Instagram Has Helped Make Shopping Easier

If you are like me, you spend half of your days scrolling through your Instagram feed double tapping on different posts and watching funny videos or memes. Again if you are anything like me, we also follow way too many clothing brands and cosmetic companies that continuously post new items. When I first had Instagram, you would have to write down what the item was you were interested in and look it up separately on the internet. Now? You can just tap once on the post and a link pops up that you can click on and it will take you directly to the product page and website. How convenient is this?!

Being able to shop on Instagram makes it much easier for shoppers the buy items. Shoppers like me who have no will power when it comes to online shopping! It is also gives companies an opportunity to grow their brand awareness and open up areas for more revenue. If you are advertising the product you might as well sell the product in the same place right?

Instagram is still for watching fun videos and seeing cute posts of your friends, but branching out into a new area can be a big step in a new direction. What do you think social medias will do next to make shopping even easier for the consumer??

Written by LeAnn Frank - Intern at Rebecca Adele PR and Events

What is an “Instagram Aesthetic” and How to Establish Yours

Instagram has over 500 million active monthly users who have shared over 40 billion photos to date. Most people use this app to share photos of themselves, friends, family and good times. But for some, Instagram is where they showcase their personal brand. Have you ever had a friend say, “I can’t post this! It doesn’t match my Insta-aesthetic” and been confused? Continue reading and that confusion will disappear. You might even find yourself saying the same thing!

An Instagram aesthetic is basically a theme that all your photos follow. Whether you choose to have a dark and moody theme or a bright, pastel one, staying consistent in your theme is essential. Follow these tips below to perfect your Instagram aesthetic.

1. Download the essentials.

Apps like VSCO, Afterlight and Lightly let you edit photos and choose different filters than Instagram.

2. Think of your feed as a whole.

You want to post photos that look good next to each other so it is important to think of your feed as one. That may be a great picture you’re about to post but how does it look next to the others?

3. Change what you take pictures of.

Is your feed full of selfies? It is important to include other aspects of your life. Try photographing your morning coffee, beautiful scenery, cool street graffiti or even the cosmetics you use and be sure to spread out similar photos!

4. Edit all your photos the same

Use the same filters and settings when editing your photos. Play around with brightness, highlight and saturation until you find a look you like then continually use the same settings on your photos. This can help keep your photos consistent to your aesthetic.

5. Put your hashtags in the comment section

Hashtags can be a great way to grow your followers and get more likes. However, when you caption a photo with tons of hashtags it can look like spam. Try commenting your hashtags instead so your followers won’t see them unless they click on your comments.

6. Take your photos using the square setting on your camera.

Taking a great photo only to have it look awkward on Instagram is the worst. Use the square setting on your camera to take your pictures so you can avoid this!

Written by Katie Nutall of Rebecca Adele PR & Events

The Importance of Evolving with Social Media

With social media constantly evolving at a fast pace, it’s important now more than ever to keep up to speed with advancements. It’s crucial for companies to be using these new features of social media to reach their target markets. The first thing to remember when looking at a new update is to ask if it makes sense for your brand by analyzing who your audience is, as well as what social media platform is most viewed. Not all aspects of social media make sense for every company and their audiences.

About a year ago, Instagram adopted a new feature allowing users to post live videos as well as stories to their profile. I think that this update in particular is one of the best yet. Similar to Snapchat, the Instagram stories post photo or video (as well as boomerangs) that disappear after a 24-hour period. This allows different companies to post more content without overloading their followers with mass amounts of information and photos on their feed. Regular Instagram posts can contain captions and heavier information, while Instagram stories are quicker and can use features such as filters, stickers and writing to make posts more fun and interactive.

Some companies that could benefit from a feature such as this one would include brands that sell products that can easily be marketed through photo or video. Think of this feature as a mini advertisement showing people using the products being sold in real time. It is a great way to show off different tangible products as well as events that are directly related to a specific company and express their overall brand.

Some key-tips to posting Instagram stories for businesses are to post special offers. Due to the short amount of time that stories last, this will put incentive into the consumers mind. Also, give a behind-the-scenes look into the company. This will make viewers/customers feel like they have more of a personal connection with the brand. Another great way to cater to viewers is to show a tutorial. For example, a makeup brand could post a few quick stories showing how to use a specific product or show how a certain color or makeup looks like on different skin tones.

Be sure to keep these tips and ideas in mind when deciding whether or not to branch out deeper into the social media world!

 Written by Meagan Catalfamo from Rebecca Adele PR & Events

How to Create and Maintain a Personal Brand Online

Personal branding is the process of creating and marketing a certain image for yourself online. Basically, your personal brand is your impression and reputation in the minds of others. With the rise of social media, crafting a personal branding has never been easier. Your online presence and personal branding are closely intertwined and work together to create an image of yourself for fellow colleagues and professionals.

In order to cultivate your personal brand, you should have a presence online. In today’s day in age having a presence online is the easiest and most effective way to build a personal brand. Everyone can create an online presence simply by creating social media accounts for themselves. Making yourself a Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn is an easy and free way to create an online image for yourself. By keeping these social media profiles active and updated, you are contributing to your online presence and therefore creating a platform to build your personal brand. Be sure to post appropriate content for each social media platform. For example, you wouldn’t want to post a picture of your dog with his or her new toy on LinkedIn. That content is more appropriate for Facebook or Instagram. Another great personal branding tip is to give all your social media profiles a consistent look and feel.

So how do we create and maintain our personal brand? The first step to perfecting a personal brand is to express who you are. Having your education, professional experience, skills and specializations available for others shows people who you are, what you are capable of, and what you plan to do in the future.  Be sure to highlight your strengths, this is what will help you encompass who you are while emphasizing your most important features. In addition to this, showing your personality and interests will really diversify and personalize your brand. This is arguably the most important aspect of your personal brand since it helps you stand out and differentiate yourself from everyone else. Be sure to be as honest and authentic in this component.

Your personal brand is also built off of personal and professional relationships. This includes who you are connected with online and what these people say about you. Your personal brand is also built off of who and what you follow. Following influencers and communities online can really help you encompass who you are, what you are interested in and knowledgeable about, and what you stand for.

If you keep these guidelines in mind, you’ll be able to craft a personal brand for yourself online that will positively portray yourself to your colleagues and professionals.

Written by Emma Bevilacqua from Rebecca Adele PR & Events

Out with the Old, in with the New: Instagram Introduces New Logo

Recently, Instagram released a new logo and most of the Internet freaked out. The Facebook-owned photo-sharing app removed its universal tan-and-brown camera logo for a vibrant design with a white camera outline inside. Instagram’s other apps – layout, Hyperlapse and Boomerang – also have similar redesigns.

It seems like “insta-lovers” aren’t big on change, some users had some pretty strong reactions to the new look.

The big question is why the change? Instagram said the change reflects the developments the company has made since its launch in October 2010. According to Ian Splater who is head of design for Instagram, “The instagram logo and design was beginning to feel, well…not reflective of the community, and frankly we thought we could make it better,” he writes in a post on Medium.

It is obvious that the new app was inspired by the previous app icon. They also made improvements to how the instagram app looks on the inside as well. The design is supposed to make the app feel simpler. The design allows there to be more focus on the photos and videos users post without changing how you navigate the app. Although this is the most noticeable change to this app, it is also implementing updates that will have a more significant impact on marketers.

The Instagram community has progressed over the past five years from a place to share filtered photos too much more.  Instagram’s fresh new look reflects how diverse and lively your story telling has become.

Written by Carly Wiegand of Rebecca Adele PR & Events

Despite the Confusion and Backlash, the Instagram Algorithm Change is Actually a Good Thing

Instagram recently rocked the social media world by announcing that they would no longer show posts in chronological order, and would adopt a newsfeed order similar to Facebook’s. Instead of showing posts in order, the new algorithm will rely on a variety of markers such as relevancy and number of post engagements. 

The intent of this new algorithm is to provide users with a more personalized feed, showing posts that the user is likely to find interesting first.

Instagram’s announcement of this change was met with immediate opposition. A petition even took off on Change.org request Instagram to continue using the chronological feed. The fear stemmed from concern that Instagram’s feed would become too similar to Facebook’s.

In January 2015, Facebook updated its algorithm to include less promotional content from business pages. As a result, Facebook users saw fewer promotional posts from business pages in their newsfeeds. This upset many business owners, as they felt their content was now going to be seen by fewer Facebook users, which had a negative impact on their business.

Although Instagram’s algorithm change seems similar to Facebook’s, there is one very important difference: Instagram does not separate business accounts from personal accounts. Instagram’s algorithm change does not mean that users will see fewer promotional posts from businesses, it only means that users will see content they are likely to consider interesting first in their feeds.

Since the new algorithm takes into account relevancy and popularity, Instagram analytics will become increasingly important with the algorithm change. Businesses should track analytics to determine the effectiveness of posted content and make necessary adjustments to increase interactions and the number of post engagements.

The algorithm change may actually be beneficial to businesses. If you post fabulous content, it will pop up at the top of your followers’ newsfeeds, even if you posted it several hours ago. So now is the time to make sure your businesses’ Instagram content is the best it can be.

Written by Samantha Weisner of Rebecca Adele PR & Events