instagram best practices
TRANSCRIPT
Instagram - Best Practices
Introduction0 Instagram is an online mobile photo-sharing,
video-sharing and social networking service that enables its users to take pictures and videos, and share them on a variety of social networking platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Flickr.
0 Created by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger0 Launched in October 2010.0 The service was acquired by Facebook in April
2012
Introduction0 Instagram is an online mobile photo-sharing,
video-sharing and social networking service that enables its users to take pictures and videos, and share them on a variety of social networking platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Flickr.
0 Created by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger0 Launched in October 2010.0 The service was acquired by Facebook in April
2012
In Numbers
0 Over 100 million active users as of April 2012 0 Over 300 million as of December 2014.0 In 2013, Instagram grew by 23%, while Facebook only grew by 3%.0 200 million monthly active user 20 billion photos shared in total 1.6
billion likes and 60 million photos shared everyday0 75% of leading brands have already joined Instagram0 21% of adults are using it (that’s more than Twitter!) with 53% of young
adults ages 18-29 on the service.
Getting Started
1. Setting up your account2. Developing an engaging content strategy3. Building your account
Setting Up Your Account0 Adding a profile image
0 Always use an image that is memorable and easy to identify with your brand. E.g brand logo.
0 Write your bio0 Character limit is at 150
characters.0 Why should fans follow
you0 What will they see.0 Include your official
hashtag.0 Add your link
0 Always ensure your brand website is included.
Developing an Engaging Content Strategy
0 Know your audience. Find out what makes them tick and give them that.
0 Main content planning categories:1. Brand Centric Content
0 Images with brand logo or colour palette0 Images focusing around ideas and feelings associated with
the brand
2. Reactive Story Telling0 Using unique insight or a timely event to generate feedback0 Can be based on memes or pop culture
3. Behind the scenes4. Influencer Marketing
0 Get posts by bloggers/designers/ influencers
5. Reposting fan content6. Inspirational quotes
Building your account
Now that you’ve set up your account, and developed your content strategy, you need to start building your fan base. Below are some quick tips:
• Start by uploading 15 – 20 images to build a base for your fans
• Promote yourself on other owned social / digital platforms.
• Launch strategic competitions to encourage user generated content
• Partner with influencers, lifestyle brands to co-create interesting content for your account.
Best Practices – Dos (cont)0 Stick to your current brand guidelines for image moods and content tone of voice0 Do promote and cross sell your partners, location and destination by tagging them or using related hashtags0 Always ensure your images are of high quality and not dull, dark or pixelated. 0 Make use of Instagram filters to enhance images when necessary0 Do make sure that your content is relevant to your business / industry 0 Do reward active fans to build loyalty
Best Practices - Dos0 Do actively engage with the fans and thank those who comment0 Do Like and Follow pages with similar content e.g. travel and lifestyle pages0 Do add copy and a call to action.0 Do align your usernames as this ensures consistency and ease in recalling / searching for brand across
platforms0 Do use brand hashtags in combination with topic and location hashtags to ensure maximum reach for your
message.
Best Practices – Dos (cont)0 Do maintain a time gap between messages / when not live posting. We recommend 1-2 posts a day. If using
platform for live events, I recommend a gap of 30 minutes between posts0 Do give credit to any borrowed content 0 Monitor comments from fans0 Show appreciation by responding to your audience and engaging when relevant. 0 Do make sure you have at least a 40/60 ratio of owned images and reposted images0 Do use relevant hashtags
0 Instagram: 11+ 0 Support: http://bit.ly/1hcumcy
0 Monitor and use relevant trending hashtags.
Best Practices - Don’ts 0 Don’t use the page as a promotions outlet.0 Don’t reply from personal accounts0 Don’t ride on the success of other (brand) hashtags.0 Don’t ask fans to move between platforms. E.g.: from Instagram to twitter and vice versa.0 Don’t spam your fans with too many updates. Limit your content to 1, maximum 2 posts a day.0 Don’t get into an argument with your fans. If you receive a complaint, take it offline.0 Don’t use stock images.0 Don’t ever pay for followers. 0 Some photos are good but not great—never post a mediocre photo.
Best Practices - Don’ts (cont)0 Don’t use poorly written English. Check your post twice for spelling mistakes and sentence structure.0 Do use filters on Instagram, but don’t over use them.0 Don’t use bloggers whose pages contain a lot of spelling mistakes, or who don’t reflect the brand look and feel.0 Don't use Instagram for advertisements.0 Don’t repost the same content across all the platforms.0 Don’t reuse images.
New Features to Note0 Emoji Hashtags (April 2015)0 With emoji hashtags, you can discover even more by adding them
to your own photos and videos, searching them on the ‘Explore’ page and tapping on them when you see them in captions.
0 Hashtag order search change (May 2015)0 Previously, whenever a new hashtags was added to a photo (old or
new) that photo would be pushed to the top of the newsfeed. Now, hashtaging will have to be planned in advance you can no longer put new hashtags on old photos.
0 Explore feature, additional search options and Top Search tab (June 2015)
0 Explore allows you to discover content on Instagram that you may be interested in based on your previous search and accounts you follow and It's been made easier to search by people, places and tags.
New Features to Note0 Landscape and portrait modes (August 2015)0 An Instagram trademark, the square has now got to share the limelight
with the ‘landscape’ and the ‘portrait’ . The ‘square’ remains the default option.
0 3D Touch feature / Expanded View (December 2015)0 Just long press on any thumbnail and you will get an expanded view of the
image, along with Like, Comment and Share options. 0 Support for multiple accounts (February 2016)0 Go to your profile settings, and at the bottom, there should be an Add
Account option. Once you've added a second account, you can switch between them by pressing on the username you want at the top of your profile page