content marketing agency Archives - Page 2 of 2

FunTech: Make that content cray

Making tech sound complicated is easy. Just whir adjectives, buzzwords, and punctuation into a blender and you have the first boilerplate for many startups. But making unsexy topics sound fun is totally do-able, it’s just a matter of finding a creative angle.

Almost all industries require content because words travel fast. So, to effectively create articles that are more fun and engaging, try these simple tips:

Warm up with your intro

The beginning of the article has the most room for weirdness. Feel free to start off with a joke, or a topic everybody can relate to. For example, if you’re writing about your newest cloud platform, talk about the issue that it’s solving rather than getting deep into the features right away. Or pick a hot news topic to spin off of. I.e. “While we can’t take #brexit back, at least we’ll be able to…” Riding a news hook for your blog is great for SEO and will lure the reader in right away.

Quote more interesting people

As a content writer you’re not going to be an expert at everything, so get the opinion of someone who does. A quote from an expert (especially a funny one) can really bring a piece of writing to life. If you don’t have anyone specific, quote someone who has an excellent view point on the subject.

Check your tone

Don’t be too formal. Geek speak will soak up the fun like a mouthful of Scottish Shortbread without a glass of milk in sight. Sarcasm, humour and wit can be carried across any topic. Be upbeat so it’ll be easier for your audience to read it. Happy readers means more shares.

Be concise

A super wordy post will cast your reader’s eyes from your blog to instagram memes in 30 seconds or less. If there is a word that can be taken out, remove it, if there is one word that can replace three, replace it. The fewer words the better.

Here’s a tip: Show don’t tell. Instead of saying something is ‘smart, innovative, state of the art, revolutionary’, explain how it works, why it’s different, and lead the reader to come up with his own adjectives.

Pick a picture outside of the box

Alright alright, the ol’ ‘hands on the keyboard’ photo is always a great default for online blog topics, but take your stock photo game one step further. The image should illustrate the article you write, but not imitate it. Use metaphors with your imagery and people will be able to channel more than just what meets the eye. For example, you’re writing about how a certain app can connect us all, a picture of laughing people in a crowd, skyscrapers, globes, or even traffic can still elicit the feeling of ‘ connection’. Making the reader work just a little bit will help them remember your article.

And there you have it! Making content go a little cray just takes some imagination, creativity, and thinking outside the box. Need more advice on adding a little zing to your content? Write to us at hello@mutant.com.sg.

Emoji Marketing: Using tiny images to send a big message

The way we communicate with each other is constantly changing, thanks to technology. I mean, 10 years ago, would you have been able to decipher this sentence?:

OMG, IDEK. LOL IDC… actually, IDGAF TBH. BRB, TTYL.

Okay, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but the way we speak to each other is constantly evolving. Abbreviations are one thing, but in today’s social landscape emojis are taking over, too.

The popularity of social media has promoted the use of visual media. Our words are becoming substituted with small emojis, or digital images, that represent faces, animals, fashion, accessories, hearts, weather, food, sports…and the list goes on.

Emojis can tell a story. In fact, you could send a message to a friend filled entirely with emojis and chances are they would understand what you were trying to say.

Take a look at this creative text message:

Source

A new way to communicate

Could our shortening attention spans and love for visual media be the cause of this phenomenal obsession with emojis? Is this the future of content?

A picture says a thousand words and as we all seem to be so time poor, it just seems easier to use pictures instead of words.

Emojis have only previously been used for social purposes, but nowadays many brands are beginning to adopt emojis to add flavour to their communications.

Why are we so obsessed?

These miniature images suddenly appeared in our phones and, as a society craving constant change and new ways to communicate, we pounced. It simply proves that great content is about so much more than just words.

In fact, some of the most lucrative content out there is solely emojis. Kim Kardashian changed the game when she released the ‘Kimoji’ app you can buy from iTunes. Even bad boy Charlie Sheen has released his own ‘Sheenojis’. It’s truly becoming an obsession led by many famous and influential figures.

The use of emojis is relentless – but it’s simply a representation of our need to not only “tell” content, but “show” it. While emojis have become a ubiquitous part of social media and Internet language, it’s worth considering how you might be able to incorporate them into an appropriate campaign or messaging.

(PROTIP: Just be sure you know what the emoji means so your message doesn’t backfire! For example, the eggplant emoji does not simply represent an eggplant anymore… be careful!)

It’s fair to say emojis are here to stay, and we will continue to see them evolve in content both online and offline.

Now, go ahead and take this test and find out which emoji best represents you. Have fun!

Do you need help creating some crafty content? Drop us a note at hello@mutant.com.sg.

5 simple rules for using #hashtags

Before 2007, no one would’ve imagined that the hash symbol, most commonly used to denote numbers, would become such an incredible part of social media.

Put simply, hashtags are used to categorise content and make your own content discoverable amidst an overwhelming load of information. They allow brands to reach out to a very specific target audience who are interested in your content and would like to be a part of your network.

The hashtag is one of the most effective search functions on a multitude of social media platforms – but only when used correctly. Here’s our tips to make the most of your hashtags:

Different platforms, different purposes

Most social media platforms utilise hashtags to organise data and provide a more seamless social media experience. However, each network has its own unique way of optimising them. For example, ‘trending topics’ on Twitter are based on the number of times a particular hashtag is used and on Instagram, hashtags take you to pictures of the same subject.

Be clear with what works for each platform, otherwise your efforts will be pointless.

Go unbranded

Trust me, you don’t need to hashtag your own brand to be noticed. Keep up with the latest trends by monitoring what your target audience are saying – events and occasions such as #Ramadan, #NationalFriendshipDay or #SharingisCaring. But remember, stay relevant. Don’t hashtag something that happened last week. Social media trends change at lightning speed, and so should you.

Here’s a great example from Dominos:

What goes better with football than pizza with your mates? Dominos leveraged on #CopaAmerica16 to offer its audience a special discount.

Here’s one from Sephora:

Although they may not be directly selling anything in this post, cosmetic giant Sephora received a lot of attention with the hashtag #NationalBestFriendsDay.

Hashtags < words

The rule here is to never have more hashtags than words. Too many hashtags make it difficult for users (and yourself) to understand. Don’t spam, you look desperate for likes.

In the case of not being able to insert hashtags into your sentences, you can always add them in at the end of your caption. This post from Fresh is a great example of how to use hashtags effectively in an Instagram caption:

The key is to choose hashtags that are relevant to your brand.

Simplify, and simplify again

Don’t hashtag #every #single #word #in #your #caption. Be selective and choose hashtags that best describe your content. If you can weave them into your caption without it looking like spam, do it to minimise the number of characters (in the case of Twitter).

National Geographic gets it right in their captions on Instagram. They simplify the hashtags to focus on the main subjects of the picture.

Follow the discussion

Your hashtags should be #searchable. You don’t want your post to be buried under another 350,986 posts with the same hashtag. Instead, create hashtags that have a purpose. You want to be able to click on them and scroll through what your consumers are saying about your brand, engage your audience and strike up meaningful conversation.

Reply to tweets, whether they’re good or bad, like your followers’ pictures on Instagram and comment on their Facebook posts, especially when they are relating to your brand. These small actions can create brand loyalty and increase your customers’ lifetime value.

Hashtags are one of the best ways to understand your audience on a more personal level. You’re missing out on a whole lot if you’re not already capitalising on them in your social posts!

Do you need some help getting your social media into shape? Get in touch with our team of experts at hello@mutant.com.sg.

The do’s and don’ts of social media

It should be no surprise that in this day and age our eyes are glued to anything that is square-ish, has a touchscreen, and fits comfortably into the palms of our hands. Chances are, the opened apps include Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat – the works, if you will.

If we’re going to be spending this much time browsing through social media, we might as well do it right. And to all the millennials who think they’ve got it down – think again.

Social media can be used by almost everybody. You don’t need to have 10 social media accounts or post something every half an hour to be deemed active. To obtain and sustain a successful social media presence and witness the results you really want, first understand the following do’s and don’ts:

Don’t focus on the number of likes

What an outrageous thought, but let me explain why. What really matters isn’t how many likes you receive, but rather who liked your post. If you scroll through a list of ‘likes’ and realise that you really only wanted to reach 5% of them, the rest are as good as none. This is because you’ve attracted the wrong audience, resulting in a lack of engagement.

To put it simply, let’s say you run a small ice cream cafe and post on Facebook announcing that chocolate scoops are 10% off, praying silently that your customer numbers will magically double overnight. But instead of dessert enthusiasts, you realise that the ‘likes’ came from your co-owner, boyfriend, and mother. Sure, these are all people extremely dear to your heart, but they’re not who you’re targeting. The ‘likes’ may look impressive online but they’re not serving your business’ purpose.

Reach out to YOUR target audience

Some posts on Facebook may be boosted to become ads, meaning that you pay to reach a wider audience. Boosting essentially means selectively choosing the audience who sees your posts on their News Feed. It’s a very cost effective way to reach the right people, and Facebook’s Business Manager page gives you the complete rundown on how to fully utilise the functions to effectively promote your business.

Take a look at the example below:

As a frequent budget air flyer who’s always looking out for cheap deals to Taiwan, this FlyScoot ad definitely appeals to me. FlyScoot consistently monitors footprints on their social media pages and website, and effectively churns this data to target audiences who need to save a buck or two but still loves to travel around Southeast Asia.

Don’t slap on texts and links

Humans on social media have attention spans even shorter than that of a goldfish – an incredulous three seconds. This disturbing yet very real fact should make you think twice about how you post. If you want to share a blog on your company Facebook page, you pretty much only have one shot to get it right.Just think about all the other pieces of content which you are competing with – you need to make your post stand out!

Customise the appearance of each post

Spot the differences between these posts. Which would you rather click on?

There is so much flexibility with social media these days. Certain functions allow you to not only enhance the visual appeal of your posts but also increase your readership.

For example, posting as the Page Admin on Facebook allows you to:

Edit the post caption to remove any URLs
Replace the default photo that automatically comes with the link
Rewrite the main header of the link
Change the subtext of the link
And so much more

These simple yet effective tweaks transform a boring, black and white post into one which really displays the most attention-grabbing information. Remember, you’ve only got three seconds to reel in your audience, so make it count.

Don’t be the same

Companies usually make the common mistake of posting the same content across all their active platforms – meaning the exact same captions, hashtags, and images. Sure, you’re getting the word out, but you’re also annoying your audience. Don’t get me wrong, it’s alright to share the same information across all your social media, but be creative about it and tweak it to match your audience.

Be selective and get creative

It’s important to understand how each platform works. Instagram for example, leverages on jaw-dropping photos and hashtags to capture the right audience. While Facebook extends beyond this by allowing users to share their reactions or emotions.

Look at this example below from The Yard:

Both of these posts talk about the same thing: new trampolines. But, they’re customised to sit well within each respective platform. Doing this will allow you to reach the maximum number of users without turning anyone off.

Now it’s your turn – go create magic on social media.

Need help with social media? Drop a message to hello@mutant.com.sg

3 easy steps to speaking fluent Instagram

The subtle difference between a double tap and a scroll-through could lie in the caption. Instagram is full of well-lit, pretty images, but it’s the caption that anchors the image to your audience’s life

Using the right voice

The voice is the personality behind the account. The trick to achieving the right pitch is by establishing who your target audience is and mixing that with the nature of your business. You need to establish your own voice and Instagram is a social platform, so be social!

Consistency in format (both photos and choice of language)

Look at big companies like @generalelectric, you’d notice that there is a strong consistency in how the photos are all professionally shot. More importantly, there is consistency in how the captions are crafted. In the case of GE, their Instagram is all about inspiring people and sharing their research work to the world.

Ask the right questions

Look at @Sharpie’s instagram. There is a lot of art, which is great because it shows what the product can do – but the captions are conversational and show a personality behind both the brand and the images.
Here’s an example:

What would you create with an everlasting supply of the world’s greatest marker**? **Personal opinion

A photo posted by @sharpie on Aug 13, 2013 at 3:27pm PDT

The picture is not great, and well that filter should be reserved for a Lana Del Ray music video, but the caption opens up the creativity of the reader and it follows the most important branding lesson we learned this year: advertising is about your audience not you.

Using the right lingo and hashtags

No matter who your audience is, Instagram is about getting people talking. There is a ton of Instagram lingo out there, and we don’t know where it comes from (either Reddit or the Kardashians) but it goes viral quickly, with short life cycles. Here are a couple we came across just looking today:

#transformationtuesday: self-explanatory. Used for weightloss but you could get creative with it for companies if you have a new product update.
#smh: shake my head
#fam: your peoples, someone you would consider family member
#wyd?: what would you do? Hypotheticals used to create conversation
#squadgoals: aspirations with your crew
#af: as heck

By now you should be speaking Instagram perfectly. If you’re a business that needs help speaking this foreign language get in touch with us at hello@mutant.com.sg.

Distributing content to the right people

Great job! You’ve created a lot of content that’s just waiting to be read. Now the next step is to identify what you want to share, how and when.

Suggested read: Content Distribution 101

Ask yourself these important questions:

Why are you sending out content?
How will it support business goals?
Who are you targeting?
What can you offer your target audience at each stage of their journey?
How will you be different?
How will they find the content? Where will you publish it?
When and how will you measure results

Answer these, and then begin to work your content selection and distribution around the buyer journey.

The buyer journey

Following the buyer is key to a successful content marketing strategy. A content distribution strategy should begin with the awareness stage, followed by lead generation, then to nurturing, and finally the sales push. You will find that different content pieces will be suitable to fulfill each stage, which will ultimately determine the distribution channel/s.

Here’s a great representation of the buyers journey (and what you need to do at each stage):

Source

During the discovery or awareness stage, you’ll likely be sharing fun and light information to capture initial interest, and hoping people download your lead generation call-to-action. Following this, you can take it up a notch and delight them with more informative content pieces, personalised emails, demos or deals. This is the nurturing stage, and when your prospect is ‘considering’ a purchase – so an important stage.

Next, if they look like a hot lead, you can give them more detailed materials about your business. This is generally done by the sales team, and includes content in the form of product sheets and pricing guides. By this stage, this prospect should be on their way to becoming a paying customer.

Distributing your words

Now let’s look at the how you will get your content seen.

Each stage will require unique content as you are targeting the buyer at different stages in their decision process. The key is to target the buyer’s emotions and help them identify their need for your product or service nice and early.

This table provides examples of the type of content and channels suited to each stage in a buyer’s journey.

You will need to remember that your industry, product and sales lifecycle will all determine the length of your campaign and the type of content you produce. Only you know your target audience and how they respond to different information, so each content distribution plan should be unique and tailored to your business – not a carbon copy of any other business.

From planning to performance

Any strategy needs to be measured to assess its effectiveness. Without proper measurement, you will have no idea if your content is working.

Run your campaign and at its conclusion look at each stage of the buyer journey separately.

Here’s an example of a typical campaign measurement system:

Step 1: 20-30 days after end of campaign

How much traffic was generated to your website?
How did your social channels perform (likes, shares clicks etc..)?
Any initial leads?

Step 2 – 45-60 days after end of campaign

How many qualified leads have you got?

Step 3 – 90-120 days

How many leads have you converted to sales?

Of course, not each campaign has the same sales cycle length, so as I previously mentioned, this should be unique to your business. Through this you can see how each buyer stage performed, and where any content adjustments need to be made for your next campaign.

Need help with your content? Drop a message to hello@mutant.com.sg

How to create killer content

Do you wonder if your marketing budget is being spent in the right places? Or whether your dollars are delivering maximum ROI? Content marketing has far surpassed traditional advertising in today’s social-media driven world. Viewers channel-hop during television commercials and ignore ad placements in newspapers and magazines. Instead, they actively seek out content they are interested in.

With the human attention span getting shorter by the minute, the competition for audience attention is intense. How exactly do you set your writing apart from the increasingly saturated blogosphere of content?

Use compelling titles

People scan more than they read. A huge wall of text often turns readers off and you’ll find them scrolling past your content in a jiffy. Your title represents your content on keyword searches and social media. It practically sells it and 8 out of 10 readers today don’t look past post titles. With an interesting title, you are more likely to attract your audience to at least scan through your words. Include subheadings that stand out so that your readers have an idea of what to expect next.

Here is a an example from Hootsuit of a great headline:

Be consistent

It isn’t enough to merely schedule your content for a couple of times a week. Sure, that is consistent frequency, but the key to retaining your readers and attracting them to read post after post comes down to a lot more than just timing. Your tone should be streamlined across each platform you utilise to engage with your audience. To leave a lasting impression, you’d want to give your brand a unique personality. Start off with an overall content strategy and consolidate a fixed tone in order to set the foundation.

Go visual

As mentioned earlier, readers often switch off when they face a wall of text. Imagine scrolling through paragraphs of Times New Roman size 12 font (boring right?!) and then something colourful catches your eye. Of course you would stop to look. Not only do visuals help to illustrate your content, but statistics show that visual content is processed 60,000 times faster in the brain as compared to text. Integrate colourful infographics and videos when you’re creating your content to increase the chances of getting your content read.

Here’s a great example from Deliveroo. They have provided mouth-watering mac and cheese images that makes reading the content a whole lot more exciting –Who’s hungry?

Involve your audience

Engage your readers by speaking directly to them through your content. Posts need to be relatable and readers should never feel detached from the narrative. You can also leave your readers with questions and perhaps address them in the next post. Your content should ideally spark a wave of comments, increasing its reach to a wider audience.

Check out this great example from The Smart Local:

Take your sales hat off

Today’s tech-savvy consumers are so used to viewing content that promotes a branded products and services they are practically immune to direct sales. Aggressive overselling only turns potential consumers away because the more you try to sell, the less interested they become. Instead, focus on building your voice and influence within the industry. Be genuine and convey your ideas directly in your content. This not only creates a brand impression in the eyes of your readers, but interests them to patronise your content because they know that there will be no hard-selling involved.

Adidas has nailed it. The article has no mention of buying Adidas clothing but indirectly implies fit parents need cool workout gear. (If you have’t got it, they want you to go buy Adidas workout gear!)

Content marketing is a powerful way for businesses to reach out to their target audience. The best kind of content is captivating, makes audience want to continue reading and most importantly, makes them want to share it on their social media platforms. Don’t forget to leave a call-to-action to guide your readers on what to do next!

Need help nailing your next content piece? Get in touch with us at hello@mutant.com.sg.

Content yoga: How to stretch your content into multiple posts

You have heard it over and over again. Content marketing is the next big thing in marketing communications. You have bought the Kool Aid, you have started drinking it.

You have established a content development process that is both consistent and committed. Various internal stakeholders are coming with you with ideas, or even better, written pieces of content that are exactly to your requirements. The website blog is being updated once a week. Now what?

It’s time to get the most out of the content that you have painstakingly developed. Here are some tips on how can you make your content go further so that it reaches your intended target audience.

Check with your PR agency if the content is pitchable

With shrinking newsrooms, publications are more open to taking in op-eds or contributions these days. Having your original content published in a business or industry news portal definitely gives your brand a boost in credibility. Publications usually have some strict requirements though – the brand cannot be mentioned in the piece other than the byline, the content usually has to be on a wider industry trend rather than a specific product and usually the piece has to be published first only on their site. You can of course, then use the content on your own website after a specific period of time. Take note of the advice your agency gives you and make a call on whether you would like to go down this route.

Get the content linked

Content on LinkedIn is getting a lot of traction these days. If you need to raise the profile of a certain executive (e.g. the new Asia MD), you may want to consider posting the content on a regular basis using LinkedIn Pulse, with their approval of course.

A repurposed article on LinkedIn pulse could help to build your executive’s credibility as an industry thought leader and also steer people to becoming more aware of your brand. As a bonus, LinkedIn Pulse enjoys a high search quality rating on Google which means the content will be included in search results.

Updating a senior executive’s page on their behalf also encourages them to be more hands-on in the content – it’s their reputation after all. This means you will also get more ideas on content topics and they are also more likely to share their personal industry observations. This is a win-win for both, your content is more authentic and they boost their own profile.

Make it shareable

Summarise each section of your blog post or break it down into tips. You can then use these bite-sized pieces to post on Facebook or Twitter on a daily basis as part of a multi-part series. Remember that you have to keep the post to 140 characters for Twitter – which probably will come up to no more than 1 sentence. For Facebook you have more flexibility on the word count but try not to go over 250 characters (Posts with less than 250 characters receive 60% more engagement). Also, don’t forget to add an image and link the content back to your website to drive traffic.

On that note, while having Twitter and Facebook is great – it may not be necessary to have both. Check our post on choosing the right social media channel to see which is right for you. https://mutantid.wpengine.com/less-is-more-4-tips-to-choosing-the-right-social-media-channel/

Reach out to new people

Since you are posting on social media already, why not promote selected posts on Twitter, LinkedIn and/or Facebook? Promoting a post is a good way for more people to see your content and reach out to new audiences through targeting.

Promoted posts can boost traffic to your web page and also gives you some rich data analytics so that you can figure out which channels are most effective for your brand. The best thing about promoted posts these days, is that it is fairly affordable – you can promote a post for as much or as little budget as you want.

Communicate to employees

Your employees are your most important assets. They are the face of the company and they are the ones that deal with your customers. A great piece of content can inspire employees and align ideas. Summarise your article into a teaser and use it in your latest newsletter. Encourage engagement, ask them their point of view on the topic and as always, link the article back to the website to boost traffic.

Play around with formats

While a blog post is the most immediate way to get content out, do explore other formats that may work better with your target audience. Be it an infographic, video, slideshare or audio file – explore the various formats from time to time and use your website analytics to check on how much traction you are getting.

If you need help maximising your existing content or need help setting up a winning content development marketing strategy, please get in touch with us at hello@mutant.com.sg.

5 signs your business should invest in a content marketing agency

There are a multitude of large and small businesses that think they know best when it comes to content marketing. How hard can it be? A blog here, a social media post there and you’re done! Right?

I hate to break it to you, but this couldn’t be further from the truth.

Put simply, content marketing is a strategic marketing approach that relies on the regular creation and distribution of quality content to a specific audience. The aim is to ultimately turn prospects into customers. Read more about what content marketing means here.

An effective content marketing strategy takes time and commitment and everything needs to be written with purpose. It not only yields powerful results, but also becomes extremely cost effective.

There is no point in writing one blog, adding it to your website and then hoping it will automatically translate into sales. It sadly doesn’t work that way. How will people see your content?

With that being said, here are some early signs that should prompt you to consider using a content marketing agency to help you get organised and on track:

Lack of regular, quality content

Think about how often you produce content.
Is it once a month? Once a quarter? Or whenever you have a chance to?

Whilst it’s not necessary to create content every single day, a solid content strategy requires consistency and commitment. Creating regular content allows brands to build thought leadership in their area of expertise, create trust and promote engagement with their target audiences – which is more likely to lead to a sale.

No visible SEO results

Without relevant and regular content, your SEO efforts may be wasted. Google evaluates how often you update your website with fresh content. It also ranks the quality of the content as well as the length. You can read more about this here.

Another thing to consider is how well the content is tailored to your chosen keywords. Content creation isn’t just about putting some words on a page about a certain topic. You do need to write for your target audience but also for SEO. Fall too deep to one side and you will be penalised on the other, so it’s essential to strike a healthy balance between crafty and engaging content and writing for SEO.

Your conversions are suffering

Writing relevant content that addresses your target audience and their needs is so important. Identify and create a buyer persona that would need your product or service. Who is this person? (i.e Marketing Mary, 35 years old) What is their role? (ie Marketing Manager for an SME) What do they wish to achieve? (Brand awareness, sales etc.) Then look at identifying their pain points and how you can help solve them.

A content marketing agency can be useful to help structure your strategy and make suggestions about why your efforts have not been successful. They will create new ideas and avenues for you to explore.

Little to no engagement across your social media

Social media can be an amazing avenue to promote your content and directly engage with your target audience. Using social media helps drive traffic to your website as you are providing your followers with a preview of what they can expect to see if they click a specific link.

If you are doing this already and it’s not working, think about the quality and relevance of the content that you are producing and posting. Always remember that one size doesn’t fit all on social media. Each platform has a different audience, and therefore the language, tone and delivery needs to be tailored every time.

A content marketing agency will pull together a strategic content and social media strategy and create relevant and engaging content that can be used across multiple platforms.

Your brand lacks credibility

If you are a new business, it’s so critical early on to establish credibility in the market. A solid content marketing strategy enables your brand to educate prospects and instill their trust in your brand.

According to Hubspot’s 2015 State of Inbound Marketing report, the top two priorities for companies, regardless of size, are to a) increase the number of contacts/leads, and b) to convert contacts/leads to customers.

A successful content marketing strategy can help you achieve this.

Need help with your content? Drop a message to hello@mutant.com.sg

If you’d like to speak to us about effective content marketing for your business, feel free to get in touch at ola@mutant.com.sg.

5 ways your brand will slay instagram

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but a caption will turn browsers into consumers. Captions are the opportunity to connect with your audience on a more personal level. You know your brand voice? This is the time for it to shine. An effective instagram caption can make the difference between a conversion or leave a post ignored.

1. Find the right voice

Voice refers to the personality projected when writing a caption or interacting with other users. The trick to achieving the right tone is through establishing your target audience and coupled with the nature of your business. When in doubt, caption it as if you were writing it to a friend, but leave out short-lived instagram slang that expires faster than you can say “on fleek”

2016 Instagram terms that we predict will die quick painless death:

FAM
Squad
Savage
Bae

Tip: As of Apr 2016, ‘Snatched’ is the new ‘On fleek’

2. Stay consistent

If you’d take a look at the instagram accounts of big companies like General Electric, you’d notice that there is a strong consistency in how the photos are all professionally shot. More importantly, there is consistency in how the captions are crafted. In the case of GE, the Instagram is all about inspiring individuals and sharing their research with the world.

3. Be funny

Take a look – Hewlett Packard, Intel, and our personal favourite, Cisco, have the funniest Instagrams of all time. Did we mention they are also traditionally pretty boring companies?

Instagram is the one place where you can let your freak flag fly, no matter how serious your product is. Don’t take yourselves too seriously on this platform, show some brand personality.

4. Use hashtags

Hashtags are the perfect way to increase the odds of accidental discovery from users who may just be interested in what you have to say. Hashtags are especially useful for campaigns as they allow user-generated content to get aggregated all into one place.

But don’t over do hashtags. #Otherwise #you #will #look #outdated.

Click here to see the list of trending hashtags!

View this post on Instagram

#Fall, give it your all. ? ?: @mrvphotography #bmx #dirtbike #? #givesyouwings

A post shared by Red Bull (@redbull) on Oct 29, 2015 at 7:24am PDT

Red Bull loves to hashtag their photos and I must say, it’s done very tastefully and as a result of that, Red Bull’s account often gets discovered by chance.

5. Be engaging

Do you know why Instagram overtook Flickr as the world’s leading photo-sharing app?

Social skills.

Instagram isn’t just a chance to share photos, it’s a platform where you can ask a question and people can have engaging conversations (or arguments) about your photo. The caption space is an opportunity to open up the floor to ask your audience anything, or to have them ask you. There’s a reason why some photos have over 9000 comments. Start a conversation on your image today.

View this post on Instagram

Tag who you would share your Taco Bell with.

A post shared by Taco Bell (@tacobell) on Oct 7, 2015 at 5:15pm PDT

An effective Instagram account is all about having the right attitude, good humour, and a solid picture to go with it.

If you need help with your Instagram captions, let us help you create some magic. Drop a message to hello@mutant.com.sg

Mutant Communications

Posts tagged: content marketing agency