Instagram is the popular new kid on the block, with many brands taking to the social media platform to bolster their brand awareness and reach. But as it’s fairly new, many social media teams may view it as challenging.

Check out these successful Instagram campaigns from 2014 to see what factors they had in common to help you in your next marketing bid.

1. Marc Jacobs
Its modelling agency launched #CastMeMarc, getting more than 70,000 hashtagged entries from users aspiring to be models.

2. Applebee’s
The restaurant chain invited patrons to tag pictures of their food using the hashtag #fantographer, boosting their Instagram numbers by 32 per cent and engagement by 25 per cent.

3. Starbucks
The coffee company started #WhiteCupContest, attracting more than 4,000 cup drawings from artists in just three weeks.

4. Hillside Beach Club
The holiday resort in Turkey ran a recruitment contest using #JobAtHeavenOnEarth to hire six “chief Instagram officers”.

5. Madewell
The fashion brand got workers and followers to share photos of their favourite Madewell denim, generating over 2,000 posts and more than 160,000 likes on those posts.

Common features

Studying features of these successful campaigns will give companies an idea of how to employ such tactics and create their own marketing campaign to gain more followers and reach.

1. Being unique
The campaigns run are particular to the specific brands. Use the visual and user-generated content aspects of Instagram campaigns to market your brand, product or service.

2. No grand prize is necessary for a good campaign. The hotel gave away free stays, while the modelling agency dangled a contract. The other companies just named and presented a winner on their channel.

3. Of more value is having users create their own content. This should be your target as photos of your products and services from customers work as an excellent word-of-mouth marketing strategy, and helps grow your channel.

4. It’s all about visuals. Pictures grab people’s attention more than text alone, so when people get involved in your campaign, their image or video posts turn up in their feeds and can boost your reach and content.

Tips

First, commitment to the success of your social media campaign is vital. Organise a calendar of scheduled timings for posts to space them out. This will give you time to engage and respond to users, and also for analysis and statistics. Ensure you have enough employees for the campaign to run smoothly.

Other tips

Study what your audience is posting so you will have a better understanding on how to engage with them and their content.

Learn what timings suit your audience. Some brands’ customers prefer business hours, while others during the weekends. Schedule your posts for those times.

Analyse and measure the success of your campaign to report on the results and also to offer learning points for potential campaigns in the future, or other aspects of marketing.

Try several kinds of contests and campaigns and monitor which piques their interest before going full-throttle. You can even hold a survey among followers to get an idea of what might work.

Learning from successful campaigns’ best practices, coupled with research and information, will ensure you tailor one to suit your brand.

Get your free Instagram consultation from one of our in-house Instagram specialists by emailing us at Hello@aaagency.ae!