It was Author Frederick R. Barnard who coined the term, “a picture is worth a thousand words”, but do you think he ever envisioned an online social network that allows hundreds of thousands of people worldwide to communicate and express themselves through photo and video when he said that?
Probably not, but he was still correct – the power evoked by image can be so much more meaningful than the written word when done properly. This, connected to the strategies that the brands are launching with fashion Influencers and a tool of such power in the industry as Instagram acquires even more importance.
The struggle we see today, is with consumers demanding more and more content, brands are struggling to keep up their supply and ensure that these campaigns are thoughtful and relevant. Unfortunately, most brands spend too long focusing on superficial considerations when posting images – lighting, poses, props, etc. – that the strategic planning falls to the waste side. Today, we explore that side of the spectrum and some of the most common mistakes marketers make in addition to what you can be doing to ensure your next campaign is a success!
In this article you’ll learn…
Hashtags: Passé or Necessary?
Lately hashtags have become passé. Many influencers have no interest in using them and because of this, many brands don’t insist on their influencers using them either. The challenge is that hashtags actually drive a lot of traffic organically for brands. How many times have you been looking for inspiration for your next purchase or event and you’ve gone on the Instagram to search for that product or to what others have done at their events? The great thing about the hashtag is that even after your campaign is over, people can easily find you and the project, just through searching for these hashtags.
Hashtags help you build brand image around an event, campaign, or launch. But they also help to centralize the conversations taking place. Tracking these mentions not only on Instagram but also on Twitter, is much easier when users engage in the conversation using a connector thread that is the hashtag. Monitoring through technology tools with these keywords will help you measure the impact of each of your actions on social networks. So, if you want to create an immortal post that gives you visibility for life, always include key hashtags when publishing.
Fashion influencers? Instagram? What's the point?
Another common mistake is that brands actually haven’t thought through the objective of their campaign. Instagram is red-hot at the moment so there is this urgency from senior leadership to get content on the platform ASAP following an event or big piece of news, but posting for the sake of posting often means you shouldn’t be posting at all. Before posting brands should think through their ultimate goal - is it to drive brand awareness or to generate leads? Are you a smaller brand trying to build notoriety or a larger brand looking to drive sales? These questions are key before you begin.
For example, when some brands come to us to help them discover influencers, often they are caught up with searching for those people with the largest reach. The challenge with this is that reach doesn’t drive conversion on its own. To acquire new customers or activate current ones, the content won’t matter if you aren’t posting with an influencers who share the same interests of your target audience. This means that not only does there need to be a link in the communities of the influencer and yours, but also an engagement rate that goes with it. Remember, authenticity will help you reap more benefits than just reach when planning your influencer campaign on Instagram.
No one likes an oversharer
Over posting, this is a rookie’s biggest mistake. Brands should absolutely be engaging with their audience frequently on social but too many posts, too soon will cause follower fatigue. Did you have a few celebrities wearing your clothes at the Cannes Film Festival last night or perhaps you have so many great moments to share from your store opening? Don’t make the mistake of posting it all at once. Now, with tools like Flipgram, Mixoo or Layout you can combine those images to create beautiful albums that allow you to share all your images without clogging the feeds of your fans. Nowadays, brands even have the ability to understand when and what to post.
On Instagram, the usage of multimedia content has garnered quite an importance: Instagram Stories, Instagram Live or video posts (including GIFs) are taking up more and more space on our feeds on the major social network. The key is to avoid information overload amongst your audience (or as some call it, “infoxication”), with heightened creativity.
At Launchmetrics we work with our clients to analyze the patterns of their followers and build a plan that helps them create posts which result with a high success rate, looking at how often they like to receive content and what types of photos interest them. Remember, you wouldn’t want to hang out with someone boring in person, so you probably wouldn’t want to follow one online. Instagram is all about fun and visual content, but too much is overkill. Don’t lose your fans by oversharing.
The world of social media is ever-evolving and it’s sometimes hard to keep up with, but if executed properly it can be one of your biggest drivers for building brand awareness and lead generation. When planning, keep this in mind and remember that every campaign needs to be built with its own channel in mind. If you do this, we have no doubt your campaign will be a success! Want to hear more about how we are helping brands in their campaigns with fashion Influencers, Instagram and other social media channels? Drop us a note and we can tell you more.
By Alison BringéChief Marketing Officer
Alison Bringé is CMO at Launchmetrics. Throughout her career, Alison has been instrumental in the publicity and media operations for fashion events including global Mercedes-Benz Fashion Weeks, as well as corporate communications activities for IMG and public relations for Net-a-porter.com.