I had a conversation yesterday about business, branding, marketing advertising and a host of other topics. The discussion centered around marketers and their ability to sell anything, no matter how crappy it is. I have a different view of that topic, for me, no amount of marketing can sell a crappy product. However, it was pointed out to me that marketing sells crappy product all the time.
I was about 9 or 10 years old, in primary school (St Andrew Anglican Primary School). I remember on a daily basis, my peers will be selling different things at school at break time. Whether it was candies, cakes, tamarind balls, anything that kids in primary school will buy. The school sold snow ice, so every break time I purchased a snow ice and a cake or something else. One day I asked myself, why do I have to be the one always buying stuff. I wanted to get in on the hustle. There was a big tamarind tree close to my house, so I decided to pick tamarind and make tamarind balls. I asked my mom for one dollar to buy a pound of sugar, and it was game on.
“I was in primary school, and we had a school trip. You told me. Unfortunately, I couldn’t go because you couldn’t afford it. I understood the situation, so I didn’t make a fuss, but you saw how much I wanted to go. I told my friends I wouldn’t be there. I woke up the morning of the trip started doing my housework as usual, and you walked up to me and said. “Go bathe, you going on the school trip” and you handed me the money. I don’t know what miracle you worked, but this is one of many memories that I will cherish and appreciate as long as I live. Happy Mother’s day Janice Corion, thanks for always being there.”
In 4 months, I will be finished with my Master of Digital Media. I am currently working on my Major Research Paper. The topic for my research is “Analysis of Narrative-Driven Social Media Content Use Within Successful Social Media Campaigns Across Multiple Social Platforms to Develop a Campaign Strategy.” I am basically looking at how storytelling, in particular, transmedia storytelling, impacts the success of social media campaign in Non-Profit Organizations. My hypothesis in its simplest form is if you want to be successful on social media, ensure your content tells a story and reflects the overall narrative of your organization.
As I look back on my working life, whether it was working as the Officer in Charge at Grenada Public Service Credit Union now called Ariza Credit Union or later in financial services in Canada. I have always had a side hustle. During those times, I was just making some extra money, either writing business plans or social media marketing. I did my undergraduate degree in Economics; I never thought I’d now be working in digital media, much less doing a Master of Digital Media. However, my love for digital media grew as I got deeper into my side hustle. Now my side hustle has taken over my life.
I graduated with a Bachelor’s of Economics degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education, Mexico City Campus in December 2010. After crossing the proverbial stage, I went back to Grenada and worked at the Grenada Public Service Co-operative Credit Union, now known as the Ariza Credit Union, as the officer in charge of the Grenville Branch. After 3 years, I resigned from my position and moved to Toronto Canada.
I soon realized that jobs were hard to find in Toronto. The main reasons for my difficulties were my lack of Canadian working experience and no Canadian education. Eventually, I found a job as a Claims Processing Agent in an insurance company. Because I am fluent in English and Spanish, after three months, I was promoted to the bilingual help desk to deal with all the grumpy, angry clients. During that time, I was also freelancing in the digital media world, working with clients on Facebook advertising and social media management. I then started looking at the prospect of obtaining my master’s degree to give me the extra push as an up-and-coming entrepreneur. I remember seeing the Master of Digital Media programme at Ryerson University; however, I took a while to apply. Admittedly, I initially had reservations about applying because possessing technical and creative skills appeared huge parts of the consideration for applicants and many of the past students professed about having the requisite skills.
Although I had a knack for doing business, I was technologically limited, so I must admit that I had some self-doubt. Additionally, my shortcomings were obvious because I can’t code nor use photoshop, so I thought I would not have gotten in. However, after investigating some more and speaking to some more people, I decided to apply in 2016, which I later did. To make a long story short, I got in, and I am currently pursuing the degree. Admittedly, I entered the programme thinking I would have been working on building my digital agency as a Facebook advertiser and Social Media Manager. However, after starting the programme, I instantly fell in love with transmedia storytelling. Even though I am still into social media and different digital technologies, I am now viewing those areas from a storytelling angle.
I fell in love with transmedia storytelling because I realized that many of the successful business personalities and entrepreneurs like Gary Vaynerchuk were not just experts in social media. Instead, they were storytelling on these platforms based on the context best suited for the particular platform. Additionally, from observation, it became quite clear to me that not many people understood the importance of storytelling in business, so I am willingly taking the onus on myself to spread the word.
Stories are the currencies of our conversations. If you want to persuade persons to do or buy something, the best approach would be to appeal to their emotions by telling a story. I was listening to an interview with Dave Kerpen from Likable Local, and one of the things he said was that a good story could be tested using one simple question, ”Is it shareable?”. For that reason, I have been looking closely at why stories spread. Admittedly, I do not have all the answers here; however, I will be documenting, testing, and sharing my findings in due time.
I wish to also mention, however, that one of the findings that was interesting to me was that there are what we call activation emotions which cause persons to take action such as sharing a story. Examples of these emotions are happiness and anger while sadness for instance is a deactivation emotion which leads to little or no shareability.
To end this piece, I would also say it was enlightening to find out that one of the secrets to telling stories online is to understand the context of the platforms where you are storytelling. For instance, it is unlikely to find the same videos from Buzzfeed on Facebook as you will find on Youtube. Therefore, it is important to understand people’s state of mind when they are on different platforms and share stories with them based on why they’re there. I also found that there were different types of stories namely timely, seasonal, and evergreen stories. However, I will sign off here for now and delve deeper in a subsequent post.
There is no other social media platform like Instagram which is geared towards interactivity. Attractive pictures get their first comment and like within few seconds of posting. However, unlike other social media tools, communicating on Instagram exclusively revolves on visual stimuli because of its format.
Generating More Followers And Likes
Comments and likes play a major role on Instagram as both of these interactions lead to getting more followers for your Instagram profile. But to make sure that there is frequent interaction followed by great coverage, your content as well as the entire user profile must be inviting as well as active.
One method to enhance your Instagram game is to buy Instagram likes. Of course, there is no harm in doing so. But what if there is a procedure where you can purchase Instagram likes and followers and use some engaging tactics side-by-side. Isn’t it great?
So, let’s check out some of the tactics you can follow-
1) Posting Regularly and Daily
Sometimes the best content tactics won’t work if there is not enough material to publish. It is not necessary to post many pictures on Instagram in a single day. One snap is enough if the content is of high quality.
Instagram users like to see worthwhile content and just by checking out some of the popular and likable Instagram profiles, you can understand the importance of quality images.
2) Editing Posts
Sometimes you might have made a spelling mistake or forgot to add a hashtag. Well, don’t worry about it. Once content is uploaded on Instagram, you can easily make the necessary edits to the text. But you cannot modify the filters, so make sure to pick them wisely the first time; else you will end up re-uploading them.
3) Posting Content When Interested Users Are Online
As you are aware from other social media platforms like Facebook, ‘Social Timing’ is one of the critical and magic phrases that you need to know. But is this common knowledge so popular that people follow it? No! Just take a closer look at the content present on Instagram. Many people are still not utilizing or paying attention to it.
As a consequence, high-quality content gets published, but there isn’t a single person to view and comment or like them. And what is the use of posting when there are no interactive users to grab the useful information?
4) Never Missing Posts Of Your Favorite People
It is common to have a favorite Instagram profile that you follow. And these Instagram profiles consistently post interesting pictures, and you might not be aware of it.
Luckily, there is a method to filter your favorites and avoid missing the posts. Among the various snaps of babies, cats, and dogs, filtering the desired photos is easy. You need to go to the particular contact that you like, click on the three dots present in the top right. Then choose the option ‘Turn on Post Notifications’.
5) Provide a Specific Call-To-Action For The Post
Would you create a landing page which doesn’t have a good call-to-action? Obviously not! Then why is that there are various social media posts on Instagram which are not able to bring in active responses. You need to realize that most of the users might respond to your instructions and follow them, not everybody.
But it doesn’t mean that you should not include a call-to-action like ‘tag a buddy who likes this snap in the comment section’ or ‘double tap if you feel the photo is beautiful’ as you post photos on Instagram.
Through their impact, you can know how successful these measures are. Just keep in mind that if the engagement rate increases, then you are on the right track. And you need to intensify and develop the given principles further.
6) Arranging Filters As Per Your Preference
There are filters that you like and make your pictures better compared to others. It can be a massive taxing procedure to sift through the entire list of the filters to choose the one that you want. But with Instagram you have the option to hide the filters that you don’t want.
So, you can rearrange your filters in such a manner that the first five are the ones that you commonly use or like next to the original picture.
7) Re-Posting Popular Content
One of the major aspects of your Instagram analysis is you have to check which content is popular in general. It is easy to find that information by checking out the number of comments and likes that individual post gets. Posting regularly will make sure that you get a solid base that you can use to compare your success rate.
Through your comparison, you can understand which type of content works best. And such kind of content is what you need to publish regularly and provide your targeted groups with.
8) Get The List Of Posts You Liked
Sometimes it is good to know which posts you have liked. This is good especially when you can get the lists of people who have liked or commented on your posts. Isn’t that something you would be keen to know?
9) Using Special Hashtags Related To Your Brand
Major businesses and brands are not the only ones who have the right to use hashtags. You can utilize this awesome tool in a similar manner. Even if you have just started posted on Instagram or are a novice, it is recommended to use hashtags.
By branding your content with hashtags, you are ensuring that your content is more associated to your business as well as the brand. Also, it helps you to monitor which content has been already posted and is effective. Plus it can help to find out if any of your interesting photos have been shared on Instagram through third-parties. No doubt, using hashtags brings a positive contribution to your business as well as your brand.
10) Clearing Search History
There can be situations when search history is useful. But other times, you might want to avoid getting reminded about the profiles stalked by you. To clear the history of your Instagram’s activity, you need to click on the ‘Settings’ option of your account and select the ‘Clear Search History’ button.
11) Converting Your Account To Private
Sometimes you won’t want the whole world to follow you and see what you are posting. And now is the best time to convert your account into private. So, it means that individuals must provide a request to follow you, and they will not be able to view what you post or check your account until you accept their invitation.
12) Finding Out Trending Hashtag That Attract Huge Attention
Like other platforms, on Instagram certain content belonging to a particular topic gets often repeated and that too over a period of time of time. Hashtags are often associated with such content, thereby enabling individual hashtags to be often used. It is easy to find out about these specific hashtags and use them for yourself, especially if the topic is an excellent match for your content.
Websites such as iDigic help you to Reach a wider audience on Instagram and bring in more interaction at the same time.
13) Interacting With Followers And Other Instagrammers
To boost the engagement rates of your content, you need to make yourself active. Keep in mind the golden rule that if you get any comment or feedback, make sure to thank and reply to the contributor.
It doesn’t need to be an extravagant or elaborate text. Just keep the response concise and simple and make sure to thank each of the users who have shared their opinion.
14) Prevent Certain Individuals From Checking Your Instagram Stories
Recently, Instagram added a particular feature called Instagram Stories. It allows users to share a short live clip which remains active for 24 hours. Now if you don’t want certain individuals to view these stories, you can filter them out.
For hiding the stories that you post, you need to go to your account and choose the ‘Settings’ option present in the top right. Then go to the ‘Story Settings’ option and click on the ‘Hide Story From’ option and choose the particular users that shouldn’t view the stories.
15) Reducing Usage Of Mobile Data
If you don’t have enough or huge data allowance on your device’s contract, don’t fret. You can set Instagram to use less data. It is simple, but you need to keep in mind that it will take a longer time to load images and videos.
Winding Up
Instagram has been around for a while. Just because, you can use the best filters or know what filters bring out the best in your photos, it doesn’t mean you are well-versed in using Instagram. There are certain tricks and hacks that you must utilize to ensure that your Instagram account gets the required attention of your potential customers. By following the tips given above, you can gain a better understanding of how effective Instagram is as a marketing tool.
