Gurus of social media marketing have taped the wave, claiming that consistency is the key to success on Instagram. Actually, it does make sense. The more you publish, the higher your reach metrics. In other words, you get to enjoy an ongoing activity in the account feed.
But have you noticed that off-and-on-year-old posts are capable of growing traffic, while relatively fresh ones only provide engagement in the short run?
Therefore, while most are chasing seasonal trends and the best news breaks, those who want to play long-term are betting on good old evergreen content.
What is Evergreen Content?
Evergreen content is the content that retains its relevance for a long time. Basically, it is a product with unlimited shelf life, or at least something close to it. Like evergreen trees, such posts thrive and are in demand, regardless of whether they were made up a year ago or just yesterday.
Just as the Mona Lisa attracts people all over the world to the Louvre every day, your evergreen content turns into an eternal magnet for Instagram users.
Why Add Something “Green” to the Feed?
Higher engagement rates
Powerful evergreen content satisfies the needs of different target audiences. When users land on your page, they most naturally want to find the answer to their own specific question. If you manage to become the expert who is able to come of help to a large percentage of those who viewed the publication, then your content gets to be interacted with more willingly.
Since such content does not turn outdated fast, the average monthly number of visitors is leveled out, which practically eliminates periods of a sharp decline in activity. As long as users continue with reposts, comments, and discussions, you rightly enjoy high engagement rates.
Conversion boost
Evergreen materials often gain saves and shares, which adds to extended coverage and thus attracts new audiences to the community. On top of that, Instagram algorithms mark them as popular and start moving your publications to the top of the Explore section. This is how a continuum appears.
It turns out that such content, although not selling directly, builds up an effective sales funnel due to the growth of subscriptions. The scheme is simple: the more people entering the funnel, the more will eventually go into purchasing something from you.
The main thing is that your evergreen content is related to the niche you operate in, as well as to your products or services.
Loyal community around
After all, it is always people who decide whether to view your feed or not. Therefore, green content that evokes a keen response and a desire to share it increases the chances of getting higher positions in search results.
Such user activity generates organic traffic since the Instagram Explore section is well-indexed. So, even after your posts move down the feed, the audience will still be able to track it through search queries.
By and large, it proves effective in converting account visitors into potential subscribers, who later may even become “brand advocates”. This is what keeps user loyalty at a very high level.
The workload reduced
Creating high-quality material is rather time-consuming. It is clear that with limited resources, it is better to dedicate your effort to something that can benefit the business for a long time.
In the case of evergreen content ideas, you just need to get things covered once and simply update the information as appropriate, say once a year, to ensure stable traffic. By finding and curating evergreen posts and then republishing them, you save time that you would otherwise spend creating new ones.
The Safe Choice Formats to Stick to on Instagram
1. Checklists
Instagram's users are hooked on checklists as they are equally effective for both packing your Bali suitcase and, for example, losing some extra kilos afterward. It is the most frequently saved and shared content on the platform, since it involves sequentially performing a number of necessary actions to achieve the final result. That is why people monitor how the plan rolls out and prefer to get back to it from time to time.
Brainstorm the Instagram content ideas that will be useful to your target audience and make the most of it.
2. How-tos
Sometimes users come to the platform simply to solve practical issues. Therefore, tips and life hacks are always in demand. The main thing is to choose a topic where your experience, services, or products come up as a good solution. It may be even something non-obvious, like an opening-a-book tutorial. As long as the info is relevant to the niche and the audience, your content is likely to grab the attention.
Also, think about what format the information will be best taken in. They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. So videos may be more effective, which is especially true when speaking of Instagram.
3. Guides
Unlike a How-to, which often tackles small problems, the purpose of a guide is to manage more complex ones. In fact, a step-by-step guide is as a rule a set of How-tos in the article.
If you know how to do something, share it with your audience. All you need is your personal background and a little research. That is a tested recipe for content that will work for you over time.
Place the guide into a story, carousel post, or Reels to visualize the whole process.
4. Case studies
A case study is one of the best ideas for evergreen content to convince a potential client that you can settle the task down efficiently. After all, even one real example is worth a thousand words. Basically, this is a great opportunity to come across as a result-driven professional.
This format goes hand in hand with the How-to articles. Yet, the latter only provide recommendations, while with case studies you show the way all the steps are implemented in practice.
Such content perfectly acts as social proof in the service industry. You can walk the client through the entire process and show them in detail what was done to achieve success along the way.
5. Selections
Most users don't have time for extensive research. That is why they want to receive useful advice in a short and concise manner. So, collections are a great saver when it comes to structured information. You've probably come across posts started with phrases like “7 ways”, “5 useful tips” or “15 tools”. Not that many are resistant enough to get their eyes off them. These articles have the magical ability to attract readers.
One would expect that with a ton of accounts filled with similar content, readers must have become tired of the format. Despite this, practice shows that collections are still the hottest and most relevant social media content ideas to drive traffic.
6. Reviews
It is a pretty natural desire that people want to learn at least the basics about a product or service before buying it. If you can present information in understandable language and describe the product from a consumer’s perspective, then it is likely your content will be trusted and welcomed by the audience.
Preparing quality reviews is a time-consuming process. However, if the work is done well from the start, anyone potentially considering a purchase will be more likely to pay attention to your content. So, think about all the possible angles to be highlighted, as low-content publications are no gains.
What Steps to Take Before You Start?
Before getting down to evergreen content, it makes sense to look around to understand what’s right for you. Turn to the Instagram Downloader to:
Analyze the niche
Track your competitors to gain useful information. It's a proven way to have best practices at your fingertips without a big investment. Look for successful cases and create your own database. Once the selected materials have been thoroughly researched, your social media marketing strategy will become an easier decision.
This way you will be aware of what others are posting and how they are leveraging in socials. You will also see how much you are behind or ahead and what you need to improve.
Get in touch with potential clients
Save posts mentioning your brand or product to establish a connection with people loyal to your brand. This is an excellent method to discover the needs of the target audience and respond adequately to them.
Things that seem interesting to you may not be of the same importance to users. By learning your target audience, it will be easier for you to set relevant goals and, thus, win new subscribers.
Get inspired
Store IG content as a supporting plan. There is nothing wrong with duplicating some topics in your account. Just make sure to bring something of your own. The previous author has definitely left room for improvement. So take your time and investigate the topic from a different angle. The main focus is not to confuse inspiration with outright plagiarism.
Useful Insights to Handle the Process
So now you have finally decided on the topic, studied your target audience, and even thought over the format of the future material. Well done! Take the cake. But, please, mind some points to nail with the content. It is better to be:
Informative: If you have nothing to say, don’t inflate word volume artificially. There shouldn't be any extra letters there. You write for people, not for search engines. So, it is people who should find it worthy. An easy-to-read text is a must.
Structured: No matter how informative the text is, poor design and structure can ruin everything in the bud. Don't overlook paragraphs, comfortable sentence lengths, highlighting, and numerating. Add eye-catching photos and videos to take advantage of the visual part.
Relevant: Uploading evergreen content once and leaving it that way for good can’t be an option. You share information with your subscribers and must refine it if new data appears.
Clear: Evergreen content demonstrates your expertise, but that doesn't mean it requires complex terminology. Even scientific or technical texts are better being written in an easy-to-understand manner, which is a common claim to advance in the Insta community.
Rest on Your Laurels or Learn From Mistakes
Once you have evergreen content in your feed, you better monitor its performance by the Instagram metrics. Do this in the app through your business account, or use third-party services like Profile Analyzer, which works for all profiles.
If you're happy with the basic static and dynamic data, and see positive numbers in the complex ones (calculated by formulas), then your content carries out the work as it should. Negative metrics are a direct indication for updating the content, and in some cases, for its complete replacement.
Review your statistics once or twice a month. This will help you make it through the decision-making process and determine the best content plan.
The Bottom Line
The bottom line is that evergreen content is a great way to drive traffic and enhance your reputation. With such content at hand, you can build trusting relationships with your target audience, but only through high-quality texts. There is a funny feeling that spammed and clichéd articles are not going to end in your favor.
It is always useful to monitor your competitors to get inspired. Yet, the type of content and what you put into it is entirely your responsibility. Mix evergreen ideas with new trends in your industry to make your social media strategy step out.
