Wednesday 2 December 2015

Instagram Marketing Tips to Build Your Brand and Gain Fans

Now that I’ve convinced you of the long-term value of Instagram for brand marketing, how to social media marketing the next step is to create your account and start posting engaging images with compelling taglines and hashtags to engage your growing follower base. Browsing around some of the top-rated small to medium-sized businesses in Boston, I was somewhat surprised to see that the majority of them have no Instagram presence and several haven’t even claimed their company name on the platform. This is such a lost opportunity in my mind as there’s so much potential Instagram has to offer to convert and engage leads, partners, and current customers (talk about an easy way to turn your customers into loyal customer and even brand promoters!). These tips will take some lessons from the big spenders like Nike and GE that are killing it through sponsored posts, but also from some smaller players like Localytics and General Assembly that have been able to gain a following organically.
Instagram was designed as an app to create content via a mobile device. As a result, social media marketing 2014 it is only really practical to use one of the various scheduling tools available, so that you can post consistently. By using an editorial calendar, you are able to schedule regular posts in advance to keep your followers engaged. It is also a useful method to use when you are running a promotion, or attending an event. By doing so, you never forget to send out content, and that content can be scheduled to be released when you are not available to do it manually.Instagram has over 40,000 influencers using their platform, and they cover a variety of topics and businesses. They are considered the celebrities of Instagram, and by aligning your brand with the correct influencers, you can expand your brand awareness and number of followers. Your influencer just needs to include the handle of your brand in one of their Instagram posts.When used correctly Instagram is a perfect solution for visual content marketing. Visual content little or no written content is fast becoming more effective than written content alone.

Build a community around an actionable hashtag

The great thing about this strategy is that it can be leveraged across other social networks like Twitter and Pinterest, best social media marketing but works so well on Instagram and is the perfect way to get your audience to engage with your brand. Nike did it so well with their winter campaign Choose Your Winter. Being an avid runner and one of the crazy people that runs the Charles River in 10 degree weather during Boston winters, I might be a bit biased, but Nike really did knock it out of the park with this campaign. Not only is the timing exceptional, but it gives Instagram users the ability to interact with your brand. Since the campaign launched in mid-November the hashtag chooseyourwinter has gained substantial ground on Instagram. Instagram themselves have recognized Nike for having the ability to start a movement with their runfree campaign months back. Smaller brands can leverage hashtag campaigns as well. Take Infatuation for instance, a trendy restaurant review site founded in 2009, which I wasn’t even aware of until I started seeing their renowned hashtag EEEEEATS all over my friends food pictures on my Instagram feed.
I kept wondering what was up with the EEEEE’s? Why five E’s? I don’t get it…Until I quickly realized this hashtag was created by the guys at Infatuation to create an online food community for “anyone who is serious about food, marketing by social media but doesn’t take food too seriously,” according to their site. And it’s worked absurdly well with over 350,000 posts shared using the prevalent hashtag for foodies all over the map. Why is this hashtag so successful? Well, being in the mouth-watering industry of food doesn’t hurt, but Infatuation leverages their customer photos to give a shout-out to their followers and also post to their own page. They frequently feature an EEEEEAT’s collage, like the one below, while giving credit to their followers who shared the most stomach-growling, I’d-sacrifice-my-arm-for-that, kind of food. They just recently introduced photographer of the week featuring the best food photographer’s posts and giving them a special shootout. What an awesome way to not only engage with the followers of your brand, but get them excited about being a part of your community.

Partner with a good cause that supports your brand’s values

I’ve observed a few brands that I follow who take a unique approach to their posts by promoting and sharing their partnerships with their followers. social media marketing strategy For instance SweetGreen, one of my favorite lunch spots for salads, soups, and fro-yo, prides themselves on serving local and organically sourced ingredients from farmers and trusted partners. I could praise their business decisions all day, but one in particular is the relationship they’ve developed with the non-profit, FoodCorps. This partnership aligns seamlessly with SweetGreen’s healthy-living values since FoodCorps mission is to enable children to make healthier choices when it comes to food. This SweetGreen gram below beautifully demonstrates their partnership with FoodCorps and displays how their values align and what their company stands for. The post is relevant, well-crafted, and also raises awareness for the incredible things FoodCorps and SweetGreen are working on. If you can align your company’s values with your consumers, this is golden.
Marketing through Instagram will undoubtedly continue to grow in popularity as it continues to add more advertising features to its platform. social media marketing companies You can also change your password; update your email address and phone number; change your gender to male, female or not specified; and toggle the "posts are private" option. To change the app's settings, tap the gear button on the top-right corner. From there, you can also view the posts you have liked, find people to follow (this page will allow you to connect to Facebook and your contacts, as well as see suggested accounts), access Instagram's support options, clear your search history and log out. Navigating the Instagram app is fairly simple. Across the bottom of the app, you'll see five buttons that will take you to where you need to go. From left to right, you'll see the Home tab, a Search tab, a camera button (which is where you'll go to create a new post), an Activity tab and your Profile tab.

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