Mouthwatering desserts, beautifully decorated cakes, brightly colored sweet treats – it's all just a taste of Wilton's Instagram. Since Instagram is one of the fastest growing social platforms and exceedingly popular with millennials, Wilton's Digital Marketing team placed emphasis on growing the channel's followers in order to reach a new audience. Through a combination of consistent posting, sharing user generated content and choosing images that inspire followers to indulge their sweet tooth, Wilton saw an increase in followers of 402 percent in 2015 over 2014.
After adding 57,360 followers in 2014, the team set an aggressive goal of increasing our followers by 212 percent. We ended up far exceeding that goal, adding 288,045 new followers in 2015. Our Instagram account ended 2015 at 370,863 followers.
Our strategy for Instagram focused on sharing unique, colorful, inspiring and fun photos and videos of cakes and other sweet treats. Project ideas come from Wilton's team of cake decorators as well as from outside content creators. In July, we started showcasing fan's projects with their permission. We also used a Like2Buy link in our Instagram bio so that followers can easily click through to projects and videos they see on our Instagram. The Like2Buy link also allows us to track the number of click-throughs different posts received. Our approach to growing followers included:
- Posting consistently on a daily basis and multiple times a day – usually 3 to 4 times per day.
- Using relevant hashtags so new followers can discover us.
- Choosing successful user generated content. We have found that colorful cakes and cupcakes as well as edible flowers perform very well. Cakes and projects shared by fans after they've completed a Wilton Method of Cake Decorating class also get a lot of positive feedback – they are often simply designed, yet beautiful.
- Posting content that encourages our followers to share with their friends by tagging them in the Instagram comments. Unique, fun, beautiful content provides a "wow" factor and makes them want to share it.
We've observed the most engaging content includes:
- Video typically generates the most likes and comments.
- Voting for a favorite cake design.
- National Day photos such as National Chocolate Cake Day, National Peanut Butter Day, etc.
- Colorful, on-trend cupcakes and cakes.
When comparing our Instagram followers from 2015 to 2014, we saw tremendous increase in followers and engagement.
Followers:
Followers added in 2014: 57,360
Followers added in 2015: 288,045
Increase: 402%
Engagement:
For all of 2014 we received 643K Likes and 12.5K Comments
For all of 2015 we received 3.4M Likes and 42.3K Comments
Average interaction per photo (Likes + Comments):
In 2014 the average was 1,634 per day.
In 2015 the average was 4,601 per day.
Average daily followers:
In 2014 the average was 157 per day.
In 2015 the average was 514 per day.
