How To Use Instagram: Brand Best Practices, Case Studies, Follower Acquisition, Content Strategy and Business Trend Insights

1. The Unofficial Guide:
Instagram Follower Acquisition
Business Trend Insights
Best Practices For Brands
Wednesday, May 22, 13

2. Instagram is Trending
Avg User Behavior
• Participates in #hashtags as a way to
connect with like-minded users
• Spends at least twice as much time liking,
commenting and searching than posting
12
3
By the Numbers
• 100
million
monthly
ac.ve
users
• 40
million
photos
posted
per
day
• 8,500
likes
per
second
• 1,000
comments
per
second
User Statistics
• 67% of mobile social network users are
18-29; 50% are 30-49
• In general, users tend to be middle to
upper-middle class and well-educated
• Users are valuable*:
– INSTAGRAM: $18.25
– TWITTER /FACEBOOK FOLLOW: $2.00
– TWITTER TWEET: $5.00
Sharing Source
• Seamless
integra.on
with
other
social
networks
–
Tumblr,
TwiAer,
Facebook
•
Perfect
star.ng
point
for
user
generated
content
Wednesday, May 22, 13

3. Case Studies, Examples and Tactics
How To Use Instagram Well
Wednesday, May 22, 13

4. Remember The Ebb and Flow Of Social Conversation
"Make Sure to Push and Pull"
Pushing is proactive in terms of Instagram publishing
by the brand.
Pulling is aggregating interesting UGC and attaching a
good reason for people to do it (i.e. exposure on
branded site, entering a contest, showing off).
It’s important to make sure it is a compelling reason
because there are many unsuccessful UGC campaigns.
Examples of pushing would be editors and bloggers at
Oscar de la Renta instagramming from the runway on
behalf of the brand as an added engagement layer.
Pulling would be users tagging instagrams of their pets
in shoe boxes as with ALDO.
Statements
can
be
.ed
to
brand
ini.a.ves
for
user
engagement
by
hashtag,
and
it’s
trackable!
-­‐
Jon
Fahrner,
CEO,
Bumebox
Wednesday, May 22, 13

5. NOW TRENDING: It’s Getting Hip to Regram
For example:
Staying positive and moving forward @MrPaulEvans on choices #motivation #change #positive
#thinking.
Regrams are starting to trend. Soon
we’ll see brands encouraging regrams
for simple rewards and recognition.
Individuals with large followings are
already doing it.
You can regram people’s photos in
your stream that you like, tag them
with their “@name” and then #regram
and then add the why and contextual
tags.
Wednesday, May 22, 13

6. Quotes Work... PERIOD
When in doubt, it’s okay to
quote it out! Like pinterest,
this content simply works.
You can mix books,
magazines, self designed
typography and anything
that is snackable content.
People love #quotes for #motivation,
#happiness and #thought.
Wednesday, May 22, 13

7. The 24 Hour Project: Participate In Your World - Directly or Indirectly
Created by Sam Smotherman and
Renzo Grande
On March 23th, 2013, 65+ Street
Photographers in 35+ Cities and 5
Continents plus another 245+ guest
participants shared the human
aspect of their city story with 1
photo, every hour for 24 hours.
This year’s theme was Ethni[city]
Hashtags: #24HR13
#24HourProject
Wednesday, May 22, 13

8. Digital To Real-World Experiences
The 24 Hour Project leveraged Instagram, to encourage
participants to share their experiences on a 1-Day journey.
When it comes Instagram, be
innovative and take risks.
The businesses and brands that
have taken risks have seen great
rewards in gaining loyal fan bases
and seeing high engagement
rates.
Create campaigns that encourage
users to participate and also
remember to reward brand
evangelists
Wednesday, May 22, 13

9. Awareness, Community and Calls to Action
Instagram provides a great platform for launching
cause related initiatives, as well as calls to action for
real world and digital events without requiring any or
large physical rewards.
The reward is simply inclusion in a collective group
activity, but also gives individual recognition which
participants want.
Posting real world events for community and social
action events are extremely effective tools.
- Macala Wright, @Macala
To to local tags, the event or cause hashtag and make sure to “@Name” all participants
– stores, partners, magazines, individuals involved. #socialgood #causes #awareness
#entrepreneurship
Wednesday, May 22, 13

10. Example: Kate Spade’s Colorful Fragrance Launch
Kate Spade recently launched their #LiveColorfully fragrance ad campaign, which
rewarded Instagram users who participated in the hashtag by featuring their photos in
advertisements, simply a great way to incorporate user generated content into a brand’s
message, without resorting to discounts or promotions.- Macala Wright, WHY THIS WAY
Wednesday, May 22, 13

11. Engagement via Original Content
For businesses and brand looking to gain
traction with fans and customers, Liz
Eswein (@NewYorkCity) of The Mobile
Media Lab shared:
1. Become their friend – a brand’s goals should be to
establish a relationship with the customers. Followers
want to build a connection with a business, try and be
relatable to them and their lifestyle preferences even in
your Instagram photos.
2. Don’t push content they can see elsewhere, Instagram
users want to see something new from a brand. Allow
them an inside glimpse of the brand’s world. Also, be
fresh and fun – users tend to get bored with traditional
strategies and content associated with them.
Wednesday, May 22, 13

12. Instagram For Business: Thought Leadership Conversation
While Instagram is about life streaming, its users are some of the most
intelligent on the planet.
@Macala: “I’ve seen personal successes with taking magazine articles from
business publications and starting conversations by platform, tagging my
colleagues that I follow, but haven’t spoken to in a while to start a dialogue. I’ve
also tagged individuals I want follow me when I’ve taken photos relevant to them.”
Remember, the average Instagram follower is worth $18.25 vs. Twitter or Facebook
which are under $5.00.
Ad Age writes: “Pinterest Is the Whitest Social Network!”
Response: 10 participant conversation on platform about where the
info came from (Ad Age) and what it could signify. It was a great
conversation driver.
Wednesday, May 22, 13

13. Business Content That Sticks
Simple infographics and visual elements of company graphic work are extremely effective when applied
to the principles for shareable content.
Simple and effective visuals are win – win.
Written
Quotes
Work
Here!
As Do
Questions!
Wednesday, May 22, 13

14. Great Examples
Promote Concerts Promote Events Launch Mobile Apps
Wednesday, May 22, 13

15. Instagram
How To Use Hashtags
Wednesday, May 22, 13

16. Tags for General Follower Acquisition
General tags used by users for all Instagram photos globally are:
#caughtgramming #instalike #instahub #igdaily #instagood #photoshoot
#instamood #picoftheday #potd #photooftheday #bestoftheday
#tagstagram #primeshots #iphoneonly #follow #instagramhub
#tagstagramers #like #cool #inspiration #ignation #tagsta_people
#nofilter #mademyday
Provocative, Strange, Voyeuristic works very well with these tags as they’re
harder to classify.
Wednesday, May 22, 13

17. Location & Context Based Tags
Wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, make sure you
showcase the environment around you.
Nature
#naturelover #nature_seekers #nature_shooters #outdoors
#daytrips #roadtrips
Cities
#London #IGLondon #London_Shooters #InstagramNYC
#InstagramLondon
#StreetArt #Graffiti #Design
Get bilingual to build followers by country
#urbano #cuidad #arcquitectura #true #strada #editicio
Wednesday, May 22, 13

18. Add Some Context & Detail
Example: Weekend #daytrip #localfood olive oil tasting in #ojai or
#coffeeshops in #losangeles are great events for this
Ad location specific tags based on photo content.
Context
#Cars #Porsche #Boats #Luxury #Cupcakes #Coffee
#CoffeeShops #typography #graphicdesign #visuals
Lifestyle
#foraging #food #localfood #realfood – then add area
#losfeliz and city #losangeles #la
Wednesday, May 22, 13

19. We Hope You’re #CaughtGramming
Create Content That Drives Culture –
Awareness, Reaction, Conversation, and
ultimately action.
The Information in this guide shows best
practices and use by individuals, brands and
causes. Your results will vary based upon your
campaign and overall objectives. Please take
that into consideration.
Also, we advise consulting your legal advisor
before leveraging user generated content in
your online and offline marketing initiatives as
social networks and platform restrictions must
be considered. - The Bumebox Team
Contact Us:
General: hello@bumebox.com
Partnerships: sales@bumebox.com
Wednesday, May 22, 13