The goal for your Instagram business account should be to connect and engage with people who want to buy your products. With 1 billion active monthly users spending an average of 28 minutes daily on the platform (from Hootsuite), there is a serious opportunity to grow your following.

We know that it can get overwhelming thinking of ideas on what to post to your Instagram page. Don't worry, we’ve compiled a list of content ideas for the different elements of the platform!

1. Posts
2. Stories
3. Reels
4. IGTV
5. Instagram Live
6. Bonus: How to Boost a Post on Instagram

Posts

Product of the Week/Month

Feature one product as the product of the week/month. Be sure to add an awesome product description and why it’s featured this month, i.e. staff pick or in season! Even consider adding a special promo deal to increase sales. You can repeat this post on a weekly or monthly basis.

Morning Routine

Many people are very interested in what a morning looks like at a farm. Post multiple photos or videos of waking up, feeding the animals, walking through the fields - whatever mornings look like for you! Use the description to make a quick list of everything you do to prepare for your day. Your followers will love it!

Meet the Farmer

Don’t forget to introduce yourself and your team to your followers. If you’ve recently seen a huge increase in followers, it can be a great time to do an introduction post! Add a nice photo of yourself and a little background about you and why you do what you do! End the description with a question for your followers to get them engaged; for example, what’s your favourite product we sell?

User-Generated Content

Social proof is the best form of marketing! Look into who’s tagging your business or location to their IG photos, and share those directly to your feed (if they’re nice photos, of course!). 

Your Why

Your “why” is your reason for doing what you’re doing.

Why did you start farming? What values does your business have? What image would best answer that question? Tell your story and pick an image to go along with it.

Planting Season! 

Get the season started by sharing some photos and videos from planting season. Let your followers know what’s growing this year by giving an overview of the planting process and a timeline of when their favourite products will be back in action. 

Life Around the Farm

This idea is pretty broad - but it is what your customers want to see. They want to know about you, what you guys do, and how their food is grown. Post high-quality photos of your different animals, crops, team or family members - whatever makes the most sense for your business. And then add a short and sweet story that goes along with the photo. Letting your customers into your life and farm will increase the bond they feel with your business. As you always hear, it’s essential to know your farmer - this way your customers can feel like they are. 

You could even make it a series and call it Fridays on the Farm! 

Need some inspiration for your own Instagram page? Download our 30 days of Instagram captions to copy-and-post!

Stories

New Product Teaser

New product coming soon to your online store? Use stories to tease a new product launching soon! This drives interest and anticipation for your products and allows you to interact with your customers directly. 

Post a picture of a few ingredients, packaging, or the product in the field close up. Let your customers guess what’s coming soon to your store.

Feature Interview 

Use stories to break down an interview with your team! Your customers want to know more about what goes into producing your products. Do a quick interview with your team members, asking them questions like:

• What is your favourite product? 
• How do you use [insert product]?
• Why did you start farming?

Break down your favourite moments from the interview by featuring quotes, photos, or even little clips of the interviewer. Even consider doing this as a weekly series with different staff or even customers! Interview quotes are a great way to promote social proof.

This or That?

Get your customers involved and ask for their opinions! Take a photo or use a graphic asking your audience the question “this or that”? 

Run a Contest

Everybody loves free stuff! Put an ask out on your stories by asking customers to share their seasonal or product photos. Everyone who submits a photo using your set hashtag (#) will get entered into a drawing for a voucher or free product with their next order. 

Are you running this around a big holiday? You could even give away a free holiday basket featuring seasonal products! The bigger the reward, the greater the participation AND the more exposure for your business! #winning!

Freshness Tips

Veggies can be hard to keep fresh in the fridge (unless you’re an expert 😉). Use your stories to provide your tips to customers on the best ways to extend the shelf life of their favourite products. For example, where to store them (in the fridge or out), how to store them, and when they are at their prime!

Reels

Five Must Buy Products This Week

Inspire sales by showing off five must buy you’re selling this week! Film five quick, high-quality clips of each product. Use text overlay to add product names and facts about the products. 

Tutorials

Reels can be a great tool to do quick and easy tutorials for your audience. Your followers want short content that can inspire them. Film and edit a quick and easy tutorial for a recipe, or gardening or household tip.

IGTV

Tour of the Farm

Give an in-depth tour of the farm using IGTV. Show the ins and outs of planting, harvesting, and packing. Your customers want to see where their food is coming from! Show customers what’s fresh now and what they can order this week. 

Don’t feel like doing a long video this week? Consider doing a quick tour of one part of your farm using stories or posting directly to your feed.

Tour of the Farm Store/Stand

Do you have a farm store, or do you sell at market? Give a tour of what’s fresh at the farm store/stand this week. This tour gives an all-access look into what your customers can expect this week from your business. 

Instagram Live

Live Q and A 

Answer all those questions your customers are wondering! Use the Instagram Live feature to go “live” with your customers and connect with them directly. With this feature, your followers can join in and ask questions through the chat feature. 

Be sure to promote your Q and A beforehand using stories to make sure followers know when to tune in to see you go live! Consider asking followers to submit questions through the questions sticker in stories.

Cook with Us! 

Get your customers in the kitchen with you! Host a cooking class online through Instagram Live. Share the date and time, and ingredients needed and invite your followers to join you to make your favourite dishes featuring your products.

How to Boost a Post on Instagram (for Free!)

This blog post on MobileMonkey.com shares exactly how to boost an Instagram post to exponentially increase reach outside of your own followers, grow your follower count, and boost your engagement (like comments, likes, and bookmarks).

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365 Days of Marketing 

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