Do you want to know the biggest secret of innovation?

There’s nothing new under the sun.

When you realise that even the most creative and novel ideas can be linked to a few sources of inspiration, innovation becomes a lot easier.

It’s not plucking ideas out of thin air, it’s about becoming a student of the game and studying what’s out there already.

We’re constantly taking inspiration from lots of places.

This week on Instagram, we shared four of our favourite social content techniques.

What do you mean you don’t follow us on Instagram?

Fix that right 👉 here 👈

Why have you scrolled past without following us?

👉 Last chance 👈

If video’s your thing you can watch it here.

If words are your thing let me share four ideas:

#1 – Consider audio

While it’s true that around 70% of users watch Reels with their volume on zero, 30% of users are listening in.

So how do you use audio to stop those 30% scrolling?

Suri are the toothbrush brand your favourite influencers are using.

They know how to do social well, and they use audio effects to grab your attention.

It doesn’t have to be complicated; you can use their click sound to roll through your own collection of photos.

It worked on Lillie, it was her favourite post recommendation

#2 – Make engagement easy

Getting people to comment on social posts is really hard.

Here are three ways to make it happen:

• Make it easy – reduce the time people have to actually think about their answer
• Use humour – we sometimes want to go deep, but lighthearted, funny questions get more responses.
• Relate it to the everyday – people don’t want to answer questions about your product/service/offering. Make it about them.

Jake’s favourite post does all three.

#3 – Upgrade your carousels

6 months ago a “photo dump” carousel was best practice – adding multiple unedited photos to a post.

As social always does, things have moved on.

Try adding interactive elements to your carousels – overlay texts and GIFs, combine photos, graphics and videos.

The more time people spend flicking through, the more the algorithm will favour you.

Indi found the perfect example.

#4 – Optimise for shares

This one is the hardest.

But we know one of the main factors the algorithm favours is how many times your post is shared via DM to another individual.

You’ve probably seen the “Your third @ owes you a holiday” type posts.

That’s a direct attempt to increase the number of shares.

Try thinking creatively – how could you stretch your brand and tone of voice a little to allow you to come up with your own ideas.

Joe’s two examples (one and two) are probably out of your brands reach (!) but start there and work backwards.

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There we go, some ideas for you to be thinking about.

And if you’ve got this far and still aren’t following us on Instagram,

👉 shame on you 👈

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