There’s much to learn from observing how your favorite TV shows promote themselves via social media marketing. While most take to Twitter to engage in real time marketing and SocialTV, some also take to Instagram to keep the conversations going with fans before, during, and after a show. BET’s “Being Mary Jane” caught my attention recently with this great Instagram post.  It has five essential parts an Instagram image for business should have.  So what are those parts? Take a look at the infographic below.

5 Parts of a Great Instagram Image For Business

(With Help From BET’s “Being Mary Jane”)

1Eye-Catching Image. Use something multi-colored, light, with a dominant color. Below the dominant color is the skin tone of actress, Gabrielle Union. Of course, the close up on her pretty and recognizable face also draws attention.  Even close-ups of not-so-famous faces work better than indistinguishable images.

2. Call To Action (CTA).  Telling your audience what you want them to do is important if you’re working toward a goal like increasing web traffic, attracting more followers,  or promoting another social profile, as in the case below. Providing the CTA within the image itself keeps the instruction in tact as the image is shared across other social profiles. Yes, you can repeat the action you want them to take in the post description area.

3. Username. Never assume your audience knows each of your user names across every social profile.  Sometimes spellings change slighty. In the case with this “Being Mary Jane” post, the goal is to get “Grammers” to tweet during the show’s broadcast.  Reminding or informing the audience of the show’s Twitter profile, makes it easier for people to do complete the call-to-action.   Also, it’s easy cross promotion of other social profiles.

4. Hashtags.  If doing a campaign, you’ll want to display its hashtag in prominent places.  On Instagram, users generally place them in the post description. Adding the hashtag in your image again keeps the branding element front of mind as user repost it to their profile and share to others.

5. Logo. When you can add your company logo to your images it shows viewers who originated the content.  As your post is reposted and shared off Instagram, the number of people seeing your logo increases. Secondly, adding your logo will sometimes deter people from taking your content and using it as their own.

You may not need all these parts to make each post successful, but a combination of them will help your efforts on Instagram get better results.

So, are you exploring how to integrate Instagram into the marketing strategy for your business? Share with me how in the comments below. Or, if you have a question on how to get started use the comments to ask that too.

 

Being Mary Jane Instagram Infograph