3 Tips for instant Instagram Success!
Visual marketing is one of the major trends which has helped brand and marketers to connect with consumers more effectively, striking an emotional chord and resonate across various cultures. According to Gabriel Hubert, Co-Founder and CEO at Nitrogram, an Instagram analytics and marketing platform, research has shown that photos drive more engagement than any other type of posts. This fact is validated by photo posts on Facebook, which on an average have 39% more interaction rate as compared to other types of posts.
So how can marketers leverage their behaviour and accelerate their visual marketing efforts?
The answer is to integrate a photo/video sharing service like Instagram or Pinterest in its digital marketing strategy.
Instagram has had an explosive growth the past couple of years and currently has 90 million monthly active users, who do their bit in capturing and sharing their moments visually on the network. Many big brands like Starbucks, MTV, Nike, Marc Jacobs, Red Bull, etc. among others have already established their presence on Instagram.
What is it that works for them, and can work well for you too?
1. User Generated Content
Step one is to attract users by sharing attractive visual content and developing a brand name and reputation. This can then be further complemented by user generated content (UGC); which would then form a major part of your overall strategy on Instagram. Sharing your followers’ visual content is a smart way to not just show the humane side of the brand, but also strike a chord with your followers and show them that you care about what they share.
2. #Tags to Get Found
The best way to ensure that your photos get found by the right audience is to hash-tag them. For example, if you are a brand selling fashion outfits and have opened a new outlet in Mumbai; people in Mumbai who are looking out for what’s happening in Mumbai as well as those interested in looking for what’s happening on the fashion scene; both sets of target audiences can find your pictures if you hashtag Mumbai (#Mumbai) and fashion (#fashion). Using hashtags thus helps you increase the reach of your communication.
3. Connect with your Connections’ Connections
Be creative with your communication on Instagram and try to reach out to the networks of those who are already connected to you. Communicate a lifestyle to your audience. Let’s take a brand example to support this. Red Bull not only uses visual storytelling to share attractive action-theme photos but also uses user generated content from their fan and follower base. Identify potential influencers who actively share your content or find popular users with a large follower base and engage them on a regular basis so that you stand a chance to widen the reach of your pictures to a more targeted audience.
Finally, it’s essential to monitor and measure your activity on Instagram. Tools like simplymeasured.com allow you to analyze how effectively your brand is engaging on Instagram, which photos are trending and how the brand’s performance is trending.
Have you created an Instagram account for your business? Do you think it’s a good idea for brands to manage their Instagram account themselves; or hire a social media agency?
Share your thoughts in the comments!