Instagram, it can sometimes be confusing to keep up with the constant notifications. With follows, likes, and comments coming through, something is bound to get lost in the mix. Because you want to provide your followers with a positive experience on your Instagram business account, it is crucial to stay on top of communication.
Planoly tracks the comments on your Instagram posts and allows you to directly reply to them. With the desktop version and Planoly Instagram app, you can respond to comments wherever you are, at any time.
Here at ShootDotEdit, we believe “Fast is Best” and we know the faster you get back to your clients, the happier they will be. Planoly makes communication simple, which allows you to create positive experiences for each of your followers.
5. Create a Consistent Workflow
With most everything you do as a wedding photography business owner, consistency is key. This is no different for your social media platforms, especially when you are facing changing algorithms and declining engagements. When it comes to your Instagram business account, creating a consistent schedule is an essential part of staying top of mind and encouraging interaction from followers.
Planoly is an ideal tool to help you create a consistent workflow for scheduling Instagram posts. With the ability to upload and save images, prep your calendar in advance, and see your account before it’s live, you can quickly implement it as a part of your workflow.
6. Utilize the Splitter Feature
As a wedding photographer, you have the unique opportunity to tell a story with your images from your client’s big day. You have an individual style that is all your own which helps you attract ideal clients. Since Instagram is a visual platform, it is the perfect place to share the stories you create, as well as showcase your creativity.
Planoly has a splitter tool that allows you to split the images on your grid. With this feature, you can upload images to the Planoly app from your phone and split the image into separate tiles. This is a great way to provide sneak peeks and create an artistic and creative feel to your account.
When you use Planoly as an Instagram post scheduler and visual planner, you can save time and ensure you maximize the platform for your business. Find out additional techniques to use when you download our Instagram for the Wedding Photographer Guide!
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