Eating your own dogfood

Photo by @alschim via Unsplash

By @kathykylebonomini, Founding Partner @ampliagroup

I will be the first to admit it. I sometimes don’t eat my own dog food. I should be posting more consistently on my IG account. How about you?

I religiously follow an editorial calendar for my clients. For me? Not so much. I don’t always to tend my own digital garden. Just think: 45% of the world is now using social media and on average, a person has 7 or 8 social media accounts each. They spend 142 minutes on social per day on social.

I spent this and last week live tweeting/posting, pitching, blogging, writing campaigns, designing for editorial, web and digital, and finalising three films. I think it comes down to what my own goals are for my IG account. If you are looking to build brand awareness and increase sales, you’ve got to understand and play the digital game properly.

Instagram has a new algorithm and you basically need to be posting every day to say relevant with your audience - your Instagram algorithm audience and your target audience.

First thing’s first when it comes to digital. Set goals. And a strategy to achieve said goals. For most clients, they are interested in increasing brand awareness and increasing revenue. But it can also be all about reputation management. Or changing public opinion. Or passing legislation. Or building a community.

For digital marketers and PR professionals, that generally translates into generating media coverage, and/or increasing reach, follower count, and engagement.

When it comes to instagram, most of the research tells us that it isn’t about who you follow, it is about what your audience likes. The key take-away is: as a brand, you must focus on providing genuine content that resonates with your audience. The more they like/double tap on your image/content, comment and share, then you are winning. (Insert emoji here.)

Here are my top seven tips at how to win at instagram (but digital in general):

1. Be Consistent. Post relevant (fun, engaging, on-brand) content *consistently*. The more you post, the more likely you are to improve engagement. You are telling both your target audience that you’re someone they want to follow and engage with, but you will also signal to IG that you are a quality account. If you start posting every day, several times a day then drop to only a few times a month you will not only lose followers you will generate less engagement. What are you saying about your business?

2. Be timely in your responses. Use the notifications features on FB and IG to stay on top of your conversations and inbox. Customers expect you to respond in a timely manner - recent studies indicate that this is within four hours of their initial post. Also you can now respond to IG DMs from your desktop.

3. Be On-Brand. Write a brand platform and be consistent in your brand identity. Hire a photographer or take beautiful on-brand photos to create a beautiful aesthetic. Here are some on-brand accounts to consider: @vodkafordogpeople, @apartmenttherapy, @frank_bod, @glossier, and @wrightkitchen.

4. Be a Planner. Post consistently to your feed (research on 12 million Instagram posts has found that generally the best time to post on IG is between 9am-11am but it varies - you can use a variety of tools to assess what works best for you - Later, Hootsuite, Buffer will all evaluate your account for you on paying accounts). Use an Editorial Calendar and post content that aligns to times that align to your strategy and your audience.

5. Be Flexible and Post on Stories and your Feed. A lot of people ask me why they should post on stories. Your content is more likely to be seen at the top of your audience’s feed. People are just more likely to spend time on stories than scrolling through their feeds. And speaking of stories, use those features wisely - get creative and test different techniques on your audience - use questions, stickers, polls, and more. Invite customers to tap and hold your stories. This signals to your ‘other customer’ (the IG Algorithm) that your customers are engaging with you and your content. Go nuts. Fill dem boots.

6. Be Thoughtful with Hashtags. Make sure you use #hashtags with your posts to attract customers.

7. Be Analytical. Measure your success by analysing your activities in IG analytics. Track your metrics over time. I always submit a monthly report (dashboard) to my clients and it helps me understand how posts are performing - likes, comments, impressions, and reach per post.

Ultimately remember to be authentic, ensure all of your digital activities align to your overarching goals, and plan - use an editorial calendar. By planning ahead, you won’t feel overwhelmed by your digital channels.

Have I missed anything? Any top tips for engaging your digital audience?