Instagram Strategy

Instagram Strategy AUGUST 12, 2014

Instantly be good at Instagram Everyday on Instagram 60 million photos are shared and 1.6 billion are liked. It is a powerhouse of opportunity. When used effectively, Instagram is a priceless tool for growing your brand’s audience. As you construct your Instagram strategy, follow these ideas to up your Instagram game and your brand’s success.

Remember these 9 tips

1. CLEARLY DEFINE AND MAINTAIN YOUR PURPOSE 2. TELL ONE ONGOING STORY 3. CREATE HIGH-QUALITY CONTENT 4. #HASHTAG WISELY 5. BE CONSISTENT 6. SAY IT WELL, SAY IT FAST 7. ENGAGE YOUR AUDIENCE 8. BE REACTIVE 9. INSPIRE ACTION

1. CLEARLY DEFINE AND MAINTAIN YOUR PURPOSE • Have clear goals. • Why are you on Instagram? Are you on instagram to generate brand awareness? Looking to grow an audience? Drive traffic to your website? Sell a product? • Define your objective and stay true to it. Pick a goal or two to keep in mind with every post. • @Facebook utilizes Instagram to purposefully showcase life in their offices around the world.

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2. TELL ONE ONGOING STORY • Create themes to tell a story. • Choose storyline themes that are authentic to your brand and can best be expressed through intriguing images. • Follow your themes for a consistent storyline over time that connects your various images. • @muradosmaan created the theme #followmeto to show the story of a trip around the world (left). For reference only

3. CREATE HIGH QUALITY CONTENT • Take good pictures. • Don’t be boring. • Be creative.

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4. #HASHTAG WISELY • Hashtags are the greatest way to widen your audience of Instagrammers. • Use hashtags to engage a wider audience, but don’t overdo it. • Too many hashtags gives the audience the idea that the poster is desperate. • A maximum of three hashtags is ideal.

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• Instagram currently has no avenue for seeing what hashtags are trending on their app. For current events, assume that what is trending on Twitter is also doing so on Instagram. • Participate in brand, event, and campaign specific trending content. If you attend an event that promotes a hashtag, take part in it.

Popular #hashtags on Instagram

#bluronpurpose — fully blurred photos  #notfakesymmetry — symmetry is a common theme on instagram #makeportraits — portraits of people #thingsorganizedneatly — objects arranged neatly and shot from above #chasinglight — pictures with great natural light #onthetable — born from people capturing their meals, can be used to share any elegant display of objects #mancrushmonday or #mcm — a picture of a man on a Monday #womancrushwednesday or #wcw — a picture of a woman on a Wednesday #selfiesunday or #ss — a picture of yourself taken by yourself on a Sunday #throwbackthursday or #tbt — an old photo posted on a Thursday #ontheblog —- for bloggers !

5. BE CONSISTENT • Maintain a consistent posting frequency. • Followers should come to expect the same frequency of content on a daily or weekly basis. • Choose one profile picture that is recognizable from other mediums, and stick with it. Followers will come to recognize your photo. • Integrate your instagram with other networks. Share some of your photos on Twitter or Facebook. Embed some of your videos on blogs or websites. Encourage followers to follow elsewhere while not giving them the exact same content on every platform.

6. SAY IT WELL, SAY IT FAST • When it comes to captions, the less text, the better. • When it comes to bios, the less text, the better. • People care less about your words than they do your photos. Too much text is not likely to be read.

! ! Blogger @troprouge (with 106k followers) utilizes short captions. For reference only

Blogger @rachparcell (with 196k followers) creates a short, succinct bio. For reference only

7. ENGAGE YOUR AUDIENCE • Use comments, likes, follows, and hashtags to engage with your audience. • Remember to like user generated content. • Engage in conversation going on both on your own account and on that of others. • Talk about what your audience talks about, but be unique. • Tag your location. • Follow committed followers back, this encourages them and gives you information about what your audience cares about.

8. BE REACTIVE • Research what others in your industry are posting. Post likewise, but creatively. Be relevant, but unique. • React to pop culture. Utilize inspirational and motivational quotes. • Occasionally partake in popular memes. • Don’t miss out on big events in your audience’s arena. • @Brisk created an Instagram campaign related to For reference only

Snapchat (left). They reacted to a popular phenomenon while creating a call to action directly on their photo.

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9. INSPIRE ACTION • Inspire your audience to take part. • Create a unique hashtag, host a contest, bring people together in a community revolving around your brand. • @Chobani inspired action through the hashtag #creationaday. • @NikeRunning came up with #runfree to build a community of runners around the globe.

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Let’s Recap: !

1. CLEARLY DEFINE AND MAINTAIN YOUR PURPOSE 2. TELL ONE ONGOING STORY 3. CREATE HIGH-QUALITY CONTENT 4. #HASHTAG WISELY 5. BE CONSISTENT 6. SAY IT WELL, SAY IT FAST 7. ENGAGE YOUR AUDIENCE 8. BE REACTIVE 9. INSPIRE ACTION

Next Steps for Liz the Austinite

STRATEGY FOR LIZ WHITE THE AUSTINITE • Follow and continue to interact with your favorite fashion brands, Austin locations, and fellow bloggers. • Be succinct and strategic with hashtags. Try to mostly use popular and specific blogger, Austin, or afore mentioned ones. • Sometimes hashtag (in addition to tagging) the names of the brands that you are wearing. • Consider rewriting your bio to include #poplizclink • Inspire action by encouraging followers to instagram their own pretty champagne and directly tell them to use #poplizclink • In the future when champagne companies send you bottles, hold a contest encouraging the use of #poplizclink and give the winner a bottle of champagne.

Popular #hashtags for Liz White the Austinite

#ontheblog — direct followers to a new post #ootd — outfit of the day #whatiwore or #wiw #armparty — for bracelets #currentlywearing #shoelove #austinite #austintexas #atx #exploreatx #foodporn #noms

LIFESTYLE BLOGGERS
 TO WATCH ON INSTA @blaireadiebee @thepinkdiary @rachparcell @fashionhippieloves @pomverte @glitterguide

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Thank you