Why Instagram?
Instagram is one of the fastest growing social media platforms in Singapore and in many parts of Asia. According to Napoleon Cat, Instagram has 1.9 million users in Singapore with 54% of them female, and almost 85% of the users are are younger than 45. What this means is if your business targets customers that fall within this demographic construct, then Instagram is possibly a good channel to embark on Brand Awareness, Engagement and Conversion marketing activities.
Source: NapoleonCat.com, 14-01-2018
Might we add that we notice Instagram users to be relatively more visually aroused, in the sense that they are attracted more easily to appealing pictures, captions and videos? In this case, if your business selling fashion, interior design, cars, or most consumer products and services that thrive on strong visuals, do consider Instagram as being part of your overall social media strategy.
A report on Hubspot states that, “More than half (51%) of the platform’s active users visit the site daily, and 35% say they check it multiple times a day.” With such high statistics of active user and time spent, Instagram is arguably the best channel to kickstart your branding strategy for 2018. Now, how do you kickstart your Instagram Marketing and what is the secret to Instagram Marketing?
First Impression is Last
It takes only two to three seconds before an Instagram user lands on your account page, and decides whether he/she will scroll more of your pictures and posts. It’s crucial that your brand presents itself strongly during this “infinitesimally short” attention span period.
Source: @gilbertravels
For example, a quick look at an Instagram profile (@gilbertravels) clearly shows several iconic symbols that its target audience (people who likes to travel) can identify with.
Two key points can be derived:
- Target Audience: Identify your target audience. If your company is an interior design company, then most probably you want your content to appeal to those that would be captivated by stunning interior designing posts. (You wouldn’t want to be showing mobile phones pictures in your Instagram for sure). Always have a good grasp of your target audience, i.e., their interest level, behaviours, etc., and have them in mind during the creation of your content.
- Content: Conceive and design unique pictures or videos that your target audience would engage with and spread around. The advantage of social media marketing is the opportunity for your customers to engage with your brand, unlike that of web marketing. It’s imperative that your Instagram content has to be something that your target audience would like, comment and share. Obviously, there is no sure way of knowing what are the best content initially. It will take experience, in-depth knowledge of your target audience and many trial-and-errors before arriving a particular brand theme.
Consistency
We always tell our clients: to achieve success in your marketing, be consistent. This applies in two areas
- Posting: In the context of Instagram, post at least once a day. This is one of the cornerstones of building a strong branding (something which I will be writing on in the coming few weeks so stay tuned). For now, the quick reasoning can be seen using an analogy. Do you brush your teeth daily? (Don’t need to tell us the answer if the answer is no). If you ask most people, the main reason of brushing is they want to see a set of sparkling clean teeth. In the similar vein, if you want to have a “sparkling” marketing outcome, then make a habit to post regularly.
- Brand Theme: A strong brand means when customers think of their needs, they will immediately think of your company. For example, when I want to drink a good cup of coffee, the thought of STARBUCKS comes immediately to my mind generally. This is because the marketing activities of Starbucks CONSISTENTLY skew towards showing content, and advertisements of coffee. Most of its ad content would involve some form of coffee It would be unthinkable for Starbucks to consistently display advertisements of car repairing services. Therefore, when you need a car servicing outlet, you will never think of Starbucks. Consistency helps to build a strong brand in the mind of consumers. Never deviate from your brand theme as much as possible. Stick to it consistently and persistently. For example, the brand theme in @gilbertravels is both a selfie stick capturing the photographer from his back, together with an iconic symbol, for every alternate post. This brand theme is consistent and persistent, and is not changed for majority of the posts.
Frequency and Optimal Time
Some of our clients frequently asked us two questions of what are the frequency of posting and the optimal times to post. There is no clear answer to both questions as many camps have been set up arguing on a particular frequency and optimal post hour. For now, we urge our clients to experiment what would be the best frequency and timing to post. The general rule of thumb according to our past Instagram marketing work is once a day and to post during the morning period of 7am, afternoon period of 12pm, or evening period of 7pm.
Where we come in
By following to our guidelines above, organic likes, comments, shares, and leads will eventually come in and grow every day. To accelerate this growth, we at AppLabx have an engine that is able to expand your reach to your targeted audience in the Instagram Universe in very short amount of time.
By employing social actions, i.e., Likes, Follows and Comments to your targeted audience using hashtag, geolocation and competitors’ accounts, we are able to get their attention and make them come to your account.
When they arrive at your account, and if your content is unique and iconic, and your branding is clearly shown in your Instagram, then there is a high possibility that they will like, comment, share and even follow your account to be loyal followers (remember what we wrote in earlier paragraphs that new users have a short attention time span?).
In addition, if your promotions are attractive, and call-to-actions are clearly shown, then possibly, you will see a stream of customers messaging you on Instagram for lead generation.
The secret to Instagram marketing success is unique content that are consistently posted to the Instagram Account at least once a day, coupled with our growth services. Email us now at [email protected] to try our amazing services for 3 months.
Source:
Gilbertravels, 2018. Retrieved from www.instagram.com/gilbertravels on the 14th January 2018
