4 Spring Instagram Ideas for Small Businesses
If you’re a believer in Punxsutawney Phil, who didn’t see his shadow this year, then you’re probably excited that Spring is upon us. As the coats come off and the weather warms up, more people will be outside and active, which makes Spring the perfect time for creating a content strategy to up your Instagram game.
Whether you plan on posting to Stories, IGTV, your Feed, or all three, there are plenty of options for making sure your brand’s Instagram is full from March 19 through June 20. With so many seasonal quirks and holidays to leverage—April Fool’s Day, Passover, Easter, Tax Day, Arbor Day, Cinco de Mayo, Mother’s Day, and Memorial Day to name a few—here are some ideas for you to use.
1. Get Clever with Captions
Nothing achieves more engagement than a stunning image with a meaningful photo caption—and quotes are a great place to start if you’re not sure how to weave your small business into a Spring-themed post. Caption an upbeat, relevant photo or create a meme using some of the most popular sayings about Spring, such as:
- The best time for new beginnings is now.
- A flower does not think of competing with the flower next to it. It just blooms.
- Plant smiles, grow laughter, harvest love.
Or, use popular quotes about Spring, such as:
- “Spring is nature’s way of saying, ‘Let’s party!’” — Robin Williams
- “In the spring I have counted 136 different kinds of weather inside of four and twenty hours.” — Mark Twain
- “Some old-fashioned things like fresh air and sunshine are hard to beat.” — Laura Ingalls Wilder
Pro tip: Make sure to tie the quote or saying to what your small business does in order to show your readers that you’re not posting just to post but that you value your fans and are being intentional.
2. Spring Forward with Something New
Everyone knows the season is all about “springing forward.” Spring’s theme is essentially the original call to action (thanks Mother Nature!), so use it to your advantage and encourage fans to take action—whether that’s shopping your website, commenting on your post, or contacting you to schedule a product demo or fitting.
For example, if you own a gym or wellness brand, you can encourage your fans and followers to spring forward into a new chapter by getting fit or recommitting to a healthy lifestyle. Use bright images with motivational quotes or special promotions to encourage fans to get back into a routine. Or, if you own a clothing brand, there’s no time like the present to spring forward into a new look or wardrobe. Urge your customers to take the leap and revamp their closets just in time for warmer weather. Here’s some inspiration from Vail-based fashion brand @perchvail:
3. Host a Seasonal Sale
Among the most popular sales-oriented Instagram posts you’ll see pop up during Spring are the “spring into savings,” “spring cleaning,” and tax day sale posts. When 34 percent of Instagram users are ages 25 to 34—and this age group has the greatest purchasing power—it’s important to give them what they’re looking for and to stand out from the rest while you do it.
Go Live on Instagram from your brick-and-mortar location and walk through some of the products or services you’re offering as part of your sale and encourage people to stop in, shop on your website, or message you to make a purchase. Or, leverage Instagram Shopping to sell directly on the platform to your customers. For example, if you’re a small business that specializes in winter gear like skis or snow sports attire, you could host a Live “spring cleaning” clearance sale.
Another great idea is to create an IGTV video—which you can then auto-share to your Feed and pop into your Stories. A great video that you can create from the comfort of an iPhone is a behind-the-scenes video in which employees share their favorite thing about Spring or what they plan on doing with their tax refund, but here are some additional ideas:
Go Live on Instagram from your brick-and-mortar location and walk through some of the products or services you’re offering as part of your sale and encourage people to stop in, shop on your website, or message you to make a purchase. Or, leverage Instagram Shopping to sell directly on the platform to your customers. For example, if you’re a small business that specializes in winter gear like skis or snow sports attire, you could host a Live “spring cleaning” clearance sale.
Another great idea is to create an IGTV video—which you can then auto-share to your Feed and pop into your Stories. A great video that you can create from the comfort of an iPhone is a behind-the-scenes video in which employees share their favorite thing about Spring or what they plan on doing with their tax refund, but here are some additional ideas:
- Fashion brands can record a virtual runway with Spring fashion as the focus.
- Small businesses in the food space can create a Spring recipe how-to video.
- Lifestyle brands can create a video with trends for the new season, whether highlighting gardening, healthy living ideas, crafts, home tips, and so on.
4. Get Creative with Unique Spring Imagery
Spring-themed content is growing like weeds on Instagram, so be thoughtful about the images and content you curate and post to your Feed and Stories. Spring tends to bring out lots of pictures of flowers, birds, eggs, and pastels, so try to get creative. Websites like Pexels or Unsplash are brimming with great Spring images—both traditional and outside the box—for your Feed and Stories, but also try to use some of your own home-grown images.
Also, be sure to create branded hashtags and leverage trending hashtags, including those around:
- Days of the week (#MotivationalMonday, #TGIF)
- Events (#SpringBreak)
- General interest (#gardening, #springcleaning)
- Holidays (#MothersDay, #EarthDay)
Then, encourage fans to post their own content using your branded Spring hashtags so you can repost their content to your feed, which can help fill the gaps and work as social proof too.
Action Items:
1. Plan out your entire Spring content calendar now, so you have ideas through June 20.
2. Use Boosted to create beautiful Spring videos with top-quality templates and a library of images and video from Getty Images video clip library.
3. Look at Google Trends to see what people are asking about spring and leverage those trends in your content calendar.
