Social Media Mockups & Research
Social Media
Social media has become an important part of businesses' marketing strategies, according to Beveridge, C, Lauron, S. & Hootsuite (2023) there are "over 4.74 billion people across the world" using social media. "Social media differs from so-called mainstream media in that anyone can create, comment on, and add to social media content. Social media can take the form of text, audio, video, images, and communities" (Scott, 2017, p.38). Social media is a powerful tool for businesses of all sizes. It's an excellent platform for connecting with customers and promoting products or services.
For our project, we decided we needed an Instagram account as this is a popular platform among our target audience as "users aged 25-34 are the biggest cohort of Instagram users" (Beveridge, C, Lauron, S. & Hootsuite, 2023). An Instagram account would also work as free advertising. "In these times, having a business yet not having an Instagram account means being left behind" (Tucker, 2022). Instagram is a great platform for businesses with visually appealing products, as its content focuses on images and videos. Businesses can post photos and videos of the products and services that they offer and use hashtags to make sure they reach a wider audience. They can also post reels sharing what goes on behind the scenes, which will help followers feel more involved with the business. They can also share customer reviews they have received, as this helps to build trust and loyalty with the audience. Instagram offers lots of engagement features such as comments, likes, and direct messaging, this means businesses are able to interact with their audiences and build relationships with their customers, and form a connection.
Instagram can help you build brand awareness and recognition. You can use branded hashtags, consistent branding, and user-generated content to create a cohesive and recognisable brand image.
Instagram can be a powerful tool for driving traffic to your website and increasing sales. By including links in your bio, Instagram stories, and shoppable posts, you can direct your audience to your website or online store, increasing the chances of making a sale. Another tool for increasing traffic is using Instagram adverts, "advertising on Instagram is experienced as more entertaining compared to other platforms" (Voorveld, H. A. M, Noort, G. V., Muntinga, D. G., & Bronner, F. 2018). This aspect seems more suited to our target audience of creative graduates, as a more entertaining advert would be more appealing to them and "Globally, Instagram is Gen Z's favorite social media platform". (Beveridge, C, Lauron, S. & Hootsuite, 2023) "If you want to reach the younger generation, Instagram is one of the best resources online. Gen Z might be young, but they hold significant influence over at least half of family spending" (The 60 Second Marketer, 2019). Gen Z consists of people born between 1997 and 2013, aged 10-26, this includes the majority of our target audience (21-28 year olds).
Overall, having an Instagram account can benefit businesses by helping them connect with a larger audience, and display their products on their profile. It can also help with building brand awareness and helping people recognise the brand. I looked into a few of our competitor's social media to understand what was working for them.
Competitors
East Street Arts
They use emojis in their social media posts which adds a sense of personality and helps to capture their audience's attentention.
They also use rhetorical questions. This serves as a way to boost engagement rates as their viewers will be encouraged to interact with their posts. The use of rhetorical questions also creates a feeling of connection and conversation between them and their viewers.
They also use a positive and friendly tone with a professional and informative approach. Their communication style is approachable and welcoming.
Grid Posts
- They don't use their logo on every post - which suggests they create a brand identity without relying on a logo alone.
- High-quality images - create a professional look and can create a feeling of confidence for their viewers.
- They don't use much text - rely on images and visual elements, this is effective as on social media viewers' attention spans are short.
- Bright vibrant colours - this is eye-catching, which is a key part of social media as viewers are constantly scrolling past. Bright colours also create happy and positive feelings, which would appeal to their audience.
Reels
- Putting up work on walls - helps the viewers feel involved and part of the process, creating a sense of community.
- People dancing at a social event - show the viewer how fun their events can be.
Jerwood Arts
- The language they is very professional and formal this portrays that they are professional and credible.
- Their posts are Informative by including dates, times and locations - this helps to get information out to their viewers.
Grid Posts
- Bold & contrasting - makes the feed look more interesting and engaging.
- Vibrant - helps to make the feed more memorable and eye-catching. Also, by using a consistent colour pallete throughout their feed helps to create a brand identity.
- Candid and posed - candid images capture genuine moments and emotions, while posed photos can be used to show specific products or events. By using a mix of candid and posed photos, a social media feed can feel more well-rounded and interesting for viewers.
- Minimal Text - helps keep the post focused on the visuals and not overrun with text.
Reels
Sharing who the speakers are for their upcoming event
A reel about launching their new bursary
Voice memo of a talk
Sharing a new work fund
Snapshots from their exhibition
Introducing new programs
Video of someone talking about their work
Instagram Workshop
In January, I attended a workshop organised by the enterprise team at the university called 'How to Grow Your Instagram Following'. The workshop featured a speaker named Bethan, who is the founder of 'Pretty in Paper By B'.
Bethan's talked about how she used to use watermarks on her images but stopped doing this after social media coaches became sceptical about their effectiveness in influencing the algorithm. Bethan also felt that watermarks were no longer an effective way of stopping people from stealing her content, as there are now a lot of apps that could remove watermarks easily. She decided to stop using the watermarks, as they added an unnecessary extra step to her to do list.
Bethan discussed her tips on choosing a profile photo for Instagram. She explained that the choice of the photo should depend on the goal you are trying to achieve with the platform. If your aim is to increase brand loyalty or customer attention, using a photo of yourself would help to do this. Although, if your goal is to increase brand awareness, using your logo as the profile photo would be the best choice. Bethan talked about how she started off with using a logo as her profile photo but then ended up switching to a photo of herself, as she noticed her audience was connecting with her brand through her personal experiences and leaving her comments asking about her as an individual. She mentioned it made more sense to use her face rather than a logo.
Bethan also talked about creating a bio on Instagram. She suggested focusing on three key things - content, credibility, and call to action. Content should answer the question of why people should follow you and what you offer. Credibility can be established by highlighting your qualifications and years of experience. Call to action could be linking your mailing list or your website as this can help convert followers into customers.
Overall, Bethan's advice was very informative and helpful and I plan to keep these tips in mind when it comes to creating our own Instagram account.
Instagram Mockup
I created mockup posts for our instagram, using our brand colours.
Talk about what i did, why I did it, what I learned, reflective writing, colours used, fonts used, type of posts, posting schedule, how to make it innovative, content - why used camera, why shot in studio, when to post, days and times.
Weintraub. (2013). The complete social media community manager's guide : essential tools and tactics for business success. Wiley.
Floor 6 - Loan Collection ; 006.754068 WEI
https://www-jstor-org.libaccess.hud.ac.uk/stable/jamewatworass.105.6.45?pq-origsite=summon&seq=8<br>
5 steps to follow
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/hud/reader.action?docID=4915575&ppg=79<br>
Defines social media in this
https://www.proquest.com/docview/2230486012/A01562D7B34A4F2DPQ/1?accountid=11526<br>
"Instagram allows brands to write a story and capture the imagination through strong use of images and themes using hashtags. It's like a mix between Twitter and Facebook, but yet has its own unique rhythm."
"A business profile helps you appear more professional and separates your business activities from personal activities."
"Your first step, if you haven't taken it already, is switching to a business account on Instagram. You can switch a current account by going to Settings and then choosing "Switch to Business Profile." A business profile allows you to:
- Add a contact button.
- Run ads.
- Study analytics and get a better handle on your Instagram audience."
"If you want to reach the younger generation, Instagram is one of the best resources online. Gen Z might be young, but they hold significant influence over at least half of family spending" - Talk about average gen of graduates
"The digitally native generation prefers Instagram, with 72 percent stating they use the platform. If you want to reach younger people, Instagram is a must"
"Photos of your product are interesting, but they don't engage the user. Instead, look for opportunities to create engagement with your content. Ask your customers to use your product and create a post, run a contest, add a video on the many different ways to complete a task that relates to the industry you're in, or interview an expert in the industry and share a short clip of the interview and a link to the remainder."
"Just as with other social media platforms, there are times when people are more active on Instagram than others. As a rule of thumb, between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. is when people are most active. However, you'll want to study your specific audience and ascertain what times they interact most with your posts. Once you have a range of time when your followers are most active, consistently schedule posts for that window."
https://www.proquest.com/docview/2218842687/A0274DBF909949ADPQ/1?accountid=11526<br>
The popularity of social network sites is most clearly observed among young adults with many of them having at least one social network account and logging on to them at least once a day (Duffett, 2015; Gangadharbatla, 2008; Raacke and Bonds-Raacke, 2008; Ting et al., 2015).
Some studies suggest that when images on social network sites are of high quality, they are more likely to produce positive affective experiences for members (Colliander and Marder, 2018; Jeong et al., 2009)
However, while the quality of an image is important, the image must abide by the rules of the medium to remain likeable and credible. Specifically, social network sites are informal platforms for communications and as such, informal snapshots may work better than formal studio shots
https://www.proquest.com/docview/2631664784?pq-origsite=summon<br>
"In these times, having a business yet not having an Instagram account means being left behind. The "in" thing is being seen and followed on IG"
"Social media has become the new playground for both entrepreneurs and clients."
"Along with your profile photo, your logo and branding must be visible all the time. Establish it and create a layout that would be presentable and relevant to the type of business you are engaged in."
"Market research or simple observation of what the competitors do with their own online businesses, specifically in Instagram."
"You're supposed to have a clear map of how your content is supposed to be arranged when you do it online. From the images to the descriptions, the videos and the engagement you intend to employ – all are supposed to work together for good."
"The purpose of a content calendar is for you not to miss your engagements. Post on a regular basis and never lose interaction with your target buyers."
"Over 4.74 billion people across the world use social media"
"Over 93% of internet users are social media users"
"Men aged 55-64 are the demographic that uses social media the least
"Women aged 16-24 years old use social media the most, spending an average of 3 hours and 10 minutes per day on social media"
"Instagram is the fourth most popular social networking site in the world"
"Users aged 25-34 are the biggest cohort of Instagram users"
"Globally, Instagram is Gen Z's favorite social media platform"
"Facebook boasts 2.93 billion monthly active users (MAUs), which is 36.7% of the world's total population"
"Facebook is the most-used social media platform in the world"
"Over 77% of Facebook users also use Instagram"
"66% of Facebook users visit a local business page at least once a week"
https://www.proquest.com/docview/2768587428?pq-origsite=summon<br>
"The first key element to consider in building a presence on IG is consistency, and establishing a recognizable and relatable presence with every post."
"On this, Instagram offers these three guide notes:
The most specific posting note here is to develop a style that remains consistent throughout your posts, based on colors used, settings, stickers, emoji etc.
Establish what you want your brand look on Instagram to be, which will then help you build a more unique and definitive brand presence in the app.
In terms of product shots, you should look to get a mini-studio, of sorts, together where you can take photos on a solid background with proper lighting and staging. This doesn't have to be an expensive set-up necessarily – check out these tips from Canva."
"In terms of captions, Instagram offers these caption tips:
"So, essentially concise, to the point, and encouraging action (for brand posts), which means including a CTA at the end"
"In terms of when to post, according to data from Sprout Social, the current best times to post on IG are Mondays at 11 am, Tuesdays and Wednesdays between 10am and 2pm, and Thursdays and Fridays between 10am and 12pm." - talk about consistency so everyday at the same time 11am.
References
Beveridge, C & Lauron S. Hootsuite. (2023, January 26). 160+ Social Media Statistics Marketers Need in 2023. https://blog.hootsuite.com/social-media-statistics-for-social-media-managers/#General_social_media_statistics%3Cbr%3E
Scott, D. M. (2017). The New Rules of Marketing and PR : How to Use Social Media, Online Video, Mobile Applications, Blogs, Newsjacking, and Viral Marketing to Reach Buyers Directly (6th ed.). John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/hud/detail.action?docID=4915575.
The 60 Second Marketer. (2019, May 13). 11 Tips on Exceptional Instagram Marketing. https://www.proquest.com/docview/2230486012/citation/7AC867D85F0743E7PQ/1?accountid=11526
Tucker, D. (2022, February 22). Instagram Tips for Brands and Businesses In 2022. https://60secondmarketer.com/2022/02/22/instagram-tips-for-brands-and-businesses-in-2022/
Voorveld, H. A. M, Noort, G. V., Muntinga, D. G., & Bronner, F. (2018). Engagement with Social Media and Social Media Advertising: The Differentiating Role of Platform Type. Journal of Advertising, 47, 38-54.