How to build a branded Instagram account

Social Media is an incredible tool for brands - it allows you to present your brand identity, engage with your audience, grow your customer base, find new talent and encourage social conversation.

The below guide details how to best:

• Create your profile
• Create content
• Grow your following

Creating your profile:

• Bio - Your bio should clearly define what the brand is. You can use this as an opportunity to showcase your brand values and also link to your brands website. 

• Contact Details - Create an email address bespoke to the account itself. This will allow you to manage and filter any Press and Influencer emails you receive.

• Grid - When you create your Instagram profile upload a minimum of 9 images to the profile before publicising it. The content should reflect what you plan on posting on a daily basis - this will show users the style your feed will be and will give them an indication on if this appeals to them. 

• Highlights - Highlights are a space on your page to host your saved Instagram stories. When creating a page you should create highlights for: 

HQ (what you are doing as a brand) - This allows you to showcase elements of your brand that you feel would work well on social media. In addition to being a space to publicise products this serves to humanise the brand itself which will encourage users to connect with you. 

In the News (articles and social features that your brand has been featured in) - This shows to users the reputability of your brand in addition to providing them with more information. Whilst you are able to simply share the content I would advise that you look to present this in a fun and engaging way that reflects the overall theme of your account. Create a template (as seen below) for features and you can then input in the coverage each time you spot something relevant to share on your stories.

Highlights are a great place to host content so make sure you are consistently reviewing your stories each month to understand what other highlights would work well on your page!

• Who to follow - Once you have completed the above then it's time to start following users. Start by following other brands in the industry that your brand is in. This will give you great insight into what content is currently being created in that space and will 'suggest' your account to those who follow the other brands. Then look to follow Press and Influencers within your industry (this allows you to keep up to date with them). To find the right people have a look at what brands press and Influencers follow and go from there!

Creating content:

• Set a style - Instagram is a platform that celebrates creativity. This being said, it is important to have an overall theme to your content. This works to show users who would potentially follow you what they should expect and also create a brand identity.

• Balance of staged and implusive content - Engagement on a branded Instagram page is on average 10% lower than engagement on an Influencers Instagram page. Users need to see consistency in style and tone without becoming bored so it is important to have a balance of content. I would recommend:

Repost content creators – This provides great content for the grid and also by reposting and tagging a content creator they are more likely to share this to their own pages which brings more awareness to your page. Instagram users engage the most with images that have people in them so this is a brilliant way to achieve engagement and have contact for your account.

Product shots – Capture product shots in the style that you would like your products to be presented. This shows others how to style them and also how to create content themselves with the product. Again, this will provide you with more content to use and will also further the social conversation and identity of your brand.

Lifestyle images – Include images that do not directly refer to your brand. This supports the overall branding of your account and humanises the brand (doing so should help increase engagement on your brand channel). Use of domestic backgrounds in content means that users can relate more to it and are more likely to try and replicate.

• Consistency – It is important to be consistent when posting. Set a minimum of posts per week so you are consistently being active on Instagram and others are able to engage with your posts.

• Social relevance – Create content to celebrate socially relevant occasions such as Valentines Day and Halloween. This means its more likely to be shared and engaged with.

• Capturing content – It is important to have good quality photos. However, Instagram favours content created inside its app over external cameras.Where possible capture content in the app itself or using a mobile phone.

• Collaborate - Collaborate with other brands that compliment your own. This is a great way to provide engaging content on your social platform and to reach new audiences!

Growing your following:

• Engagement – Instagram pushes accounts that engage with the platform regularly. Make sure you engage with the platform each day even if you are not posting something (scroll through the stories and your feed and like and comment on content).

• Like and comment on content – Liking and commenting on content from other users is a great way to engage with the platform and to showcase your brand to others. Look on the ‘tagged’ section of similar brands and like and comment on content from users that you think is relevant to your own brand. This will raise awareness of your branded account and increase the possibility of others discovering and following you.

• Tag people – When doing any activity with an Influencer or Press be sure to tag them in it – this increases the chance of being reposted by the user, thus creating more brand awareness!

• Exclusive content - Provide exclusive content on your social media platform that users couldn't get elsewhere so they will be more likely to follow your page and remain engaged.

• Hashtags # - Hashtags are a great tool to catergorise your posts and to reach relevant audiences. Curate a small selection of relevant hashtags for your industry (would recommend 3-5) that you use consistently on each post.

• Branded Hashtag # - Following on from the above it is important to create a hashtag that is unique to your brand. This will allow you to search for content that references you and to showcase your own content. An example of this is #superdrugspotlight. This is a hashtag that is uniquely branded - the purpose is for Influencer MUA's to use this hashtag with the hope of being featured on the main grid page. If featured they are then selected to be added to the PR database (for further incentive). This works well because it allows you to find new talent and encourages Influencers to use your hashtag for brand awareness.

For more information on branding in social media platforms visit this post - http://laratownsley.blogspot.com/2018/09/real-people-with-real-opinions.html