4 tips to perform on Instagram

Instagram offers multiple ways to build your brand image with customers. Additionally, with different location options, it's not a tool to be neglected for retail chains or franchisees! Consider the benefits you can already derive from your brand's national page. Imagine this translates into a successful local strategy for each of your retail points (POS) in your network. Discover in this article the benefits and best practices of local Instagram pages.

With over 500 million daily users and driven by rich and high-quality visual content, Instagram offers brands a tool to reach their local community and disseminate quality content to stimulate sales and retain your customer base. In addition, Instagram offers multiple location options that create great opportunities to effectively reach more qualified customers near your points of sale. Therefore, beyond a strategy for your national pages, you should also consider a tailored communication plan for your local points of sale to make the most of your presence on this platform.

But what strategy should be applied for these local pages? What type of content should be posted? What is the best time to post? What about hashtags? Even if your strategy should stem from the specifics of your brand and industry, there are some general "rules" to keep in mind to ensure optimal performance of your local accounts. Discover in this article the best practices on Instagram for your points of sale!

Want to know more about the reasons to consider Instagram for your points of sale? Check out our previous article!

Is Instagram useful for your local network? 6 reasons to use it!

Local Marketing on Instagram

As we've already mentioned, your brand and industry specifics should be kept in mind when developing a successful Instagram strategy for locations in your franchise network.

But what are the specifics of marketing on Instagram for a retail chain or network of points of sale? It is quite similar to the marketing of small businesses due to its common objectives, namely increasing brand awareness in a specific market and boosting sales. Moreover, when launching any social media marketing plan, the first step is to define and track objectives.

The difference in marketing for a network of points of sale lies in the brand-specific rules that must be applied uniformly across all local accounts. Additionally, creating a social media strategy as a franchise comes with a series of additional considerations. Unlike other small businesses, you are not planning for a single business: you need to develop a compelling social media presence for each franchise.

By consistently keeping in mind the best practices presented below for your local Instagram pages, you are on the right track to perform 💪

4 tips to perform on Instagram as a retail network

1. Timing is essential

To reach as many people as possible in your target audience, you need to find the right time to post. The best way to find the ideal time to post is to test the timing of your content to see which days and hours of posting generate the most public engagement (likes, comments, shares, and saves).

However, this trial period takes time and requires specific resources that are not always available. Fortunately, Sprout Social has conducted a global study on the best time to post.

On most social platforms (including Instagram), it has been found that Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays at 9 or 10 am are the most conducive to content publication. Around 10:00 am is the period when engagement is highest. However, according to Hubspot, the best time to post on Instagram is Tuesday between 11:00 am and 2:00 pm.

For weekdays, it is preferable to post between 11:00 am and 2:00 pm for increased engagement. Additionally, by posting earlier in the day, accounts benefit from less competition. However, it's essential to keep in mind that this also fluctuates by industry and depends on the specific demographics of your page's audience.

Additionally, it is recommended to post regularly. According to a study by Digital Information World covering 14 industries, brands share an average of four Instagram posts per week. However, to achieve better results, it is preferable to post daily.

Our advice: First and foremost, maintain a consistent posting frequency: it's better to stick to a lower posting frequency and prioritize quality content that your audience will interact with.

2. Quality Content

If your local or franchised points of sale must comply with your brand standards, their content must be engaging, visually appealing, and adapted to local trends.

There's nothing worse than generic and boring content. A combination of national and local content is therefore recommended. In addition, having a well-thought-out Instagram grid (posts on the page) where your posts are organized and seem synchronized is visually attractive and conveys a good brand image.

Additionally, use your local pages to share an authentic story. By using Instagram Stories, i.e., a slideshow or video that remains visible on your profile for 24 hours, you can give customers a behind-the-scenes look at your brand. Since stories don't appear on the normal Instagram feed, it allows businesses to post more frequently. Here are some examples of content for stories:

• Photos or videos of in-store events, like a product launch or a special sale.
• Product tutorials, showing customers why they need your product and how they can use it.
• Create anticipation for a new product by showing a preview of it before its launch.
  
  

In addition, you can organize these “stories” into highlights at the top of your page. These highlights make it possible to highlight specific points about your brand or your points of sale, such as a presentation of the store and teams, promotions, etc...

You can organize these highlights with specific names and cover images. It is the cover images that give visitors to your profile a preview of what they will findin each Highlight.
Be sure to add asuitable cover photo for each highlight and take advantage of this opportunity by customizing graphics approved by your brand.

3. #Hashtag or not # ?

One of the simplest ways to organically boost the visibility of your retail/franchisee content on Instagram is to use branded and location-based hashtags. By creating a single branded hashtag for your business, you can centralize every post shared by your franchisees on Instagram. These hashtags can be highlighted in your account bio, displayed in your retail locations, and on packaging. Additionally, you can encourage customers to use this hashtag by sharing customer-generated content on Instagram.

Branded hashtags can be combined with the following popular hashtags to increase visibility:

• Product or service hashtags : basic keywords to describe your product or service, like #sacamain or #icecream.
• Niche Hashtags : a bit more specific, showing where you stand in the context of your industry, like #travelblogger or #foodblogger.
• Industry-related Instagram community hashtags: Communities come together on Instagram, and these hashtags help you find and join them. Think #gardenersofinstagram or #craftersofinstgram.
• Special or seasonal event hashtags: they can refer to actual holidays or seasons, like #summerdays, or they can be used for all those [Thing] National Day celebrations, like #nationalicecreamday.
• Location Hashtags : Even if you geotag your Instagram post, it's still best to include a hashtag that refers to your location, such as #lbrusselseats.
• Daily hashtags: Every day is filled with its own hashtags, from #MondayBlues to #SundayFunday.
• Acronym Hashtags: the most well-known acronym is #TBT for Throwback Thursday. Among other popular acronyms, let's mention #OOTD for "outfit of the day", #FBF for "flashback Friday", etc.
  

How many hashtags should be included in a post?

Regarding the number of hashtags to add per post, it depends on the type of post and industry. According to Hootsuite, around 11 hashtags is ideal. However, on average, there are 1 to 3 hashtags per post.

4. Localization, localization, localization

In addition to adding location-based hashtags, don't forget to add your store's location to each post by adding it during post setup in the "location" section, as well as creating a specific hashtag for the outlet name, as in the example below.

It is interesting to note that posts containing a location can lead to a 79% increase in engagement compared to posts without a location. In addition, people who click on a location can see all other posts that have been tagged at that location. In summary, more exposure means more customers, and more customers means more sales.

Conclusion

Instagram offers multiple ways to get in touch with your customers and boost your sales. Beyond positioning your brand at the national level, you should also consider a strategy for each point of sale in your franchise network. Why, you may ask? 

• Thanks to its location options, Instagram is an excellent tool for easily getting in touch with your local audience.
• Thanks to its visual orientation, you can easily convey an authentic image of each point of sale while respecting the national brand guidelines.
  

However, creating a tailored strategy within a retail network presents some challenges. Developing and updating aconvincing social media presence for each store can seem time-consuming. However, there are tools that allow you to easily organize your content for multiple stores at the same time.

Additionally, once the strategy is in place, there are some best practices to apply to get the most out of your presence on Instagram:

• Monitor your audience'sengagement to find the best time to post
• Use your local pages to share an authentic story. Give customers a glimpse into the behind-the-scenes of your brand.
• Use hashtags specific to organically increase the visibility of your company's content.
• Add your location to every post to increase your engagement.

Don't know where to start on Instagram?

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