5 Creative Ways Brands Have Used Instagram
1) Desenio – for showing off that premium lifestyle
People use Instagram to show off the best 10% of their life. Desenio post photos that demonstrate how their prints/art can add to your ‘Instagramable’ life. They post beautiful interiors, with tumblr-esque minimalism & scandi-chic vibes. Basically if you’re looking for interior inspo, Desenio is the place to go. Oh, and their prints are pretty decent too!
Top tips to learn from Desenio:
- Post images that show off the Insta-lifestyle, and fit your product within this.
- Plan your instagram in advance – no clashing colours and all the images in-feed go well together
2) Go Pro – Use UGC to make a truly phenomenal feed
Go-Pro are the gods of UGC and this is evident on their Instagram channel. It’s full of action packed scenes and amazing sites from around the world…all recorded or photographed on a (you guessed it)….GoPro!
The content varies from romantic meals captured on the mini-cams, to people literally jumping off planes with their GoPro on their heads. It really varies and would definitely appeal to a mixed audience.
Like Desenio they’re showing off a lifestyle that we’d all like to have – but instead of our dream interiors, this time it’s the travelling, carefree lifestyle they’re appealing too.
Top tips to learn from GoPro
- Share only the best images & videos on your feed – keep it premium!
- Share a variety of posts to appeal to a wide range of people
3) ASOS – UGC, #AsSeenOnMe and beautifully curated feed
ASOS use a combination if UGC, flat lay outfit ideas and clothing promos to keep their feed interesting. They heavily promote the #AsSeenOnMe hashtag to their followers & occasionally use images in their own feed. The hashtag has been used on a whopping 547,831 posts – which shows how passionate Insta users are about the brand.
As well as the great UGC, ASOS use Instagram to give sneak previews of new collections to users.
One downside to using Instagram as a retailer is that you can’t directly link products shown in individual Instagram photos – however ASOS combat this by providing searchable product numbers incase you want to find the piece on the ASOS website. I’ve definitely used this feature personally and it makes a huge difference!
Top tips to learn from ASOS
- Provide searchable product codes underneath images to make it easier for shoppers!
- UGC is king – so use a memorable hashtag & ask your followers to send in their own content for use on your feed
4) Kobox – make it a challenge
KOBOX gym use Instagram in a totally different way to any of the brands we’ve already looked at. KOBOX are a boutique gym that specializes in boxing. They use Instagram to post fitness inspiration and to show the day to day runnings of the gym and behind the scenes.
As well as a really slick social presence, KOBOX bring back the personal aspect of Instagram by using it as a place to show scores/winners from the classes that day. They use a mix of regular posting but also take advantage of the super quick self-destructive Instagram Stories- meaning the scores stay super relevant and are only shown for 24 hours.
Overall, they’ve struck the balance between slick, curated images & keeping it personal.
Top tips to learn from KOBOX
- Get back to basics and use Instagram to shoutout followers. Make it more personal
- Take advantage of new features such as Instagram Stories
5) Reynolds kitchen – think out of the box
Reynolds Kitchen are potentially my all time favourite brand on Instagram. They’ve created a truly unique feed, which must need lots of planning and consideration for it to work.
They used their Instagram to create a huge dining room table, and each photo posted is another addition to the wonderful platter of food on display.
Reynolds themselves are actually a kitchen product brand (think tinfoil, clingfilm etc), but use relevant content to attract Instagram users. Even as a branding exercise, Reynolds have smashed it with their mouth-watering display and seriously creative use of Instagram
Top tips to learn from Reynolds Kitchen
- Instagram doesn’t have to be used to post individual images. Think outside the box (literally!) and curate your feed in a creative way
- Take time to plan & consider your feed and how it will look as a whole
By Ruby Lowe