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Instagram Influence was the sixth segment of our social media madness series. This session focused on harnessing hashtags and being creative and consistent on an image based platform.

 Brands interact with and influence audiences via Instagram

 

Best Branding

 

National Geographic - guest photographers

National Geographic has be circulating since 1888, sharing stories from each generation engaging an audience around the globe. More than 40 professional photographers across the globe are able to post from the account (during work or leisure) which is unique to the brand as each day the images vary as they draw out feelings and curiosity in viewers.

National Geographic has 43.6 million followers on Instagram.

 

Google

googleGoogle posts a variety of content, their branding is the same across all channels - including their search page (appleish - light and bright). They have a massive following compared to the amount of posts as people always waiting to see what Google is posting next.​

 

Whole Foods - guest photographers

WholefoodsSame branding across all channels. Variety of content, as well as posts but theme remains the same - genuine, natural and beneficial (sustainability, organic). 

 

 

Awareness

 

Guerlain - Perfume house

GuerlainGuerlian is a well known French producer perfume and makeup and has a popular bronzer called terracotta. The brand used #terracotta and #Guerlainterracotta to create a campaign that connected users and their bronzing product, around France.

 

Scotiabank - CC Awareness

Scotiabank is quite large and to raise awareness, if not celebrate a new credit card program offered in connection to their Scene points card, products were set up in order to start a conversation about what movie was being depicted. 

The marketing master behind this was genius - promoting a new product and engaging the audience in a unique and fun way.

 

Canadian Tire - #shovelitforward

#shovelitforwardShoveling a neighbour’s driveway is ‘very Canadian’. By creating a hashtag or theme that will connect people created a campaign that everyone will want to participate in and be a part of - especially one as warm as this.

 

Burt's Bees - #delightup

To show off their new line of lip colour, the brand created a contest that selected a professional doodler to create photos with doodles around the, using the lip colours.  

This campaign caused fans to become involved and submit their art or how they used their lip colour.

 

Creative

 

Dictionary.com - #wordoftheday

Dictionary.com

Inspires audience to learn new word each day presenting a styled text, example sentence and definition attracted community. This is a great way to 
Interact with their followers as conversation is generated, questions are asked and the brand also encourages their community to engage by using the hashtag #dictionarycom and #wordoftheday as a way to learn and join the discussion. This space to teach and interact offers an an opportunity to expand one’s vocabulary

Dictionary.com’s instagram account gained over 9 thousand followers over 1000 comments and over 32 thousand likes.

 

General Electric - Breast Cancer Awareness

General ElectricTo support awareness surrounding breast cancer, General Electric created an image that required a certain filter to reveal a hidden message. The brand even went as far as to explain why, things are sometimes hidden in mammograms. 

 

Oreo - #playwithoreo

Oreo

As always, Oreo has great branding and presence on Instagram. Connecting their fans with the hashtag #playwithoreo, people can submit, and view images and video of how others across the globe play, with their Oreo’s. 

 

 

 

Terms

 

# - hashtag
Filter - change the colour or overlay on an image
Feed - content that appears when you log in (from people you follow or advertisements)
DM - direct message (take conversation offline)
#FF - follow Friday (trends each Friday. . add to image to gain followers)
#SFS - shoutout for shoutout (use to gain followers, usually shout someone out with an image saying to go follow them, and they will do it for you as well)
#selfiesunday - most popular hashtag (used on Sundays) 

 

Marketing

 

Best Marketing Campaign

 

 

Build an Audience

 

Image Editing

 

Tools

 

Filters

 

Image editing applications

  • afterlight - filters and frames
  • pic stitch - collage, can also print
  • quick - text over image

 

Instagram Business

 

What is Instagram and How do I Use it?

 

  • business showcase
    Instagram can be used to showcase your businesses best features using your social side. Make sure to reply to comments and messages as you get them and make you feed interesting by varying the content you use (combination of photos, videos and quotes). Put captions with photos and use hashtag wisely (hashtags are used so more people can find and view your content). 
  • visual inspiration 
    people search hashtags for specific images and ideas, so be sure to put your best images online
  • highly engaged creative community 
    creative content is expected, users of instagram search for and react to only the best images
  • real time campaigns
    Instagram has been used to create a variety of real time campaigns that connect users across the globe with an idea or hashtag
  • search engine 
    Use to find similar images or specific content

 

Tips

 

  • Photo sharing app 
    Most popular to date, target audience, people come to instagram for quality images, search by hashtag or view on feeds they follow
  • Private or public?
    Can share image to individuals and not entire news feed
    Can hide or remove images tagged in 
    Can ignore people (who promote or post too often)
    Can send messages (with image or without)
  • Images
    Can post image and apply filter then screenshot to save 
    Can print your year
    Open app, hold down camera button and choose from recent pics in album
    Can edit images (from filter down to contrast)
  • Geo-tagging
    Can target specific location or groups by location
    Add geo-tag to images to group that with others with the same tag 
    Good for gaining exposure
  • Link 
    Link instagram account with other social accounts
  • Audio 
    Can have audio in video or no 
insta photo

Advertising

Sponsored Ads 

  • A great way create a connection to the customer or to drive traffic to company website or even into the store.

Carousel Ads 

  • A great way to share more images of your product. You may include up to 4 in an ad which the viewer is able to swipe through.

Video Ads 

  • Video advertising is available in 30 second frames. Remember that Instagram automatically plays without audio and be sure to include movement within the first few seconds of your ad, otherwise the audience may overlook it.

Mad Takeaways 

  • Balance images
  • Track engagement
  • Cross post images
  • Follow your followers
  • Inspire your audience
  • Post what’s relevant 

(do)

  • Make a unique bio - write it in a word doc then copy and paste into instagram
  • Match message to medium - Have a theme to your channel 
  • Segment audience - to cater content, conquer than master 
  • Take better images - Learn techniques to assist
  • Focus on entire post - not just image, don’t overlook the power in your caption as it tells specific story - gives insight to the context of the photo 

(do not)

  • Forget to optimize hashtags - though you shouldn’t exceed five 
  • Spam feeds or go on like/following sprees

Be sure to check out our Mad Recaps on each of the social outlets below. 

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