3 Questions To Ask Before Crafting Instagram Strategies for Consumer Products
How can your consumer product rise above the rest? Ask yourself these three questions to revamp your Instagram strategy and genuinely engage your customers.
People naturally want the next best thing, especially when it comes to consumer products. Chew on this fact: 63 percent of Nielsen study respondents said they “like when manufacturers offer new products,” and 57% say they “purchased a new product during their last grocery shopping trip.”
From iPhones to wireless earbuds, we can’t wait to get our hands on cutting-edge consumer products that promise to streamline and enhance our daily lives. Selfie sticks, anyone?
It’s no wonder more than 30,000 new consumer products are launched each year to satisfy our hunger for innovation. What you might find surprising, though, is that 80 percent of these new consumer products fail, according to Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen.
If people love and crave new consumer products so much, why are 80 percent of these products failing? Tough competition, especially in the technology industry, is partly to blame. Just think of all the robot vacuums available on the market!
What’s one way to rise above competitors offering similar products and thrive in the marketplace? Devising and executing a creative, one-of-a-kind Instagram strategy separating your product from the rest.
Believe it or not, your Instagram posts can build affinity for your consumer product. The Postcard Agency helped a client revamp their Instagram strategy by focusing on its product’s tangible and intangible effects on actual humans. Sounds cliche, but social media marketers miss this mark quite often.
The result? A 25,000 percent increase in organic Instagram engagements after 3 months of implementing our social media strategy.
To inject life into our client’s Instagram strategy, we asked our client (and ourselves) the following questions.
1. How does this consumer product make users feel?
We went beyond simply promoting the consumer product’s technical features on Instagram. Why? Any other company can easily replicate them—and that applies to practically any product, regardless of its category. Focusing on the product’s impact on human emotion, however, takes a product to the next level.
If the product makes people feel happy, focus on lighthearted copy and images/videos evoking joviality. If the product makes people feel smart, pair brilliant copy with thought-provoking media.
2. What images and videos make each Instagram post pop while aligning with the brand?
Photos boasting bright reds and yellows might catch people’s attention on Instagram more quickly than dull tones, but if these colors are off brand, you could lose your most loyal followers. Is your brand more sophisticated and subdued? If so, focus on photos with interesting textures or dimensions.
Don’t just share photos you personally like. Post photos that resonate with your audience. Shake it up every now and then with A/B testing to see how you can enhance your Instagram strategy.
Instagram Tip: Instagram is a more playful social media platform, especially when compared to LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. Don’t be afraid to think outside of the box in this space.
3. What makes your company culture stand out, especially when compared to the company cultures of competing brands?
One of the most effective ways to build brand affinity is by highlighting what makes your business human. Conveying your company culture to your Instagram audience is a simple tactic to go beyond a product’s technical features and straight into a person’s heart.
Highlight people who invent and build the consumer products you sell, as well as employees across all departments (regardless of title). Do they have any inspiring quotes or stories to share?
Instagram Tip: People engage with pictures of people.
Does your business support nonprofit organizations in some capacity? Sharing photos, videos and adding Instagram stories of employees volunteering throughout the community also demonstrates your business’ human side.
Consider asking yourself these questions when revisiting your Instagram strategy. Don’t forget to track performance to see what’s working (and what isn’t). You can also reach out to The Postcard Agency for social media guidance.
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Jonathan Ochart is CEO of The Postcard Agency, a creative content and social media marketing agency based in Miami, Florida. He blends his love of writing and data analytics to write powerful blog posts your audience (and search engines) will love.
