Visual media is definitely useful in my type of business. Customers really want to see images and videos to create an experience for them. In turn, this will more likely persuade them to buy my product. To get a better idea of how other companies in my industry are using visual media it's a good idea to look at their Instagram pages. By checking their number of followers, use of hashtags, types of posts and engagement received on those posts, this may help me to better understand how I can utilize similar techniques to grow my following.
One local cookie company is called The Cravory. They have 31.8k followers and they post just about everyday. Their latest post was 11 hours ago (March 19). I would think Instagram is effective for them at least somewhat. They really are only using photo posts. There are not any video posts and the engagement is pretty minimal compared to the number of followers they have. Most posts are getting less than 50 likes and zero comments. They use about 4 hashtags per post, some seem useful, others I feel are just fillers and could be better used to attract more people to place online orders from around the country. For example, if they hashtagged more things like #giftideas they could attract nonlocal customers looking to order. The one great thing about their use of Instagram is that they are using it daily. However, they could have more interactive posts to engage their audience and attract sales.
Another cookie company across the country is Appalachia Cookie Co. This is a company I've been researching for a while now since we started this class and I am drawn to them for their concept and the cookie flavors. I am eager to try some of the cookies one day. They have a smaller following than The Cravory, 26.4k followers. This company also seems to post only photos and not any videos and their last post was 4 weeks ago. Before that it seemed as though they were posting 2-3 times a week. They don't use any hashtags and have minimal engagement. They get more likes in relation to their following. Their posts typically receive over 100 likes, many over 200. However, there are virtually no comments.
A larger company that I researched is the Baked Bear. This business started out local in San Diego in 2014 and since then have franchised across the country. They make cookies and ice cream to create ice cream sandwiches. This company has grown pretty popular over the last several years and you can see a huge difference in their Instagram versus the previous two. This business has 131k followers and posts 1-2 times a week with great photos (no videos). They hardly ever use hashtags except for the occasional holiday photo. Their posts receive between 2,000-6,000 likes with a good amount of comments, usually over 40. The company doesn't seem to interact much in the comments. I think the great high quality photos help to engage people and I could utilize that in my own posting.
A much larger, international company that I would love to mimic is Tate's Bake Shop. This started out as a small bakery by a woman named Kathleen. She baked her famous cookies and ended up getting into some bad business deals. Eventually, she got back on track and got her product on shelves across the country. She was recently bought by Mondelez International for a very large sum. In comparison to their large dollar worth, their Instagram following is low. With just 37.7k followers and posts about twice a week. Their most recent post was a week ago and received over 1,000 comments. Most were to criticize the company for their stance on unionization. The company hasn't replied to comments. They don't typically use hashtags. I believe this company's minimal effort on Instagram is due to their already billion dollar success.
After researching these other companies I've learned that communicating back with the audience is important and adds character to the company. I also think utilizing hashtags could be very beneficial considering I saw none of these companies truly take advantage of them. I also believe that using various types of visual media in posts creates a much more dynamic and interesting Instagram page. I will definitely be using more videos, reels, etc. to engage my audience as opposed to only using photos which can become repetitive and stagnant.
For my own business I could use hashtags such as #holidaygifts #giftideas #sweettreats #comfortfood #birthdaygift #officegifts #tasty #cookies Basically anything to attract people looking to purchase an online food item, looking for a dessert etc. I will be putting more thought into this with each post from here on out.
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