While it is undeniable Instagram has become an indispensable social network for brands, few of them are able to benefit from their digital communication strategy!
Whether through lack of content, ideas or time (or all that at a time), many brands on the social network decide to give up or abandon it in favor of more platforms generating benefits, such as may be a Facebook or Twitter.
But the app, which now has 300 million active users worldwide can prove to be a showcase of the DNA of a brand, allowing it to sublimate its products / services and create its own visual identity so instant and creative, to the delight of its customers and / or clients!
When we know more than 46% of its users follow brands, we can understand the interest and the need to read the following 20 tips. So here we go!
20 tips to optimize your use of Instagram:
- – Publish Single & exclusive content: own your brand and and make sure that users will not see your content on other social networks or your competitors, for example.
- – Your post must create the emotion for the user, to allow them to spent a time for their “preferred” brand that they could not live without you! (Well said like that, it may impress, but the idea is there)
- – Think “timeless” do not add time indicators, users must be able to identify your vision no matter what time of day it is!
- – Focus on one item: useless to capture everything dwell instead on an item you want to promote to your subscribers. One you want to make them remember!
- – Crop your photos: center the elements and play with symmetries. These are very popular on “Insta”!
- – Edit photos (sparingly) in addition to the filters, many settings are available in post-production (brightness, contrast, shadows, etc.) and you will get a unique look and quality, but do not overdo it, your subscribers might not like it!
- – Avoid glare: some textures, such as shop windows for example, reflect the opposite view and disturb the final rendering. Try to take your photos in simple, natural environments.
- – Do not rely on managers: some proposed frameworks can distract the user from the content of your photo, avoid them whenever possible.
- – Be concise: Limit descriptions of your photos 4-5 lines maximum.
- – Do not add any text or logo on your photos (point).
- – Add hashtags: they generate 12.6% more engagement, but do not overdo it! We must stay consistent and not try at all costs to benefit from the popularity of a “word-pound” that had no connection with your content.
- – Hire your customers: the pictures showing consumers using your products receive 30% more engagement, a bargain! But do not forget to ask permission to owners of pictures before re-published with the account of your brand.
- – Choose a fairly broad term-back: you will get 29% of “likes” and more!
- – Prefer publications on Wednesday (+ 1% of commitment) and Sunday (+ 6% of commitment).
- – Post in the mornings: photos generate maximum commitment in the morning between 6 am and 11 am, depending Over-Graph.
- – Choose wisely your filters: for example, the filter “Mayfair” gives rise 2% more engagement with the filter “Toaster”…
- – Show your face: the pictures containing faces get more commitment and comments than others!
- – See life in blue: publications where the blue color dominates are very popular and earn 24% of “likes” and more!
- – Step into the light: the light shots get 25% of “likes” and more.
- – Choose images rather than videos: these are less efficient than 26%. The question is whether the new Instagram of the week (auto loop playback videos in the news wire) will change the situation…
Bonus: You can get inspiration from these eight successful brands on Instagram (And no, there are no Starbucks and Coca-Cola)!
Authors bio:
Stephen E. Karsch was born and raised in Bern, Switzerland. Stephen is a technology geek and loves everything about tech, high tech, computers and programming. He graduated from Bern University of Applied Sciences with a bachelor’s degree in Business Information Technology. You can get in touch with Stephen on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and Instagram.