It’s no secret that brands are moving away from traditional marketing methods (TV, print and radio) and focusing their efforts on social media instead.
The dominance of influencers, micro-influencers, dynamic ads, and multiple content formats make Instagram the perfect place for businesses to build their brand.
For some brands, that means Instagram has completely changed the rules of the game. Instead of using traditional marketing methods, they came up with an “Instagram first” strategy to use their budget more efficiently and better suit their unique brand.
Read on to discover:
- If the Instagram strategy is right for your brand first
- How can you tap into your customers’ greatest desires with your Instagram content to increase your revenue?
- Creative ideas to help your brand be seen by new customers every day
- Key ways successful brands use and include in your Instagram strategy today
The secrets of the 3 first brands on Instagram
shiny
In 2014, ultra-popular beauty blogger Emily Weiss launched her makeup and skincare line Glossier. Unlike other beauty brands you might see in your local store or on the trendiest shopping streets in your city, Glossier is an almost entirely online experience.
“We only operate through social channels,” Weiss told Mashable. “By leveraging technology you are allowed to get a better brand with immediate results. We know what our customer is buying and we take him on his journey. If she likes Haloscope, maybe she’s a makeup girl and will love lipsticks.”
Build a cohesive (and eye-catching) visual brand
It’s almost impossible to get on Instagram and immortality Check out the familiar pink color of the Glossier post. Whether it’s a top-notch influencer sharing their favorite products or a happy customer who unboxes on their Instagram Stories, the company has created an incredibly social media-friendly brand.
Thanks to Glossier’s aesthetically pleasing packaging and fashion-forward brand, their products are extremely photogenic. The hashtag #glossier has over 194,000 posts and is growing by the minute.
The nature of the products also does not hurt. Customers often share selfies of their makeup looks they created with Glossier products, and many Glossiers later post on their official Instagram pages.
What can your business do to create a shareable brand that ranks first on Instagram like Glossier?
- Choose a dominant visual look and style and stick to it. Glossier is known to support minimalism and millennial pink. Whether it’s a photo of a stylish bathroom sink or a text-based Q&A video, Glossier has these elements front and center on Instagram. When you don’t have a real store, it’s even more important that your social media presence sets the tone for your brand and has an impact.
- Pay attention to your customers. While Glossier has worked with big influencers, their Instagram feed is full of “regular” customers who use their products with great results. The average customer doesn’t have the same access to the resources a high paying influencer might have, so Glossier is proving that they understand their audience’s needs by showing that these beautiful results can be achieved by anyone.
La Croix
As a die-hard La Croix fan (hello, coconut), I wasn’t surprised to learn that the flavored sparkling water company’s profits more than doubled from 2015 to 2017. $49.3 million to $107 million.
While the company has now been selling its iconic boxes for over 30 years, La Croix has seen a remarkable resurgence in recent years, and that revival isn’t coincidentally aligned with Instagram’s rise in popularity.
While La Croix is certainly not the only sparkling water brand on the market, they stand out because of their focus on digital rather than traditional marketing methods.
“The company is particularly active on InstagramFortune’s Laura Entis explains that she works with a large network of “micro-influencers” (the term for users with thousands of followers rather than hundreds of thousands of followers) and encourages fans to use hashtags to share La Croix recipes and experiences.
Because of its calories and no sweeteners, La Croix is considered a healthier alternative to sugary drinks. As a result, health and nutrition leaders have been happy to include La Croix products in their posts.
Like Glossier, La Croix’s aesthetically pleasing packaging helps increase brand awareness among Instagram users both online and offline. Fans will proudly share the limelight with a can of their favorite La Croix flavor – an instant accessory that seemingly nods to healthy lifestyles and trendsetters. Turning its products into trendy Instagram accessories, La Croix has become a kind of digital marketing legend.
How can your brand harness the power of La Croix?
- Consider how your products or services might be used in Instagram content. Not everyone will have such a photogenic product, but there are ways to make even the most mundane product stand out in a way that will make your customers want to share it on their feed.
- Consider lifestyle trends. La Croix hit social media at the perfect time when soda was becoming less and less trendy and millennials were looking for fun accessories and status symbols for their Instagram posts. While your product may not fit perfectly with every new phenomenon, consider the aesthetic trends you can follow. Minimalism, a certain shade of purple, and an earthy boho look are all stylish in the design world right now. These are all views that you can easily incorporate into your Instagram posts.
- Work with micro-influencers. No matter what industry you’re in, Instagram has a relevant micro-influencer. Learn more about working effectively with micro-influencers in our post on Everything Social Marketers Need to Know About Micro-Influencers.
Matter
Article has been bringing beautiful furniture to customers in North America without a single physical showroom since 2014. The modern interior company believes that by eliminating intermediaries (warehouses, salespeople, wholesalers, export agents, manufacturers, etc.), the customer gains a more efficient and economical experience.
Article’s presence on social media is very important, as customers do not have a showroom where they can see and try the furniture in person. “Platforms like Instagram and Pinterest really help showcase our creative as they are image-centric platforms,” Duncan Blair, Article’s marketing director, told MiC.
The article’s marketing team focuses on the power of Instagram ads to make sure they get the most out of every post. In 2016, the company developed a campaign to increase sales among new and returning customers. These successful commercials featured interiors designed with Article’s furniture, creating an inspiring (yet attainable) experience for viewers.
A big part of Article’s advertising strategy is paying close attention to its online audience. Rather than just using traditional demographics, the marketing team targeted similar audiences to existing customers based on similar interests and retargeted site visitors without purchasing ads.
Blair explained that the targeting also relies on people with tastes in verticals like food, art, and technology to capture a “younger or more tech-savvy audience (who is already comfortable making big purchases online).”
Thanks to this ad campaign, Article achieved 8x return on ad spend and 36 percent of sales included Instagram in their customer journey.
How can your Instagram strategy get you results like Article’s?
- Run Instagram ads. Social media ads have proven to be an effective tool for generating new business, and Instagram ads are no exception. Gone are the days when you could rely on your organic content to get results. Don’t know where to start? Check out our post on How to Advertise on Instagram: A Guide to Marketers.
- Focus on your target customer. Whether you post a paid or organic post, you need to know who your customer is. Create a target persona to inspire organic content and then build your paid audiences based on that information. Start by finding the types of posts or brands your ideal customer is currently interacting with on Instagram and continue from there.
- Make it as easy as possible for your target audience to buy your product on Instagram. Without a physical store, Article knows Instagram showrooms should be easy to navigate. They regularly use shoppable posts that allow their audience to purchase a featured product directly from Instagram content. If you want to create shoppable posts for your own brand, check out Instagram’s help article on the subject.
If you don’t have a real location, it can be difficult to deliver a truly immersive brand experience to your customers. However, with the right strategies, a first presence on Instagram can be the best thing to happen to your business.
Save time managing your Instagram presence using Moyens I/O. From a single dashboard, you can schedule photos and post directly to Instagram, engage your audience, measure performance, and run all your other social media profiles. Try it for free today.
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