Instagram Best Practices for Beauty Companies
Utilizing social media platforms is a great way to promote business initiatives while attracting new customers. How you use each social media site will depend on the platform itself, the audience, and the site’s tools. Below is an outline of how beauty brands can use the social media site Instagram and its features to promote its business.
- Setting up the brands business account and profile
- Creating and uploading captivating content
- Utilizing Instagram analytics for social media strategy
- Engaging with the brands audience and consumers
- Recruiting influencers and ambassadors
- Hosting giveaways, contests, and marketing campaigns
Setting up the brands business account and profile
When creating an Instagram account, it is essential to make sure the brands profile is set to business. This will allow for using features such as Instagram Insights, Ads, Promoted Content, and Inbox Management.
After setting the account to business, it’s essential to establish the brand’s essence, voice, and personality. This can be done by placing a profile picture of the logo, utilizing the bio section to describe the business, and adding valuable links to the brands website and services. Below is an example of two thought-out Instagram bios that allow a brand’s voice to peak through and two that do not achieve this goal.
Good Example:
Rare Beauty and Too Faced Cosmetics both include a bio that not only demonstrates what kind of company they are but goes beyond in highlighting the initiative behind their brand. For example, Rare Beauty is a supporter of mental health awareness, while Too Faced prides itself on being cruelty-free. This gives the audience a better understanding of the brand’s tone and personality apart from the products and services they are selling. Additionally, they both optimized their profiles for ideal use by including links to their website and messaging.
Bad Example:
Dior Makeup and Anita Brand Makeup & Hair both failed to utilize their Instagram bio to display their brand’s tone and personality, leaving little detail for the consumer to learn about their company beyond just buying products. Viewers crave authenticity and want to know what makes the brand different from the rest. According to Stackla data “A whopping 90% of consumers said that authenticity is important when deciding which brands they like and support.” When thinking about the cosmetic company, think about why it was started. Is it to empower individuals, create a more inclusive beauty industry, spark creativity, or support a separate cause? Identifying the brands initiative apart from just selling beauty products is essential when creating an Instagram presence.
Creating and uploading captivating content
When uploading, it’s important to consider the technical formalities of the brands content and overall goals. Does this post meet the ideal pixels and character count? Are hashtags and location utilized sufficiently? Is it on-brand for the company, and does it provide helpful information? Below are basic tips that a company should follow when posting to Instagram.
Basic Posting Tips
- Make sure that the content created is correctly formatted. If you post a blurry or cut-off photo, this will make the post less appealing to the viewer and result in less engagement and reach. Third-party apps such as Canva provide tools to help you with formatting your content. Below is an example of an ideal instagram post in comparison to an unappealing post.
Example:
Both of these photos include a collage of makeup. One is executed in a way that is pleasing to the viewer because it is a clear and crisp image. The other photo is a reused image from Snapchat, which explains its blurry and cropped appearance. Avoid reusing content from other social media platforms that do not have the same pixels and dimensions as Instagram.
Dimensions for different Instagram posting formats:
2. Plan your feed ahead of time. Using third-party apps such as Feed Preview can help you plan the brands profile page to match it’s aesthetic. For example, having a color scheme and balance of different content will captivate viewers and make them want to scroll through posts even longer. This will result in increased website visits and engagement.
Good Example:
Bad Example:
3. Write a meaningful Instagram caption. The average attention span of a human is 8 seconds, and it’s getting shorter as time goes on. Too long of a caption will lose the reader’s attention. Too short of a caption will not inform a viewer enough. Aim for 130–150 characters in length. Additionally, it should demonstrate a call to action such as “check out,” “comment below,” “click the link,” or pose a question to the viewer in getting them to do more than just like on your post.
4. Use a mixture of 5–10 macro and micro hashtags. Macro hashtags are broad (#makeup, #mascara, #beauty, #cosmetics), while Micro hashtags are more niche and pickup on the details of the post (#glossier, #crueltyfree, #veganbeauty). Having a combination of both present in the instagram captions or comment section will allow for optimal reach. Additionally, it can be beneficial when conducting a marketing campaign for the brand.
5. Include links within your Instagram post. For example, if you’re posting a picture of a cosmetic product, including a direct link to that product from the post will allow the viewer to purchase it faster rather than having them click a link in your bio. Again, accessibility to the brand is critical when creating content.
Example of hashtag use and links to products:
Utilizing Instagram analytics for social media strategy
After posting consistently, Instagram will provide analytical data about the brands Instagram performance. This includes new followers and lost followers, weekly profile views, impressions, number of posts, reach, and website clicks. Additionally, you can see detailed demographic data about the brands followers, such as when they are active on Instagram, their gender, age, and location. Using the insights and analytics when creating content and posting is critical. It allows you to understand who the audience is and what they want from the brands social media presence. In addition, monitoring the brands Instagram Insights will give you the answers to what is working for the account and what is not when planning the brands social media strategy.
Instagram Analytics Tricks:
One of the most useful analytic tools is Active Times. This allows you to examine what days and times the brands followers are mostly online. Narrow it down to two or three days out of the week that followers are most active when planning posts and strategies. Consistency is vital when posting to Instagram, and doing so when followers are active will guarantee social media engagement.
Pay attention to the brands content trends. Instagram insights break down what content is performing the best from Posts, Stories, IGTV Videos, Live Videos, and Reels. Examine which formats are getting the most engagement to tailor the brands content creation and fine-tune messaging strategies. If a post is successful, utilize the paid promotion to reap an ROI from that post.
Engaging with the brands audience and consumers
After creating the brands Instagram presence, you’ll begin to see the audience develop. If you’re posting meaningful content, followers will start to engage with the posts, such as liking, commenting, reacting, and sharing. Some will send a private message or DM with inquires or concerns. How you respond publicly and privately will heavily represent and impact the brand.
Tone and Personality Tips and Tricks for Social Media
- Be relatable and understanding in content and responses to followers
- Use emojis to convey professional but uplifting emotions
- Be creative, on-brand, and relevant in your responses
- Avoid spam language such as “Buy Now” “DM Us”
Below are two examples of how-to and how not to respond and engage with your audience.
Good Example:
Anastasia Beverly Hills demonstrated a creative, helpful, and neutral-toned response to their two customers. Responding professionally but with a spark of personality is the best way to represent a fun and colorful beauty brand. Keeping in mind the brands systems for customer service is key in how you will direct the customer and respond to their comments or messages.
Bad Example:
Z Palette was highly unprofessional in their responses to their customers and followers. This resulted in the brand facing backlash from consumers, with screenshots of their comments further circulating on the internet. Remaining professional and on brand in your engagement with costumers is vital.
Recruiting Influencers and Ambassadors
The best way to market a beauty brand is to have others market it for you. According to Forbes, “influencer marketing is growing faster than digital ads.”Recruiting influencers or starting an ambassadors program for the beauty brand is a great way to get the name in front of new eyes that maybe prior strategies weren’t accessing. Having representatives that demonstrate the brand from all different backgrounds and regions will attract potential customers. Additionally, influencers know how to persuade their followers, as people are more likely to look up to a public figure rather than a company. Privately message or email influencers who reflect the brands initiatives in developing a plan to work with them.
Hosting giveaways, contests, and marketing campaigns
Once the brand is more established on the Instagram platform, start thinking about creative ways to engage it’s audience through giveaways, contests, and marketing campaigns.
Giveaways & Contests
Hosting giveaways and contests on Instagram will help promote the brand. Having followers like, comment, tag friends, and share posts for a chance to win a product or prize will help market the company to their own followers and, in return, increase the reach of the business.
Example:
Marketing Campaigns
Utilizing Instagram to debut a marketing campaign for a product line or upcoming launch is a great way to spread the word. Setting interactive trends through marketing initiatives is key to further engage with the brands consumers. This can be done by creating a hashtag for the brands social media campaigns and inspiring others to partake in it through their creative means. It will also encourage user-generated content to be curated that can then be utilized on the brands business platform.
Example:
Rare Beauty #rarereminder campaign aimed to promote positive self-talk.
Overall, Instagram has many valuable and evolving tools to promote business initiatives. Being authentic, uploading relevant content, analyzing strategies, and including creative means of promoting the brand is an investment that will help the beauty company blossom online.
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