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Jun 05
8 Unexpected Ways To Collect Customer Feedback On Instagram
By Kamal Jacob
For any online or offline business enterprise, listening to your customers is key to knowing what they want from your products or services. This can also help in improving the overall quality of your product (or service), which in turn can improve customer engagement and satisfaction.
So as a business owner, how do you listen to your customers? Through customer feedback! And how would you go about collecting the customer feedback for your brand or business? The answer is the popular social media platform, Instagram!
Image Source: https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2018/06/Instagram-design-guide_dezeen_2364_col_0-852x479.jpg
Why is Instagram a great platform for collecting customer feedback? Here are some eye-opening statistics that will surprise you:
- Over 200 Million Instgram users visit at least 1 business profile daily.
- 60% of users reveal that they have discovered new products on instagram.
- Over 25 million business profiles on Instagram
- 1 in every 3 most-viewed stories on Instagram are sourced from business ventures.
- 4 in every 5 users follow at least one business enterprise on Instagram
This means that major brands and product companies must elevate their social media marketing on Instagram, right? No, wrong. The surprising fact is that digital marketing professionals are the last people that online users want to engage with when it comes to brand-specific content on platforms like Instagram.
In fact, the 2019 IAB Buyer’s Guide reveals that Millennials place more trust in user-generated content (or UGC) than traditional marketing channels when it comes to brand marketing and advertising. In short, millennial customers are increasingly unwilling to engage with brand-centric content and even worse, may not provide any real customer feedback to the business. While customers continue to ignore brand marketing messages on social platforms like Instagram, they are increasingly engaging with user-generated content (or content created by users or customers about using a particular brand or product).
A 2017 survey revealed that 76% of the respondents trusted content created or shared by average users more than the branded content, while 100% of the respondents trusted product recommendations shared by other users like them.
Considering these industry trends, how does any established or start-up brand collect customer feedback from its Instagram platform? Here are 8 innovative marketing strategies that digital marketers have successfully implemented that are based on the power of user-generated content.
1. Using Feature Accounts
Developed entirely from UGC, feature accounts on Instagram are posts that are specific for a specific niche product or service. Examples of feature accounts include @ menandcoffee (featuring photographs of men and coffee) or the innovative @ ihavethisthingwithfloors , which (as the name suggests) is all about the best of flooring designs. As a digital marketer, the best part is all the beautiful content is captured by your customers and you do not have to pay anything for the same.
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Travel-loving users can also check the beautiful Instagram feed of @ thebalibible that is all about the best places to visit or stay on a trip to the Bali islands.
2. Go for a live feed
As a brand marketer, are you looking for the freshest and latest customer feedback? A live feed is the best online platform where your customers can be invited to attend a product launch, or an online contest, or any live event. Remember the live streaming of the Apple product launch by the online news website, UnboxTherapy. More than a million viewers just turned up to get their first view of the Apple iPhone and iPhone X.
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By user interacting with a real-time video stream of the event through their comments and questions, it enabled a real-time interaction between the brand and the user thus providing a strong sense of brand connection.
3. Make it “socially” more relevant
Are you looking to build and associate your brand with a social cause? Yes, socially relevant UGC does work on Instagram. Take the case of the denim brand, @ Levis that gives its users a sense of family love and bonding that can never go out of fashion!
Image Source: https://www.hopperhq.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Schermata-2017-07-06-alle-13.06.30.png
Swimsuit brand, Aerie with its #AerieReal hashtag campaign made a real impact by encouraging young women to post unedited photos of themselves in a bathing suit. For each of its user posts, the company pledged to donate $1 to the National Eating Disorder Association (or NEDA).
Donation-based campaigns or awareness drives are a great way for customers to associate themselves with social causes and drive better brand recognition.
4. Showcasing customer stories using Instagram Stories
When it comes to sharing customer stories or experiences, Airbnb does a great job at showcasing them using Instagram. Airbnb customers are encouraged to share their travel experiences (using the #Airbnb hashtag) using a good mix of travel photos and videos.
Image Source: https://sociallysorted.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Airbnb-using-User-Generated-Content-on-Instagram.jpg
Brands can also use customer stories to drive the audience to their own website for a promotional offer or product launch. For example, adding a CTA button like a “swipe up link” to Instagram stories can be effective in driving users to your branded content. An example of this is the Starbucks coffee brand who promoted their newly launched cold beverages by inviting users to “swipe up” on Instagram stories to place an order.
5. Leveraging Customer Testimonials
Customer Testimonials through photos of their purchased products is an ingenious way of brands leveraging UGC. A prime example of this is the online furniture brand, Wayfair that lets its customers showcase how the purchased furniture is transforming their home interiors. Here is an instance of how Wayfair responds to a user-clicked and posted image of a living room table with a circular drum design.
By combining user testimonials and attractive design, Wayfair hit upon an ingenious way to let users shop for the same item (features in a user’s home) through a shopping link.
Here’s the harsh truth for brands – Customers are more likely to leave behind negative comments about products or services that they are using. Brands must read and analyze user comments and respond appropriately to unsatisfied customers (to show that the brand truly cares about customers).
Image Source: https://www.socialpilot.co/hubfs/nike_dissatisfied_clients.png
6. Give a sneak peek at what’s happening behind the scenes
Whether it’s giving Instagram users a sneak peek to the recipe of their favourite dish or what’s happening in the backstage of a popular fashion show, this behind-the-scene posts are a great way of getting your users interested and connected to your brand.
An example of this innovative approach is how fashion brands like Marc Jacobs and Ralph Lauren used Instagram Stories during the 2017 New York Fashion Week.
Followers feel that they are part of an “exclusive club” by seeing the behind-the-scene footage that are usually only reserved to be witnessed by company insiders.
7. Make it fun
How can a boring accounting software firm promote itself through a UGC strategy on Instagram? Well, even accounting software firms can product great content. An example of this is Xero that not makes capable accounting tools but also shares how its customers are saving time on accounting and are spending more time in fun activities like skating.
What’s more? Xero does this using effective hashtags like #DoBeautifulBusiness and by also tagging their customers in their Instagram posts so that other users can follow them.
8. Monitor when Customers mention your Brand
Whether it is for sharing their brand experiences, ideas, or simply their thoughts about a brand, Instagram mention about a particular brand in different ways when posting their content. An example of this is of a @MailChimp user who posted this content after receiving free Freddie toys.
Image Source: https://www.socialpilot.co/hubfs/mailchimp_mentions%5B1%5D.png
By monitoring these brand mentions, brands can learn a lot about what their users think about them and about their online market reputation. Digital marketers can track each of their mentions and respond with a relevant response to the post.
Conclusion
As the most effective mode of collecting customer feedback, user-generated content (UGC) on the Instagram social media channel is a great way for business enterprises to promote their brands through user content. This article outlines just 8 ways in which businesses can tap into the tremendous potential and insight through content posted by their users.
That’s our take on how digital marketers must leverage the growing popularity of the Instagram platform. We would love to hear what you think. Post your frank opinion through your comments in the section below. If you are interested in a career in social media marketing or digital marketing, do click on the associated links.
Kamal Jacob
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