I originally wrote this post for Gazette Media & Marketing’s blog.
With 400 million active users, there’s no doubt that Instagram plays a huge role in any brand’s marketing strategy.
Instagram is useful in reaching a target demographic that’s been hard to connect with thus far for a lot of brands: Teens and young adults.
According to this post by Hootsuite, Instagram is considered the most important social network by more American teens (at 32 percent) than any other network.
At Gazette Media & Marketing, we’ve tried a number of different tactics on Instagram. Here are the three that we think are most important:
This may sound like a no-brainer, but often brands get on Instagram and post images just to post them. When you’re posting, think “how is this image relevant to my consumer?” Make sure your captions thoroughly explain why this image is important to the users you’re trying to reach.
And, keep a consistent tagline when possible. For example, The Indiana Gazette closes out Instagram posts with a years-old tagline, “In print daily, online always.”
Instagram engagement is driven hugely by hashtags. Research by Hootsuite says that posts with at least one hashtag average 12.6 percent more engagement.
On Recreation News’ Instagram account, we used the magazine’s tagline, #LivePlayDo, as an opportunity to solicit photos from users across the Mid-Atlantic. In just the few months that we’ve measured the campaign, it’s received over 1,000 photo submissions from adventurers everywhere.
Tip: Keep your hashtag short and sweet – it’ll be easier for users to remember that way.
A small but mighty tweak to your strategy, research shows that posts with location tags have up to 79 percent more engagement on the social network.
How do you add a location? Make sure your smartphone’s location settings are active, and then the “Add Location” button on your post should work.
Posting later? No need to worry. Search the location you took the photo from by name.