Launched in 2010, Instagram is now a pretty established social media platform. And following the acquisition of the channel by the beast that is Facebook in 2012, it ensured the longevity of the platform as it seamlessly attached itself to the giant’s advertising opportunities.
Over time the platform has morphed from a ‘show me your dinner’ photo-sharing opportunity, to a playground for the Blogerati and brands. Most Instagram users are still between the ages of 18-29 years but as with all these social platforms while they evolve, they welcome a wider and aging demographic as its users grow with the platform.
Of the 600 million Instagrammers, 400 million are active every single day, sharing the story of their loves with 51% of users accessing the platform daily.
With over 95 million photos and videos shared every day, the use of the ubiquitous hashtag allows users to search for the content that they want to see – and allows companies and brands to produce marketing content relevant to specific user groups.
There’s now over eight million registered businesses using business profiles and one million monthly active advertisers, which is rising every day. And in March 2017, over 120 million Instagrammers visited a website, got directions, called, emailed or direct messaged, to learn about a business based on an Instagram ad – pretty impressive statistics.
Instagram posts with at least one hashtag average 12.6% more engagement than those without, which highlights a key takeaway for businesses, bloggers and brands using the platform. Increasingly these social platforms are search engines in their own right with consumers no longer needing to bounce from Instagram to Google to jump forward on their path to purchase.
At A&P HQ, we have been testing different content approaches on Instagram, looking at what builds followers and communities on this increasingly important channel.
We have found a number of key insights that can help a brand build its Instagram following.
1. Know your audience
Top of the charts is to know your audience. And this isn’t a broad audience. Instagram is full of little pockets of communities and within those communities there will be the blogerati hierarchy – key influencers who can supercharge your following with a simple brand mention or name check.
Your audience needs to be segmented with key targeting. In today’s content marketing, we are no longer looking for ABC1’s who live in the South East and like John Lewis. Today we have to search and find that individual – Julie who walks her dog on Devon beach, loves the great outdoors and will only buy organic produce, for example. Once brands have found their Julie, a content campaign can be built around her. Knowing Julie loves her dog means that posts about pets with the appropriate hashtags can introduce yourself to that community. But remember, in this world led by the consumer, you are only knocking on the door waiting to be invited in. Charging in with random posts with too many irrelevant hashtags will banish you from Julie’s community forever.
2. Find what Julie loves - Be more like Julie
So the focus has to be on the individual – and then finding the hashtags that she uses #outdoorlife has over one million posts, so if you can reflect the lifestyle that Julie is craving she will want to follow your brand, product or service. But buyer beware - too many hashtags can make you look desperate and can turn off the savvy consumer.
3. Befriend the Blogerati
Instagram – perhaps more than any other social channel – is run by influencers. These power people have huge followings just on their Instagram accounts and are focusing solely on this channel. Over time Instagram has become more than just a place for your pics – it’s a microblogging network with more words being added under the picture, telling a wider story. So as a brand, we have to ensure that we are telling the right story, with the right image, using relevant hashtags and of course to the right people.
4. Develop a channel strategy
Mirrored content strategies are a thing of the past – today a savvy content marketer will have a channel strategy telling the same story, different ways. over different platforms.
Harnessing key influencers on Instagram is often a solution to supercharging your brand’s presence. You only have to follow Kat aka “doesmybumlook40” to see the significance of this. She is a M&S fashion ambassador with a following of 54k. Her individual posts receive in excess of 644 likes and comments – and often within minutes of her posting her latest blog on Instagram the clothes she has recommended sell out.
5. Make your blogging strategy work for you
The downside to Instagram – and something I imagine the platform will change – is that web links can only be posted in a profile bio, unless you are a verified or business account, where you can now place links in their Instagram stories through swiping up. Of course this is providing more opportunity to expose blog posts to readers, but since Instagram still doesn’t support hyperlinks, a consumer has to really want to read your blog. So again it has to be relevant, appeal to your Julie – and ideally be endorsed by the key influencers who command these communities.
6. It pays to play – and costs too
Paid influencer marketing and advertising cannot be ignored across social media today. Organic reach is a slow and often painstaking build – but with a small budget and the right targeting, it’s possible to supercharge your content and engage your Julie.
The stats are powerful – Instagram marketing brings in consumers and with 60% of users saying they have learnt about a product or service on the platform, it highlights the need for a dedicated channel strategy to increase awareness, consideration and ultimately the propensity to purchase your brand, product or service.
At A&P we provide training for companies across the social channels, helping them develop their content strategies and storytelling.