Contents
Intro
Why Instagram Matters to Marketers
1
Pg. 4
Grow Your Follower Base by Sharing Killer Content
2
Pg. 8
Build Community and Affinity through Consumer Engagement
3
Pg. 12
Pave the Road to Conversion
2 |2Definitive
Guide
to Instagram
Marketing
| Definitive Guide
to Instagram
Marketing
Why
Instagram
Matters to
Marketers
Listen up, marketers:
Instagram is revolutionizing the visual web. The
platform, acquired by Facebook in 2012 for a
cool billion dollars, makes it easy to share artsy
photos in an instant. And with more than 200
million active monthly users and 60+ million
photos shared each day, it’s evident that consumers can’t get enough. In turn, brands like
L’Oréal, GE and Warby Parker have achieved
success marketing on the platform.
So how can you tap into Instagram to
strengthen brand affinity and forge relationships with consumers? This eBook offers research-backed best practices for developing
an Instagram strategy. We explore examples
from top brands that are using Instagram to
win brand advocates. And we share secrets
for translating an Instagram presence into
business revenue.
3 |3Definitive
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Marketing
| Definitive Guide
to Instagram
Marketing
“
Instagram is certainly
an ideal platform for
reaching millennials. More
than half (51 percent) of
18- to 34-year-olds are on
it, higher than Facebook
(36.4 percent), Pinterest
(41.3 percent),Tumblr
(49.7 percent) and Twitter
(40.7 percent), according
to comScore.
– Digiday
1
Grow Your
Follower Base by
Sharing Killer Content
One of the most unique attributes of
Instagram is that it allows users to tell
stories through visuals.
While Facebook and Twitter
When setting about creating all
began with textual storytelling,
this powerful visual content, the
visuals have always been king on
question becomes: what stories
Instagram. This makes it easy
do you want to tell? Here is your
for marketers to create memo-
chance to communicate your
rable, evocative content. After
product’s value, showcase a
all, 90% of information trans-
different side of your brand, or
mitted to the brain is visual, and
prove how much you care about
visuals are processed 60,000
your customers.
times faster than text.
4 |4Definitive
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to Instagram
Marketing
| Definitive Guide
to Instagram
Marketing
Think about the 2-3 messages
you want to communicate to your
Instagram followers. This makes
it easy to choose and create the
right content.
QuickTips | Content Types Instagram Users Love
1
Peel back the curtain on life at your company.
Try an aerial shot of your desk or a group video at the
company picnic. Build relationships by making your
followers feel like insiders.
2
Think DIY. Educate your audience by creating
something: like a collage, a plate of muffins, or a new
makeup look. Show the creation process through
Instagram video, or a photo series.
General Electric
3 Show travel motifs. Instagrammers love landscapes
and photos of the open road. Find stylish ways to
showcase your products in your nature shots.
MTV, video post
4 Make bite-sized versions of existing content,
whether it’s a snippet of a TV interview or a quote from
your latest blog post.
5 Seasonal and holiday content is a surefire way
to stoke engagement.
6 Don’t just snap a photo of that pair of jeans.
Take a page from Oreo’s book and find cute, creative
ways to showcase your products.
7 Post aerial shots of food. Trust us.
8 And of course, feature content created by your
consumers. We talk more about that later.
5 |5Definitive
Guide
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Marketing
| Definitive Guide
to Instagram
Marketing
Hershel Supply Co.
Now that you’ve figured out what to
post on Instagram, it’s time to think
about when and how to post it.
As with any social platform, there is no one-size-fits-all approach for
In addition to picking the right day and time, utilizing hashtags
when to post content. With that being said, our friends at Track Ma-
can also boost performance. By coupling your post with relevant
ven have uncovered some useful data on post performance. Their
hashtags, you’ll extend reach and increase engagement.
research found that most Fortune 500 companies increase their
post frequency on Thursdays. Content posted between 3pm and 4pm
generates the most activity.
Monitor
These Metrics
Before starting a new Instagram campaign or using our tips to revamp your Instagram strategy,
create a spreadsheet and document a baseline with the following metrics. Then reevaluate at the
end of the month, quarter, or campaign.
#
How much traffic
is the link in your
Instagram bio getting?
Gather social
referral data from
Google Analytics.
What is the average/
current range of
likes that your
photos receive?
6 |6Definitive
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Marketing
| Definitive Guide
to Instagram
Marketing
What is the average
number of comments that your
photos receive?
What is the ratio
between likes and
comments for
your photos?
How many followers
do you have
on Instagram?
Evaluate your
branded hashtags.
How frequently are
they used?
QuickTips | Creating Perfect Instagram Posts
1
Keep in mind that all photos
uploaded must be of high
visual quality — don’t just
post for the sake of posting!
“
[Looking] at the
activity of 55 brands over a
period of several months…
the average brand posted
1.5 times per day.
“
4 Take a page from popular
brands like Marc Jacobs and
BMW, and share professional
photos on Instagram as well.
– Forbes: Union Metrics
2
Instagram has a variety of filters to
choose from within the app. The Mayfair
filter results in the most engagement,
whereas the Toaster filter results in the
least engagement.
3 Don’t feel limited to those 20 filters. Many brands opt to edit and capture photos outside the
app itself. You can use a camera phone to capture photos, and use apps such as VSCO Cam
and Afterlight to edit photos for that “Instagram look.”
7 |7Definitive
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Marketing
| Definitive Guide
to Instagram
Marketing
2
You’re posting a steady stream of
Build
Community
and Affinity
through
Consumer
Engagement
“
Our study found that top brands’
Instagram posts generated a per follower
engagement rate of 4.21%. That means
Instagram delivered these brands 58 times
more engagement per follower than
Facebook, and 120 times more engagement
per follower than Twitter.
– Nate Elliot, Forrester
“
8 |8Definitive
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to Instagram
Marketing
| Definitive Guide
to Instagram
Marketing
gorgeous content. Now it’s time to ramp
up engagement. Like any social network,
Instagram is all about interaction. To do it
right, you must consistently engage your users.
You can drive engagement by asking a
question in your post captions, like TJ Maxx
did when asking fans which handbag they
liked better, left or right.
Keep the conversation going. Don’t forget to reply to followers’ content. Participate
in popular hashtags that are relevant to your niche. But don’t get too broad:
commenting on every photo marked #tbt will get you nowhere.
Another useful tactic is to track your branded hashtags to see what people think of
you at retail locations, expos, and other events. But don’t just passively view their
engagements; like and comment back.
Your followers will act
as brand ambassadors,
ultimately inspiring
others to like, click
and share.
Top five
hashtags
used on Instagram
#love
#instagood
#me
#tbt
#follow
Curate and Share
User-Generated Content
So how to proceed? Frequently repost the
Harnessing user-generated content (UGC) is
content is ideal, but mixing in fun, pure
quickly becoming one of the most effective
tactics in the social media marketer’s
arsenal. Consumers share — and trust
— real pictures and content more than
direct brand outreach. Plus, you reduce the
amount of work dedicated to producing all
best consumer content on Instagram, and
tag the users in the photos. Brand-related
engagement content from users is also
effective. Although Instagram itself doesn’t
directly support a way to repost content,
one quick and easy solution is the Repost for
Instagram app available in the App Store.
those images and videos, while drastically
increasing your engagement rate.
And consumers are already flocking to
Instagram to share branded content, like
photos of their “hauls” and latest purchases.
By engaging them where they are already
sharing, you’ll extend your relationship and
attract new followers to the fold.
“
At least half the
photos that Ben & Jerry’s
shares through their
account today are from
community members.
“
- Instagram
Business Blog
9 |9Definitive
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Marketing
| Definitive Guide
to Instagram
Marketing
This allows you to repost a user’s photo onto your account, and also credits the user in the
process (at the bottom of the photo). Josie Maran used the app to repost an image from
Sephora’s account on Instagram.
UK fashion retailer Wallis
using
Offerpop
Content.
saw great
great results
resultswhen
whenthey
theyran
rana campaign
a campaign
using
Media Junkies
Content.
By adding #WALLISDRESSEDIT
photos on
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to photos on to
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encouraged
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act as personal stylists for Wallis website visitors, and in turn resulted
visitors, and in turn resulted in higher levels of engagement and
in higher levels of engagement and strengthened relationships.
strengthened relationships.
Post the best content users share
throughout your digital properties to drive
brand awareness, customer loyalty and
ultimately sales.
Red Robin gave Instagram followers a chance
to win free burgers for a year when they shared pic-
tures of their meals using the hashtag #MillionReasons.
All mouth-watering entries were pulled into Red Robin’s
delectably visual Content Gallery. In addition, fans have
a chance to see their photos shared on Red Robin’s own
Instagram account, @RedRobinBurgers. By repurposing
user-generated content, Red Robin built a more authentic
Instagram brand while boosting follower engagement.
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Definitive Guide
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QuickTips | Repurposing Instagram Content for Other Channels
1
Post content from your Instagram account on Twitter.
But cross-posting directly from the app itself can look messy.
Instead, upload the photo separately to Twitter for easier sharing.
The image will then populate in Twitter.
2
Link your Instagram account to your Facebook page and
share content directly to Facebook.
3 Share photos with blog posts. Does your brand have a blog?
Easily add photos to
your tweets
Embed Instagram photos within posts and make it easy for fans to
follow you, no matter where they find you. Use the Instagram API to
pull photos right from Instagram.
Share settings in the Instagram app
4 Showcase user photos in your advertising campaigns.
Consumers love authentic, relatable content.
5 Include user-generated photos on your brand’s website.
Showcase photos from your fans on a microsite or your homepage.
Soccerpro’s
“#soccerpride”
campaign
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Marketing
Definitive GuideGuide
to Instagram
Marketing
3
Pave the Road to Conversion
You’re producing stellar Instagram content, engaging
with users, and sharing their content. Now how do
you leverage those efforts to drive conversions?
User-generated content is 20% more influential than any
other type of media, meaning it has a huge impact on sales.
But Instagram image and video captions do not activate
hyperlinks to web pages outside of its network. Working
links are reserved for in-channel capabilities with hashtags
and profile tags. So how does your brand forge that
connection between brand engagement and purchase?
When you run a campaign, set up a custom, automatic
response to each entry. This response can contain a link to
your campaign terms and conditions and a sign up form,
where you can ask consumers to submit more information
(like their email addresses), and grant permission for
their photos and videos to be used in other channels. By
automating this process, it will be much easier to integrate
their content across your website, advertising efforts, social
networks and other channels. Plus, you can encourage
entrants to visit your website, enabling a path to conversion.
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Marketing
Definitive GuideGuide
to Instagram
Marketing
Lilly Pulitzer “#summerinlilly”
L’Oréal’s Shu Uemera took an innovative approach to visual commerce.
With their #eyeloveshu Media Junkies Commerce initiative, they prompted Instagram
users to share their Shu Uemera selfies for a chance to win products. When users
uploaded selfies with the associated #shuselfie, they received an automatic reply
from the brand with an invitation to claim their contest entry in the comments
of their photo. Many participants shared their entries with friends across all social
networks, driving more site traffic and sales.
In order to actively drive commerce, L’Oréal took it a step further.
They associated each individual entry with a product on their site,
making it easy for users to purchase products to get the looks they love.
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Marketing
| Definitive Guide
to Instagram
Marketing
#SummerinLilly in the first 3 weeks of the
Want to implement
your own Instagram
commerce-driving
campaign?
campaign alone, with 9,500 unique visitors and
Make sure to integrate conversion tracking
Another example comes from
Lilly Pulitzer with their #SummerinLilly
campaign. They collected nearly 5,000
photos from engaged fans using the hashtag
over 25 million page impressions. Lilly Pulitzer
made it easy for fans to shop for their favorite
looks with a link to the garment alongside the
user-generated content displayed in a dynamic
gallery on their website.
with your web analytics platform. You’ll
know how many entries convert and how
much revenue you’re generating. Use the
knowledge to refine and optimize your
campaigns. Communicate the results, and
win more budget for future campaigns.
Instagram is still an emerging
network, but its popularity
makes it an ideal brand
platform. With the tips above
and a few creative ideas of
your own, you’ll leverage the
platform to win affinity, stoke
engagement and convert
followers into customers.
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to Instagram
Marketing
Definitive GuideGuide
to Instagram
Marketing
WE ARE MEDIA JUNKIES YOUR DIGITAL AGENCY
We help bold, forward-looking brands build
meaningful connections with their audiences
- in all the places digital touches people’s lives.
We don’t particularly like ad agencies. Or traditional
marketing theory. We like bacon. And surfing. We are
suckers for a good story. We side with the underdog. We
prefer our liquor neat. We are full of contradictions. And
in that sense, we are like everyone else.We are just people.
Exactly like you–and your customers. People who hate
being interrupted, and manipulated, and lied to. People
who love being entertained.And surprised.And rewarded.
We’re looking for courageous souls and fearless thinkers
more interested in making history than repeating it, all
in pursuit of work that both drives business results and
leaves a dent in culture. Let’s make a move together.
Make a big splash in the market and change the world.