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Grow Your Follower Base by Sharing Killer Content

Why Instagram Matters to Marketers

Build Community and Affinity through Consumer Engagement

Pave the Road to Conversion

2 | Definitive Guide to Instagram Marketing

3 | Definitive Guide to Instagram Marketing

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.

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.

Why Instagram Matters to Marketers

– Digiday

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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 began with textual storytelling, visuals have always been king on Instagram. This makes it easy for marketers to create memorable, evocative content. After all, 90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual, and visuals are processed 60,000 times faster than text.

When setting about creating all this powerful visual content, the question becomes: what stories do you want to tell? Here is your chance to communicate your product’s value, showcase a different side of your brand, or prove how much you care about your customers.

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.

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And of course, feature content created by your consumers. We talk more about that later.

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.

Think DIY. Educate your audience by creating some-thing: like a collage, a plate of muffins, or a new make-up look. Show the creation process through Instagram video, or a photo series.

Show travel motifs. Instagrammers love landscapes and photos of the open road. Find stylish ways to showcase your products in your nature shots.

Make bite-sized versions of existing content, whether it’s a snippet of a TV interview or a quote from your latest blog post.

Seasonal and holiday content is a surefire way to stoke engagement.

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.

Post aerial shots of food. Trust us.

QuickTips | Content Types Instagram Users Love

General Electric

Oreo

MTV, video post

Hershel Supply Co.

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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 when to post content. With that being said, our friends at Track Maven have uncovered some useful data on post performance. Their 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

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?

What is the average number of com-ments 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?

In addition to picking the right day and time, utilizing hashtags can also boost performance. By coupling your post with relevant hashtags, you’ll extend reach and increase engagement.

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.

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Keep in mind that all photos uploaded must be of high visual quality — don’t just post for the sake of posting!

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.

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.”

Take a page from popular brands like Marc Jacobs and BMW, and share professional photos on Instagram as well.

[Looking] at the activity of 55 brands over a period of several months… the average brand posted 1.5 times per day.

QuickTips | Creating Perfect Instagram Posts

– Forbes: Union Metrics

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Build Community and Affinity through Consumer Engagement

You’re posting a steady stream of 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.

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.

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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.

Top five hashtags used on Instagram

#love#instagood #me#tbt#follow

Your followers will act as brand ambassadors, ultimately inspiring others to like, click and share.

– Nate Elliot, Forrester

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Curate and Share User-Generated Content Harnessing user-generated content (UGC) is 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 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.

So how to proceed? Frequently repost the best consumer content on Instagram, and tag the users in the photos. Brand-related content is ideal, but mixing in fun, pure 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.

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.

At least half the photos that Ben & Jerry’s shares through their account today are from community members.

- Instagram Business Blog

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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.

UK fashion retailer Wallis saw great results when they ran a campaign using Offerpop Content. By adding #WALLISDRESSEDIT to photos on Instagram, fans had the exciting opportunity to have their style showcased on the Wallis website for the world to see. This campaign encouraged Wallis fans to act as personal stylists for Wallis website visitors, and in turn resulted in higher levels of engagement and strengthened relationships.

Post the best content users share throughout your digital properties to drive brand awareness, customer loyalty and ultimately sales.

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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.

Showcase user photos in your advertising campaigns. Consumers love authentic, relatable content.

Include user-generated photos on your brand’s website. Showcase photos from your fans on a microsite or your homepage.

Share photos with blog posts. Does your brand have a blog? 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.

QuickTips | Repurposing Instagram Content for Other Channels

Easily add photos to

your tweets

Share settings in the Instagram app

Soccerpro’s “#soccerpride” campaign

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Pave the Road to ConversionYou’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.

Lilly Pulitzer “#summerinlilly”

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L’Oréal’s Shu Uemera took an innovative approach to visual commerce. With their #eyeloveshu Offerpop 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 #shushelfie, 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 net-works, 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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Want to implement your own Instagram commerce-driving campaign? Make sure to integrate conversion tracking 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.

Another example comes from Lilly Pulitzer with their #SummerinLilly campaign. They collected nearly 5,000 photos from engaged fans using the hashtag #SummerinLilly in the first 3 weeks of the campaign alone, with 9,500 unique visitors and 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.

Offerpop is a digital marketing software-as-a-service platform transforming how global brands connect, engage and convert today’s mobile and social consumers into long-term loyal customers. Leading enterprises and agencies use Offerpop’s integrated platform to power campaigns, content and commerce, and provide marketers with rich consumer data for smarter marketing decisions. Offerpop is an ExactTarget Marketing Cloud partner, Facebook Preferred Marketing Developer, a Twitter Certified Product and has been highlighted as a recommended Instagram platform developer. Learn more at offerpop.com.

offerpop.com | Phone: 646.380.4609 36 East 31st St., 8th Floor, New York, NY 10016

/offerpop @Offerpop@Offerpop