Social Media Marketing Workbook 2019

by Adam Schaffner

  Instagram has been around for almost a decade, but it has become especially popular during the past couple of years (although in the beginning, it gained an incredible amount of one million users in just three months of existence, and all organically!). And rightly so: if you recall, the human brain processes images way faster than text. Visual is easy and that is what people want when they log in to their social media.

  In 2012, Instagram was bought by Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, so the two platforms can easily be connected and managed side by side, which will definitely make your job easier, but I will get into that later.

  Today, Instagram is the number one photography app, that is used by all kinds of people: from the individual who just wants to take amateur photos of his or her daily life, to the professional photographer who only posts high quality visuals. It is available for both Android and iOS, so you do not need a specific device to create your profile; and you can also access it on your computer, although the functionalities are limited (it is more of a solution for desperate times, like if you ever lose or break your phone).

  Personal Account vs. Business Account

  You can choose to have a personal profile or a business one (note: you need to have a Facebook page to be able to change your account to business). The main differences are that with a business account:

  You have access to the analytics, that is, to how each of your posts and your profile in general are performing. So this means profile visits, interactions, post impressions, demographic information of your followers, and more. Note, however, that Instagram only starts gathering this data once you change your profile type; you will not have access to any of your previous posts’ performances.

  You can add your email address and/or your contact number and/or your location on your profile (that will be clickable and more noticeable than if you simply had them on your bio).

  You can promote your posts and create ads.

  Making an Instagram Post

  When you want to post a photo or video on Instagram, you need to click on the “plus” icon that appears on the bottom of the app. Before, Instagram only used to post square photos and, if you tried to post a horizontal or vertical one, it would make you crop it to have a 1:1 ratio. However, in 2015 that changed and Instagram started accepting both landscape and portrait posts.

  For your square photos, the optimal size is 1000 pixels by 1000 pixels and for landscape, it is 1080 pixels by 1350 pixels. Regarding the portrait photos, use a height of 1080 pixels and whatever width corresponds to that, so that your photo does not lose quality.

  Each post can have up to 10 photos and or videos. After you choose those, Instagram will show you its own photo filters - although a lot of people use other apps for the editing process - and as well as some internal tools that you can use to fix your images there, in case you need to change the brightness or the contrast, for example. You can choose to add a location to your post (which is clickable and leads the user to a map), to tag other users and to add a caption, where you can include hashtags, a very popular part of this social app. Then, all you need to do is click “Publish,” and you can also choose to post the same photo in four other social platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Flickr. If you do so, people will be able to see that you originally posted the image on Instagram and they will have the option to go to your Instagram profile from that one post, so it can be a good way for you to gain more followers there.

  In terms of interactions, you can like, comment and share other people’s posts. There is also an Explore page, with posts by people who you don’t follow but who might be of your interest. These posts are chosen automatically by Instagram according to your behavior in the app.

  Instagram Ads

  Everything I talked about before refers to organic posts, but, as I mentioned when I was talking about the option of having a business account, there is also the option of advertising on Instagram, which became available in 2013. There are four types of ads you can choose from:

  Photos or Videos: they both look like organic posts, except they have a call-to-action (CTA) at the bottom of the visual and a link to an external page. The video can have a maximum of 60 seconds.

  Carousels: they can have up to 10 pictures or videos (of 60 seconds max, altogether) in the same post. This type of ads is awesome for creative storytelling or showcasing of products or services and it also includes a CTA and a link.

  Slideshow: it is kind of like a video in the sense that it can have audio. However, instead of it being a continuous action, the post is made by a series of static slides that show up one after another.

  Story: this one I will talk about in more detail in the next chapter.

  Instagram Statistics from 2017 and 2018

  Users & Interactions

  By the end of last year, Instagram had more than 500 million active daily users (Clarke, 2019). There are over 1 billion accounts on it (Clarke, 2019).

  60% of the users go on the app every day. The average amount of time that a user under 25 years old spends on Instagram is 32 minutes (Clarke, 2019). For those over 25, it is a little bit less: 24 minutes (Clarke, 2019).

  By December of 2018, 4.2 billion likes were happening on a daily basis (Clarke, 2019).

  By December of 2017, there were 25 million business accounts (Alsman, 2019).

  In terms of demographics, 71% of users are under 35 years old (Clarke, 2019). The adults who do use it tend to have higher incomes (Clarke, 2019). When we speak about user locations, the United States, India and Brazil are the countries with the biggest amount of followers (Clarke, 2019). Gender wise, 68% of the users are females (Alsman, 2019).

  There is a 2.2% interaction rate (Clarke, 2019).

  Content & Hashtags

  Up until September of 2018, over 50 billion pictures had been shared on Instagram (Alsman, 2019).

  In that same month, there were over 100 million photos and videos being uploaded daily (Alsman, 2019).

  #love, #instagood and #me were the top three most popular hashtags in 2018 (Alsman, 2019).

  Posts with at least one hashtag get an average of 12.6% more engagement than hashtag-free posts (Alsman, 2019).

  Ads

  ¼ of the ads on Instagram are on video format (Agrawal, 2019).

  When it comes to engagement on promoted posts, videos perform better than photos (Agrawal, 2019).

  There are 2 million monthly advertisers on the platform (Clarke, 2019).

  Personal Branding on Instagram in 2019

  Anyone who is on social media has heard the term “Instafamous.” It refers to the people who have gained a big amount of followers and became particularly popular on the platform. They are like the celebrities of Instagram. These are people who have thrivingly built a personal brand on the app. Don’t worry if your goal is not to become a celebrity per say: you can use these tips and look at “Instafamous” people’s strategies for inspiration, so you can become a personal brand of reference in your own area of expertise.

  Understand if it makes sense for your brand to have an Instagram account

  Instagram might be a great social app for everyone, even if at first it seems like you don’t have that much visually appealing content to show. For some, it is pretty obvious: if you do something that is inherently visual, like makeup or tattooing, if you have a brand where you make beautiful products, like jewelry or clothes, or if you are really good at something that makes beautiful pictures, like yoga or baking - you should definitely be on Instagram.

  For others, it is not that clear. If you have more to say than you have to show, you might not see Instagram as something worth working on. However there are options that can make your account stand out, like if you work on designing cool infographics with the information you want to share or if you go for the short video format. But, the keypoint here is that you have to be willing to invest your time and efforts to make great content. If you are not… you might want to go for a more text-based social platform (can y
ou think of one? I will talk about it soon!).

  Set a goal for your account and make a strategic plan for it

  So you decided Instagram is for you. Now it is time to think about what you want to achieve with your profile. Do you want to become a thought leader? To promote your business brand? To network? All of the above? If you have a business, you are aware of the importance of clearly knowing your end goals, so I will not get into that. Any professionally-related social media you start is no exception to that rule.

  You can find an example of a simple strategic plan on page 62 of this ebook so, after you are done reading it, consider filling it out, even if it is just a first draft.

  Opt for a business account

  You already know the benefits of having a business account. What you might not know is how you can turn yours into one. It is pretty simple: all you need to do is go into your Settings and choose “Switch to Business Profile.” Then, you will have to log into your Facebook account, connect it to one of your pages (that is why you need a Facebook page to have a business account) and add at least one contact to your page. And you are good to go!

  Make sure you make the most out of the top part of your profile

  By “top part” we mean your profile picture, you bio and your contact info. This is the first thing a user sees when they click on your profile so it should not only make an impact, but give them a clear idea of what kind of account you are. So:

  Don’t underestimate your profile photo. Yes, it is small, but everyone notices it and it appears on each action you take on Instagram. If you use a photo of yourself, pay attention to details like the quality, of course, and if people can actually can see what you want to show. If you use a photo where you are too far away, people will not be able to actually see you, because Instagram’s profile picture is so small. You can experiment and try out different photos until you find the best one for that size.

  Write a bio that goes with the kind of content you will be posting. Think of it as what sets the tone for what the user will see once they start scrolling down your profile. You can also add your name on top of the bio and, since you are marketing yourself, it is a good idea to actually use your real one (or artistic one - whatever you want people to refer to you as). Under you bio, you can have a link to an external page, so choose a relevant one, like your business brand’s website or to another one of your social media profiles.

  Don’t forget to add your phone number and/or you email. If someone sees your profile and wants to contact you, they are simply one click away. There is no need for them to try and research how they can get a hold of you, which can (and probably will) greatly increase the chances of people contacting you.

  Build a visually appealing profile

  One that will make people go “Wow!” when they open it , that shows that you put in time to manage your Instagram, instead of posting just anything. A good way of doing so is by defining a theme for your feed and applying it to all your photos. This means choosing a specific filter, a set of colors that predominate and a style of photos. Besides giving your profile a more organized look, opting for a theme also makes your job easier, since you always do the same process for each photo. After a while, it becomes almost automatic. When there is something you really, really want to share but that does not meet your profile’s standards, you can always post in on your Stories (see next chapter).

  Don’t go too crazy on the hashtags

  No one likes a post with a million hashtags on it, especially when they are not related to the post or to a person’s niche, which happens quite often. It makes you look like you are trying too hard, which is never a good look. Plus, it makes it seem like you just want followers, instead of relevant followers. It does not look professional.

  But, that also doesn’t mean that you should not use hashtags at all. Remember how many photos are posted on Instagram every single day? You have to take every chance to make yours catch the eyes of the right people. It is a matter of balance, consistency and strategic thought. You can use external apps to help you understand which hashtags you should add to your post: Iconosquare is a popular example.

  Follow and engage with the right people

  It is a quick and easy way of making connections and getting noticed by other people’s followers (remember you want to make a good impression, so think before you like or comment on a post). Furthermore, it is a great way of constantly getting updates on your industry.

  When you find people you would like to partner up with or simply talk to, don’t hesitate to send them a direct message. The more followers they have, the smaller the chances of you getting noticed, but the reality is that you never know. The online is today’s big way of networking and, with so many people on it, the best bet is to take chances and hope for the best. Naturally, you should try to write an appealing message that will make the other person want to reply, and that is not too long - time is precious and no one wants to spend it reading interminable messages. If you do end up getting noticed, that can culminate into awesome collabs and partnerships and ultimately in your name becoming more popular in the right niche, so you really don’t lose anything by at least giving it a go.

  For Inspiration: an Instagram Branding Success

  When you do a research for best Instagram accounts, James Charles is a name that probably appears in every single result page.

  James is a makeup artist and that is easy to understand as soon as you open his profile. He is not exclusively on Instagram, but it is where his journey to stardom began and his numbers there are amazing. Just look at that follower count!

  He is already an established social media personality/beauty guru, so at this point he does not have to try as hard to get followers or connect with important people in the world of makeup. But to get there, he had to put in a lot of work - even he says, if you watch some of his videos, that he is quite addicted to working. James Charles started as just a kid posting makeup looks online and ended up becoming the first male ambassador of the huge makeup brand that is Cover Girl. All through the power of social media!

  Let’s take a look at his profile:

  His profile picture is not only high quality, but it is really creative and conveys perfectly what he does.

  His bio is simple, but clearly related to his area (and it includes an emoji, which always makes a bio more fun).

  He has a link to his YouTube channel: another social platform where he is extremely popular.

  When you scroll down to his feed, you can tell that he puts a lot of thought into it:

  Most of his posts are of him showcasing his makeup skills.

  All the photos are high quality and beautifully edited, which gives the feed a very clean look.

  You can see he has become so popular, that he has the opportunity of doing collaborations with other social media personalities and celebrities.

  Chapter 6:Instagram Stories

  “Instagram Stories” is a functionality of Instagram, but it has become so popular that you can define a whole strategy just for it. When Instagram Stories was first introduced, you could post a photo and it would be available for your followers for 24 hours, but today you can post a lot more than that (and it is also available for those 24 hours):

  Type: if you just want to share text.

  Music: if you want to share a song.

  Live: if you want to do a livestream.

  Normal: a photo or a video (with a maximum of 15 seconds).

  Boomerang: a video on loop, with no audio.

  Superzoom: a Boomerang which can have several different effects, like one with hearts and a romantic song playing, or one that zooms in on what is being recorded and plays a dramatic audio.

  Rewind: a video on rewind.

  Hands-free: option to make a video without having to keep pressing the record button for it to keep recording.

  On your story, you can:

  Use selfie masks and AR filters (created by Instagram, as well as by other users), that you can
access by clicking the little face with sparks on the top of the screen, before you take the photo (or video, or boomerang).

  Add text and stickers, that can be emojis, a clickable location, clickable tags to other profiles, clickable hashtags, songs (from Spotify), the time when you are posting, GIFs (from Giphy), a countdown and the temperature either on Celsius or Fahrenheit.

  Generate interactions using other types of stickers, by creating a poll, asking a question (there is a special feature for questions, it would not be just text) or an emoji slider.

  Draw on it with several different colors and pencil or pen styles.

  Once your story is ready to post, you can choose to send it to your Close Friends - a group of people you have previously defined-, to a specific follower (or followers) or to all of them. During the 24 hours while the Story is up, you can check how many people have seen your post, as well as who, and you can delete it if you want to, but you cannot edit it.

  Instagram Story Ads

  Instagram Stories can also be promoted, which means that they can have a “Learn more” or “Swipe up” option, where you can add a link to an external page. After you post your Story Ad, you have access to some insights, a.k.a. its performance, a.k.a.:

  Interactions.

  Replies.

  Profile Visits.

  Website Clicks.

  Impressions.

  Navigation (Back: how many times a user tapped back to see the previous story; Forward: how many times a user tapped forward to see the next story; Next Story; and Exited).