Hasta La Creative!

Instagram is undoubtedly one of the most influential social networks available in today’s social landscape. With over 200 million users sharing upwards of 20 billion photos, the mobile platform is fertile ground for brands looking to connect with an exceedingly captive audience.

However, Instagrammers are notoriously resistant to direct advertising on Instagram, and the platform has only recently begun to cautiously implement promoted posts. Overall, users have been fairly receptive to the ads, but with all the marketing potential Instagram holds, there are much more effective means for engaging consumers on the social platform.

Currently, advertising on Instagram generally falls into two categories: celebrity endorsements and spam. Celebrities are a natural choice for brands looking to market due to their massive following and presumed influence. However, the misconception is that they are the most effective.

The New York Times recently highlighted the value of Instagram’s influence over traditional advertising saying, “for the millennial generation, which spends a lot of time scrolling through social media feeds, Instagram influencers are far more important than celebrities.”

Here are several ways brands can leverage social media influencers and benefit from native advertising:

1. Use influencers to amplify your brand and reach your audience

Instagram is a boiling pot of visual gratification across an endless spectrum of interests, which allows companies to expand their brand awareness across a variety of verticals, while also targeting specific demographics.

Using Instagram influencers humanizes your brand allowing you to tell compelling stories from a consumers perspective. This is an effective means for reaching your audience in an way that is authentic and native to them.

Influencers of everything from fashion and food to sports and entertainment provide brands with an endless opportunity to reach new consumers of all walks of life, increasing potential for possible customer conversion.

2. Use influencers to track campaign success

Success of ad campaigns usually boils down to the numbers, but there’s actually lot of value in measuring how meaningful your brand’s campaign is in terms of influence. Measuring influence goes beyond number of followers to examine quality of followers as well as their intent to purchase, and overall brand awareness and sentiment.

Instagram content is easily consumed, and also encompasses a vast amount of valuable marketing data that can be analyzed to help your brand identify what content consumers are most responsive toward as well as what influencers and followers are most engaging. Brands can then quickly make strategic adjustments to optimize results.

3. Connect with a network to quickly identify top influencers for your brand

Influencer networks are perhaps the most effective way to discover and match brands to influencers as they can effectively vet influencers, review their accounts and evaluate analytics to be sure it’s the best fit. As well, influencers are comforted knowing they are compensated through a reputable network.

Instagram’s “explore page,” formerly known as the “popular page,” (and now the new People page) is also a great way to discover influencers. The updated explore page includes more targeted results based on photos you’ve liked and people you follow as well as their respective followers, making it a great way for brands to identify their target audience on Instagram and engage influencers in that space.

4. Monitor hashtags, tags and mentions, and make adjustments

Instagram makes a conscious effort to restrict spam and junk posts by prohibiting web links in photo comments; however, influential Instagram users often connect with brands and introduce them to their audience through hashtags, tags and mentions.

Utilizing these tools is beneficial for brands because they connect your audience to a point of purchase, while also building awareness for brands and creating a social presence that demonstrates consistent use of the brand.

Brands can leverage this by consistently monitoring tags to see what works as well as creating new tags that highlight current campaigns and prompt Instagrammers to use them, therefore keeping them engaged with the brand content regularly.

5. Give incentives through sponsorships, giveaways and paid product reviews

Giving influencers a reason and a means to engage their audience with your brand is enormously beneficial. Influencers are great tastemakers, so allowing them to test new products and be the first to introduce them to their audiences raises awareness and heightens interest. It also enables you to get early and honest feedback.

Supplying influencers with exclusive or free products and incentives encourages them to promote your brand and gives audiences original content that is easily digested on Instagram. Simply posting a photo or video sharing a Coke with friends or sharing where your Mercedes Benz takes you, tells a story and shows the audience how to interact with brands in everyday life.

This guest article was written by Brandnew CEO Francis Trapp.

L’artiste Carl Kleiner, basé en Suède, réalise de très belles compositions de fleurs : des séries personnelles (« Postures » et « Studies From Spring » en collaboration avec Andrew Stellitano) ou encore des travaux commissionnés (Sergio Rossi et « Fragrance Pyramids » pour le parfum Chanel n°5). Des oeuvres hyper-structurées où les fleurs semblent se mouvoir, s’épanouir, danser, s’étirer ou se tordre.

Postures.

Studies From Spring.

Fragrance Pyramids for Chanel No. 5.

For Sergio Rossi.

White Castle has selected independent marketing agency Resource/Ammirati as its agency of record, following a competitive review which began in July.

Zimmerman was the incumbent agency, serving as the brand’s agency of record since 2009, and defended in the review. Prior to Zimmerman, White Castle spent fifteen years with JWT.

In its new role as agency of record, Resource/Ammirati will be responsible for “integrated brand strategy, advertising, retail activation, website development and all mobile, digital and social media initiatives,” and will partner with New York-based independent agency Crossmedia on media planning and buying. Resource/Ammirati will lead the account out of its Columbus headquarters, in collaboration with its New York office.

“Resource/Ammirati is the right partner at the right time as we look to grow our business—giving current customers more reasons to visit us, and enticing new customers to experience White Castle,” said Kim Kelly-Bartley, White Castle vice president, marketing and menu development. “They brought to the pitch the right capabilities and great chemistry—they also delivered fresh insights about our core ‘Cravers’ as well as innovative creative.”

New work from Resource/Ammirati is expected in the second quarter of 2015.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

It really is the best way to see an agency: the dog’s-eye view.

Toronto animation, design and VFX studio Crush did it last year, attaching a GoPro camera to their dog Sadie and live-streaming her travels around the building. Crush has since merged with Notch, AXYZ and Lollipop to create a new agency called Smith—and what better way to introduce the new place than bringing Sadie back for an encore?

Follow the live stream below until 2 p.m. to see every nook and cranny of Smith’s offices, particularly the ones where delicious unclaimed food may lie.

Antes tarde do que ainda mais tarde. Finalmente o Instagram implementou o recurso que permite editar o texto que acompanha uma imagem após ela ser publicada.

Quem cometer um errinho de digitação poderá clicar nos […] no app e escolher a opção “editar” para corrigir ou alterar algum detalhe do texto. Para isso, basta atualizar para nova versão do aplicativo, que já está disponível na App Store e na Google Play.

Juntamente com a novidade da edição de textos pós-publicação, o Instagram aproveitou também para dar uma melhoradinha na seção “Explorar”, que agora é referida por um ícone de uma lupa.

Além de mostrar fotos e vídeos, uma nova aba “pessoas” vai ajudar a conhecer novas contas do Instagram que possam ser interessantes.

Post originalmente publicado no Brainstorm #9
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Groupon, which is hosting its first analyst day, will tout profit and revenue growth plans today as the daily-deals company shifts from an e-mail model to a full-blown e-commerce site.

In presentation slides posted on its website, Groupon said it expects revenue growth of more than 15% next year, which would equate to at least about $3.6 billion, in line with analysts’ estimates. Adjusted earnings will rise even faster, with the company projecting a more than 25% increase next year.

CEO Eric Lefkofsky has been working to make Groupon a marketplace for deals where consumers can shop the way they already do on sites like Amazon.com. Mr. Lefkofsky is banking on growth in mobile and listings of local businesses to help offset a decline in e-mail effectiveness and demand for goods that has outpaced the company’s ability to build out fulfillment infrastructure, according to the slides.

Continue reading at AdAge.com