5 Of The Best Social Media Campaigns On Instagram To Inspire Your Gramming!
Instagram is getting more and more crowded as we speak. We have all been witnessing the viral power that the platform has generated over the past couple of years, and now everyone wants a piece of this success.
Even though many try to succeed with different techniques and strategies, few rarely do. In this post, we will talk about some of the best social media campaigns on Instagram that you can learn from.
Best Instagram campaigns: National Geographic – Quality content
As of this moment, National Geographic has over 95.6 million followers on Instagram. There are no gimmicks, no trickery, and no memes. They accomplished this the good old-fashioned way posting quality content.
If you analyze their posts, you will see that there is a backstory to each and every one of them. Of course, it helps a lot that they have an army of professional photographers tirelessly capturing wonderful shots, but their content strategy is still certainly on point.
Кey points to learn
What we can learn from their campaign is that they promote user-generated content, they write thorough and descriptive captions, and most important of all, they distribute high-quality content to a targeted audience:
- Quality visuals + Expert insights = Success: Mediocrity is not in the vocabulary of Nat Geo. They combine top-quality content and produce a very thorough analysis conveyed in a flowing sequence. That is how you win your audience’s attention and their double-taps.
- Contributors should be rewarded: Nat Geo has an array of talented photographers at their disposal, and they sure appreciate it. In almost every one of their posts, they make sure to tag the appropriate owner of the photograph. Photographers can submit their photos on “Your Shot” where the editors of National Geographic curate the best photos and pick 12 submissions which get published on their Instagram profile each weekday.
- Stay true to who you are: National Geographic captured their first wildlife photo in 1906. Throughout their 100+ year history they have managed to keep their brand identity intact and convey the same explore-the-wildlife spirit throughout their Instagram content. That is how you become and remain a recognizable and reputable brand on Instagram, or anywhere else.
It is true that when you think about the exploration of the natural world, the first thing that pops to mind is Nat Geo, but that isn’t accidental. From the way they appeal to their target audience, to how they treat user-generated content, to how well they present in-depth information in a concise manner to spur up their captions, National Geographic manages one of the best social media campaigns on Instagram that you can learn from.
Best Instagram campaigns: GoPro – User-generated content
User-generated content (UGC) is a crucial strategy for GoPro. In fact, UGC is what makes up most of the content that is published on GoPro’s Instagram account. With this ongoing campaign, they have managed to accomplish the following:
- Emphasize the quality of their own products (the GoPro cameras)
- Attract a bigger following
- Encourage more people to create user-generated content
It is a win-win-win situation for GoPro. They curate the user-generated content with the help of their branded hashtags and contests with monetary rewards, while in the meantime they expand their reach and grow their following.
Key points to learn
It’s obvious that they have an entire team of dedicated social media marketers that professionally run their Instagram account, and what better way to learn than from those who do it best? There are several things that we can learn from GoPro’s Instagram campaign:
- Proper marketing is key: GoPro doesn’t promote their products in an old-fashioned way. What they do is they use GoPro products as a chance to promote an adventurous lifestyle. If you check out their Instagram profile you will see that they promote what their cameras can produce, rather than the cameras themselves.
- Contests are still popular: Not only does GoPro provide an incentive for their followers by offering them the chance to star on their official Instagram account, but they also offer awards, such as their GoPro HERO7 Black one million dollar challenge. The challenge began on September 20, 2018, and ended on December 9, 2018.
- Hashtags play a crucial part: GoPro has distributed a string of #hashtags that their followers are well accustomed to, and they use them to pick the best posts and Instagram Stories to get promoted on their account. They have created their line of branded hashtags like #GoProOfTheDay, #GoPro, #GoProPets, #GoProTravel and #GoProHero. Users just need to add one of these hashtags to their post and GoPro’s editors will personally handpick those who they believe are worthy to be featured on their profile.
As you can see, it’s important to have the proper incentive to encourage users to create user-generated content. If you have a smaller following, this incentive might not work, because not many users will be tempted to create user-generated content for an unknown brand with a less-than-impressive audience. To remedy that, you can buy safe and organic Instagram followers that have the power to completely change your reputation on Instagram.
Best Instagram campaigns: Airbnb – Trending topics
Airbnb has all the characteristics of an optimized and branded company on social media. They promote user-generated content, they rely on influencer marketing, they follow trending topics, and they also use Instagram ads in an incredibly clever way.
They share user-generated photos where they briefly talk about some of the hosts and guests and their experience with Airbnb.
Key points to learn
Airbnb’s Instagram campaign teaches us three things:
- Influencer marketing for trends: For Super Bowl LI, Airbnb practically gave Lady Gaga a $20 million house in Houston. In a sponsored post, Lady Gaga thanked Airbnb for the incredible gift, and the post went viral with over 530,000 likes. Additionally, Airbnb also offered complimentary homes for the likes of Wiz Khalifa, Drake, and Martin Garrix. This goes to show you just how much influencer marketing has boomed in recent years.
- Aesthetically pleasing feed: Airbnb tries to capture the authentic feeling that hosts and guests experience. That’s why their feed is mostly made up of raw photos where their content is presented in an unedited fashion. Although many brands choose to go for the refined color scheme by adding a variety of filters, Airbnb tries to recapture the exact moment as if it was presented in real life.
- Crafting the perfect captions: Their captions are ones to take note of, as they try to connect with their followers in an inviting and friendly tone that nourishes truth. They post various stories and unveil some intriguing details about the places and experience, all of which align with their brand values.
Airbnb is the leader for travel accommodation, but they run a highly successful Instagram campaign as well. Using all the tricks in the digital marketing book, Airbnb has been creating an ongoing successful Instagram campaign that relies on high-quality user-generated content and influencer marketing.
Best Instagram campaigns: Bloom & Wild – Targeted audience
Bloom & Wild is in the flower delivery startup industry, but given that they aren’t internationally popular, they saw Instagram as an opportunity to expand their brand. By creating an Instagram ads campaign that targets their audience, Bloom & Wild has managed to increase conversion rates and build an impressive following of nearly 100,000 followers.
Bloom & Wild used the opportunity to properly utilize marketing methods such as Instagram advertising. They optimized their Instagram ads campaign by creating a strategy that zeroed in on their target audience.
Key points to learn
Bloom & Wild doesn’t have an audience in the millions. They can’t rely on sheer popularity to make an impact on Instagram, and that’s what makes their Instagram success all the greater. There are three things we can learn from their Instagram campaign:
- Using trending topics: Bloom & Wild produces content that is well planned and executed in order to utilize trending topics. Naturally, content that revolves arout current trending topics, like Christmas, is bound to attract more engagement.
- Make use of ads: Instagram provides a unique opportunity to reach very targeted audiences on their platform, and Bloom & Wild did their best not to squander it. Furthermore, they used their existing email list to target a lookalike audience on Instagram via Facebook’s Power Editor. When they performed in-depth analysis, they found that video ads provided their best conversion rates, so they doubled down on their efforts.
- Engage with your audience: Bloom & Wild posts artistically photographed bouquets of flowers that appeal to their targeted audience, but they don’t stop there. They engage with their audience by responding to their comments, offering giveaways, and creating contests.
Bloom & Wild understand just how useful Instagram advertising can be for extending their visibility on the platform. Here’s what they say about their journey on Instagram;
“Instagram advertising is an exciting new channel for us, and so far, the results have exceeded expectations. We’re really looking forward to experimenting and increasing our presence over the coming months.”
Their Instagram campaign resulted in an increase in sales by 62%, a £2.5 million growth in capital and an exponential increase in website traffic, visibility, and most important of all – loyal customers.
Best Instagram campaigns: Daniel Wellington – Influencer marketing
This is a clear example of influencer marketing done right. In thе post below, we can see how the well-known brand Daniel Wellington partnered with the rising music star, Joseph Vincent, to create a very informal (but effective) collaboration.
I would like to point out the casual approach they used in the post to promote the products in an informal environment. Followers are tired of the conventional method of marketing, and they’re more attached how the product is being presented than what the product is in the first place – thus the need for influencer marketing.
Key points to learn
This Instagram campaign can teach us a lot about Instagram influencing:
- Paid collaborations work: The Joseph Vincent influencer marketing case was just one of the many cases where Daniel Wellington used Instagram influencers to boost their brand. Every influencer created a post about Daniel Wellington in a different way, but all of them had one thing in common – the Daniel Wellington watch. The brand launched a variety of campaigns, but their best social media campaign is the one they run on Instagram.
- The organic effect from influencer marketing: The good thing about influencer marketing is that if you do it right, you will prompt the ordinary user to follow their example. That’s what happened with the Daniel Wellington campaign. By investing in influencer marketing, they encouraged user-generated content from other followers as well. The organic results are truly astounding, as the #danielwellington hashtag has over two million posts.
- Make room for UGC: As it was the case with most of the brands we covered today, the DanielWellington Instagram account also runs on user-generated content. Users can get picked to feature on their Instagram account if they post a photo or a video that has the DW watch in it and if they use the hashtags #DWPickoftheDay or #DanielWellington.
Content generated by influencers as well as other users helps reinforce the brand’s image. Instagram influencers that are within the niche of your brand can largely impact your target audience. In the case of Daniel Wellington, the users see that Instagram influencers are wearing the product, thus they feel motivated and inspired to buy a watch themselves. To sum it up, I think that the biggest lesson to learn here is that proper Instagram influencer marketing spurs user-generated content.
Learn from the best social media campaigns
In this article, we talked about some of the best social media campaigns that have left their mark on Instagram. I think that we can agree that each of them was different, but they had a lot of similarities as well. The most important lessons to point out are the following:
- Competitions, giveaways, contests, and challenges improve engagement.
- Collaborations, whether they are free or paid, enhance the visibility and exposure of your content.
- User-generated content is one of the best ways you can grow your Instagram account.
- Targeting your audience with the proper content, marketing strategy, and incentive is crucial.
- Hashtags have a way of strengthening your brand like no other tool.
- Following trending topics is a great way to entice your audience.
- Instagram ads offer an excellent opportunity to reach your target audience.
- Thorough, descriptive, and optimized captions entice users into staying longer on your posts.
Always remember that no strategy works the same for everyone, but by learning from how the most successful Instagram accounts have managed their campaigns, you’ll be a step closer toward finding out what would work best for you.
Date: December 28, 2018 / Categories: Case Studies, Marketing, / Author: Rich Drees
