If there’s any Social Media platform that has soared to staggering heights within a short time span, then it definitely has to be INSTAGRAM with its current monthly active users at over 700 million.
The mainly photo sharing social network; which started in 2010 was acquired by Facebook for $1Billion within two years of its launch. As of today, Instagram has already shared over 40 billion photos amongst its users.
When Mark Zukerberg decided to spend a billion bucks to buy off Instagram in 2012, many thought it was a crazy idea to pay such a huge sum for a startup which had just 13 full-time employees; just about 30 million users and zero revenue in its account…
Now, when the analysts estimate Instagram's revenue in 2017 to average around $4 billion, the acquisition seems more like a ‘steal’ than a colossal risk!
Today, without any shadow of doubt, every business big and small, and all marketers and individuals alike, who want to sell or be ‘seen’ – are happily jumping onto Instagram to explore this visual media’s many features, trends and tools, to create and share photos, stories, videos and content ideas of their own.
Let’s explore 10 such impressive Instagram marketing campaigns from popular brands around the globe, to help incite your ‘social’ creativity:
1. Airbnb ‘We Accept’ Campaign
This was a campaign which Airbnb launched to show their support for people of all places, races, status and backgrounds.
The campaign was cleverly timed with the hashtag #WeAccept around the times when political developments and discourses on ethnic and racial tolerance were on the rise. The campaign showed how Airbnb was a brand and team of diverse communities around the world who supported and focused the value of ‘acceptance’.
When taking ones stance with statements relating to political issues, sometimes it could work negatively for the brand. Airbnb brilliantly executed this campaign and gathered huge support from its audience, all the while reinforcing its values in the minds of its customers!
2. Lokai – Bracelet Story
Lokai is a brand that is popular for its bracelets around the world. The brand is equally focused to deliver its message of positivity, and to inspire and help people by supporting a variety of causes.
Through its fans and followings, Lokai initiated a ‘user generated’ marketing plan where its fans around the globe populated the feeds with beautiful images of its product, along with the theme of ‘exploration’ and creativity.
The campaign was a huge success as it exploded the feeds with real pictures of the product by the real people. They couldn’t have chosen a better marketing strategy, the effort was minimum, yet the impact made by the fans themselves was massive. The campaign cleverly tapped the pulse of the fans to accentuate the brand image.
3. ‘Salt Bae’ – The Instagram Chef
This story revolves around a Turkish chef, Nusret Gökçe; who shot to fame with his viral Instagram video. The video was soon to be the most popular hashtags and meme of 2017; #SaltBae
When the video went viral, Nusret took advantage of the situation to bolster his persona in Instagram. The promotion has helped the chef to take his steakhouse to new heights and he also seems to be planning to expand his steakhouse to the UK.
4. Nintendo’s Product Launch
When the video game giant Nintendo kicked off their campaign for a product launch, they went in to build anticipation for the product, and to excite the viewers.
Their posts revealed just partial images of the product to keep fans guessing and to stir their excitement on the oncoming launch of their completely new console, the Nintendo Switch.
The post above doesn’t give away too much but keeps the fans hanging with the image that shows how two different people are using two different controllers, to suggest Switch’s collaborative nature and its different product options.
The caption further engages and excites by stating its launch date within a week.
5. Forever21’s Quick Conversion
A clothing/accessories brand, Forever21 seems to have perfected the art of Instagram marketing. The brand which comes up with its impressive campaigns of originals and UGCs, is also effective in sales conversion.
The brand uses Like2buy, a monetization platform which helps convert the engagement and interactions on the Instagram campaigns, into sales. In the image above, Like2buy takes Forever21’s photos and links each item to its relevant store page.
With tools such as Like2buy, many brands are driving sales right from their Instagram account - a seamless and hassle-free ecommerce solution.
6. Daniel Wellington – Influencer Partnership
As a partnered campaign, popular watch maker Daniel Wellington partnered with YouTube music sensation Joseph Vincent to promote its time pieces to the singer’s fans.
In the post above, Joseph created an image showing both men’s and women’s Daniel Wellington wrist watches, supplying a discount code in the caption for his followers to use when buying their own Daniel Wellingtons.
Such partnered campaigns are effective in bridging the gap between two different segments of your target markets, or completely discover and expand your user personas.
7. DJI – Video Marketing
DJI, a leader in the drone industry is often seen creating exceptional Instagram campaigns through its profile. One of their video campaigns this year was made by partnering with various filmmakers, for the promotion of their latest drone, the Phantom 4 Pro.
The one above is made in partnership with Taylorcut Films with Phantom 4 Pro capturing various enchanting locations. As Instagram has extended the maximum length of its videos from 15 seconds to 1 minute, it invites a world of creativity for brands to promote their products on the platform.
8. Crazy Creek – Collaboration With Verticals
To increase their Instagram following for brand awareness, Crazy Creek teamed up with 4 other outdoor companies within their verticals. The campaign was centered on offering an amazing price package for 1 winner and their friend.
All 5 brands (Crazy Creek, Chaco Footwear, Coalatree, Gregory Packs and Nectar Sunglasses) teamed to organise a week long promotion, with all 5 brands publishing the contest art on Day 1.
Fans were encouraged to follow all brands’ handles, comment with their favourite fall emoji, and tag a friend. They were allowed to enter for an unlimited time throughout the week, and a winner was picked at random on the 5th day of the promo. The campaign was a huge success, as the participation was great and every brand increased their following by 1000 new users.
9. RYU’s UGC Contest
This campaign also is about building an effective Instagram hashtag strategy around a giveaway to drive engagement.
Apparel brand RYU, created its #WhatsInYourBag Instagram campaign which was designed to create UGC content from their followers. To enter the contest, the followers had to post photos of the content inside their gym bag and tag the post with RYU’s branded hashtag #WhatsInYourBag.
The brand also promoted their hashtags through Instagram Stories, helping them expand their reach and increase their followers.
10. Adidas Originals – Influencer Marketing
This year, Adidas found huge success with their Adidas Originals line, which they also promoted through Instagram Marketing campaigns.
Their partnerships with renowned celebrity figures like Snoop Dogg, Desiigner and Stormzy proved to be a highly effective in promoting the brand and building new customer base – those more interested in Hip-Hop and street-ware culture but less interested in sports per se.
To Sum It Up…
Instagram is a powerful platform for any brands to promote their products, increase following and boost the bottom line. We hope with the examples above, you can start creating some effective and amazing Instagram Campaigns of your own!
If you'd like further assistance or would like to discuss anything covered today, we'd love to hear from you.
Call Andy Fox (me) on (03) 5249 5570 or email andy@element7digital.com.au
Our Website is www.element7digital.com.au
