Increasing Engagement: IKEA Creates A Website On Instagram

Increasing Engagement: IKEA Creates A Website On Instagram

There are brands that follow the norm, and there are brands that go beyond the norm. And then there are brands, only a few of them albeit, which don’t even consider the much-travelled-path of being ‘norm’. They disrupt, they transform, and they set templates for new norms.

While companies across the world are still trying to figure out ways in which they can use Instagram to engage with their consumers, Ikea has gone ahead and created world’s first inter-linked website on Instagram. Yes, you read that correctly – a website on Instagram!

Increasing engagement with social listening

The ‘website’ has been created by the Russian division of Ikea on the brand’s latest Instagram account dedicated to its PS 2014 collection. The inspiration behind Ikea PS 2014 is “in the moment”, as the collection has been specifically created for the young, urban folks, who owing to their versatile and fast-changing lifestyle are constantly on the move, living in cramped spaces, and frequently changing cities and apartments. The collection offers a range of lightweight and portable items with multifunctional design.

So why is Ikea calling this Instagram account a ‘website’?

The PS 2014 Instagram account acts as the homepage of this ‘website’. It has 12 posts around the categories of benches, tables, storage, light, textiles, and ideas and all these posts have tags that take you to sub-categories. For instance, the post on ‘tables’ has tags of ‘ps_laptop _station’, ‘ps_storage_table’, ps_bureau, ps_f_table, ps_table, and ‘ps_side_table’. Clicking on any of these tags takes you to a separate Instagram account dedicated to that sub-category. This structure allows the user to seamlessly move from one collection to another, giving the feel of a website.

Increasing engagement with social listening

The ‘website’ went live in June and already has more than 21,500 followers. To those who thought Instagram was only about nostalgic filters and selfies, there is an inspiration to be taken from Ikea. Here is a quick look at some of the things they got right, and some others they could have done better.

3 Things Ikea Did Right

Hit The Sweet Spot With The Target Audience

Ikea is a mass brand. From students and the newlywed to the middle-aged and those in their twilight years, everyone can find value in the simplicity, and elegance of Ikea furniture. The challenge of a mass brand however is to constantly reiterate its relevance to its distinct users. Since PS 2014 collection is all about young people on the move, the Instagram App proved to be the right platform to engage with this target group.

Built A ‘First’

The word first has a charm because nothing can ever replace what it represents. In the fast-moving world of social media, firsts are a rarity. To have the vision, and inclination to build a first is in itself commendable, and Ikea gets full points for doing so.

They’ve Got Their PR Right

Would anyone have taken notice if Ikea had promoted PS 2014 Instagram account as just another brand Instagram page? Probably not. But the moment they said they had created a website on Instagram people were all ears. Using a catchphrase such as ‘first Instagram website’ – even though it was not the right one to use – got Ikea the required PR buzz.

3 Things Ikea Could Have Done Better

Not Used The Word ‘Website’

As important as it is to use a catchphrase to draw attention, it’s even more important to use the right one. The PS 2014 Instagram page is not a website. To begin with, it does not work efficiently on a browser and was designed for people specifically using the Instagram App from their mobile phones. By calling it a website, Ikea has probably stretched facts and taken a little bit of a risk.

Given Greater Opportunity For User Participation

The PS 2014 Instagram account is like a catalogue. It works very well for those who are interested in browsing the different categories and want to check out various products that are a part of the collection. Even though Ikea has invited people to share photos of their collections by tagging @ikea_ps_2014, the catalogue structure gives very little opportunity for users to participate in and interact with the content.

Focused More On The Product

The Instagram account dedicated to the sub-category gives a link to the designer\’s bio in the information box. While this displays great respect for the designers, it doesn’t help the user, who at this point might want to go to the product’s description page on the Ikea website.

Increasing engagement with social listening

There is a lesson to be learnt from Ikea here. The Ikea Instagram website is not an innovation. It is also not an outstanding example of increasing engagement or brand storytelling. It’s merely an idea.  But what makes it a winner is its attempt to use Instagram in the form it exists to create a completely new concept for free.

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3 Best Pinterest Campaigns From Big Brands

3 Best Pinterest Campaigns From Big Brands

Think of the best social media campaigns by brands. Think again. Make a quick mental list. Stop.

Chances are that a Pinterest campaign did not make that list. It’s not surprising. Despite tremendous and meteoric rise, this four-year-old visual communication social platform has not managed to strongly resonate with social media managers. Brands that have a huge visual element such as apparel, cosmetics, and food have still managed to leverage on Pinterest. However, for others it has been an uphill task.

After looking at 5 best Vines, Instagram, and Twitter campaigns, we decided to explore 3 best Pinterest campaigns that not only were successful, but also taught other brands a thing or two about how to rock Pinterest.

Honda #Pintermission

Pintermission
Pintermission

The Honda #Pintermission campaign hits the nail on the head when it comes to conceptualizing a Pinterest campaign. Honda used this campaign to introduce Honda CRV on Pinterest. The campaign was simple and low cost. Honda reached out to five most influential pinners, and asked them to take a 24 hour break from Pinterest to go out and do things they had been pinning about. The brand gave each of them $500 for taking the Pintermission.

Honda was promoting CRV as a vehicle of choice for the young. The car stood for fun, freedom and exploration. By asking pinners to go out and explore the things they had been pinning about, Honda managed to communicate the underlying brand message.

Honda created a personalized board for all five pinners on which they could upload photos of their Pintermission. The pinners also created Pintermission boards on their pages, giving Honda exposure to their network as well. For just $2500, 4.5 million people got exposed to Pintermission, which produced 5000 re-pins and 2000 likes.

Kotex Woman’s Inspiration Day

What are the odds that a sanitary tampon and pad maker will be able to pull off one of the best ever Pinterest campaigns? Kotex Woman’s Inspiration Day campaign demonstrates that even a company with obvious limitations in visual communication can create brilliant Pinterest campaigns.

For this campaign, Kotex especially chose Pinterest because of its large women user base. The aim of the campaign was to celebrate individuality and uniqueness of each woman.

The campaign involved identifying 50 most inspirational women based on their pins. Kotex went through the pins of these 50 women to figure out what inspired them. The brand then created customized virtual gifts for each of these 50 women based on their interests as reflected in the pins. The women who pinned the virtual gift, got the real gift delivered at their doorstep. All 50 women pinned something about their virtual gifts with a majority sharing something about it on their other social networks as well. The result: 50 customized gift boxes got the brand 694,853 total impressions.

MasterCard #AcceptanceMatters

AcceptanceMatters
AcceptanceMatters

MasterCard is no stranger to outstanding communication. The brand that uses the iconic tagline “There are some things money can’t buy. For everything else there’s MasterCard.” has succeeded in establishing a deep emotional connect with the user in the otherwise staid and harsh financial services industry.

In 2013, the brand came up with a Pinterest focussed campaign called #AcceptanceMatters. The campaign drove home the message of MasterCard being the most accepted credit card globally. However, MasterCard extended the message of ‘acceptance’ to different kinds of people as well, linking it to NYC Pride Parade and gay rights. For the campaign the brand shared inspirational quotes and words around acceptance on Pinterest, and partnered with influential pinners to spread the content. Simple, yet effective.

PinterestMasterCard chose Pinterest as the social platform for this campaign as it felt Pinterest was “a place where messages of love, encouragement, and acceptance were commonly shared”. At the beginning of the campaign, MasterCard had zero followers on Pinterest. But in just 9 weeks the campaign received 24.5 million potential impressions, more than 13,000 re-pins, and 171 followers.

Why These Pinterest Campaigns Make The Cut

When Pinterest joined the social media bandwagon, brands started working aggressively to broadcast the most appealing, beautiful, and colourful visual communication without much thought to the larger aim of such a communication.  Some brands saw it as an extension of Facebook and Twitter, which are quite different from Pinterest because of their focus on conversations, and people-to-people connections. The unfortunate fallout of this was dull and ineffective Pinterest engagement. Honda, Kotex, and MasterCard broke the stereotype by understanding the pulse of Pinterest as a platform that thrived on aspiration (Honda Pintermission), inspiration (Kotext Woman’s Inspiration Day), and community sentiment (MasterCard AcceptanceMatters). The other common thread between these three campaigns was the outreach to influential pinners in order to build the brand on Pinterest. But in the end it was an understanding of Pinterest’s strength and reach, as well as evaluation of its distinctness from other social platforms that did the trick for these brands.

Complete guide to Instagram social listeningTik Tok social listening and Twitter social listening.

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Nike’s Instagram Strategy Focuses On It’s Audience

Nike’s Instagram Strategy Focuses On It’s Audience

Nike’s tagline “Just Do It” is not merely an amalgamation of three words. Over the years it has become an anthem. With a reach that transcends languages, borders, and demography, the power of these three small words is larger than life on social media. What happens when a brand that has coined such a powerful slogan takes to a social platform that defines the #selfie generation? A quick look at TOTEMS (formerly Nitrogram), an analytics tool that tracks how brands are performing on Instagram, puts Nike on top of the table with 4,815,016 followers and 27, 920, 351 posts mentioning the hashtag #Nike. That all this has happened merely 2.5 years since Nike’s first post on Instagram, makes it an even more spectacular achievement. Similar instagram analytics can be done by 20/Twenty, the social listening platform from Circus Social.

Despite the phenomenal response on Instagram, average posts from Nike’s flagship Instagram account sit at less than one a day. In fact, so far in 2014, Nike’s average number of posts per month stands at 12.16. This raises a pertinent question. Do brands that have amassed a huge number of fans have the luxury of posting less? In other words, what is Nike doing that in spite of low number of posts, is leading the pack on Instagram.

Tips For Instagram A Solid Instagram Strategy

1. Mix It Up

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Nike has mastered the art of creating a great content mix. During the 2014 FIFA World Cup, the brand has been posting photos of football being played by locals in countries whose games are coming up. But before the Croatia-Brazil game, Nike gave a twist to the usual post by sharing a photo of men playing Picigin, a popular beach sport played with a tennis ball in Croatia. Great piece of local trivia, it broke the monotony of the usual football posts. 190K hearts. A true winner.

2. Express Your Gratitude

Nike1million

In March 2013, Nike decided to celebrate one million followers on Instagram by thanking them and sharing the 10 best brand-related photographs posted by its followers. Most of these photographs were simple, some of them comprising just of shoes. But genuine gratitude goes a long way. The posts cumulatively got more than 700K likes and almost 7K comments. There were no prizes, no incentives; just organic love from the fans in return for some appreciation.

3. Create Exciting Instagram Campaigns

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Nike is among the few brands to design campaigns solely for Instagram. Nike PHOTOiD is an extension of NIKEiD, the brand’s customization platform, and was launched in 2013. The web app invited Instagram users to apply their Instagram image’s color palette to Nike shoes, subject to the available color library for each footwear. Users could not only share their creations on social platforms but also order their customized shoes. A customized campaign for Instagram users that brought together user engagement and innovation in one stroke.

4. Build Your Community

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Over the years, the success of Nike has been carefully hinged on the communities it has created. From runners and footballers to basketball and tennis players, Nike has touched lives across the board by making ordinary people feel like athletes. The brand’s Instagram account lives up to this promise. While sub-accounts such as Nike Running and Nike Football exist on Instagram, the flagship account continues to cater to these passion communities through distinct posts.

Learnings From Nike’s Instagram Strategy

1. Lesser Content Does Not Lead To Lesser Engagement

Many brands focus on churning out tens of posts each day. While more posts might work for some brands, its reverse is not always true. Nike proves that the quality of posts supersedes the number of posts. Once brands have gathered a high number of followers, the focus must shift to pleasing the followers than garnering new ones. Happy followers will do the job of getting new followers by spreading the word.

2. Get Your Users Involved

Nike PHOTOiD and gratitude posts demonstrate that the key to a successful social media strategy is involving the user. A lot of brands shy away from this fearing low response from users and subsequent drop in engagement. But they forget that user involvement is central to a compelling social story. Nothing can compare to hitting an emotional chord with the user.

3. Keep Your Content Topical

NikePortugal

In March 2014, Nike posted just six times on Instagram whereas in June 2014, this figure has already hit 21 mainly because of the posts around FIFA World Cup. Creating and sharing topical content is among the most simple things a brand can do, yet few brands abide by this golden rule.

4. Share Content Beyond Your Product

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Nike understands that its central product may not always make for engaging content. It is a hard truth to accept but brands who do it are able to leap ahead of others. If your Instagram strategy is just a regurgitation of your catalog, you’re doing it wrong!

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