How Brands Are Using Instagram Stories

Klear analyzed 149 brands in 8 different industries to see How Brands Are Using Instagram Stories to drive sales.

Just last year, brands faced a big issue on Instagram: sharing external links with followers. Can you recall posting about a new blog post on your account and having to direct followers to your bio to click the link? No one cared to take the time to go to your account and check out the content. This wasn’t a convincing nor effective method and the low rate of user responsiveness made this a big loss of interest for marketers.

Although just a few months after the birth of Instagram Stories, came their golden solution to every marketers’ problem.

Instagram introduced a “swipe up” feature, allowing brands to link a URL to their story, creating a “see more” option below the post. Then if users wished to see further content, it was only a swipe away, thus creating greater user compliance. The linking component is only available for verified accounts. For the marketers who can use it, it’s a dream.

We were already aware of the popularity surrounding Instagram Stories, but we wanted to see how brands are utilizing this newer feature. We decided to follow 149 top brands in 8 industries – including Amazon, Adidas, JetBlue, and Coca-Cola – to see what do they share on their stories and where they guide their followers to.

Read more at Klear.com

I like the data, and the clear sequence of sections. The thin doughnut chart is really hard to read and connect the colors to the legend. The stacked bar chart at the end is very busy and hard to read as well.

Found on Marketingprofs.com

The 2016 Social Media Image Sizes Cheat Sheet

Sometimes, one image size doesn't fit all. The 2016 Social Media Image Sizes Cheat Sheet from Hub Spot will help you optimize your images for all of your social media sites.

When you're designing cover photos, graphics, and other social media assets, sometimes knowing the bare bones image dimensions isn't enough.

What if you wanted to place text or an arrow on your Facebook cover photo without it getting covered by the profile photo? And what about the shared link thumbnails on Facebook or in-stream photos on Twitter ... how big should those be?

These change so often, a current infographic guide like this is always helpful.

The Science of Instagram

The Science of Instagram by Dan Zarrella is a study on 1.5 million photos on Instagram about which photos get more likes and comments. 

If you want to see data like this about your account specifically, check out the Instagram analytics tool I released: PicStats.com

When I’m speaking at a conference, one of the most common questions I’m asked is what do I think the future of social media is. I’m not great at distant future predicting, but I do believe the story of the present and near-future of social media is visual content. From the impact of images and video on Facebook and Twitter to the new crop of media-centric social platforms like Instagram and Pinterest, it’s clear that inbound marketers need to be turning out great visual content.

I recently spent some time collecting a large Instagram database and analyzing it to identify the characteristics that make images work (or not work). The result is the infographic below. If you’re curious about the nerdy details of the dataset, there are details at the bottom of it.

Be sure to come see me present my all new edition of The Science of Social Media next week in Boston at INBOUND. I’ll be speaking on Wednesday the 17th at 1:45PM. There will be tons of never before seen data, including lots about visual content. Oh, and follow me on Instagram!

I like the simplified charts in this infographic. Removing the unnecessary gridlines, axes and other chart clutter helps them clearly communicate their content to the readers.

The footer should include a copyright (or Creative Commons) license statement and the URL to the infographic landing page so readers can find the original full-size version when bloggers repost the infographic without a link. I always include a link back to the original but most do not.

Found on http://www.marketingprofs.com/