How to Use Instagram as a Wedding Professional

One of the prime social media platforms for wedding professionals to be active on is Instagram. You can likely guess why; Instagram oriented around images. You can’t post anything on Instagram without including imagery of some kind.

This works perfectly with wedding businesses because people love seeing weddings– the details (floral arrangements, dress, cake, decorations), reception, venue, ceremony, behind the scenes, etc. Newly engaged brides love using Instagram to find wedding inspo, which leads to vendors receiving new inquiries.

But not everyone is social media savvy, which is why we’re about to walk you through our top tips for using Instagram as a wedding professional.

Plan Your Content Strategically

Try to be strategic with the content you post by planning ahead of time. Sitting down and brainstorming your posts for the next week, 2 weeks, or month allows you to take the time to really think about the content you’re posting, both images and captions. You’re able to be more intentional with the aesthetic of your feed, and you can plan your captions around important dates.

There are also scheduling apps, like Later, Planoly, Hootsuite, etc. that will let you schedule Instagram posts ahead of time. You could have the next month’s worth of content already scheduled so you can focus your attention elsewhere in your business and personal life.

Engage, Engage, Engage

There are two main reasons you should do lots of engagement on Instagram: the most obvious one being to build relationships with your audience and ideal clients, and the other is simply to get in the algorithm’s good graces. Healthy engagement helps to make it more likely that your posts will show up on your followers’ feed more often. You want your followers to do more than just leave a like and keep scrolling. You want them to stop and leave a comment, too, even if it’s a short and sweet one because this helps with the algorithm.

When Instagram sees people commenting on and sharing your post, the algorithm thinks, “This must be a good post. Let’s push it harder onto more people’s feeds”. Have you ever noticed that the accounts you engage with most often, whether that be through comments or DMs, they’re usually the first people you see on your feed or Stories when you open the app? Instagram recognizes that you and this person have built some sort of relationship with each other, therefore they want you to see more of them.

The only catch is that you then have to post content that encourages a comment or a share by leaving call-to-actions in your posts. Your CTA could simply be a question or a statement, like “Describe your day in emojis”. It doesn’t have to be well thought-out. Sometimes, more simple CTAs get the best results.

You should also engage on others’ posts. Think of it like this: Say you’re at an in-person networking event. If you just sit in the corner quietly, do you think you’re going to meet very many new people? Of course not! You have to get up and spark a conversation with different people. Engaging on Instagram works no differently. Comment on others’ posts, send a DM, share their post in your Stories, or reply to their Stories to build those relationships and, in turn, boost your engagement.

Show Up in Stories

Video can be an imperative part of building authentic relationships with your audience. While images are great, getting to put a face, voice, personality, and mannerisms to a business is what really aids in establishing trust and making connections. Video feels more personal, which is why Instagram Stories play a huge role in really making the platform work for your business.

Plus, the more content you add to your Stories, the more content you have to make Instagram Highlights for your profile. Highlights are an easy way for your audience to check out different categories of content as soon as they visit your profile. A few awesome highlight ideas would be reviews, behind-the-scenes, about you and your business, everyday life, and upcoming sales and promotions. They also help with branding your profile because you can design branded cover images.

Stay True to YOU

Everything you post on Instagram should be genuine– comments, replies, captions, Stories, and everything in between. Just be yourself! You don’t want your comments to come across as forced. Showing your personality goes a long way on any social media platform and is what allows you to make true connections with your audience. Give advice, share words of encouragement, or ask a question, as long as you mean what you say and aren’t just commenting for the algorithm benefits.

With any platform, there’s a learning curve when it comes to all of the ins and outs of Instagram, but the benefits you reap are so worth it. Do you have more tips on how to use Instagram as a wedding professional? Feel free to share them with us on Instagram!