Learn from the greats: how the Fortune 500 use Instagram

A new report by marketing data experts, TrackMaven, has revealed the secrets behind how the Fortune 500 companies in the US utilise Instagram to grow audiences and engage with consumers.

‘The Fortune 500 Report‘ discusses how the 123 companies from the most powerful brands in the US, including Nike, Starbucks and Ralph Lauren, use the social media site to their advantage, and offers advice to other brands looking to replicate their success.

The study revealed that businesses using Instagram marketing benefit from greater content consumption among their followers during evenings and weekends, as well as during business hours.

TrackMaven also suggested one of the secrets to business success on the site was taking advantage of hashtags, as the number of hashtags used on each picture usually correlated to the success of the content.

“Looking at the interactions (the sum of likes and comments) per 1,000 followers compared to the number of hashtags used, there is a strong correlation to the number of hashtags used and effectiveness up to 5 hashtags which has the highest average at 21.21 interactions per 1,000 followers,” the report noted.

Sabel Harris, lead marketing maven at TrackMaven, offered the following three tips to companies looking to jump on the Insta bandwagon:

1. Use videos – As a visual site, using the relatively-new Instagram videos among the picture-heavy site offer visitors something new and help shake-up the look of your page.
2. Hashtag like crazy – According to the report, an Instagram post can increase up to an average of 77 times when four to 11 hashtags are used, so go wild!
3. Instagram is a 24/7 marketing effort – There is no down time or high point in the rate of interactions on Instagram for businesses; users come and go via business hours, evenings and weekends, so test out your interactions and see what time gains the best reaction from your followers.