How to Make Instagram Marketing Make More Sense

One simple shift that will make Instagram feel easier…and stop you judging every post by likes.

There is one tiny change I wish more business owners would make when it comes to Instagram, because I genuinely think it makes the whole thing feel about 50% less confusing.

Give every post a job.

That’s it.

Because it is so easy to judge whether a post has done well by the number of likes it gets. Likes are right there, underneath the post, for everyone to see. They’re the quickest, easiest and most obvious measure of whether something has “worked.”

But they’re only one part of the story.

One of the biggest problems I see with Instagram is that we expect every single post to do everything. We want it to reach thousands of new people, get loads of likes, demonstrate our expertise, build our personal brand, generate enquiries, sell something and ideally gain us 47 new followers while it’s at it.

And then when a post doesn’t do all of those things, we decide it “didn’t perform well.”

But that’s not really how marketing works.

Different pieces of content have different jobs. And, perhaps more importantly, the metric you use to decide whether something worked should depend on what you wanted that post to do in the first place.

Because the post that gets 300 likes isn’t necessarily doing more for your business than the one that gets 12.

Let me explain.

1. Some posts are there to help you get found

There is content you create specifically because you want to get in front of people who don’t know you yet.

On Instagram, this might be a short, relatable Reel that makes someone immediately think, oh God, that’s me. It might be something highly shareable that gets sent around in DMs. It could also be useful, searchable content based on something your ideal client is actively looking for.

The important thing is that its primary job is discovery.

So this is where I’m interested in things like reach, non-follower views, shares and profile visits. Did Instagram show it to people outside your existing audience? Did people share it with other people? Did someone see it and think who is this? and click through to your profile?

That tells me far more than the number of likes underneath it.

And I’m certainly not going to panic because it didn’t immediately generate three enquiries. They’ve only just met you. Give them a minute.

2. Some posts are there to build trust

This is where you get to show people that you actually know your stuff.

Teach them something useful. Answer a question you hear all the time. Share a strong opinion. Explain why you disagree with something happening in your industry. Show people how you think rather than just telling them that you’re an expert.

This is the content that makes someone who has been quietly following you think, okay, she really knows what she’s talking about.

And that matters enormously.

When I’m looking at this kind of content, I’m much more interested in saves, shares, thoughtful comments and DMs. If someone saves something because they want to come back to it, that tells me we created something genuinely useful. If they send it to a friend or colleague, even better.

It doesn’t need to go viral.

It needs to make the right person trust you a little bit more than they did before they read it.

3. Some posts are there to build connection

And this is where you come in.

Your story. Your values. Why you started the business. What you care about. What you’ve learned. The behind-the-scenes bits. Your personality. The things that have absolutely nothing to do with proving how clever you are and everything to do with letting people understand the human behind the business.

I’ve seen this firsthand since launching Eighth Era.

Some of the content people have connected with most has been about starting again at 44, the things that went wrong, what I’ve learned and what I want to do differently this time.

That content isn’t me teaching marketing.

But it gives you a reason to know me, understand what I care about and decide whether I’m your kind of person.

And yes, this is often the stuff that gets the likes.

People comment. They reply to Stories. They tell you they’ve been through something similar. They send you lovely messages. They engage because people connect with people.

That’s brilliant. That post is doing its job.

But here’s where we need to be careful: if we judge every other type of content against the visible engagement we get on personal, relatable posts, we start making some very strange marketing decisions.

Because then we get to number four.

4. Some posts are there to get you clients

Yes, you are actually allowed to sell things on Instagram. 😂

Some content should tell people what you do.

Talk about your offer. Explain the problem it solves. Share a client testimonial. Show what working with you looks like. Talk about the transformation. Answer the objections that might be stopping somebody from getting in touch. Tell people there are spaces available.

And then — revolutionary concept incoming — ask them to do something.

DM you. Click the link. Join your email list. Download the thing. Apply to work with you. Book a discovery call.

Now, please hear me on this one:

These posts will not get many likes.

In fact, your sales posts might regularly be some of your lowest-performing content if you’re judging performance by visible engagement.

And that does not mean they aren’t working.

Someone seeing your offer and thinking actually, this is exactly what I’ve been looking for does not require them to publicly double-tap it first.

They might click your link.

They might join your email list.

They might save the post and come back three weeks later.

They might DM you.

They might read it, say absolutely nothing, Google you two days later, spend half an hour on your website and eventually book a call.

A huge amount of the really important stuff happens quietly.

So if a post gets 14 likes, two link clicks and one brilliant-fit enquiry, I am taking that over 500 likes from people who are never going to become clients every single time.

Stop judging “likes” as an indicator to whether a post “performed well”

This is the bit I really want you to take away.

The next time you post something and find yourself checking that little heart underneath it and deciding whether your content was “good” based on the number next to it, stop.

Instead, ask yourself two questions:

What was this post’s job?

And did it do it?

If you wanted to reach new people, look at reach, shares and profile visits.

If you wanted to build trust, look at saves, shares, comments and DMs.

If you wanted to build connection, those likes, comments, replies and conversations suddenly become much more meaningful.

And if you wanted to get clients, stop worrying about whether Instagram rewarded you with a lovely big number everyone else can see. Look at the actions that actually matter to your business: clicks, subscribers, DMs, enquiries, calls and ultimately, sales.

Because not every post needs to perform in the same way.

And once you stop expecting it to, Instagram becomes a hell of a lot easier to understand.

So before you create your next post, don’t start by asking what should I post today?

Start with:

What do I need this post to do?

Then create it for that job and measure it accordingly.

See? Instagram already makes a bit more sense. 💛

Want us to do the thinking for you?

Knowing what each post needs to do is one thing. Actually finding the time to plan it, write it, design it and get the bloody thing posted is another. 😂

That’s exactly why we created Back on the Grid.

We’ll create a strategic bank of Instagram content for your business, fully written, designed and ready to post, so you know what to say, when to post and what each piece of content is actually there to do.

Back on the Grid is launching soon, with limited spaces and introductory pricing.