New Tagging Feature on Instagram Could Be a Big Benefit for Brands
Generally speaking, “tags” are used as a way of categorizing and grouping like things together. In social media they are used to connect relevant ideas, images, etc and create trends. This is true for any social network that allows the use of tags.
Instagram allows tagging
Instagram allows tagging in its own way. Before the system was a bit disorganized and notifications were all the inkling a brand might have that users were mentioning them.
Now there is a “Pictures of You” feed on your brand’s profile page that you can use to view any images that you have been tagged in. This presents a unique opportunity for brands who might have not been able to keep tabs on people who mentioned or tagged them in their images. Now there is a neat little feed available that you can use at any time to engage with your fans and followers on Instagram.
This might be your brand’s only chance on Instagram
Facebook (which owns Instagram) has said that it will not be monetizing Instagram with ads, so tagging and this new “Pictures of You” feed might be the only chance brands have to create a presence of sorts and advertise on Instagram.
How can your brand take advantage of these new changes?
The “Pictures of You” feed enables brands to better track who is mentioning them, how they are being mentioned, and perhaps even how often a certain person is tagging them in images.
What sorts of things can you do with this information?
You could use this information to identify loyal fans of your brand and reward these individuals in some way such as a “shoutout” on Instagram, an exclusive coupon or discount code, a gift (if they are a recipient of a giveaway or contest your brand held), or perhaps something else?
Instagram is still growing and changing; it is certainly changing the way we view social media, and visual social media especially. It is a prime example of ways brands can (and will) adapt to meet the needs of their target audience and go to their audience in order to better serve them.
There were times in the past (and there are still some cases of this today) when the customer had to go to the brand for everything including advertising. These days it is more about the brand coming to the consumer and social channels like Pinterest and Instagram are prime examples of this trend.
Your takeaway
This new twist on tagging might just be the break some brands needed to break out into the Instagram community. The key to making the most of this feature will be to encourage users to tag you. Make sure that you are only being tagged in relevant images, even if the relevance is a little abstract it is okay as opposed to something that just has no relevance whatsoever.
Comments:
How does your brand use Instagram?
