Instagram is a hot topic everywhere, so you’ve probably heard all sorts of advice and helpful tips about what to do in your business feed. But even with all of the information out there, there’s one type of content that we see missing from Instagram feeds all the time. And you needed this kind of content yesterday! So we’re going to dive into this topic and help you shift your mindset a bit around how you’re using Instagram as a small business owner.
So like with so many things in the small business world, this important type of content starts with your ideal client. But more than just knowing who they are and what they do, you’ll want to think about who your ideal client really wants to be. What is their biggest desire? And when you tap into your clients’ desires and hopes, you can start to create powerful aspirational content that connects with them on an emotional level.
Aspirational Content
Aspirational content focuses on your clients’ journeys: where they used to be, where they are now, and where they can be in the future. It’s about painting a picture of the freedoms or results they can achieve by applying your product or service and understanding the lifestyle they’re working on right now so you can move them toward this desired future. By connecting these emotional dots for your ideal clients, you make it easy for them to understand why they should invest in what you have to offer.
But how do you actually create this aspirational content?
To understand that, let’s look at a hypothetical example. Imagine that you’re a mom business owner who has an online teacher kit program for other moms who have school-age children. In the non-aspirational way of sharing your product, you could tell your ideal clients that you know it’s stressful for moms as school starts back up again. It isn’t always easy to be aware of exactly what our kids need each week for school so that we can deliver it. You could then talk about how your teacher kit has the materials and resources to enable moms to stay up with their kids’ educational goals. You could point out to them that by using this kit, they’ll have a perfect plan to be organized and keep their kids on track educationally. All of this information could be in a few paragraphs of information in the caption of a picture of you or your product.
But here’s how you could share these same ideas in bite-sized, easier-to-digest aspirational content that is more fun, like memes, quotes, infographics and testimonials. For example, you could create a meme in Canva with a picture of a mom who looks stressed and sad on one side and a mom who looks like she has things together on the other. This quickly connects your ideal client visually to where they are and where they want to go. A statement like, “I’m feeling very organized today,” is easy to put on a graphic and post. If your ideal client is not feeling very organized today but would like to, they’re going to look at it and read your caption about your teacher kit. They might even save or share the post. A testimonial about a client’s results will show your ideal clients who haven’t bought in yet what they’re missing out on, and FOMO is a powerful motivator when it comes to real goals that those ideal clients really want to achieve.
As you share this kind of aspirational content, your ideal clients will start to imagine themselves on the other side of their problem. This will prime them to take action and buy more quickly. It will help you grow an audience full of people that you want to work with. And that audience will naturally want to refer people to you and be advocates for your business. So we challenge you to get creative and give aspirational content a try! And we’d love to see what you do, so don’t forget to tag us @thecreativebossmethod!