Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

Reliably driving sales from social platforms like Instagram is one of the biggest challenges that digital marketers face.

And it makes sense. It’s tough to drive fleeting, generally low-intent Instagram followers all the way through your marketing or sales funnel to generate revenue.

That being said, there’s a few strategies you can employ to maximize your sales from social media. With that in mind, I present to you 15 awesome examples of Instagram posts that drive sales, featuring content from huge brands like McDonald’s, Spotify, and H&M.

More than 15 million businesses now use Instagram worldwide and over half of those businesses are creating Stories every month.

Stories are an incredible way to connect with your audience in fresh and authentic ways. Who knows, maybe they’ll even become the new News Feed.

But creating attractive Instagram Stories can be challenging and time-consuming. We’d love to help with that!

We’ve teamed up with the team at Adobe Spark, an awesome free design tool, to share 10 Instagram Stories templates you can use to quickly create your Instagram Stories content...

Last week, we saw that both video output and engagements have increased for publishers.Instagram videos now account for 85 percent of BBC News’ monthly interactions on the platform, and engagements have grown for top publishers’ videos by 53 percent between last year and 2017.

In March 2016, Instagram made a change allowing video posts as long as 60 seconds long. Previously, the limit had been 15 seconds. We decided to look at whether this change has impacted how publishers are creating video for Instagram. When we looked at video for Facebook in January, we saw that many top publishers were creating videos between 60 and 90 seconds long. This time, we wanted to dive in a little more deeply and understand what makes for a successful video on Instagram.

How long are the top most liked and commented videos from Instagram publishers?

Using NewsWhip Analytics, we surveyed the top 20 engaging publishers and media brands of Instagram video in June 2017. We calculated the length of their top five videos to find what length had their audiences liking and commenting. NewsWhip Analytics allows us to dig into historical social data across any niche, keyword, or region, and see how users are reacting across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and more....

When it comes to total daily users, Instagram Stories, the section of the app for daily, disappearing posts, is beginning to pull farther ahead of Snapchat.

According to Instagram, at least 250 million users use the app’s vertical format every day, up from 200 million just two months ago. The latest count places the Facebook-owned app’s feature at nearly 100 million more per day than Snapchat, which reported 166 million daily users for as of its first-quarter earnings results.

The latest total from Instagram was announced in a blog post today, along with news that it would start allowing users to replay live video on the platform instead of it disappearing the moment the livestream is over.

Instagram, which first announced Live Stories in January, began letting users save their own live videos back in March. However, it’s now bringing the app more in line with Facebook’s strategy of letting people tune in even after the broadcaster has tuned out....

User-generated content, or UGC, consists of any form of content that's created by users and consumers about a brand or product. UGC isn't paid for, and its authenticity makes the user the brand advertiser as well.

UGC is particularly prevalent on Instagram, where brands can easily repost and regram UGC from users' accounts. And it's worthwhile for brands to do this -- 76% of individuals surveyed said they trusted content shared by "average" people more than by brands, and nearly 100% of consumers trust recommendations from others.

In this post, we'll discuss just how successful UGC on Instagram can be -- as well as review 10 brands using it successfully....

One thing that really got me thinking is how Instagram only allows you to link to 1 website or page in your profile’s description (unless you’re paying for ads).

This really changes the playing field and limits a brand’s opportunities to promote the sale – at least by traditional standards.

We’ve all seen those awe-inspiring accounts where it seems like Instagrammers are raking in serious cash just by posting selfies. Unfortunately, looks can be deceiving.

The reality is that it’s a gradual process. In fact, when it’s the talk of brands, 50 percent of Instagrammers follow at least 1 business, but only 5 percent of them take action (like shopping) after being inspired by a post....

When you come across a beautiful sight -- be it a beach, a mountain, or your pet's face -- sometimes, it inspires you to think bigger about what certain sights and experiences mean.

For those moments, you might consider posting a photo on Instagram with an equally inspiring quote as the caption. But you could take it even further -- and save characters -- by posting the photo with the quote.

You've likely seen quotes on Instagram posts before, but you may never have created one for your brand's account. Here's a recent Instagram quote we shared here at HubSpot:See what we mean?

Posting quote images on Instagram can diversify your content on the platform and humanize your brand a little, too. Everyone could use a motivational quote during a busy Monday morning or a slow Tuesday afternoon, so try out an Instagram quote for your next post with the help of these free apps....

Instagram is a rapidly evolving powerhouse for content creators. We look at how to make the most of the platform in our latest infographic & trends report.

With more than 700 million active monthly users, Instagram has emerged as a platform that publishers and brands alike can’t ignore. New reports suggest that the sought-after Generation Z is flocking to the platform, some of them even skipping Facebook entirely.

To stay ahead of the need-to-know trends on Instagram, we rolled up our newest research and insights into our “What You Need to Know for Instagram” report.

Read the report for:

- The top publishers on Instagram and their strategies

- How Instagram stacks up against Facebook for brands

- Why influencer posts are making a big difference for brands

- How top creators are using photo vs. video posts.

The growth of Instagram video and the perfect video length And for a quick look at what’s winning the day on Instagram, check out our handy infographic below...

Influencer marketing is one of the fastest growing channels in advertising, with our research estimating that $1 billion was spent on Instagram influencers alone in 2017. With brand dollars pouring into the space, social media influencers, whether established or aspiring, are vying for brand sponsorship deals.

I founded Mediakix, a dedicated influencer marketing agency, in 2011. In the years since, I have witnessed a rise in these deceptive practices and wanted to draw awareness to the issue. These practices span the gamut of unscrupulousness and range from gaming Instagram’s algorithm with “pods” to purchasing fake followers and engagement to creating entirely fake personas and accounts.

It’s difficult but not impossible to know whether an influencer has purchased fake followers and engagement. About a year ago, we were evaluating several accounts for potential campaigns and noted that one woman in particular had more than doubled her followers in less than a week.

While rapid follower growth isn’t the only indicator of whether an influencer paid for followers, it does raise a red flag, especially if nearly every Instagram post is sponsored. We checked her rate afterwards and it had nearly tripled due to her boosted (fake) following....

"Our page is all about what it's like to be a girl and we make sure that our content reflects the theme," she said.

Now, Valfré is distributed in over 250 stores in 28 countries around the world. The Valfré Instagram page also has over 650,000 followers.

However, it wasn't always an easy journey. Valfré made her way to LA on an expired tourist visa, and earlier this year, Forever 21 was accused of ripping off her designs. However, she paved her way to success by mastering Instagram and creating a brand that resonates with hundreds of thousand of people.

Business Insider spoke to Valfré to get her top tips on optimising your social media use to build a following....

In 2017, the industry's love affair with Instagram isn't showing any signs of slowing down. Digiday recently checked in with a number of fashion and beauty social media insiders at SXSW's Decoded Fashion and Create & Cultivate events, confirming that Instagram remains a top priority in their digital marketing strategies.

"Instagram is always a priority for us," Rosi Sanchez, a social media strategist at Fossil, told Digiday. "We have more reach and a larger new follower group there, so it leads to more conversions. Until we get to 1.5 million or 2 million followers, it’s going to be our number one priority."

Fossil isn't alone. Social media strategists from more established brands like L’Oréal USA, Shopbop, and Murad also indicated that Instagram was their top social media priority for the foreseeable future.

Brands from any industry looking to level up their visual storytelling chops should keep a close eye on fashion brands for inspiration. To help get you started, we've compiled a list of 15 fashion accounts -- both big and small -- who are crushing the Instagram game. Take a look below, and start planning your next big Instagram push. For a deeper dive on how to build a presence on Instagram, check out our complete guide to Instagram marketing.