Higher Ed Social Media Webinar: Part 1

In our first session, we were joined by Rochelle Reed, Social Media Manager at JMU and Gabriella Cortez, Social Media Specialist from Tarleton State University. Both JMU and Tarleton State University clinched a top 10 spot among all the D1 schools in our 2023 Higher Education Social Media Engagement Report, with JMU ranking #4 overall and Tarleton State bagging the #6 spot.

Division 1 Panel: Watch the video for all the insights.

Rochelle and Gabriella are both proud alums of the schools they now serve and share how their insider perspective on campus life has been a game-changer in their roles. Throughout the interview, they discussed different tactics to engage their audiences, from current and prospective students to alumni and staff. Plus, they shared some nifty tips to get students to hit that all-important follow button.

Another common thread in both schools’ successes has been their knack for including the latest pop culture tie-ins. It’s a savvy strategy that has helped bridge the gap between academia and popular trends and boost their engagement numbers.

With TikTok out of the picture for both these universities, Rochelle and Gabriella shared their insights on shifting their focus towards platforms like Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts. Additionally, Gabriella let us in on HeyOrca, a tool she uses to spot weekly trending sounds. This strategic approach guarantees their content is always in sync with what’s hot.

Rochelle also revealed a somewhat untapped platform for building engagement—the JMU Parents group on Facebook. As Rochelle explains to Seth, this vetted group is hyper-engaged with what’s happening on campus, highly interactive, and creates a tight-knit community on and off campus. Surprised? So are we!

Higher Ed Social Media Webinar: Part 2

In part two of our Higher Ed webinar series, we had the pleasure of chatting with the social media experts from two of the top-performing D2 schools from this year’s Higher Ed report.

Division 2 Panel: Watch the video to dig deeper.

For the second part of our webinar series we were joined by Brittany Miller, the Director of Communications at Angelo State University. Angelo State University reigned supreme, taking the coveted number one position in this year’s report. Alongside her, we have Haley Goodreau, the Social Media Manager at Michigan Technological University, that grabbed an impressive number three spot in this year’s report.

Along with countless eye-opening insights that both of them shared with us, one that deserves a special mention is the impressive success that both schools have found on LinkedIn, proving that this platform is a force to be reckoned with for universities looking to engage their audience and debunking the misconception that it’s solely a professional space.

Both Brittney and Haley also emphasize the significance of student voices in shaping their social media presence. In our discussion, Brittney elaborates on how Angelo State manages a dedicated student team responsible for producing and curating social media content. By working closely with the students, the university gains direct access to authentic student experiences that, in turn, build a deeper connection with the audience.

Regarding tracking and measuring their performance on social, both our panelists are data-driven and choose to look at engagement rate as an indicator of their success (we love hearing that!). Haley explains that engagement rate is her favorite metric because it gives her a good sense of the quality of the content and helps her better explain the numbers to leadership.

Wrapping up

Our two-part webinar series gave us a deep dive into the strategies employed by top-performing universities. From rolling with platform changes and collaborating with student influencers to building strong content pillars and using data-driven insights, these institutions are setting a high standard for social media engagement. We invite you to check out both videos for an in-depth look at our discussions with these outstanding panelists. Happy watching!

If you have more questions about social media analytics or how to be a guest on the Data-Driven Marketer, reach out to us on Twitter or Instagram.

The post Acing Higher Ed Social Media in 2023: Webinar Series appeared first on Rival IQ.

In our recently published Top 100 Beauty Brands on Social Media Report, Live Tinted rocked on Instagram and TikTok by clinching a spot in the top 10 list on both these popular platforms. Along with host Seth Bridges, Aya delves into how the brand fosters a strong and inclusive community on social, leverages the superpower of its founder and influencer squad, and hones in on highly engaging content.

Watch the full interview for all the insights:

The audience was with questions for Aya, who covered a wide range of topics, including time management strategies for a small social team, the tool stack the team uses (Dash Hudson and Asana were her top picks), and tricks to get camera-shy social media folks in front of the camera. Aya also shared the story behind Live Tinted’s viral headband video on TikTok, which has over 16M views, and her favorite collaboration with Rizos Curls. In the spirit of all things AI, she also discussed how the brand foresees content creation in the future. Watch the video for all the specifics and we’re sure you’ll uncover some pearls of wisdom.

Thanks again to Aya for her valuable insights on creating a stellar brand on social with a small but mighty team. We hope you got tons of inspiration!

If you have more questions about social media analytics or how to be a guest on the Data-Driven Marketer, reach out to us on Twitter or Instagram.

About Aya: Aya Diaz is a brand marketing professional with a passion for all things beauty. She adores the beauty industry’s innovation, growing inclusivity, and planet consciousness. She is a data-driven and creative brand strategist, passionate about building and growing online communities. Aya finds joy in working closely with other creatives and making storytelling come to life! When she’s not planning content for Instagram and TikTok, you’ll probably find her getting lost in the aisles at Ulta, hunting for her next purchase, or visiting every possible vegan restaurant in Los Angeles.

The post Small Social Team, Big Results: Learn from Live Tinted’s Success appeared first on Rival IQ.

During his talk, Seth interprets the industry benchmark report, going step-by-step through his favorite takeaways and connecting insights and data from other Rival IQ research, including the 2023 Instagram Stories Benchmark Report.

Watch the full episode below as Seth walks you through eleven more takeaways from the report and answers live questions from the audience.

Watch the full video for the top takeaways

Key takeaway 1: Low engagement rates, except on TikTok

Much of the chatter on social media following the publication of the 2023 Benchmark Report was about the low absolute value of the engagement rates on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter relative to TikTok.

The slide above shows the 2023 median engagement rates for TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. The engagement rate on TikTok is 5.69%, which is twelve times higher than the average engagement rate of 0.47% on Instagram.

Grab the full 2023 Benchmark Report

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There has been a bit of discussion around the fact that, with the exception of TikTok, these engagement rates are relatively small. “But, small compared to what?” is the question Seth dug into.

In the slide above, you’ll see that Campaign Monitor reports click-through rates as 2.3%. Even the average engagement rate on Instagram at 0.47% is more than five times smaller than that. Facebook and Twitter? They’re more than 39 times smaller. Yikes.

Key takeaway 2: Engagement rates trending down—in part—by declining reach

Engagement rates by follower count on the three big social networks are trending down over time. It’s not surprising, considering how the platforms have all chosen to push for a pay-to-play model, resulting in steadily declining organic reach. Sigh!

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Key takeaway 2a: Instagram engagement rates took a tumble

The pace of decline for average engagement rates is the fastest on Instagram in the last three years. Since 2021 the average engagement rate on Instagram has fallen by 29%.

The slide above shows data from this year’s study, along with data from our industry benchmark reports in 2022, 2021, and 2020.

Key takeaway 3: Declining organic reach is the culprit

Have you ever wondered if engagement rates might be dropping because organic reach is on the decline? To help you find answers to this question, Seth digs deeper into reach issues, particularly on Instagram.

If your followers aren’t logging on regularly and engaging with your content when they do, then there’s a reasonable chance that the algorithms on each platform aren’t serving them your content very often.

And if people aren’t seeing your content, it’s pretty hard to generate engagement.

Using more data from our 2023 Instagram Stories Benchmark Report, we examine the change in post reach rate on Instagram from 2021 to 2022.

The slide above shows the post reach rate for Instagram feed posts in 2021 and 2022. Note the significant decline in the organic reach of the average brand post from year to year. These double-digit changes are likely the main culprits in driving engagement rate change in this year’s benchmark report.

Key Takeaway 4: Reels, Reels, Reels

Data from the 2023 Instagram Stories Benchmark Report helps us understand engagement for viewers that actually see your content. The graph shows the average engagement per impression on Instagram feed posts in 2022 vs. 2021. You can see that the average engagement per impression fell from the 5-6% range to 4-5%.

If engagement rates aren’t going down because of content quality, what else could it be? Seth believes that it’s not that people’s content necessarily got worse, but a shift from one content type to another, particularly if they have different engagement behaviors, could be a driver in your engagement rate numbers.

In the slide below, you can see that, on average, across all account sizes, even though the reach rate for Reels fell from 18% to 14% in 2022, Reels continue to earn more reach than all the other media types.

Key Takeaway 5: Increased reach from Reels likely yields higher overall engagement

Now, what happens when folks actually see your content?

As you can see in the slide below, Reels and Videos earn fewer engagements on a per impression basis on Instagram. So, if someone is watching a reel, even if more people are seeing it, they are less likely to interact with it than what we see for images and carousels.

In looking at how those numbers have changed since last year, we see a drop for all media types, but the decline for Reels between 2021 data and 2022 data is relatively small, from 3.9% to 3.7%.

From studying these charts, it’s safe to say that even though Reels may be earning fewer engagements per impression compared to carousels or images, the increased reach you’re getting from Reels is likely offsetting that drop to yield higher overall engagement.

Key takeaway 6: TikTok earns much higher views per follower

Shifting our focus to TikTok, let’s try to understand how and why the platform enjoys a comparatively high engagement rate of 5.69% compared to Instagram’s 0.47%.

Seth starts by analyzing TikTok behavior by exploring two theories, one based on more reach on a per-follower basis and the other focusing on content quality.

The slide above contains unpublished data (surprise!) but does a good job of illustrating that brands across this study earn, on average, 134 views relative to their following. This number is nearly eight times the reach seen for Instagram Reels.

Key takeaway 7: Instagram and TikTok are pulling in similar engagement rates, so keep investing in both

Is the content brands create on TikTok that much better and engaging that audiences see it so much more? Well, not really.

The slide below shows you that the engagement per view on TikTok is 4.5%, which is only slightly higher than the 3.7% engagement per impression on Instagram Reels.

Key takeaway 7a: The FYP is a huge driver of engagement on TikTok

The chance to go viral because of the FYP algorithm is the driver of high engagement rates on a per-follower basis on Tiktok, which allows brands to reach beyond their followers. This viral effect explains the massive 134% average views per follower number.

In last year’s TikTok Benchmark report, we studied the median engagement views per follower and found them to be in the 15%-20% range, pretty close to what we see on Instagram.

Key takeaway 8: The top industries on social are on top, regardless of channel

In this section of the webinar, Seth examined which industries rise to the top on social. We learned that the top social industries are on top, regardless of channel.

Looking at the top industries for social media on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter, we see a mostly consistent set of industries across all three channels: Higher Education, Influencers, Nonprofits, and Sports Teams. On TikTok, Travel broke into the top four, while Alcohol showed up on Facebook and Twitter.

Key takeaway 9: Knowing your audience is a superpower

Knowing what creates a response from your audience—and then delivering that content consistently—will yield above-average results.

In this section of the talk, Seth digs into the performance of The Yacht Week, a popular yacht rental company in the Mediterranean.

During 2022, The Yacht Week’s TikTok performance was stellar. They posted slightly over six times a week, earning an average engagement rate by follower of 17%, well above the average of 7.43% for our Travel benchmark.

Looking at The Yacht Week’s top posts, we notice that their TikTok content strategy involves being consistent, being on trend, using long text overlays, and publishing a ton of videos with humor and aspiration blended together.

Over the entirety of last year, The Yacht Week earned over 30 million views and almost 2.5 million total engagements.

The Yacht Week really knows what its fans want, both on a yacht and on their social media, and they deliver both consistently throughout the year.

Wrapping It Up

We hope these key insights from our industry benchmark report will help shape your brand’s marketing strategies and get you prepped for social media success in 2023 and beyond.

If you have more questions about social media metrics or how to be a guest on the Data-Driven Marketer, reach out to us on Twitter. Till then, happy benchmarking!

The post Key Takeaways from the 2023 Social Media Industry Benchmark Report appeared first on Rival IQ.

Along with Rival IQ founder, Seth Bridges, the conversation kicks off with Lauren’s top takeaways in the aftermath of the ownership change at Twitter.

Watch the full interview for key insights and some serious inspiration for creating your 2023 social media marketing strategy.

Watch the video for all of the specifics to beef up your social strategy, including how brands are building their fans on LinkedIn, tips and tricks to leverage creators, and staying on top of the latest trends in social.

Lauren has also teamed up with Rival IQ to create a four-part social media audit course, and it comes with easy-to-follow videos, downloads, and templates. Give it a whirl!

Free Social Media Competitive Audit Course with Lauren Teague

Get started today →

If you have more questions about competitive analytics, social media metrics, or being a guest on the Data-Driven Marketer, reach out to us on Twitter or Instagram.

About Lauren: Lauren Teague knows the secret to building a great business is cultivating fandom rather than followers. One of sports’ original social media reporters, Lauren spent seven seasons as the voice of @PGATOUR, while transforming how professional golf connects with fans online. Today, she is a sought-after business advisor, an acclaimed international marketing speaker, and the founder of the re-commerce startup FanWagn.

The post Navigating Social Media Unknowns in 2023 appeared first on Rival IQ.

Along with host Seth Bridges, Corynn delves into patterns that cause Higher Ed social media and marketing teams to underperform, tactics for digital teams to build trust with their leadership, and strategies to manage student creators on TikTok. Throughout the interview, Corynn emphasizes the importance of a thoughtful content strategy to achieve social media success.

Watch the full interview for all the insights:

If you’d like to see how your school stacks up on social, check out our 2022 Higher Education Social Media Engagement Report or the 2022 D2: Higher Education Social Media Engagement Report, depending on which NCAA Division your institution falls under. We’ve got the complete rankings for every college and university across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok, along with top trends and tons of examples!

You can also learn how the top D1 schools are getting As on their social media report cards by tuning into our two-part Higher Ed Social Media Webinar series, where panelists from the University of Iowa, Utah State University, Georgia Tech, and Ohio University share their secrets. Catch the live recordings of Part 1 and Part 2 in case you missed it.

If you have more questions about social media metrics or how to be a guest on the Data-Driven Marketer, reach out to us on Twitter.

The post Top Social Media Do’s and Don’ts in Higher Education appeared first on Rival IQ.

We hosted Director, Media Relations & Social Media Steven Norris and Assistant Director of Social Media and Thought Leadership Brice Zimmerman from Georgia Tech to talk through the university’s success on social, including how they shape their content with a keen focus on storytelling and how they build a strategic community of alumni, current students and parents by engaging in two-way conversations on social.

We also sat down with Social Media & Content Marketing Manager Eli Burris and Senior Social Media Specialist Elise Holbrook from Ohio University. The team shared with us how factors such as trust from their leadership, OU student content creators, and being timely on social contributed to the university’s stellar engagement rates.

If you’re looking for some expert-level Higher Ed social media strategy and execution, this is definitely a video to watch. The panel also has tips for smaller schools with a social media team of one.

For more info about the data and rankings we discussed in the interview, check out our Higher Education Social Media Engagement Report with the complete rankings for every D1 college and university across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok.

Missed the first part of our webinar series with the digital teams from The University of Iowa and Utah State University? No worries, you can catch the recording of the live session right here.

If you have more questions about social media metrics or how to be a guest on the Data-Driven Marketer, reach out to us on Twitter.

The post Successful Social Media Strategies in Higher Ed: Georgia Tech & Ohio University appeared first on Rival IQ.

We were thrilled to hear from our guests at The University of Iowa: Michael Benning, Director of Digital Marketing, and Social Media Manager Alex Bush, about how they’ve been topping the charts for the fourth year in a row in our Higher Education Social Media Engagement Report.

From Utah State University, we had the absolute pleasure to chat with Social Media Director Matt Gerrish, who has been overseeing the program for more than four years and has been driving killer engagement rates on social media with a small but mighty fan-following.

Our conversation kicked off with all three of our guests attributing their overall success to a strong emphasis on creating audience-focused content. Matt shared his 90/10 approach to content creation where he believes that 90% of social content should provide value to the audience and only 10% of the content should consist of asking something from your followers, like entering a contest.

Watch the video for some expert-level Higher Ed social media tips.

We had a TON of audience interest in the Hawkeye Influencer program that Alex manages. Alex even spent a few moments with us off-air so we could get all your questions answered. She let us know that there are around 50 influencers on the UIowa campus, all of whom are first-year students. Admissions sends an email to all incoming students inviting them to apply after which her team reviews their applications and invites the students selected to participate. While making their selection, they try to have diverse representation across ethnicities, races, gender, major, and more.

The on-campus influencers are entrusted to post about their lives on campus on their own social channels, and their content belongs to them. There are guidelines in place that state that the content they post should not affect the safety of the students and not reflect poorly on the university. If they violate these guidelines, the university discontinues its relationship with them as an influencer.

Michael, Alex, and Matt had great insights on all things #hesm, including making data-driven decisions on social media, employing a strategic approach to everything social media, building trust with university leadership, and harnessing the power of user-generated content.

In the second and final part of the Higher Ed Social Media webinar series, we sat down with the social teams from Georgia Tech and Ohio University. If you missed the live session, you can watch the recording here.

If you have more questions about social media metrics or how to be a guest on the Data-Driven Marketer, reach out to us on Twitter.

The post Successful Social Media Strategies in Higher Ed: The University of Iowa & Utah State University appeared first on Rival IQ.

Check out the live interview with Armaghan (Armie) Amiri, Global Social Media Strategist, and Kasey Ford, Global Social Media Manager, as they share how education and authenticity help to drive a human-centric social strategy at The INKEY List.

Kasey and Armie also discuss how the team stays on top of the tone and voice on social, changes to channel algorithms, and the latest TikTok trends. It’s no surprise that The INKEY List clinched the #6 spot in the Top 100 Beauty Brands on Social Media for 2022.

The INKEY List’s focus on edutainment has created a community of beauty enthusiasts who feel empowered to ask their next skincare-related query to the real folks at INKEY (no chat bots here). Armie mentions that they are able to strengthen their community because “the brand shares knowledge to debunk and demystify things in the industry that most people don’t really understand.”

Watch the full interview for all the insights:

Along with host Seth Bridges, the powerful pair also discuss how askINKEY (the brand’s customer service portal) feeds into their content marketing initiatives. The team uses data from consumer questions to identify trending topics and create social content.

Thanks again to Armie and Kasey for sharing their valuable insights on cultivating an engaged social community. We hope you got tons of INKEYspiration!

If you have more questions about social media metrics or how to be a guest on the Data-Driven Marketer, reach out to us on Twitter.

The post Building Community on Social Media with The INKEY List appeared first on Rival IQ.

Watch the full interview for all the insights:

Since selecting creative advertising as her career of choice in high school and sticking to that choice (#rare), Jacquie has helped brands turn heads by creating successful and memorable marketing campaigns. Having worked with big-name brands like Yum!, Honda-Acura, Terry Fox, Outward Bound, and RBC, she knows how to tap into a trend and amplify its impact on social media.

Along with host Seth Bridges, Jacquie delves deeper into social media collaborations—a top trend observed in our 2022 Top 100 Beauty Brands on Social Media report.

Explore more collabs and our full beauty rankings.

Download the full report

Social Media Collaboration Strategies

Jacquie shares some heavy-duty collab tips, best practices for partnership pitches, and strategies to tackle the TikTok influencer game head-on. She also mentions notable marketing collaboration examples from top brands like NYX and McDonald’s.

Here are some of the top takeaways from Jacquie’s interview.

Make Memorable Collaborations

Brands can land partnerships with the ultimate creator or influencer, but the collab is worth nothing unless the content is memorable and relevant. Jacquie notes that collaborations with a prominent creator or something from pop culture like the ColourPop x Disney campaign have a much higher relevance. Pop culture entities are also known to evoke nostalgia, another key factor in driving engagement numbers.

Beauty brands are not the only ones relying on pop culture. Recently fast food chain KFC partnered with rapper Jack Harlow. The yearlong collaboration will include social media campaigns, new menu item launches, and exclusive experiences to the delight of their audience.

Limited quantity collabs also tend to increase desirability and drive clicks. Beauty brand Kylie Cosmetics is well known for successfully adopting the scarcity model in its marketing strategy. FOMO for the win!

Collaborator Search Tools

Jacquie shared some of her favorite tools to search for collaborators. Her recommendations include Hashtag Paid, HireInfluence, and Izea, tools with curated lists of influencers across platforms and industries. TikTok and YouTube also have their own creator marketplaces that brands can benefit from.

Jacquie also reminds us that you can use the available social listening tools to identify your biggest fans and send them a DM for a potential collaboration.

TikTok’s Impact on Collaborations

Jacquie reminds us that what you want on TikTok is the opposite of a polished production. Brands that are used to hyper-stylized content will need to unbutton their strategy and relax a little on TikTok. It’s ok to be real with a side of cheesy on TikTok. Brands will also have to get used to the fact that the person who manages their TikTok will be the face of the brand on TikTok.

Jacquie recommends that the person who handles TikTok be an in-house employee who understands the brand and legal standards, knows the latest trends and sounds, and is laser-focused on creating content that shows up on the For You Page.

Social Media Collab No-Nos

Jacquie lays it out plain and simple – if you are a fast-food brand, don’t have a vegetarian promote your brand. Choose a collaboration that aligns with your brand values and product. Duh! Today’s social-first consumer WILL call you out on the lack of authenticity and diminish the value of your collaboration.

When selecting a person or brand to partner with, check their digital presence beforehand. As Jacquie reiterates, you don’t want to start a partnership with someone who is controversial in a way that doesn’t compliment your brand. Do your due diligence by investing some time in social listening, and ensure that the collaboration is in line with your brand’s goals and social strategy.

Wrapping It Up

Watch the video for all the specifics to beef up your collab strategy, including how to craft a collaboration pitch, more examples of brands killing it with partnerships, and valuable tips for smaller brands who want to dip their toes in the world of social media collabs. Heck, you’ll also pick up new terms like advertainment and fan-fluencer.

If you have more questions about social media metrics or how to be a guest on the Data-Driven Marketer, reach out to us on Twitter.

About Jacquie: Jacquie joined FUSE Create, a Toronto-based marketing agency, in the spring of 2020 to grow their social practice and help the teams create work that connects with the modern consumer. At FUSE, she works with clients like CIBC, Airmiles, Ricola US/CA, Maple Leaf Foods, Prestige, True Patriot Love, and Reel Start to generate the right solutions for their business problems. Previously, she was a creative and social strategist at Grip Limited, where she worked on a variety of brands across categories from quick-serve restaurants to banking and non-profits. Jacquie is an expert in how-to viral, integrated creative campaigns and knows how to tap into trends and drive conversations to build a loyal social community.

The post Successful Social Media Collabs in Beauty and Beyond appeared first on Rival IQ.

Along with Rival IQ founder, Seth Bridges, the conversation kicks off with Lauren’s top takeaways from the 2022 Instagram Stories Benchmark Report. With recent data indicating that Instagram posts have a higher reach rate than Stories, Lauren is clear that the best bang for your buck is going to come from creating an excellent first impression—that means creating compelling content on your news feed and supporting that content across the platform. Although considering Instagram’s recent focus shift to video, she wouldn’t be surprised if Reels took over the Feed soon.

Watch the full interview for more takeaways and some serious inspiration for creating your 2022 Instagram marketing strategy.

13 Instagram features to amp up your marketing strategy

During the webinar, Lauren and Seth laid out the 13 different ways brands can interact with their followers on Instagram— Feed, Stories, Highlights, Reels, Video, Guides, Shoppable posts, Stickers, Custom AR filters, link in bio, captions, hashtags, DMs, and CTAs. Whew!

That’s a lot of choices and brings up the question of should you pick and choose, or do you dabble in all of them?

The answer boils down to a key takeaway of this episode: understanding your audience and giving them the right content at the right time in the right place. Speaking of takeaways, let’s dive right in!

Winning Instagram strategies for 2022: Key takeaways

Lauren and Seth touched on several topics that included social media consumption patterns, creative content on Instagram, audience research, competitive benchmarking on Instagram, and optimizing the temporary nature of Stories. Here is a roundup of the top takeaways from this webinar.

Know and grow your audience on Instagram

A good Instagram marketing strategy begins with building an audience persona. Lauren shared her go-to audience mapping template to help brands identify if Instagram is actually where their target audience hangs out, unearth the questions, challenges, wants, and needs that the audience has, and how to solve those. With this blueprint in hand, marketers can start planning content geared towards helping the audience rather than selling to them.

Lauren reminds us that in this quest to increase our fanbase, it means nothing if your follower count increases but reach and engagement decrease. She recommends balancing all the posting on Instagram, Stories, and Reels with earned media, community building, and audience interaction.

Another key tactic to build an Instagram following is to invest in a strong hashtag strategy. Lauren and Seth discuss how it’s better to focus on finding moderately used ones that have a high average engagement rate, so your brand’s content does not get lost in the noise.

If you are looking for a powerful hashtag research tool, we highly recommend using Rival IQ’s Instagram Discover tool. Our users have found it to be a game-changer in their hashtag analytics strategy on Instagram and Twitter. Try it out!

Create quality Instagram content

Lauren breaks down what she does to make content that stands out in the Instagram crowd in a 3-step formula that begins with creating value-based content. A good technique to build out this type of content starts with asking, “how I can help my audience rather than how I can sell?”

The second step in Lauren’s three-part process is to add an element of entertainment to the content. While “entertainment does not mean it has to be funny,” it means that the audience should relate to it and feel compelled to consume your content.

In the final step, Lauren reminds us that brands must interact directly with the user by actually engaging through commenting on posts and responding to your DMs.

Learn from your competitors’ Instagram marketing strategies

Seth and Lauren also talked through some other ways brands leverage content from other social media channels to create content on Instagram. Seth mentioned an excellent example from Kum & Go, a convenience store chain that repurposes funny DMs with customers into additional Instagram content. The idea here is that not only are you making an impact in the DMs, but using that time investment to also bolster your Instagram marketing strategy. You can learn more about this strategy from Seth’s recent interview on the CStoreTALKS podcast, and check out the 2022 CStoreDecisions Social Media Awards for more ideas from the top convenience store brands on social media.

There is something to be learned from the top-performing brands in every segment. At Rival IQ, we believe that competitive analysis and benchmarking should be at the heart of every social media strategy so you can keep an eye on what the best in the industry are doing, learn from them, and outperform the competition.

Use Instagram’s new features to your advantage

Over the past few months, we’ve seen Instagram roll out several new features that could impact how your brand does business on the app. The link sticker was a welcome addition for many brands with less than 10K followers. But Lauren reminds us, it’s not about slapping a link sticker on every Story, it’s focusing on “what’s on the other side of the sticker.” Brands should ensure that the customer experience on the other side of the link is mobile optimized and directs the audience to the appropriate content with the correct CTAs.

Continuing the conversation on Stickers, Lauren also shares with us how creating branded GIFs and uploading them to GIPHY is another sneaky way to get extra eyeballs on your brand’s Insta page (and Facebook, and Twitter too!). Check out our recent webinar on creative social media strategies in Higher Education. Our guest, Jonah Restuccio from Syracuse University, shares how he created a few Instagram stickers as an experiment and saw it generate millions of views. Designing branded stickers and gifs is now an essential part of Syracuse’s Instagram marketing strategy as its popularity continues to soar.

E-commerce businesses got an extra boost when Instagram added the Shop button in the main navigation section of the app. You can shop from the main Feed, from a Story, and even use the button in the Stickers. Lauren loves that you never have to leave the app with Instagram Shop. This is GOLD for marketers.

Savvy marketers who’ve done their customer mapping homework and know the best times to post on social media in 2022, this is your chance—share content and lead the audience to your Shop for a seamless purchasing experience.

Understand Reels vs. TikTok

In the interview, Lauren reiterates a ton of differences between the audience on TikTok and Instagram. She also recommends that brands who should be on TikTok (which isn’t necessarily all brands right now) should make sure they have someone who really understands TikTok creating that content. In deciding how to create on Reels and TikTok, content creators need to decide how differentiated their content should be on Reels versus TikTok. And by the way, it’s important to understand that branded TikTok content often looks nothing like the brand. It’s not supposed to, and that’s okay!

It would have been amazing to have dug into the Reels vs. TikTok debate more, but unfortunately, we ran out of time. I think we could pull a few strings and have Lauren come back for another session. What say, peeps?

Wrapping it up

Watch the video for all of the specifics to beef up your Instagram marketing strategy, including how the pandemic has impacted social media usage patterns, ideas to repurpose your content, Lauren’s favorite sports brands, and where you can catch her speaking next. Lauren has also teamed up with Rival IQ to create a 4-part Social Media Audit course, and it comes with easy-to-follow videos, downloads, and templates. Give it a whirl!

Free Social Media Competitive Audit Course with Lauren Teague

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If you have more questions about Instagram strategies, social media metrics, or being a guest on the Data-Driven Marketer, reach out to us on Twitter or Instagram.

About Lauren: Lauren Teague is a marketing strategist and original social media leader. After 7 seasons leading the social media efforts of the PGA TOUR she joined the respected Convince & Convert Consulting team. Today, Lauren advises clients and audiences on customer experience, content marketing, and social media management. She’s a partner of Sports PR Summit and a startup founder of a re-commerce marketplace. In 2021, Lauren partnered with Rival IQ to teach the Competitive Social Media Audit course, where she explains how to collect all your social media data in one place and compare it to your competition for valuable insights to see what works in your industry, highlights improvements to make, and shape your future social strategy.

The post Winning Instagram Marketing Strategies for 2022 appeared first on Rival IQ.

Check out the recording below where we interview Robin Wade, Executive Director, Digital, and Jonah Restuccio, Manager of Social Media Strategy to uncover the key drivers of #hesm growth that the university has seen over the past couple of years.

Watch the full interview for all the insights:

Having spent over 11 years in Higher Education and working in digital and print industries for many years prior to that, Robin’s background provides a holistic approach to social media at Syracuse that includes balancing communications, digital marketing, and building partnerships within the University and beyond.

Jonah is a former sports broadcaster turned social media expert, and has been credited with redefining the social media strategy at Syracuse. His creative strategies, content ideas, and lets-try-this-out approach are behind the impressive growth of the university’s social channels across all the major platforms, especially Instagram and TikTok.

Along with host Seth Bridges, this dynamic duo delved into the innovative tactics, team structure, and content build-outs that helped Syracuse University climb forty places to rank 7th overall in our 2021 Higher Ed Social Media Engagement Report.

The Scoop On All Things Social @SyracuseU

Having an alum get elected to be President will skyrocket those engagement numbers, but there’s a LOT more behind the social success at Syracuse University. Robin outlines how their digital-first strategy has helped “social media have a place at the table” and inform content and communication decisions across the university’s communication channels. Jonah credits their success to developing the brand’s voice and meeting the audience where they are. Here are some of the top takeaways from our interview with Robin and Jonah.

Some of Syracuse University’s top social posts that drove engagement across Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter

Humanize The Brand

Developing the brand’s authentic social voice has been crucial to the social team at Syracuse. It’s this authentic voice that is instrumental in building a virtual connection with students (current and prospective), faculty, alumni, and donors. Jonah notes that it’s important on social to “not talk at your audience, but with your audience.” The team also focuses on diversifying the content across different platforms, so the brand’s tone and personality are in line with the audiences consuming it.

Student Ambassadors

The social team does not work alone: a huge part of the content is created by student ambassadors. These students not only create content, but also do Instagram take-overs, share on-campus events, and amplify key messages on the University’s social channels and on their personal handles as well. Jonah believes that having these student ambassadors champion the social content helps digital interactions feel like you’re talking with a student or an alum which in turn helps Syracuse, humanize its brand. And as Robin pointed out: anyone in Higher Ed knows that the most valuable student relations do not end when they leave campus because students go on to become alumni and future donors and will keep rooting for your university for years to come.

Get Creative

Syracuse University Instagram Stickers

Branded Instagram stickers, anyone? Jonah collaborated with the graphics team to create a few Instagram stickers as an experiment and saw it generate millions of views. Users love putting these stickers to create a more authentic, branded, social experience. Today the graphics team creates these stickers on a regular basis and the popularity has continued to soar! Although famous on Instagram, these stickers are also used widely on Snapchat and TikTok.

‘Social’ Responsibility

In a post-COVID era, social channels have been a key source of sharing information at Syracuse University. However, with sharing information on social comes the risk of facing instant negative reactions. Last June, in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, there were a ton of negative comments associated with social posts from the University leadership’s statement to recognize the injustice. It was a learning moment for the social team. The team realized that socially charged posts must be sensitive and include actionable steps—a statement just doesn’t cut it anymore. Robin also noted, that in a hyper-digital world, collaboration with the Communications & PR team at the university on a regular basis is a must so her team can be better informed and well prepared for all the possible outcomes.

Wrapping It Up

Don’t forget to explore the 2021 Higher Education Social Media Engagement report for all of our rankings and top examples from the best in Higher Ed, including Syracuse. Plus, download the report for some inspiration so you too can be top of the class on social!

If you have more questions about social media metrics or how to be a guest on the Data-Driven Marketer, reach out to us on Twitter.

The post Creative #hesm Strategies with Syracuse University appeared first on Rival IQ.

Key Elements of Successful DTC Brands

• Are active on channels favored by their customers. From Instagram to TikTok to good mobile and desktop websites, meeting your customers where they are can help reduce friction in the buyer journey while also teaching you more about your customers’ desires and interests.
• Build relationships with customers. Top DTC brands take the time to personalize the experience for customers by valuing their individuality thanks to lots of research and experimentation.
• Appeal to consumers’ conscious selves. Social good, environmentalism, and inclusion aren’t just buzzwords anymore, and top DTC brands will put their money where their mouths are in supporting and promoting causes that resonate with customers.
• Constantly innovate. Novelty and innovation are key tools in the toolkit for any DTC brand trying to cut through the noise.
• Above all, are fantastic storytellers. Lanny highlighted storytelling as the most important characteristic of his top picks for successful DTC brands. Powerful storytelling can range from transparency about your supply chain to profiling the impact your brand is having on your chosen cause and beyond.

Seven Critical Steps to Starting a DTC Brand

• Step 1: Identify the purpose of your brand. Are you looking to revolutionize razor blades like Harry’s? Want to find a way to fund free socks for all like Bombass? Picking a compelling mission and cause is the first step for any DTC brand.
• Step 2: Consider about your product lineup. Some brands succeed by making one thing really well, and others will benefit most from a diverse set of products. Bonus points if you can come up with a compelling sales gimmick, like TOMS’ “buy a shoe, give away a shoe” giveaway.
• Step 3: Understand the operations. E-commerce, operations, warehouses, shipping and returns are all vital before your product goes viral on TikTok and you have no way of fulfilling all your orders.
• Step 4: Research and listen to your customers. Get to know your customers on their preferred channels, and don’t assume they’re just like you. Be sure to optimize your customer experience and purchase path for the channels that your customers are on, like Instagram and TikTok.
• Step 5: Come up with fun things you can do to increase sales and set your brand apart. Lanny cited Harry’s $5 mystery item that makes the unboxing experience fun and memorable for customers.
• Step 6: Think immediately about how you can incentivize the next purchase. Lanny loved when a brand he bought from sent him an email that said, “We’re putting $5 in your account today to thank you for being a customer, but we’re going to take $1 away from it each month you don’t spend it.” Extending customers a credit or reminding them about items that have been abandoned in their carts create additional touchpoints to remind them of your products and the stellar experience they had during their first purchase.
• Step 7: It’s all about advertising. As Lanny optimistically/depressingly put it, “Advertising is the new rent.” Targeted, creative, and fresh ads help pull customers back in, and are especially important without brick-and-mortar footprints that many DTC brands lack.

Some of our favorite DTC brands

• Threadless: This online community for artists to print and sell their work on phone cases, t-shirts, art prints, and more is alive and well after more than two decades.
• Warby Parker: This eyeglasses brand figured out how to bring shopping for glasses out of the optometrist’s and into your house with its innovative “try five pairs free” model.
• TOMS: One of the OG DTC brands with a compelling “buy a shoe, give a shoe” model.
• Nike: Shocker, we know. According to Lanny, Nike has more than half of its revenue coming from DTC now, which is a great example of a big brand with plenty of brick-and-mortar presence seamlessly making the most of DTC.
• Jeni’s Ice Cream: The experience for mail-order vs. in-store is so consistent, and it makes people who aren’t near a Jeni’s location fans for life as well.

Wrapping it up

Analyze your DTC brand's social performance in Rival IQ.

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The post Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Takeaways with Lanny Geffen appeared first on Rival IQ.