Instagram Top Nine (Except Mine Is Top 12)
Instagram Top Nine for 2018 is a great way to see what is working for your social media marketing. Here are some tips on how to use this Instagram app to create better content in 2019.
It’s a few weeks before the end of the year… Which means you may start to see your friends sharing a collage image on their Instagram feeds with the hashtag #TopNine.
The app is called TOP NINE (update, the developers sold the app and now you can find it here: Creator Kit - Top Nine) , and it’s is a tool that shows you your nine most-liked Instagram photos of the year and then arranges them into a simple square collage that you can share with friends and family. It’s a fun way to reminisce about the past year and see what your friends have liked the most from your Instagram.
It’s great for marketers to check out too because it gives some insight into what type of social media content works the best on your Instagram page. Granted, I am a big advocate for continuously checking Instagram reporting every month so you know what content is working all of the time – not just once a year.
So instead of using the app, I just look at my Instagram Insights (which are only available for Instagram business pages...and if you market your product or service at all using Instagram, I definitely recommend getting a business page). Here, I am able to look at the content that has gotten the most engagement over the past year, the most clicks over to my website (super important for any brand), and – one of my favorites – the content that has received the most comments over the past year. This is important to me because social media is really all about the community. Not just the likes.
My Instagram top nine from 2018 (plus a few extra because that’s what insights shows you)
As you can see, there are definitely some social media trends here.
Images of myself, when I get a little personal, and images of wine tend to get the best engagement and the most comments from my community online, which really isn’t that shocking because many of the friends I made throughout the last 10 years are part of the wine industry. Or, at least they love wine! ❤️😂
This has been a trend for many of the brands that I work with as well – when you become a little more personal on your social media accounts, people get excited to know more about you. It’s the “know-like-trust” factor. By seeing someone online being authentic (which provides a chance to get to know them), some people will start liking what they have to say, which then turns into trust.
It’s definitely essential to any branding for a business. It’s why many people go out of their way to a certain Starbucks – because they like the baristas at the one that’s 15 miles away from their house better than the ones at the Starbucks that’s one mile away.
What you can do with the insight from your Instagram top nine
Take a look at what your top nine most liked/commented images from Instagram are. Compare them to your top nine from Facebook by going into your Facebook Insights and checking out what the top pieces of content are from the last year (if you haven’t been continuously reporting, it might be a bit more difficult to go through everything, but you can see what has received the most engagement in Insights).
Are you seeing any shared trends between the two platforms? Are you noticing more product-focused content doing well on Facebook and more personal stuff on Instagram? Or maybe the opposite? On which social platform do you get the best engagement?
Action Item: Create a social media plan based on insights from your Instagram Top Nine
Take a look at some of this information and let that form a new strategy for the upcoming year. Maybe you see that your Instagram engagement is three times greater than Facebook, so you decide to do more Instagram stories, more videos, and more advertising on Instagram! Or maybe your brand still has really good engagement on Facebook – and there aren’t that many pages that still do because to Facebook’s changes, to organic reach, but we all know that there is still a whole lot of Facebook content that’s getting shared every day, so it’s coming from somewhere, haha!
If you are stuck with creating a game plan for social media, connect with me to talk strategy, or check out my Recipe for Instagram course which includes an entire lesson all about planning ahead.
How To Create A Transparent Background In Your Instagram Story And Other Instagram Tricks You Need To Know
A quick tutorial on how to create lines for your text in Instagram Stories, as well as a few other hacks for Instagram Stories so you can make them your own with branding, tagging others on Instagram, and utilizing Instagram Story Templates.
The popularity of Instagram is growing. Even years after Facebook has purchased the social network - it is a favorite for many people, and brands.
Why?!? Because it is a visual social network - and that allows people to tell their story and engage with others who share the same brand passions. Also, it is fun!
Instagram Stories are a visual look behind the scenes and color is part of the experience
Instagram users are looking to share their brand on social media and connect with their community - and this platform is currently the top social network to do just that (with our without social media ads). I’ve talked about it before, but even within Instagram, Instagram Stories is one of the best tools for providing that experience.
In my own Instagram Stories, I like to share stories of the behind-the-scenes at my office – a.k.a. my home – or coLAB, the co-working space I work from in downtown Santa Rosa. I also love sharing details of the events I attend (which have drastically dwindled because of the toddler), wines and foods I drink/eat, and now, even more, I am sharing content from other people and adding my own two cents.
I’m also sharing more diverse content on my Instagram Stories – everything from videos of my toddler to the content I mentioned before. I still try to make my stories fit my personal brand though, no matter what the subject of the story is.
My brand passions and brand aesthetic come through in every piece of content I put on social media. And that brand is colorful, fun, personal, but also educational. You’ll see my personal branding through colors and the type of content I share. And visual stories are just as important to branding as tone or personality.
Adding color to your Instagram stories - How you can make a transparent background on Instagram
I love this new Instagram hack I discovered — You may notice I love to add colorful bars right behind the text, ensuring the words stand out a bit more than they would if it were just white text over an image. I’m not even sure where I got the idea from, but it was someone on Instagram who did it first, so I replicated it and made it my own. I mean, let’s be honest – a lot of marketing is just a variation of something someone else has done.
I want to share a quick tutorial on how to create lines for your text in Instagram Stories, as well as a few other hacks for Instagram Stories so you can make them your own.
#1 How to Create Colorful Lines for Your Background for your Text in Instagram Stories
Start off with whatever image or video you want to add to your Instagram story. Then, with the text in the classic mode, add two periods. Click the tab line over and over again (no return here) until they are far enough apart. Add the color background to the two periods and it will become a bar. You can choose to make the background any color you want, and you can pick between a solid bar and a 50% transparent bar.
#2 How to Create a Color Background for Instagram Stories
Sometimes you just want to share text and drawings instead of a photo or a video. Thankfully, Instagram includes a simple feature that creates solid backgrounds instantly.
Capture a picture as you usually would, and then tap the pen icon. Select the color you want to use as a solid background. Next, long-tap on the screen for about three seconds. The image should be filled with a solid background of your color of choice. You can also select the chisel-tip pen (right next to the main pen tip) and repeat the process to create a semi-transparent background.
#3 Mention Other Accounts in Your Instagram Stories
Tagging accounts is a great way to give a shout-out to a business, make sure a friend sees your post, or showcase an account you admire! You can tag a few people, but I don't recommend doing it too much because it can easily become spammy.
I usually tag one or two people when it makes sense; like if I'm at a winery, I will try to tag that winery and ensure that people can see the text so if they want to go visit the winery too, they can.
#4 Adding Hashtags to Instagram Stories
Instagram Stories allows you to include up to 11 hashtags. This is important because now the Stories option is at the top of the feed when someone searches for a hashtag. I have actually received many views just by using the right hashtag.
This is especially important when you mention something that is already trending, like talking about the fires when they happen with #SonomaStrong or #CampFire.
Just like you do with your Instagram feed, make sure the subject matter matches the hashtag.
You can also change up the color on your hashtags so they blend in with the background on the image.
So change up the color to match a blue sky or a tablecloth, etc and then shrink the hashtags down in your Instagram stories so they cannot be seen in the image/video (so they aren’t a distraction - but still provide the hashtag goodness of potentially getting seen by Instagram users searching that hashtag).
#5 Create A Shadow Text in Your Instagram Story
A hack that I don't do very often anymore is creating a Drop Shadow in my text. When done right, it adds a little bit of eye-catching detail. When done wrong, it looks pretty bad.
Write out a short message in your story. Next, tap the “Aa” icon again and write out the exact same message using a different color. (If you are looking to do a plain drop shadow, I like to keep it simple with white text on the top and black text underneath as an actual shadow.) Arrange the top layer of text so that it’s slightly off-center from the bottom layer of text, and there you go!
#6 Using Unfold and Instagram Stories Templates to Create More Fun Stories
Do a Google search for Instagram story templates, and you'll come across a lot of different apps you can use to add more branding to your stories. For a really simple background that looks high-end, I recommend downloading the storytelling template app called Unfold.
You can also create Instagram Story templates in Canva or the app Over on your iPhone. My personal favorite has become Canva Pro for creating Instagram Story templates which is soooooo worth the money (around $10 a month if you pay for a year). Trust me - you will use this design tool for creating all of your social media quote images, stories, videos, etc.
Test out different social media templates to see what works best for your brand, and make sure to stay consistent with style and brand colors once you pick one.
This image below was fun to create, but it wasn’t really my (colorful and playful) branding - so I never used it on my own Instagram Story.
For even more posts on Instagram Stories, I recommend:
Photography Social Media Questions: Hashtags & Reach on Instagram
If you read my last article on photography social media questions, you know I have a TON of questions I want to answer. Last week, I addressed getting started on social media, and specifically, Instagram for photographers. This week, I want to talk more about Instagram hashtags, algorithm workarounds, and what “Instagram reach” means…
1. Do too many hashtags hurt your post? What is the ideal number of hashtags per post? Should my hashtags be targeted toward what my ideal client would be using/searching?
The age-old question about hashtags on Instagram is a complicated one. Complicated because it KEEPS CHANGING! Just search “how many hashtags on Instagram” on Google, and there will be at least 10 different answers.
A year ago, the team at Instagram said that you should use all 30 hashtags (the amount you are allowed to add before they don’t link anymore)—and yes, you could use them in the first comment, and that was okay. Now we're hearing from people at Instagram that five to ten hashtags are the new “sweet spot.”
We're all trying to figure this out, and as soon as we think we know something, Instagram goes and changes it.
So, as of right now, try to use a mix of generic, specific, and regional hashtags. And don't use too many of them. Think of hashtags as the search query of Instagram—what do you want people to think of when they see your page?
When it comes to hashtags, you want to mix it up with some semi-generic and some specific ones. For example, the hashtag #photographer is basically useless. No one is searching for that, and only the people with thousands of followers or likes appear at the top of that page. It's pointless for the majority of photographers to use this search term.
Also, do you really think you will get a new client based on a generic search term? (Hint: Probably not.)
When coming up with hashtags, look at regional and local ones or dive deep into your niche. Do a search for something like #documentaryphotographer, or look at like-minded brands in your niche, see what type of content is getting engagement, and check out their hashtags. Test them out for yourself (it’s okay to copy!).
Look at hashtags that have more than one word. Those are search terms that fewer people are using, and you’re less likely to get lost in the shuffle.
Save a few sets of hashtags on a notes folder on your phone, or use a hashtag saving tool like Planoly (which is one of my favorite Instagram scheduling tools).
2. Instagram reach: Mine has gone down so much it hardly feels worth posting anymore—at least not for marketing purposes. I have a decent following but have seen reach drastically decline.
Unfortunately, you are in the same boat as everybody else. A lot of people go straight to blaming the changes of the Instagram algorithm for why they're not getting as much reach. But that's simply not true. What the Instagram algorithm does is allow you to be seen by the people who want to engage with your content, and not only by the people who are on the app at the same time that you share something.
The Instagram algorithm works so that the more you connect with someone on Instagram, the more you see their content, both on the feed and in the stories. And, I just want to remind you that that's a good thing! Right now, there is so much crap out there.
You as a small business owner in photography are competing with cat videos and politics and whatever the latest celebrity gossip is. It's overwhelming for most people, so Facebook changed up the rules of the algorithm.
When it comes to reach and engagement on Instagram, I want you to change your mindset about what Instagram can do. It isn't even about the reach that your content gets right off the bat. I want you to think about how Instagram can also be a portfolio for your work, a place for potential customers to get to know and trust you.
Think about a hotel's Instagram page. For me, I'm not going to follow a hotel just because I'm going to stay with them on my next vacation in Hawaii. What I will do, however, is look at their Instagram page while researching hotels to see what type of content they're posting. This will tell me if the location matches the type of place I’d like to stay.
Your customers are probably doing the same when looking for a photographer. They might not engage with you, but they will look at your content.
If you look at Instagram as a way to showcase your work instead of a place to get likes, then you can remind yourself that it is worth it to share content on these pages. Your potential customers are searching for and looking at your page.
Yes, engagement is important, and we will definitely talk more about that soon, but it’s not the only thing that matters on Instagram.
3. How do you use social media for marketing without going down the rabbit hole of using it for self-validation by the number of likes on the pretense of “doing marketing”? How do you not end up stalking people by engaging with them, or hanging out on SM for countless hours unproductive? I guess what I mean to ask is, is there a recipe to use SM purely for marketing without falling for its highly addictive and therefore counterproductive nature?!
I have fallen into this trap more times than I can count. It sucks your energy. I work in social media and I get exhausted by it all.
So it's not just you.
Something that I do is ensure I’m really mindful of when I am on social media now. I used to look at it at the dinner table, but I have made a point that at 5 pm, I'm going to put my phone away and spend time with my family. Maybe I'll look at social media after my kid goes to sleep around 8 pm, but that evening is for decompressing and family time. If you make social media a tameless habit, it'll take over.
If you're doing social media marketing for your business, make it a point to go on Instagram or Facebook twice a day (once in the morning and once in the afternoon). My recommendation is to ALWAYS use a kitchen timer (I am a big fan of this one from Amazon, and it’s only $6.00). There's something subconscious that clicks in your brain when you have a physical timer and you set it for 15 minutes. You can’t ignore the alarm at the end like you can if you set a timer on your phone. Spend that 15 minutes engaging with the people who matter to you, and if you do end up going down a rabbit hole, at least you haven't wasted an hour. Be purposeful of what your plan is when you engage with people on Instagram.
Spend that 15 minutes answering questions from people on your own content or in your DMs, and then spend any extra time looking through the people that you follow, leaving comments on their pages or on those of like-minded businesses.
Also, going back to former clients and leaving a comment on their latest photo could make their day.
By being purposeful, you won't have extra time to go down the rabbit hole. And, as a bonus, the more you engage with your community on Instagram, the better your reach becomes (see the previous question for more).
4. Most people say that "you have to post every day, engage with others, etc., etc.," but where is the 80/20 rule with social media? The sweet spot where you get the maximum benefit with the minimum wasted time and mental health destruction? Is it important to have "fun” and make personal posts mixed with biz posts? Ratio?
The 80-20 rule in social media really comes down to content creation. It says that 80% of your content should be light-hearted, fun, inspirational, and educational, and 20% should be promotions and calls to action to purchase something.
There really isn’t a hard and fast rule, however, when it comes to social media and maximum benefit. If you're only doing promotional stuff, people will tune you out. Social media is not an overt billboard. If you only post “fun” content, then your brand may not benefit as much as you’d like.
People come onto social media to be “social,” to see what their friends are doing, and maybe to learn more about something they're interested in. They don't want to always be marketed to.
That's what Facebook and Instagram ads are for. You can create those digital ads and share all day long, as long as your content is that ~80% of non-promotional stuff.
It is important to have fun with your social media account. If you're not enjoying the content you put out, neither are your potential customers. They choose a photographer based on if they like and trust them (both as a person and as a provider of a service, for which your pictures and style matters, too).
If you think about the Instagram feed as your portfolio, then where you can truly shine is in your descriptions and on Instagram stories by being personal. By putting yourself out there, whether it's at trade shows, networking events, or online, you allow customers to get to know you a little bit better.
It is important to share the “behind the scenes” of your own life, but always remember WHY you share it. You don’t have to share a million pictures or videos of yourself looking goofy just because Jenna Kutcher does it. You don't have to take people through your entire day. Share what makes sense for your brand, your style, and the type of customers you have.
Take a look at what content gets the most engagement and comments; look at your Instagram insights. You may see some trends.
At the end of the day, getting likes on something is fine, but knowing why people like that content is far more useful.
You don’t have to share content to your feed every day—in fact, a few times a week is okay. Try adding to your Instagram stories more, and definitely spend a good portion of your time engaging with people on your own content (and theirs). That is where the beauty of social media lies: in the relationships you build. That’s the sweet spot!
Photography Social Media Questions: Getting Started
Last week I had the pleasure of doing a one-hour video call with a Bay Area documentary photographer, Lisa Winner, who I met through the Oakland Rising Tide Society. She is an admin for a Facebook group of Documentary Family Photographers, which allows photographers from all over the world to connect, learn, and grow in their profession.
Once a month, Lisa hosts a video chat called Wine Down Wednesday, in which she does a Q&A with an expert in their field. She asked me to come on for the February video chat to answer photography social media questions—and let me tell you…
The questions we received were GOOD! Photography social media is definitely an area that photography entrepreneurs want to know more about. Most of the time, they are solo small business owners, which means that they are in charge of marketing their business, taking the pictures, sales, editing, and running the back end of their business with invoicing, accounting, and everything in between. I know firsthand from being a small business owner myself that marketing is often one of the last things on your mind. There's always something else to do when it comes to working with clients (my next blog post will be about making sure to create habits for marketing when you are running your business).
The one-hour video chat definitely didn't give us enough time to answer all of the questions, but as I said, they were good! So, I wanted to address all of the photography social media questions from the group, and since there were so many of them, I am splitting them up into a few different blog posts.
Photography Social Media Questions: Getting Started
1 Where do you start? How should you use Instagram vs. Facebook? Different content? Organic vs. paid? Pinterest?! Wtaf?
Whether you are starting a new business or haven't posted to Instagram in six months, thinking about how many things you have to do to market on social media is overwhelming.
But really, where you start (and where I started nine years ago on Instagram and 15 years ago on Facebook) is with your current connections. Connect with the people you know, even if they are not in your industry. You can also start with your current email list or personal Facebook page and let customers and friends know that you are on Instagram.
Second, just start posting. Yup. In the beginning, simply share and don't worry about being perfect. If you share enough, you will soon get the hang of the cohesive look you want to capture.
Also, when getting started, I always recommend spending more time engaging with other people than actually planning your own content. Connections matter most.
In terms of paid content, I am all for adding a little extra money to an Instagram or Facebook post if it has a specific promotion, or if it's already doing really well and people are engaging with it. Start off slow and see if it’s working—just $20 for a few days.
To be honest, I share the exact same things to Facebook and Instagram, because even if someone's following both accounts, they're not going to see your content on both (because of the differences in algorithms)—unless they're a super fan, in which case, seeing the post twice is great! I had a singer-songwriter mention to me that she was concerned about overwhelming her audience with content, and I told her not to worry about that. In all honesty, your audience is being bombarded with content from everywhere; they're probably not hanging on to your every word.
Engaging and showing up—that is what they will remember.
When talking about Pinterest, I want you to think of it as being just like Google. It is a search engine, first and foremost. A pretty one, but it is a search engine for people looking for wedding inspiration, venues, photography, cake decorations, etc. I definitely recommend spending some time devising a Pinterest strategy that incorporates dynamic pins (here are some tips for how to create dynamic pins) using a simple site like Canva, sending people to your website through Pinterest.
With one winery I worked with, we created an eCookBook of recipes that paired with their wines. We then made a Pinterest ad sending people to a landing page where they could sign up to get this free cookbook. It did remarkably well because Pinterest ads can be targeted specifically at people who are in your niche.
2. How important actually is social media in the scheme of things? Make or break? Essential? Or just another tool in the box?
I love this question because there is definitely no simple answer. Every business is different, and if you're only going to half-ass your marketing efforts in general, you're going to get half-assed results right back. I challenge you to take a look at what marketing efforts of yours have worked in the past.
Go back and ask former clients how they heard about you to begin with and what made them decide to choose you over a competitor.
Take a look at what content is working on social—you will usually start to see trends (which you will likely also see from the first bullet point). My suggestion is to double down on whatever is working for you.
For me, the majority of my clients have come from Word of Mouth. Granted, some marketing clients found me on social media or through a simple Google Search for “Sonoma County Social Media” (or now, “East Bay Social Media”)—but usually, someone they know suggested me, or they saw me at an event, looked into me online, and decided that I was the person they wanted to work with.
Which, for me, means: networking is an important part of my marketing efforts. Now that I’ve moved, I am doubling down on my networking with new East Bay small business owners.
Obviously social media is important to my business because I want to make sure that I walk the walk, but social media is also the best way for me to further the in-person connections that I make through networking.
Honestly, if I shared a picture once a week and made it a goal to go to networking events and reached out to people afterward, then I would say that social media was a success for me. Yes, you can connect through email or phone calls, too, but social media may feel more personal (and when it's more personal, people trust you more).
I can't say that social media is the most important marketing tool for every small business owner. SEO, Google reviews, email marketing, or simple in-person marketing may be better for you. But social media is one piece of the puzzle, and it’s a much more economical way to market your business than getting a booth at every single relevant conference in your area.
3. What are some of the best starter practices and strategies for a business to grow a LOCAL audience on Instagram? I don't want lots of followers, I only want LOCAL followers.
This is an important distinction to make, because many of the businesses I work with are catering to a local audience. And we all know that getting a ton of “likes” on Instagram is great for your ego, but it does NOTHING to move your business forward if the likes are from people who are far away. So, if you are looking to connect with people on social media in your area, your best bet is to focus on networking, connecting with people using regional hashtags (follow and leave a comment on their posts), and finding like-minded brands in your neighborhood to see with whom they are interacting.
For example, search for “frame stores” in your area and check out their Instagram page. Start leaving comments for the people you’d like to get in touch with.
I also go to networking events, and when I'm talking with someone I genuinely connect with, I usually say, “Hey, what's your Instagram account? I want to follow you.” Then I make sure to follow up with them and say that it was great meeting them.
4. I feel like the engagement I get on Instagram outside of my regular followers is from other photographers. I know I need to do better when it comes to engaging with my ideal clients and their communities—not just my own. Outside of changing my habits to make the effort to find and engage with them, what else can I do?
I get this question a lot from wineries because sometimes it does feel like all of the people commenting on a winery’s Instagram account are the people who work at other wineries.
I tell any marketer who mentions this to me, “You know what? People don’t want to drink wine where they work.” Just because somebody works at another winery doesn’t mean that they aren’t a potential customer of yours.
And the same goes for photographers. By engaging with this community online, you're opening up opportunities—you could potentially be a second shooter at an event for someone, or if somebody isn’t available for something, they may refer to you because you have a similar vibe. Or, if they know that the style a potential client is looking for doesn’t match their own style, but it does yours, they could recommend you. And hey, sometimes photographers need other photographers to take pictures of their own family.
In short, I understand the frustration. But don't feel like it's such a bad thing.
5. When starting a business Instagram page, what's the suggested number of times I should post in order to grow a following?
If you're just launching your Instagram page, focus on stories more than the feed. Share on your feed a few times a week, but try to show up in Instagram stories every day or every other day. This is an easy way to test out content, have fun with your community, and connect with them through features like questions, polls, and DMs.
Also, when you are just starting out, I want to remind you to put your energy into interacting with people through their own content and stories just as much as your own. At the end of the day, engaging with a community is how you grow real relationships on Instagram.
Instagram Engagement Hack
Are you looking for an Instagram Engagement Hack to help you grow your following and get more comments on your posts? I think I have found the secret sauce to true connections with your target audience on social media.
I joined Instagram in 2010 and for the first few years, I just posted random (mediocre iPhone) images from my life.
At the time, I was working for an educational technology company, so I was going to lots of conferences, and connecting with a lot of teachers. Then I went back to the wine industry and fell in love with my (now) husband, his two dogs, and a cat. They quickly moved in with me in Santa Rosa and most of the pictures I shared on Instagram revolved around them, and our adventures.
I’m not sure when Instagram changed to become so focused on sharing the best parts of our lives vs. everyday things. But somewhere over the years, Instagram became a JOB (and not just for me because I teach social media marketing). Instagram feeds are now a controlled space--everything has to have the same filter overlay, everything has to have the same brand personality, everything has to look good next to each other. Everything has to be so perfect…and well, fake.
I definitely love focusing on the core passions that make up my personal brand. But that’s only one piece of the puzzle. I’ve talked about it many times before, but social media engagement is where it’s at and everybody’s looking for hacks to get people to like and engage with your content and grow your social media following. Well... I have figured it out.
My Favorite Instagram Engagement Hack
Questions! People love answering fun questions. It can be as simple as asking if everyone is ready for happy hour to be here, or what's your favorite emoji to describe MONDAY. Fun questions encourage your community to engage back with you - and others within your social media comments. It is a physiological thing for people - the need to provide their two cents and connect with others through social media. People simply just want to talk about their experience (see the post below about cilantro) because social media is about being social (if I had a dollar for every time I have said this or written it, I wouldn't have to work anymore).
Cilantro one of those foods that is very polarizing. People either love the herb, or they hate it.
I am in the HATE category so I just want to know how people eat cilantro. In addition to asking the original question in my description, where people will either say yes or no, I then investigate further and ask them what type of dish they like cilantro with. I am generally curious because maybe one of the dishes will encourage me to finally like the herb that (for me) tastes like a combo of dirt and soap. The second question is just as important as the first one because engagement is important. Yes, you can just ask your audience a question and get a few answers... But, commenting back on what they have to say validates their response and makes people feel more connected. AND, it works both ways.
Known Fact about Social Media: People Love to Give Their Two Cents
On my Facebook page, I also look to get advice from my community for articles I’m writing for Sonoma Magazine. I’ve asked where to get the best bottomless mimosa or favorite kids restaurants in Sonoma County. And a lot of the time, people are mentioning places I already know about, but occasionally there are surprises to me, so it creates a dialogue that is more than just me talking back to people. More importantly, it makes people feel like they are part of a community as well. That’s what I love about social media. The dialogue with people, the conversations with people I know, and those I’ve never met in person.
After the article goes live, I’ll go back to that original post and share the link so everybody that commented can see it, because they’ll get a notification on their Facebook page. This type of content does a lot better than if I simply shared a link with no real context.
Questions Aren't the Only Part of Instagram Engagement
Commenting with people on their own Instagram pictures is important to creating a connection and getting them to want to leave comments on yours. So is timing. Make sure to spend a few minutes right after you post your own content to answer people back (best to do it within the first hour of you posting), and go though your list of friends or hashtags you follow and leave well thought out comments. You know, more than "Awesome pic."
If you are an Instagram Story lover like I am, you can use your stories to ask people to go to your feed and answer the question on your last blog post as well. It definitely works.. Especially if you have some fun with it!
Let’s Come up with Some Questions
Before you even think about pictures or branding or or anything like that, I want you to think of several questions you can ask your audience. Make sure it is relatable and fits with your target audience or your brand. Don’t ask about cilantro if you’re selling wine fridges.
But, if you are selling wine fridges, maybe a good question to ask is how long does wine last in your house? Or do you have wine stored in your living room?
This gets the target audience thinking about where they store their wine, or if they want to store more wine. It’s not a hard sell but it is the start of a conversation, which is exactly what every brand should want, the opportunity to have conversations with your customers, or potential customers.
Use Questions Sparingly and Intentionally For Instagram Engagement
I will say this type of hack for connecting with customers shouldn’t be used every single time. You also want to show a little bit about your personality in your content. And if you’re just asking questions for your audience then that doesn’t necessarily come across as genuine all the time.
Download my free Daily Checklist for Social Media Workbook to help get you started with figuring out what type of content you should be posting to Instagram (and social media as a whole), and/or email me if you have any questions on how to create engaging questions for your own page. I always love to talk more about content!
The Customer Journey for DTC Wineries
This past month, I was honored to be a speaker at the 13th annual DTC Wine Symposium, presented by Free the Grapes. The acronym DTC stands for “Direct to Consumer” (if you are reading this and not in the wine industry), which are the wineries that focus on their tasting rooms, eCommerce websites, wine clubs, and brand ambassadors (see the Boisset Collection for a brand ambassador program that is kicking ass).
My favorite part of this annual wine conference: it is held in Concord, only 5 miles from my new East Bay home! :) It was an easy drive for me to get over to the Concord Hilton, and I was able to host a mini meetup at one of my favorite Concord restaurants—Puesto, an artisan Mexican bar and eatery that just opened in the Veranda shopping area, right across the street from the Hilton.
I presented and spoke on a panel about the wine consumer journey with Susan DeMatei from Wine Glass Marketing and Simon Solis-Cohen from Highway 29 Creative, two wine-specific marketing agencies.
The symposium’s official description: Choosing and optimizing your marketing channels based on the customer journey.
You have a website, a social media presence, some boosted posts, and a few emails to your customers—but how do you use them together, and how often, and how much do you spend? The key to an effective marketing strategy is creating compelling content that speaks to your targeted audience based on their progress through the sales funnel. This experienced panel will walk you through the customer's journey and provide pointers on choosing the best target audience, the right channel, and the most effective messaging. Through case studies and examples of proven digital campaigns, you will learn actionable strategies that you can put into practice right away.
We took turns going through various parts of the journey with this map (created by Simon), talking to a packed room of wine marketers about understanding the various stages of the customer journey and what types of marketing tactics to use in each phase (along with some stats and wine-centric examples for each).
Simon introduced the idea and presented the first two stages. I talked through stages three through five (what we called the holy grail of wine marketing: the wine club). Susan enhanced the ideas by discussing which stage a winery marketer should focus on at what point in time. I mean, let’s be honest…most wineries don’t have the time, the budget, or the energy to focus on all of them at once.
Social Media is all about being Social...
Since my focus was on turning a one-time customer into a repeat buyer (or wine club member!), a lot of what I talked about involved how marketers can connect with their audience.
I always claim that wineries should focus on connections, and I found a stat to back that up:
57% of people will increase their spending with a brand when they feel more connected.
This was from a marketing survey via sproutsocial in early 2019. This statistic stood out to me because it confirms what I see with some of my clients—when real people feel like they have an actual relationship to a brand (whether it is the brand in-general or a staff member), they will increase their spending with that brand, especially over a competitor.
A Tip for Connecting with your Community on Social Media
A tip I provided to the room to help strengthen current connections, and even build a following: set a timer 2x a day for 10 minutes, and create a habit of engaging with your community on social media.
If you are using Instagram (which is now one of the biggest social networks for wine customers), make sure to answer all comments on your own content, respond to DMs, and thank the people who tag your brand and/or your winery’s location. Then, if you have time left, go through your feed and leave meaningful comments on your fan’s photos, and make sure to reply to other commenters on posts that have tagged you!
It takes time to create meaningful connections with your social community, but I guarantee you that the effort of crafting real relationships with your buyers (and potential buyers) increases the number of people who feel connected to your wine brand and thus become repeat buyers.
For the full presentation, check back for the link to the DTCWS website - I will make sure to share as soon as it goes live (IF?!?!)