Why Instagram?
If you can make your brand visual you will be head and shoulders above 90% of any other business or personal brand. Instagram is the powerhouse of Social Media platforms in terms of visual storytelling and since its acquisition, it has grown exponentially which new feature after new feature.
Successful businesses and influencers have mastered the art of putting their brands into single images, videos and stories on this power platform. For example, Starbucks is one of the platforms most popular accounts and it is rumoured that their Unicorn Frappuccino was designed with Starbucks in mind.
The beauty of Instagram is that there are multiple ways to speak to your client. Either via your timeline with images, multiple images, video or through stories, recorded and live. But power comes in the engagement being shot and to the point.
Instagram is not just for the visual pursuits such as fashion and food. If you have the smarts to make a non visual brand, visual you are head and should above your competition.
For example, if you are Plumber, you may think that you can’t be successful on this platform but if you were able to make a series of one minute videos on how to solve some quicks problems in the home, trust people would watch. If you are an accountant, you could again write a list of 365 things you could purchase with a £5000 saving on their tax bill if they use you as an account. Find an image for each one and post that. This really appeals to people; short, sharp pieces of information with great images. Couple this with great, fun and funny stories of behind the scenes and you people will start to follow.
Some stats
- There are 500M daily active Instagram users and 300M Instagram Stories daily active users.
- 80% of Instagram users come from outside the US
- 95 million images are posted daily
- Instagram influencers are charging up to $100,00 for a sponsored post.
- 60% of brands use the same filter when posting images
- 68% of Instagram users are female
- 80% of users follow at least one business
- One if every 5 organic stories get a direct message
- The US contributes 85% of Instagram’s total ad revenue
- Selena Gomez has the most popular Instagram account with 132M followers & National Geographic the most popular brand with 84M
Who to learn from
Here are just a few accounts you should look to learn from and get some ideas as to what you could do with your brand.
@thesydneyfashionblogger – This is one of my original favourites. Antoinette Marie is a fashion stylist from, have a guess, yes Sydney. She started to post daily pictures of her various outfits on Instagram. She now earns a fortune being paid to wear outfits and post pictures o f them. Antoinette has become so influential that Cosmopolitan name her one of the most influential women in Australia under 30.
@JamieOliver – Most people know of him as a Chef, but Jamie Oliver could give a masterclass in branding. Whoever his team is, the brand is powerful and consistent, the stories are varied and fun. He is very real and that counts for a lot on social media.
@Nike continuing their brand brilliance they carry their story over to Instagram
@SarahAkwisombe On Instagram, her bio says that she is an interiors and design girl. It is her brilliance at knowing how to represent herself on social media and her blog that has won her many awards and got her an advert with eBay over Christmas.
@Intel how exciting can you make technology look, look to Intel and see.
@AmericanExpress the thought of finance makes you want to lay your head on the table. But this Instagram account tells the story the luxury that you can purchase with an Amex card.
@peggyporschenofficial This business made a genius move. Every season they do an amazing decoration around their door and it has become the go to place for an Instagram photo.
@starbucks Love them or hate them, this business has learnt perfectly how to represent their brand. Brilliant photos and as I said above rumours are that their hugely successful short run Unicorn Frappucino was designed with Instagram in mind.
@garyvee This man, again like or dislike him, this man has mastered social media and he loves Instagram. He is very efficient in with his Instagram. Lots of stories, lots of messages and a lot of valuable advice.
@thebodycoach Joe Wicks of Lean and 15 built a 20m+ business because of the content he posted to social media in particular Instagram.
The 10 steps
So how do you do this yourself with your business or personal brand? Here are 10 tips that may help.
1. Know your brand, it is more than just a logo. It must come through in everything you do. What are your brand colours, font, filter, words and phrases that fit your business?
2. Instagram is all about the Hashtags. You can use up to 30. Some people will advise you to use only a certain number. I say use them all. Do your research and use words that fit with your brand. So for example I would use hashtags such as #femaleentrepreneur & #womeninbusiness. An Interior Designer will use #Interior #Design #Designer. You get the picture, pick ones that are relevant.
3 Complete your profile, including a profile picture. This will start your Instagram life, it will help people decide whether to follow you or not. You have up to 150 characters so make it count and make it consistent with your other social media accounts. At this stage you can also include your business or blog URL, don’t waste this space.
4. Know who you are telling your story to. You should have already done your avatar work and have a client profile. Know who you are looking to attract with your images and stories. Don’t try and be all things to all people that never works.
5. Make it public, this is such a bugbear of mine when people create their accounts, people fill out their bio with a link to their website and then make the account private. This is, to put it bluntly, a dumb move. I understand if it is a personal account then fine but if you promote your business then people need to be able to see your account.
6. Post and tell stories consistently. Once a week is not enough. If you look to any influencer, they post a minimum of an image a day on their timeline and from very casual research on average 10 stories per day.
7. Have a strategy, don’t just blindly plonk images on your timeline. Have an idea of what you want your timeline to look like. Look to your week and map out your timeline and different stories that you want to tell each day.
8. In order to grow your following you need to engage, you need to engage with them consistently, comment on images, send messages via strories, tag people (but be warned only do that for relevant posts). People will respond and you can build relationships that way.
9. You can promote your business but not too much. Be careful and clever how you do this. People want to get a sense of the brand they don’t want to constantly be sold to. However, it is an excellent package to acquire clients hence point 6 have a strategy mapped out. Do your research and look to other business who are successful on Instagram and see how they do it.
10. Learn how to take great photos, watch for opportunities when you are out and about that will show off your brands. Learn about light, composition and stories. There are award winning photographers who post to Instagram using only their smartphones. If you are not a great photographer there are a ton of free stock sites with excellent photos you can use. But make a point of posting good photos because it makes a difference you are representing your brand and you want to make sure you do it well.
To hammer the point
Instagram is an incredibly powerful platform for any business. Don’t think that it will not be of use to you because they are many businesses I could point to who are proving you wrong. Take time and learn what you like and what you don’t like about people’s accounts.
It is a place to grow your profile, it is a place for people to get to know you and your business and it is a platform for people to get to know how skilled and knowledgeable you are and how passionate you are about the work that you do.
So don’t ignore it, don’t be afraid of it because by embracing it you open yourself up to a whole host of opportunities.
