With the rise of social media and the emergence of smart phones, a whole new world of opportunity has surfaced for companies to produce and maintain customer relations (Bergström& Bäckman 2013). Customers now expect a company to be present on social media therefore it is necessary for a firm to be actively engaged on social media. Instagram is a great marketing channel where companies can exhibit their products and provide further information about themselves (Bergström& Bäckman 2013).
The fashion industry has most definitely embraced Instagram, the powerful platform has been utilized by high end luxury fashion retailers to fashion bloggers, allowing companies to simply visualize their brand and convey their messages and values to customers. With over 300 million monthly users, the photo-sharing app and social network is quickly becoming a great place to make a name for your company. However like all social media outlets, there is a right way and a wrong way to use it. In this blog I will provide a few tips on how to effectively use Instagram to gain and build a following in the fashion industry and give an academic perspective.
#1 Choose good hashtags
Just like popular topics, people on Instagram follow popular hashtags. By using hashtags that are popular you can increase your likelihood of reaching new users and gaining more attention. Another good way to gain the attention of Instagram users is to use hashtags that are trending. Missguided are a great example, for example using the hashtag Coachella in light of the annual music and arts festival and popular fashion event.
To further engage with customers hashtags should be used which are relevant to the fashion industry and which best describe your brand. To find the most relevant, related and popular hashtags you can use online programmes like Webstagram, here as an example I have searched for the hashtag fashion.
#2 Engage with your customers!
To engage with your customer first and foremost you should post images you’re your customers in mind. Don’t just post about your product make your Instagram about lifestyle so you can connect with your customers. Another way to engage with customers is by liking their photos and leaving comments on their photos, particularly if the photo includes your product. You should also involve your customers by sharing their photos and mentioning them in comments on Instagram to show that you appreciate them! Forever21 is a good example of a company successfully engaging with its customers, with the vast majority of the images on Forever21’s account being fan-submitted images.
# 3 Regularly post on Instagram
You don’t need to be posting pictures in rapid succession, but at the same time do not let you account be inactive for too long. By regularly and consistently posting images Instagram users will more likely be able to see your brand and at the same time you can keep your followers interested. If you don’t post anything for a few weeks and then swamp your follower’s feeds with loads of images, chances are you will get unfollowed so getting the right balance is important!
Luxury shoe giant Christian Louboutin’s success has grown largely due to it’s hugely successful Instagram campaign which regularly posts images of the brand’s ‘lavish lifestyle’, celebrity associations and important events where it is worn which has resulted in the brand gaining four million followers.
# 4 Use the right filters
Instagram users will respond to certain filters more than others and using these favoured filters can have a positive impact on your engagement. A recent study conducted by TrackMaven to research how Instagram filters affect user engagement found that Mayfair, no filter and Inkwell drove the most interaction. Luxury fashion retailer Burberry is an excellent example of a brand correctly using filters, using its Instagram account to post iconic shots under the effects of these popular Instagram filters.
# 5 Don’t be over promotional!
20% off, 24 hour sale, free shipping all get extremely annoying after a while! There’s nothing worse than a brand that posts nothing but promotional content! Of course sharing promotional offers on Instagram is great but do not be overtly self promotional, take a subtler approach and post interesting images related to your brand as well as marketing yourself. UK fashion retailer New Look successfully promotes its offers but it keeps the balance by regularly posting interesting and visually appealing images.
Examples of bad Instagram posts
Nintendo
Why its bad? As far as I’m aware there’s no relevance between Nintendo and cheesecake, make sure your posts are relevant to your audience!
Vans
Many of Vans’ photos are interesting and engaging however this is pretty much a print ad published on Instagram, remember don’t be over promotional!
NBCTV
Why it’s bad? They post dull uninteresting images which is the opposite of what Instagram users want, visually appealing images! They also post things that you can find anywhere online so there’s also no sense of exclusivity.
An academic view on what makes people follow a brand…
A recent study has shown that the three most common reasons why people follow a company on Instagram are to get information about a company, to show a positive opinion of a company, and/or because the company shares interesting or entertaining content (Bergström& Bäckman 2013). Drawing on these findings, people that are not following a company could arguably become followers if they develop a strong positive feeling towards a company or if they post images which appeal to them (Bergström, Bäckman 2013). Furthermore the second most common reason behind following a brand on Instagram (to show positive opinion) appears to imply that many followers of companies’ Instagram pages already had a positive opinion about the brand which was created outside of Instagram (Bergström, Bäckman 2013). Instagram users follow a brand on Instagram to increase their sense of involvement and co creation of images is one of the major contributing factors which creates this feeling (Bergström, Bäckman 2013).
Final thoughts
Although Instagram is a great marketing tool, tread with caution! On Instagram consumers can use a brands hashtag against them and potentially damage a companies intended marketing message (Bergström, Bäckman 2013). Furthermore Instagram users that post harmful content about a brand can publicly shame a company as Instagram is a form of e-WOM and considering the speed, scale and ubiquity of the Internet the effects can be bad! (Bulerca 2010)
While Instagram obviously offers both pros and cons to the user, it is nonetheless a powerful marketing tool that should most definitely be considered in any marketing campaign, and the more followers the better! To increase your following each brand needs to have a unique understanding of their audience which will allow a brand to develop quality engaging material so that they can build and develop a connection with users. By supplying value to users with high quality content that engages and promotes action, liking and sharing etc, this produces the real results which many brands have successfully achieved.
References
Bergström, T., & Bäckman, L. (2013). Marketing and PR in Social Media: How the utilization of Instagram builds and maintains customer relationships.
Bulearca, M., & Bulearca, S. (2010). Twitter: a viable marketing tool for SMEs.Global Business and Management Research: An International Journal, 2(4), 296-309.
Brown, J., Broderick, A.J. and Lee, N., 2007. Word of mouth communication within online communities: conceptualizing the online social network, Journal of Interactive Marketing, 21(3), pp.2-20;
Godes, D. and Mayzlin, D., 2004. Using online conversations to study word-of-mouth communications, Marketing Science, 23(4), pp.545-560;