If you’re looking to create social engagement there probably isn’t a better platform at the moment than Instagram. With thousands of #followtrain groups from interiors to cars to fashion it won’t be long until you have lots of new insta-friends all liking your posts and following your account!
For any brand wishing to engage with an audience this is a great way to get involved directly with a potential consumer. What’s more you’ll also be addressing a collective group already in the marketplace for your specific product. This is a marketing dream because you don’t need to spend so much time, money and effort on market research and audience research trying to establish where your audience actually is. You’d have targeted campaigns direct to consumer in no time at all. It really is insta-ntaneous! (did you see what we did there?!).
The #followtrain groups also help you as a business to see who else is working in your space, either competitively (always good to be aware of) or potential introducers and partners for collaboration. Brand collaboration can significantly enhance your marketing reach and is something I’ve talked about before in previous articles. In fact any social media channel gives you the opportunity to network but somehow Instagram (and possibly Twitter too, though it’s less visual) seems to work best and is where hashtag follow groups have really taken off.
I think this could potentially be due to the posts which nine times out of ten are visually inspiring. Usually filtered and enhanced within an inch of their life to achieve the optimum visual impact – naturally, but also now amazingly ‘staged’ with associated props as if for a magazine shoot when the reality is they were most probably shot on an iPhone in someone’s kitchen not in a photography studio on a professional camera with specific lighting… and further to this, the post is probably of their cup of tea with fresh cut flowers, rose petals scattered and the finest biscuits. Isn’t that how everyone takes their afternoon tea?
The fact is followers love a great shot, they also love to see lifestyle and people enjoying a new product. Also aspirational lifestyle sells and if you can get your consumer to post pictures of your new product to their own audience your marketing is definitely going in the right direction. In my mind there is no better product endorsement than a customer taking the time to share with their friends and followers just how great a decision it was to make that purchase!
So I got to thinking how could all this translate into the property sector and I guess the instinctive answer is ‘interiors’. People love their homes, they love to see home trends and they love to show others what they have achieved in their own home with their inspiration and budding interior design skills!
For me, working within the property section a quick search on Instagram and the perfect interior follow hashtag came up #MYHOUSETHISMONTH – actually I’ll be honest I already knew about them as I had a go at one of their ‘post per day’ month long challenges… I made it to day 4!! Honestly these challenges are not for the faint hearted, well not if you’re as much of a perfectionist as I am! Some of the posts of people’s homes are literally House & Garden quality and I think I spent far too long faffing and arranging my cushions correctly for the perfect post!
However… I’m about to do it all over again and this time for our residential apartment building in Manchester @PomonaWharf with the wonderful people from @MyHouseThisMonth founded by @littlehouseinlondon for their May interiors photo challenge!
This time however there will be no faffing (well hopefully not as I’ve not seen the posts for the challenge yet!) because I have a wonderful stock of images from our trips to Manchester with our photographer (trust me that’s not cheating you should see the quality of some of the images people post!!) and what’s more we also have some actual resident collaboration to assist me with the challenge and bring real #PomonaInspired interiors to our followers! We’re calling our group #MyPomona and I literally can’t wait to see how this goes. Of course May would have to be a 31 day month but this time I hope to get much further than day 4!
If you’re considering joining in with any Instagram follow group and you have a commercial element to your posts there are however a few things you might like to check. Apart from the obvious of which group is appropriate do check with the hosts and make sure they are comfortable with your involvement. Remember this isn’t just about your product or service, you are entering into a group so be courteous. Promote your host(s) and associated partners. Follow their accounts, like and promote their posts too. This should be a positive collaborative and engaging process as well as bringing your brand/product or service to their market place. Also remember that any giveaways or promotions are not endorsed by Instagram.
So join in, have fun and get involved. It’s what social media is all about after all!
If you’d like to see how we get on just follow @PomonaWharf on Instagram along with @MyHouseThisMonth Follow the hashtags #MyHouseThisMonth and #MyPomona – feel free to like and comment too!
To the best of my knowledge no residential building has ever taken part in such a challenge so it’s a real Insta-First!!
James is Marketing and PR Manager for Countrywide’s Estate and Asset Management and Property Auction divisions.
The #BeMoreSocial column was created for Flat Living and its goal is to drive more effective communication within the property management industry.
If you have a customer service experience using any form of marketing or social media that you’d like to share then tweet @JamesBiley and @FlatLivingLoves using the #BeMoreSocial.
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