Instagram is getting more and more important for brands every year and is used already almost the same way as Facebook or Youtube. But what kind of brands are using Instagram and what is important to know as a company ? As i am working since more then 4 years with companies on different projects on Instagram i will try to give an overview and some basic advices in this first part,
In general each company can use Instagram as a social network to present their brand, if they are looking for new fans or consumers and build up an new target group.
They are plenty of more different brands from other verticals which i could list here. For companies with a special service or a very local target group e.g. Insurance, Restaurant or Bakery this social network can be used as well but its going to be way more difficult to build up this specific target group than for a Product or a brand. Thats why i would not suggest to focus that much for small and local companies to use Instagram as a main network.
Instagram is not really a new social media network as its already about 5 years old and for many brands a standard marketing tool to build up a new target group. There are still companies who doubt the power and reach of Instagram and don’t really see the advantages for using this.
– Compared to Facebook you will reach a much more younger target group which is not branded at all, which means you can build a new customer group on a long term.
– The Engagement compared to other social networks is definitely higher . Just compare your number of fans on Facebook to the amount of likes you get with the same number of follower on Instagram ? It can be up to 15 times higher.
– The Communication with your fans is much faster, easier and way more uncomplicated than on Facebook in general. You can easily use certain Hashtags to see brand images which has be uploaded by the community and leave a feedback (or even use this images for your own content)
– The timeline is still chronologically which means that you are still able to like images which has been uploaded 5 hours ago and they are not disappearing. Facebook has a completely different timeline which is sorted by your behavior and not by time.
– Companies can easily work with bigger Instagramer (Influencern) to increase their number of follower or/and create authentic content to present their products in a very natural way.
– You are able to increase your own engagement just with spending more time (liking, commenting) on Instagram.
Your Profile description should be clear and mention what is presented on this account. Use a clear Link to a website or Facebook instaed of shortlinks, which can look like spam. Sometimes people are afraid to click when they don’t know where the link leads to. What is your main hashtag, that fans can use ? Don’t follow everyone, you should follow selected accounts to let people know, that you take time for being active too.
It is very important that people see at once what the account is about and this should match with the description in the Profile and with the visual languange. The images should have a certain style and don’t change every day as its still la visual network and people like to enjoy what the see. As its difficult to discuss which style everyone likes more you should try in the first step to reach the main target group and upload clear, straight and fresh colorful images ( dark and filtered images can look sad and won’t impress many people)
The main reason for the good engagement on Instagram is beging active yourself. The community wants to interact with you as a company as well as you were their friend. Use the chance to grow you community and try to do the same as they do:
– In the beginning try to upload only few images a day, not every hour as it can be annoying for your follower to like and comment every hour. Spamming is never cool and won’t grow you faster.
– Try to stick to a selected time when you upload your images to get people used to a certain behavior.
– Don’t use a #hashtag #for #every #word # in #the #description as the caption should be clear and the goal is to brand a main hashtag of your brand . You can still use your hashtags after the upload.
– The caption should be clear and everyone should understand this and try to underline the image with your words. Don’t write a story as a caption as Instagram is still the visual network and not a Blog! Most of the Instagramers uses a mobile device and the display is never big enough to see the picture and a full story description at once!
– In the beginning you should focus on your activity. Like and comment as much as you can and reply to the people as soon as possible to show that you are real and its not just another agency just uploading a picture.
– Look for certain hashtags to find your people who already like your brand and show some love! Just like and comment to be closer to your fans as they appreciate this very much.
It will always be the main gaol to grow the reach in every social network- but what is the best and fastest way ? There is no main secret how to get 100K Follower in one week but there are some ways to improve the growth and the engagement and sometimes save lot of time.
This topic is something i will explain (with more details of advices i already mentioned here) in the next part.
Next parts will be :
Ich bin Sylvia und seit über 10 Jahren bei Instagram aktiv und seit 8 Jahren auch als Reiseblogger unterwegs. Meine Leidenschaft is die Fotografie, denn ein Bild sagt definitiv mehr aus als 1000 Worte. Ich kann hier viel schreiben und erzählen, aber die Bilder halten die wesentlichen Momente so fest, wie ich sie erlebt habe.