1 | P a g e Thanks for downloading our E-book! My name is David Kranker, and I am the director of social media marketing for Tipping Point, a full service marketing/advertising agency based out of Rochester, Michigan. I help brands succeed in the digital world in the most cost effective way possible. Nothing makes me happier than seeing my clients succeed and nothing would make me happier than to have you succeed as well. The following pages are the culmination of my hard-work, research, and experience with Instagram as a social media marketer. With or without Tipping Point, everyone can grow their brand and produce real sales through Instagram. We have done it over and over again for many of our clients and we want you to know exactly how you can do the same. This E-book will break down the entire process of growing your brand through Instagram and will allow you to harness Instagram as a super sales channel for little to no cost. We have had great success with our strategy and we are very passionate about spreading it for everyone to use. This E-book will teach you how to: Craft creative and engaging content for your target market Growth hack your brand drastically through the use of Instagram Generate leads and produce sales with simple user engagement tricks Table Of Contents Chapter 1: Why Instagram?………………………………………………………3 Chapter 2: Content Creation..……………………………………………………4 Chapter 3: How Often Should You Post?.......................................13 Chapter 4: Growth Hacking Your Following……………………………….14 Chapter 5: Capturing Leads and Making Sales…………………………..16 2 | P a g e Chapter 1: Why Instagram? With over 300 million active users, any marketer would be completely foolish to pass over the photo focused social media platform. Instagram’s popularity can be attributed directly to its focus on the simplicity of images. Moreover, Instagram strapped on and rode the wave of the mobile platforms by only allowing users to upload images from their smartphone. This differentiates Instagram from nearly every other major social networking platform as it truly focuses on mobile. As a marketer, this should tell you one thing: there is a new, mobile friendly audience to reach with Instagram. While Instagram may be a platform heavily focused on photos, it is not a platform solely dedicated to the photography community. This was made clear when it blocked #photography and other similar hashtags from its users. Instagram is a platform for the every-day smartphone photographer, but it has evolved into so much more. Marketers are just now really seeing the potential of the platform as a strong means of connecting with a target audience. Here are some eye-opening statistics (from January 2015) regarding Instagram and its user base: 1. Number of users: 300+ million This is important because Instagram is no longer just a social network for sharing personal pictures of sunsets, selfies, and the meal you just ate. It is slowly becoming a highly effective marketing tool for any and every brand. 2. Percentage year over year growth: 66% Instagram is clearly a huge resource for marketers with over 300 million active users and counting. If you aren’t already on board, it’s time to hop on and beat your competitors to the punch. 3. Daily users: 75 million 25% of all Instagram users log on every single day. They choose Instagram over other platforms, because they dislike overfilled platforms like Twitter and Facebook. This means many of the users who follow you will see every single post you publish which is key to establishing your brand as a staple in the every-day life of your target market. We will cover this topic in further detail in Chapter 3. 3 | P a g e 4. Percentage of users between the ages of 16-24: 41% You have to know your audience to be able to effectively communicate with them. Instagram is mainly populated by a younger demographic. If you are marketing a product or service with a younger target demographic than you will have a much easier time finding success on Instagram. For marketers who’s products or services don’t fall into this category, do not be discouraged. 41% of the Instagram community may be younger, but there is still 59% of the community (many of them over 25) that you can work to capture. Yet another important thing to keep in mind is that Instagram is constantly growing every day with a yearly growth rate of 66%. A majority of your target demographic may not yet be on Instagram, but they will be soon and when they create an account you’ll want to be an already well-established Instfamous account. Moreover, the generation that is young now will soon be within your target age range and if you grow your Instagram presence now, you’ll be heavily rewarded in the future. Again, do not let this number discourage you at all. We have several clients that market products/services to users 30 and up and yet we generate a significant portion of their sales through Instagram. We pull this off through a simple mix of engagement, consistency, and value-adding content. Chapter 2: Content Creation In this chapter we will explore the content that works best for Instagram. There are of course better “fits” for the Instagram platform. Simply put, the more visual your product, the better. For instance, if you are in the food service or travel industries, then Instagram is a natural fit, as you can simply post visuals of your #foodporn or #wanderlustpic from your blog as a new source of traffic. Additionally, let’s say you sell jewelry. Yet again Instagram is a great fit because you can showcase your #bling in visually creative ways. However, even if your product is a direct fit for Instagram it doesn’t mean you can get away with posting pictures without putting in any creative effort at all. Most users do not want products shoved down their throats day in and day out. Even if they don’t immediately unfollow you, many of them will be subconsciously annoyed by the lack of variety, effort, and creativity within your posts. Unless you have serious brand recognition I would highly advise you to refrain from posting content solely devoted to what you’re selling. Instead, find a way to add value to your follower’s streams. Valuable posts could be entertaining, or educational. Post a brand relevant funny meme, or tie a current event into your brand message. There are so many different ways to entertain and educate users and put your personal brand stamp on it. 4 | P a g e For Example: Threadless is a clothing company based out of Chicago, IL. You would think with a product as visual as clothing you could get away with solely posting pictures of clothing. However, as Threadless came to find out this was very from the case. The account was growing, but at an extremely slow rate. Threadless switched up its Instagram strategy to include more valuable content and in doing so the company connected with their target market. Threadless now posts pictures of doodles, warehouse foolery, and behind the scenes stop-motion animations that pull in anywhere from 500 to 3,000 likes per day. Rather than just posting appealing pictures of the product, Threadless posts pictures that appeal to the culture surrounding the product and guess what? Not only did they gain a loyal Instagram following, but their followers were also more inclined to visit and shop on their website. The new post strategy allowed users to relate and engage with the brand on a much deeper level. Do you now understand the difference between regular content and value adding content? Up until this point, we’ve talked about companies and industries who fall within the “perfect fit” category for Instagram, but what about the companies selling products/services that aren’t a perfect fit? Well, these companies have to flex their creative muscles even more. I have said this several times already and I will say it again: find a way to add value to your followers’ streams. Adding value is the ultimate key to carving out your niche on Instagram, especially when your product or service is not a natural fit. 5 | P a g e One simple way to add value to your followers’ streams is to give something away for free: knowledge. Whatever niche you are in, position yourself as the most knowledgeable source for information in that niche. This strategy of content creation will not only provide value for people looking to learn about your niche, but it will also establish your company as an expert in the field. From our own experiences we know that this strategy will actually result in users seeking you out and coming to you. Seeing as Instagram is a visual platform you might be wondering how exactly you could go about informing your followers. One way would be to include helpful tips in the images themselves. Two great examples of companies that do this are Socinova and IBoom Media. As pictured from the Instagram screenshots above, IBoom posted an incredibly informational social media infographic and Socinova added social media marketing insight to their post. 6 | P a g e Yet another great option to pack information into your posts is through the post caption section. Are you familiar at all with Instablogging? What Is Instablogging? Instablogging is a relatively new, but growing content trend amongst many creative writers/photographers who are pushing the platform to become more than just a place for pretty pictures.