Digital Corps

Instagram Platform Basics

Quick Tip!

Using hashtags on Instagram is a great way for other Instagram users to search through millions of photos. At the Digital Corps, hashtags such as #tech and #officeculture are used to categorize posts into different topics.

Helpful Staff for this Topic

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Instagram is one of four social media platforms that the Digital Corps uses to reach their audiences. With a fun and visual design, Instagram is a great way for people to relax and view content after a long day.

Target Audience

Instagram’s audience is a slightly professional but still a fun and active group. They’re not as laid-back as Twitter and not as professional as LinkedIn. Unlike Twitter, the demographic of Instagram users are between the ages of 18 and 29. For the Digital Corps, this presents two target groups that Instagram posts aim to attract.

• College-Aged Students
  • The largest group of users on Instagram are between the ages of 18 and 24. Because Instagram is intended for posting visual content, the Digital Corps often captures photos and videos of the office, campus, and other prominent areas that Ball State students are likely to recognize and engage with on the platform.
• Recent Alumni
  • Alumni are a consistent target focus for the Digital Corps. Since the second largest group of users on Instagram is between the ages of 25-29, interacting with recent Ball State alumni, including previous Digital Corps employees, is an important opportunity to take advantage of. By using a more professional stance on the platform and visuals the alumni resonate with, the Digital Corps can effectively engage with this audience.

Optimal Times

Timing Instagram posts is a bit tougher than posting content on other platforms. Because Instagram is a visual platform, people like to go on it at the end of the day to relax. The Instagram audiences tend to focus more on posts as compared to other platforms where audiences can access quick tidbits of information.

• According to analytics compiled by the Corps, the best days to post content on Instagram are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. These days are also significant days of the week: Monday starts the work week, Wednesday splits it in half, and Friday ends the work week.
• The best times for posting content on Instagram are in early evening between the hours of 3pm and 5pm. Some Instagram users will see this content close to when it is posted and other will see it later on in the night due to the Instagram algorithm. Posting at these times allows those students and alumni to finish up their work for the day and take a break to view the Digital Corps’ content without distraction.

Optimal Content

Because Instagram is a visual platform, the Digital Corps focuses on posting visual content, such as photos and videos. The Digital Corps also uses Instagram Stories to engage with students and alumni.

• Social Media Videos
  • Since visual content is an important aspect of Instagram, content such as photos and videos highly engage the Digital Corps’ audience. The Digital Corps posts videos produced by the Social Media Videos project team to attract likes and comments from current followers and to gain new followers.
• Instagram Stories
  • Stories are a great way to introduce new content styles on Instagram. Stories last only 24 hours and are a quick way to promote other posts, host polls, and direct traffic to the Digital Corps website. Stories also urge people to quickly interact with content they might otherwise miss.
• Office Activities
  • Office activities typically perform well when posted on all of the Digital Corps’ platforms. Photos and videos of things currently happening in the office are good ways to show students what the office is like and to allow Digital Corps employees to reminisce on their times at the Digital Corps. These can serve as promotions posts to gain prospective new hires’ interests.

Quick Tip!

Have a particular Instagram Story that might want to be saved on the Digital Corps profile? Create a Highlight! Go to the Digital Corps account page and navigate to the plus (+) button that says “New.” From there, select the Instagram Stories you want featured in the Highlight and name it. Now the story is saved to the Digital Corps account page for anyone to see even after 24 hours of being posted.

Analytics

Instagram analytics, known as Insights, is a built-in mobile tool that allows account managers to see how their account is performing and learn more about its followers behavior. With Insights, account managers can also see engagement on specific posts, stories, etc. There are four main analytics that indicate information to the account manager: Reach, Impressions, Interactions, and Engagement

• Reach
  • Reach is the number of Instagram users who have seen content posted on a given day. The Corps uses this information to see how widespread content is for followers on Instagram and unique users, such as those who get recommended to the Digital Corps account.
• Impressions
  • Impressions are how many times any type of Instagram content has been shown to users. The difference between Impressions and Reach is that Impressions indicate how many times content could have been seen. High impression rates tell account managers what kinds of posts are doing well, especially if the Impressions-to-Reach ratio is high.
• Interactions
  • Interactions compile how many times people have visited an Instagram profile, clicked a link in the bio of an account, or found directions to a business from a bio. This tool tells account managers how many users visit Instagram account and the Digital Corps website, so they know exactly how much traffic the profile receives.
• Engagement & Engagement Rate
  • Engagement is the number of accounts who have commented on, liked, or saved a particular post from the Instagram account. Engagement Rate is post engagement divided by post impressions. These two insights help distinguish how many accounts interact with a post and help formulate the rate of engagement for particular posts. A good Instagram Engagement rate is usually between one and three percent.

Overall, Instagram is an important platform the Digital Corps uses to reach a wide variety of students and recent alumni. By keeping up to date with visual content and using functions such as Instagram Stories, the Digital Corps can enhance their presence on this social media platform to impress and attract their followers and other users.