How Souq.com Built Its Brand On Instagram

Souq.com
Instagram is fast finding its feet in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Around four in five social media users in the Arab world access Instagram on daily basis. In 2015, Saudi Arabia alone had reported more than five million Instagram users, making it an important platform for advertisers in the region. Souq.com has leveraged the visually strong social platform to grow its business. In a webinar hosted by Meltwater, Sara Shabana, Social Media Manager, Souq.com speaks on how to crack advertising on Instagram.

#1. Create buzz for brands without overdoing it
Creating buzz on Instagram is important as the people we follow, are the people who aspire us and whose pictures inspire us. Some things to take into account are:
• Content is the most important aspect of the ad;
• High impact visuals in the ad are important as 80 percent of the brain is dedicated to visual processing;
• It is important to not overdo attempts to create buzz;
• Using hashtags is important but in the right limit.

She also explained that content can be portrayed in different yet equally important ways. Four ways to classify this is to make it brand-centric, storytelling, behind the scenes and inspirational content.

Starbucks

#2. Attract, engage and keep followers

Four factors are critical here.
• User generate context:
This is highlighted by Starbuck’s white cup challenge, where people were asked to draw on the Starbucks coffee cup, with a chance to have the winning drawing being printed on the coffee cups that are then sold worldwide.

• Proper use of hashtags:
Again the message here was to use the right amounts of hashtags. A study conducted in this regard highlighted that if the number of followers for the brand is less than 1000, use of more than 11 hashtags is beneficial; while if this number is greater than 1000 then using less hashtags is more preferable.

• Captions that attract people:
While it is important to have relevant and meaningful captions, these have to be eye-catching.

• Having a call to action on photo:
Customer engagement can be more-engaging but less attractive, hence it is important to have a balance between customer-interaction and de novo generation of the ad.

#3. How to assign ROI to your content pieces and measure their success
It is important for a brand to realize the limitations it might have in targeting its customers. This can vary from demographics to locations. While measuring ROI, it is important to realize that the brand cannot have everything.

#4. Instagram 2016 trends
• Influencers marketing is critical as giving more focus on individuals rather than the whole market. These individuals in turn affect the selling of the brand.
• More experiments can be seen with Instagram advertising.

Ms Shabana also stated that Instagram engagement is declining and people need to be inspired more. This means that more efforts need to be put in by brands and authentic content creation is required.

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