We recently ran a campaign on Instagram for a client to increase their profile visits, to thus increase their following on their Instagram platform.
We used 9 - second animation that performed extremely well on Facebook when we used it for a Campaign to increase their Facebook page likes and followers – when we say it performed extremely well, I mean, it was garnering likes and follows within minutes of it launching.
Fast forward a couple of weeks later, we were not seeing the uptick in Instagram followers that we would have liked to. So of course, like any good digital marketer, we took a step back and looked at the data (because as a Marketer you should LOVE data) and I noticed something. A lot of people were engaging with the ad and watching the video either to the bitter end, or at least halfway, or 75% through. Obviously, people were enjoying the video because they were engaging with it, but why was this not translating into more Instagram likes.
That’s when it hit me – people were watching this video. You are probably sitting there reading this and thinking well DUH… BUT what I mean is people were watching the video, aka watching it AND FORGETTING why they are there in the first place, and forgetting what we have asked them to do -follow the account.
Ahhhh haaaaa – see, that makes total sense doesn’t it – especially with a platform like Instagram where they make you complete two actions for a Campaign designed to increase followers (1, click “Go To Profile” and then 2, click “Follow”) whereas Facebook, and Twitter, you see the ad, and you can literally click “Like” or “Follow” while you are watching the video, or right after because it is right next to the ad and then BAM, you’re done.
So what did we do – we changed the creative to be a static image, made sure to include action-orientated language in the caption to remind users what to do because let's face it, we are all really busy people and sometimes we need a little reminder, relaunched it, and in just 6 days we had double the amount of followers that we had in almost a month with the previous ad.
As a digital marketer, you have to put yourself in the user's shoes… or fingertips in this case and think of how you consume media AND remember to look at the user journey if you want them to take action like following or liking a page – remember to outline the steps, and not have distractions for them or users may engage with you, but not in the way that matches up to your Campaign goal.