By Destiny Turner, Marketing and Communications Intern at InteractOne
Instagram and Snapchat are Redefining Social Media Marketing
Snapchat and Instagram have taken the social media universe by storm. From being able to share photos and videos on Instagram, to instantly capturing your day to day activities on Snapchat, these innovative social media platforms have redefined the way in which media is being viewed – leaving a lot of room for marketing and advertising.
With over 400 million active users, the mobile photo sharing app Instagram can work as an advertisement all in itself. Provided filters and tools allow users to create picture perfect images. Innovative companies are taking advantage of what the app has to offer in their marketing strategies. While it may be difficult to strategize how to incorporate natural pictures into a marketing campaign, studies show that having an image based campaign could increase conversion rates. For example, after just three days, customers will retain 65% of visual stimuli. What about engagement? Those same studies also show consumers are 80% more willing to engage with content that includes relevant images.
Snapchat has over 200 million active users and generates at least 10 billion views daily. The mobile video/image sharing app is a platform where videos are shared immediately in a matter of seconds to a wide array of users. Clever features include fun themed “filters” and even promotional branded “filters” to promote businesses or even your current location.
Here are a few businesses who are marketing like bosses right now on Snapchat and Instagram.
Nasty Gal
The company has more than 550,000 customers in over 60 countries. With over 2.2 million followers on Instagram, Nasty Gal’s inventive means of connecting with consumers on social media has catapulted their business and has significantly increased the value of the brand. So the question is, what did Nasty Gal do to capture their audience on Snapchat and Instagram?
Nasty Gal prominently displays their logo as their display photo, which reintroduces their brand to their audience.Nasty Gal’s bio on instagram features a shopify link – It gives customers the option to go to an instagram feed that is 100% shoppable, meaning you can click on a picture and be redirected to the specific article of clothing on their website. Genius, right? The content displayed on their page represents their brand, and promotes a lifestyle that would be considered appealing to their target audience.
Snapchat
Nasty Gal has been using Snapchat to run contests and promotions. During New York Fashion week, they posted a snap to their followers telling them to meet them at a certain spot in order to win a $100 Nasty Gal gift card. Nasty Gal hired their first social media intern via Snapchat, which instantaneously gave everyday consumers the opportunity to be apart of this much sought after team.
Rebecca Minkoff
Rebecca Minkoff is an industry leader in accessible luxury handbags, accessories, footwear and apparel. Rebecca Minkoff has managed to accumulate 676k followers on Instagram. Rebecca Minkoff has managed to execute a traditional and wholesome social media presence while still appealing to her consumers.
In 2011, Rebecca Minkoff revolutionized print ads with Instagram. She solicited her followers to use the #RebeccaMinkoff hashtag and send in picture of themselves wearing her clothes. In return, they were entered for a chance to be featured in the Rebecca Minkoff print ad. Not only did she increase visibility to her Instagram account, but she also increased the exposure for the upcoming print ad. Another fan engagement tactic that Rebecca used on Instagram was during the 2014 New York Fashion Week. She simply had viewers vote on which look they liked best – the look with the least amount of likes was immediately deleted from the lineup. Who wouldn’t like to see their favorite looks on a national level?
Snapchat
Rebecca Minkoff debuted her ENTIRE 2014 spring collection on Snapchat just days before New York Fashion Week. While there may have been quite a bit of controversy surrounding this marketing strategy, Rebecca immediately found a way to instantly connect consumers to the product.
Grubhub
Grubhub is an online and mobile food-ordering company that connects diners with food from local restaurants. Based in Chicago, the company has more than 44,000 restaurant partners in over 1,000 cities across the United States and United Kingdom. Grubhub has reinvented the concept of branding with their inventive marketing strategies.
GrubHub features a series of picturesque and au courant photographs from the businesses in which they deliver food from. Occasionally, they post environmentally conscious photos that inform their consumers that they are doing what they can to reduce their carbon footprint.
Snapchat
GrubHub has redefined customer engagement with their use of snapchat. They’ve hosted a scavenger hunt that after completed, allowed followers to be entered for a chance to win free food. The food delivery bosses have also done contests in which followers were asked to send doodles to the company in order to be entered to win gift cards and free food.
With a creative team and a specific audience in mind, a millennial targeted business could really benefit from marketing on Instagram and Snapchat. The key is to be creative and fun with a specific goal in mind whether it be branding or a focused campaign. When it comes to image based social media, a picture really could be the key to success.