5 Instagram Campaign Ideas to Engage your Customers
It is not just the selfies and puppy videos that have made Instagram, the Number 1 photo-sharing app in the world. There is a lot more to it!
If you think of it, Instagram has a bit of everything in it – Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat. It lets you upload photos and videos….add in some witty captions…and create your own Instagram story by adding pictures to it.
You can follow people….like and comment on their pictures…tag them in your photos…and even direct-message them.
The best part is that you can write how much ever you want, without having to stick to any word limit.
700 million users in April and another 100 million in just four months… At this rate, Instagram is soon going to go over the 1 billion mark by the end of 2018.
The incredible opportunities that this mammoth platform offers can be immensely beneficial for businesses that wish to engage with their audience. And if you play it well and give them what they want, you will be able to achieve more than what you can expect.
You don’t just let go of a platform that gives you an audience of over 600 million active users.
What you instead need to do is to come up with some of the best Instagram campaigns planned carefully with imaginative and thoughtful content, to keep your audience engaged with your brand.
Here are a few examples of the best Instagram marketing campaigns that can tell you how brands took Instagram marketing to a whole new level:
- AmazonA brand that thanks its users always stands out and that’s why Amazon is the number 1 brand in the eyes of its users.In its recent Instagram marketing campaign, Amazon posted a simple image to celebrate its #1 rank in the 2017 Harris Poll Corporate Reputation Rankings. As a token of gratitude, it offered a discount code “BIGTHANKS,” for users to use on all the purchases they made on Amazon, that day.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BQ0QNjOA-eb/
Takeaway for Marketers:
Everyone loves discounts and promotional offers. In fact they are wonderful ways of turning Instagram engagements into sales. Thanking and appreciating your customers can help you strengthen the connection they have with your brand.
- Adidas OriginalsIts latest Instagram campaign helped Adidas cement its position in the Hip-hop fashion industry.Partnering with influential names of the hip-hop culture, such as Desiigner, Snoop Dogg, Stormzy, and James Harden, Adidas went on to showcase its Originals lineup with the hashtag #ORIGINALis.
Using an engaging and intriguing video created around these men, Adidas managed to establish some additional credibility in the industry.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BfBgZgzn3w1/
Takeaway for Marketers:
If you want to establish your position and add credibility in the industry, your best bet would be to partner up with the influential figures of the industry.
- AdobeAdobe, the brand behind Photoshop, can boast a lot of eye-popping photos on its feed. But no – it is customer photos that they are using to build their community. Under the hashtag #Adobe_perspective, the brand shares content created by its users, especially the artists and the content creators, who use the software on a regular basis.While showing off the capabilities of the software, the brand also engages with its entire community of users, complimenting them and referring to them as the “creative community” of Adobe.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BUXG97GAxrt/
Takeaway for Marketers:
The most successful Instagram campaigns are those that use UGC or User-Generated Content to showcase their unique aspects of the brand.
Encourage your users, customers, employees and other members of your community to share things that they have created using your product.
While helping your prospective clients get a fair idea of what they can expect from your product, the great results derived will also promote your product by speaking for themselves.
Opening up your campaigns to the entire community is a great way to generate awareness about your brand.
- StarbucksOne of the contests that Starbucks launches every year is the #RedCup Contest.It is launched in December every year to promote red cup – the brand’s holiday-themed seasonal beverage.
To personalize its customer experiences, the brand encouraged its users to upload pictures of their coffees and get a chance to win the most coveted Starbucks gift card. 40,000 pictures of red cups and the numbers keep increasing.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BNe-bg2BLQ7/
Takeaway for Marketers:
Contests are great ways to generate buzz about UGC campaigns. A prize for participation makes it even more exciting with more and more people posting, sharing and commenting on Instagram.
- AirbnbThe best Instagram marketing campaigns are often the simplest ones.Take for example the #WeAccept hashtag campaign of Airbnb.
This time it was not about the beautiful homes and locations across the world; it was about accepting people from different backgrounds.
The campaign that started with the tech giant posting a video to voice its opinion on a certain important political issue, continued with a series of pictures of people from different places and background, each with a story and an acceptance message.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BQJ0_kYjHxA/
Takeaway for Marketers:
It is not easy for businesses to get political on social media. Nevertheless, if you are determined to take your stand, you can come up with some of the best Instagram campaigns, without coming across as controversial.
Over to you…
Instagram marketing is sure a tough nut to crack; but it is not an impossible one.
A visual and visceral social platform, Instagram lets you present your brand in the most creative way. There may be relationships to forge, campaigns to design, and distribution plans to be created to stand out from your competitors.
But for now, give it a start by using User-Generated Content, keeping in mind the real power of influencer marketing on Instagram.
Also, don’t forget to reward your users for posting photos that will go a long way in promoting your brand.
Best Instagram marketing campaigns need not necessarily be salesy. But there is no harm in letting people know what your brand is.
It doesn’t matter if you want to do this by offering freebies or by using the persuasive powers of your influencers. The main thing is to be able to connect with your target audience. And a bit of creativity can actually help you transform those results.
