How to Use Your Instagram Followers' Comments to Craft better Content
Have you ever paid attention to followers' comments on Instagram? If not, it's high time to analyze their comments to find inspiration and insights to craft better content.
The Instagram community has reached 1 billion monthly active users, so the platform isn't just for personal use any more. More and more marketers prefer Instagram over other social media platforms, so Instagram marketing gains momentum.
As the market is becoming competitive, marketers need to stay creative to not only hook but keep their visitors engaged. Thus, thinking about an actionable marketing strategy is a must, and content plays a key role.
Once you provide visitors with the fresh and valuable information they may find useful, they become loyal followers who are ready to dig into your company values and products.
But marketers face many content obstacles, and the question is:
How to create better content that can suit the followers' needs?
The short answer is simple: read your followers' comments!
Just imagine: 55% of Americans leave online comments to express their opinions.
Thus, comment sections have become a valuable source of insights for marketers who want to create the right content for the right people, and it's one of the many reasons to read your followers' comments.
How Can Reading Comments Help to Craft Better Content?
No matter what your niche is, the quality of your content depends on satisfying customers' needs. If you can craft content that helps them solve their problems, they will never forget you.
Here's the list of content ideas you can find in the comment section:
1. Get Fresh Post Ideas
Creating new interesting content can be daunting from time to time. As the amount of information is growing, it's harder to come up with new fresh post ideas your followers will find useful.
However, marketers can draw inspiration from their followers while reading their comments. As customers, they know their needs firsthand, and listening to them can help you generate new content ideas.
For example, H&M company got an insight to publish more pictures of kids' clothes, and it was a perfect sign to separate Instagram accounts by goals.
Your followers are a great source of content ideas. As they know their needs and wants, reading comments can hint you at what they are ready to read. Just from one user, you can see the problem from different angles to offer various solutions.
Here's what you can learn: analyze comments your posts get and try to find out how to make the most out of them. Listen to your audience to craft useful content based on proposed ideas instead of publishing salesy social network posts.
2. Understand Followers' Wants
There's no secret that the quality of your content depends on the possibility to satisfy your customers' needs and wants. As a result, a secret to creating high-quality content is knowing your audience inside out.
Let's take a look at the post by MailChimp. As a B2B company, MailChimp marketers try to reach to their big clients, but they also lay a bet on common people who may be interested in getting free stuff. Thus, they give away their Freddie toy to being loyalty. As a result, the customers are happy and they are ready to express their thoughts on further possibilities.
From the comment below, it's easy to understand that their customers want to get more free stuff, and the company can create not only Freddie toys but something more practical as well. Moreover, branded t-shirts can help to build brand awareness both online and offline.
Here's what you can learn: sometimes customers can take time to express their preferences and wants, and you'd better pay attention to such comments. Once you start meeting their wants, they will never forget you.
3. Take Care of Your Customers
It's harsh but true: 95% of your customers who had a bad experience spread the word about your product and services online. Unfortunately, dissatisfied customers want to complain about their experience, and it can negatively affect your reputation if you don't react quickly.
Did you know that 52% of customers expect to hear back from brands? And the problem is that even big dogs like Nike can get unsatisfied messages in the comment section.
When people share their negative experiences on social media, they expect brands to take care of them. And as a person who wants to grow a business, it's important to keep customers loyal, so a fast reply with a solution is a great way to show your care.
Moreover, the problem can become an idea for the next post.
Here's what you can learn: highlight the problem and try to explain it in your next post. When you take care of your customers, you increase brand loyalty and customer retention.
4. Rely on a Case Study
Working with customers, you need to be ready for receiving negative feedback. In the modern world, when something happens offline, it spreads online quickly. Thus, marketers should take care of their brand reputation.
Take a story by Whole Foods Market, for example. Two activists were jailed after asking questions at Whole Foods Market, and it perturbed the company's followers.
.jpg?width=700&height=404 "Wholefoods_feedback-(1).jpg")
Even though the company didn't pay attention to that case, the followers couldn't help chiding Whole Foods Market. As a result, it shows that the topic is hot, and it needs explanations in order not to hurt brand loyalty.
Here's what you can learn: pay attention to the number of 'likes' comments get. The more likes they get, the more customers support the idea, and it means you need to speak about it to handle the negative impact.
5. Implement User-Generated Content
People have taken 1.2 trillion digital photos, and the number is kept on growing. For marketers, it's a huge opportunity to save time and money on content creation if they know how to encourage user-generated content.
Let's see how to find UGC posts with the help of comments. When it comes to Starbucks, most people know about this brand. It's in human's nature to feel connected with something global, so customers are happy to post a photo with a Starbucks cup.
More often than not, loyal customers leave comments. It means you may find your brand mention in their photos. However, it may be hard to check all the accounts, so you need to pay attention to tags. Once a person tags you, analyze the page and see the content. You may find something valuable.
Here's what you can learn: when somebody mentions your brand on Instagram, like the post and pay attention to it. Maybe it's another great post to share with your audience and gain other followers' loyalty without spending time on content creation.
Tips to Make the Most Out of Followers' Comments
While many marketers are obsessed with the number of 'likes' their posts get, it's important to understand that comments can help to establish a conversation with your target audience, and therefore get insights on how to improve your marketing efforts.
Here's how to make the most out of followers' comments:
- Turn on notifications to read comments immediately. Customers want to communicate with brands, and they don't want to wait much for the response. Thus, it's important to turn on notification to engage rapidly with followers who leave comments on your Instagram account.
- Listen to their suggestions and reaction. Instagram marketing is about interacting with customers, so you need to be all ears when it comes to getting customers' feedback. Plus, you can use Instagram polls to understand their suggestions better.
- Analyze whether comments get likes from other users. When people like others' comments, it means they approve their thoughts, and it can be a hint for you. The more likes the comment gets, the more valuable it is for you.
- Leave your page to understand what your followers say on their profiles. Instagrammers love sharing their opinion, and they communicate often in the comments with their friends. As a result, spying on their private accounts can be interesting to understand more about your product/service (especially if you've found your brand mention).
Final Thoughts
Commenting is a new form of communication, and people love leaving comments as they can express their thoughts and opinions without interrupting. On the other hand, it's a great opportunity to understand customers and use insights to create better content.