Marin Software APAC’s managing director Jay Revels is a big believer in the power of Instagram, and shared some pearls of wisdom for fresh campaigns in the new year.
Regardless of whether your objective is to drive traffic to your page, sell a product or increase downloads for your mobile app, Instagram provides an ideal way to accomplish your goals.
Consumer brands are most likely to benefit from more eyeballs as the platform explodes in popularity, expected to increase their digital ad spend to $7.04 billion by 2018. Marketers are always on the lookout for inventive ways to capture their audience and also gain new lifetime customers.
Here are six ways Instagram can help boost your campaigns.
- Begin with a clear objective and demonstrate a unique point of view
What story do you want to tell? Are you trying to raise awareness? Or are you trying to get recognition? Once this goal is clear, you can then think about establishing an organic presence and follower. Images need to celebrate your brand’s unique perspective and make you stand out.
Your followers should be able to scroll down their news feed, glance at a photo and know it is from your brand. This will keep your potential and current customers coming back.
- Reach out to local, national or even global Accounts
A staggering 75 per cent of Instagrammers live outside the US, which gives you the perfect opportunity to reach followers around the world. A good way to do this is to create separate accounts for key markets. You can then tailor your content accordingly by country or language.
A good example is the Fringe Festival. It is found in many different countries and different times so you are able to showcase the knowledge accordingly on each account.
- Get creative with the image platform
A recent eMarketer study revealed brands with digital video ads see a significant lift in ad recall. Wow your followers in a creative way through videos and cinemagraphs. This offers your followers a whole new level of experience as they are able to see your product and values brought to life.
Cinemagraphs are a combination of still photos and videos leaving the viewer with a mesmerising effect. You are able to showcase small details within the photo, making the piece very striking to the scrolling eye.
Both videos and cinemagraphs are perfect for maximising advertising spend, keeping engagement high.
- Use hashtags for a new perspective
Offer a new perspective on your product for your followers and get new ideas out there while staying true to your brand. Hashtags are easy to incorporate into your photo and by creating a specific hashtag for your brand people are able to follow your product on global scale.
This strategy is specifically relevant for big events and campaigns to spread awareness of your product and boost recall.
- Timing and search intent data
It is imperative to get the timing right when distributing content on Instagram and this goes hand in hand with upping the ante for search intent data. Leverage custom audiences by using your cross-channel data and target certain customers who have shown interest in your product across multiple platforms.
Being strategic with post timing adds value to all of your posting efforts, attracting recognition and capitalises on when your brand advocates are most attentive.
- Interaction with users is key
Create an experience. This can be anything from a quiz to a competition. This will help with branding campaigns as it draws the user and allows a higher chance for them to engage in your product.