In the modern world, technology has greatly improved the way in which people communicate, shaping the approaches that organizations adopt to communicate their brands to the outside world especially to their existing and potential customers respectively. On social media, various platforms have been embraced by corporations in communicating their brands such as the use of Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest among other platforms. The current investigation explores the use of Instagram to communicate brands by organization, with the main objective being an investigation of visual brand communication on Instagram as a consumer engagement strategy. The specific objectives that are guiding the conduct of this inquiry are: to determine how visual brand communication enhances engagement on social media platforms; to examine Instagram management approaches for promoting brand communication; to explore Instagram analytics relevance in promoting brand communication; and to find out the strategies for audience targeting on Instagram in order to promote brand communication. The investigation has adopted a qualitative approach by interviewing 100 Instagram users using semi-structured questions. Data analysis has been done suing excel and results have shown that indeed Instagram has become common and consumers have a positive perception about its use to engage them by organizations. Organizations have been recommended to employ more creative strategies and enhance their effectiveness use in marketing while future studies have been recommended to focus on organizations as opposed to consumers who were the main targets in the current examination.
Acknowledgements
I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely appreciate the efforts of my Supervisor, in guiding me through the entire process of this project. I am really grateful and your guidance has really thought me a lot. Thank you so much!
Introduction
The first chapter will be organized to present the main reasons behind the need to investigate the topic of “Visual Brand Communication on Instagram with a special focus on Consumer Engagement”. Therefore, it will be organized to cover motivation and value, investigation objectives, and outline of the other chapters respectively. Each of the sections above will be having further sub-sections where appropriate.
Motivation and Value
Background Information
Brand communication is the core basis of promoting a business’ brand which can be done in a number of ways (Percy, 2014). At the heart of every business which is successful there is strong brand building which is achieved through communication. Communicating brand is simply when customers have a constant engagement or interaction with a business’ brand through various platforms or channels (Percy, 2008). Although it is commonly believed that brand is the same concept with an entity’s logo, it is actually much more than that (Schwindt, 2014). There is need for constant designing, development, and nurturing of a brand for it to me memorable for a long time (Dahlen, 2010). Such efforts can be termed as effective communication of brand, whose end result that there is a positive and good relationship built with customers concerning products or a firm’s brand (Varey, 2002). In this regard, every single time a client or customer or simply a potential customer interacts with a business’s logo, there is the element of brand communication (Dasgupta, 2018). It occurs throughout the life-cycle of a product, through adoption of appropriate and suitable channels.
Some of the channels through which a brand can be communicated include although they are not limited to; social media, business contacts vising a business office, product views through online platforms, and when a brand logo is seen by customers in any platform among other avenues (Hackley and Hackley, 2015). The most important effect of communicating a brand is that customers are able to develop a good reputation of a company’s products or services (Koekemoer and Bird, 2004). The reputation is crucial in ensuring that there are increased sales, increase in referral networks for the services and products, as well as development of unconditional positive regard to a business by the customers (Kapferer and Bastien, 2012). Generally, consumers receive brand message if the communication is done by personalities who are experts, likeable, well known, and if there is demonstration of expertise with regard to relevant information use (Dicke, 2006).
Businesses have been using different platforms to reach potential and existing customers through a variety of platform since time immemorial (Schultz and Kitchen, 2000). However, in the recent past, there have been increased cases of integrating social media platforms to promote marketing in a move which is referred to as an integrated, reliable and modern strategy in communicating about a brand (Yeshin, 1998). Some of the most channels used in the modern business environment due to ICT advancements are; Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, blogging, and Pinterest among other social sites that are proactively used and are said to be effective (Lusch et al., 2015). Although sometimes branding might be seen as a costly endeavor in an organization, it is in practical sense a very important communication strategy that focuses on building long-term rapport with clients and hence enhancing product competitiveness in the market (Bell, 2008).
Organizations more often than not strive towards achieving favorable results based on the objective of moving potential and current customers from interest level to acquisition level; this is the fundamental goal of brand communication (Kale, 2016). Using strategies of communication is an effective way of emphasizing the emotional perceived benefits of a product to people and hence winning their loyalty (Conger, 2015). Thus, this increases excitement and visibility of a service or product in the market (Podnar, 2015). Once increased visibility is achieved, the services or goods being sold gain dominance, leading to more sales and profits for an organization which is important for expansion and growth (Chitty et al., 2017). The secret behind effective communication of brand is that a firm’s goals must be considered while developing one (Smith et al., 1999). The audiences are usually interested to comprehend or capture the actual benefit they will drive from a product or service (Greenwood, 2013). In that case, it is important for entities seeking attention of the customers to keep it focused on explaining how valuable it will be to them, being relevant to them, and seek to demonstrate that an organization is determined to ensure it is important though provision of services or products (Martinez, 2012). For an organization to be able to come with a brand communication which is considered strong, it must invest huge resources and time respectively (Smilansky, 2009).
Different authors have recommended a number of different strategies that can be adopted in order to improve the overall brand communication. For example, it is asserted that being authentic is of paramount importance as people want to hear something sensible and more humanistic as opposed to being like it is a forced communication (Lerman et al., 2017). Secondly, it is proposed that communicating entities should endeavor to have a conversation especially if using social media in order to engage its targets (Baaghil, 2010). Thirdly, it is important to create fictional or buyer personas in order to develop a clear understanding of the market before reaching out to the actual market (Young & Aitken, 2007). Fourthly, the tone and voice used should be able to delight customers so as to attract them and help in demonstrating the personality of the entity or person communicating (McLoughlin and Aaker, 2010).
Fifthly, there should be efforts to ensure that relevant and sufficient content is provided (Aaker, 2011). Sixthly, it is important to be helpful to customers in making them to understand the importance and use of a product (Rajagopal, 2012). Seventhly, quality is a very important consideration as opposed to quantity (Kleind, 2007). Eighthly, although the main goal is to attract and impress the customers, it is important to remain open and honest about the products as an ethical strategy (Aaker, 1991). Lastly, generating a content that is consumer-generated helps an entity to stand out over the competitors in the market (Godin, 2005).
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study is to explore the suitability of visual brand communication on Instagram. In the recent past, use of social media has been appreciated and adopted in the commercial or corporate world creating a new paradigm that has shaped performance of business as opposed to the past (Virgilio, 2017). In this regard, the main purpose is to answer a question of how entities can create brand communication strategy on Instagram. A publication by Johnstone (2017) sought to communicate on the foundations of building a strategy that is successful in communicating organizational goals through marketing on Instagram. In the publication, it is echoed that Instagram has over 700 million users who are active in a month with more than 8 million accounts being specifically for business profiles (Johnstone, 2017). In this regard, it is presented that using Instagram is essential and suitable in reaching out to anticipated clients since the large number of subscribers supports this assertion (Johnstone, 2017).
Further, the author states that Instagram’s main demographics falls between 18 years to 29 years, a fact that can be seen as a valuable strategy as this demographic is considered the most active segment in any society. Consequently, this has evolved mobile-based video and photo sharing which is now becoming the most used visual communication. Nevertheless, accomplishment for brands on Instagram takes more than distributing appealing pictures as it is the result of thoughtful procedure, an all-around characterized mark personality grounded in visual inventiveness and compelling group administration. Specifically, the elements that are critical in the entire process include; “engagement on social media, Instagram management, Instagram analytics, publishing calendar, and audience targeting respectively”. The three important questions that ought to be asked in developing and determining the communication objective is founded on the premise of identifying the what, who and how strategies. In this case, the purpose will therefore examine various strategies to improve Instagram marketing in ensuring consumer engagement that is more thoughtful and strategic.
Significance of Study
In general, this study will be of great significance to various groups in society such as business entities using or planning to use Instagram as a brand communication strategy, consumers who use Instagram, business development policy formulators, marketers, and academicians respectively. Business entities will benefit by appreciating the importance of marketing through Instagram and a responsive strategy to the changing tends due to technological advancements. Business community includes stakeholders such as executive directors and managers, shareholders or entrepreneurs, and other important key decision making personalities in different business organizations. Secondly, the investigation will be valuable to consumes by understanding the dimensions involved in accessing information on Instagram which relates to products and business entities. It will therefore help them to make appropriate decisions by considering the truthfulness and possible chances of having misleading information published on social media platforms. Nevertheless, the study will point out the probable scenarios as far as the integrity of information visually communicated on Instagram is concerned.
Thirdly, policy formulators in business development will strategically benefit from the results of this examination as they will identify gaps and strategies necessary in the modern commercial environment. Fourthly, marketers will benefit because the outcomes of the investigation will give them insights and foundation on which they can argue to their bosses while making requests for support in ensuring that social media marketing especially using Instagram as perceived as a very important strategy in the overall brand communication. Finally, the investigation will be of paramount significance to academicians as it will be able to explore critically various theories that can support this new paradigm in marketing, and hence adding into existing knowledge and eliminating any potential gap. Such contributions can be used to identify areas needing further inquiry in the future respectively.
Investigation Objectives
The investigation will be steered by a number of objectives which are classified into general and precise ones as presented beneath.
General Objective
The investigation’s general or overall aim is to investigate visual brand communication on Instagram as a consumer engagement strategy.
Specific Objectives
From the general aim the precise objectives can be stated as below;
(i) To determine how visual brand communication enhances engagement on social media platforms.
(ii) To examine Instagram management approaches for promoting brand communication.
(iii) To explore Instagram analytics relevance in promoting brand communication.
(iv) To find out the strategies for audience targeting on Instagram in order to promote brand communication.
Research Questions
Further, the researcher can deduce the following queries from the precise objectives which will be sought to be answered after the investigation is completed.
(i) How does visual brand communication enhance engagement on social media platforms?
(ii) What are Instagram management approaches for promoting brand communication?
(iii) What is the relevance of Instagram analytics in promoting brand communication?
(iv) Which are the strategies for audience targeting on Instagram in order to promote brand communication?
Research Problem
Customer engagement is the foundation on which brands or business thrive because every business exists with a goal of delivering services or goods to customers (Maria, 2015). Engagement can be done offline or online, depending on the technological advancements and so forth, in the ancient times, business people used to engage their customers offline but in the current society, focus has shifted into online platforms (Keeley, 2013). There is a difference between visual and audio engagement because in visual there is a combination of many aspects that allows customers to critically analyze the products and probable develop a sense of personal touch just because of being able to physically examine them as opposed to when just a word or mouth or audio means are used (Kelley et al., 2015). The technological advancements have enabled business organizations to be able to combine both audio and visual so as to deliver anticipated messages accurately and more convincingly (Elisa, 2017).
Despite these advancements, the modern commercial environment is also faced with numerous challenges which include the decision making process of the best platform owing to ever increasing competition among business entities due to limited economic opportunities and need to dominate in the market (Gordon, 2015). As a result, organizations strive day-to-day in coming up with strategic and more effective ways of outdoing their competitors, and these include finding out the best ways to achieve consumer engagement through social media (Christiansen et al., 2014). Unfortunately, almost all players in business sector are constantly involved in the activities of finding the best ways to compete to their competitors for the same market share (Bakker and Mugge, 2017). As a result, this has led to new dimensions which are witnessed throughout the global market irrespective the industry in which a business entity belongs to (Norton, 2015).
Some of the highly invaded areas include social media and mass media marketing due to their ability to combine both visual and audio features (Ziemba, 2016). Nevertheless, social media platforms such as Instagram, Twitter and Facebook seems to be more famous due to the cost element as they are considered cheaper than mass media platforms (Ziemba, 2016). Now that almost all organizations whether big or small are opting for such platforms, it is imperative to find out how best to utilize them in order to remain competitive. Specifically, the investigation explores how visual branding communication strategy through Instagram can be used to enhance consumer engagement for purposes of increasing competitiveness in the industry. Hence this is the main problem that the research seeks to solve.
Study Outline
The investigation in this section has covered a detailed introduction of visual branding as a communication strategy using Instagram as a social media platform. Specifically, this has covered background information, purpose of the investigation, and significance as the motivation and value for the entire study. Secondly, it has also presented the inquiry objectives which includes questions and problem of the examination. Further, the study is organized in other chapter which are review of literature, methodology, results and conclusions respectively that will be covered in later sections. Each of these sections will be based on the questions and objectives that researcher wants to achieve in this particular study.
Introduction
The chapter of literature review is very important in helping researchers to narrow down the area of research into a more focused one by appreciating what has been done on the area and also focusing on the possible gaps that may require to be eliminated. In this case, the section will be organized to cover the review of past scholarly works, theoretical foundation and conceptual framework with an aim of defining the actual areas that will be investigated in order to meet the set out goals.
Review of Previous Studies
There are several studies that have focused on promoting product promotion using social media platform in trying to communicate a brand to potential and existing buyers. More importantly, a study by Maria (2015) on “the use of Instagram in Brand communication” focused on Turkish market and employed a descriptive design in investigating the actual implications in the process of brand communication. The author asserted that it is apparent the world that we currently live in has undergone tremendous changes which are evident in the manner in which we share information using various platforms (Maria, 2015). For instance, the author argues that it does not actually matter the precise source of information or channel that is actually utilized as people can get information through televisions, radios, and social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and so forth. In a different study by Emmy, Maria and Ellen (2015) they explored a case study on “branding via Instagram focusing on SME’s brand identity”. The authors explained that organizations whether small or big must be cautious when it comes to social media use in promoting their brands, as there are risks of misinterpretations that can actually cost their products greatly (Emmy et al., 2015).
However, in situations where customers have a negative attitude towards a brand’s identity or image, it is possible that an organization’s marketing department can strategically use Instagram to rectify the mess by harnessing for brand ambassadors among the publics (Emmy et al., 2015). In this case, Instagram is often seen as a mediator tool that can help in correcting negative attitudes towards a brand and hence making it likeable and regarded positively unconditionally by majority of the people (Emmy et al., 2015). Nevertheless, it is differently argued that what is important is that information can be shared and a large pool of people be reached within a short time (Maria, 2015). In the past, advertisements were made using print media and radio, but with introduction of televisions it became easier to share information followed by pictorial presentations (Maria, 2015). Nevertheless, technology has brought a new dimension in the sense that despite the pictorial transmissions accompanied in advertisements, organizations are able to engage their supporters in a more robust relationship building on brand loyalty (Maria, 2015). What is evident from her study is that social media communication has revolutionized the way in which brands are communicated or promoted through a combination of visual and active engagement of buyer or consumers (Maria, 2015). Such a paradigm is of greater importance as it promotes organizational competitiveness once brands have been accepted and acknowledged by buyers.
Another study by Kokotsaki (2017) on “brand engagement on social media platforms” shares the same assertions and specifically points out that fashion industry is the biggest beneficiary in this case. According to the author, one of the most significant feature on social media platforms is that it mainly comprises of young people between the ages of 18 to 30 years (Kokotsaki, 2017). Specifically, the author emphasizes that;
“Social media nowadays is a fundamental element for all companies in terms of strategy, as well as a key indicator of their success. Social media touchpoints are the channels through which consumers interact with brands, express their likeness or their aversion, create brand loyalty and get engaged with multiple products. From a simple ‘’like’’ on Facebook to a ‘’retweet’’ on Twitter or a ‘’comment’’ on Instagram, consumers can express their opinion about brands and interact with them. Hence, it is crucial for companies to enhance their online existence in a way that they achieve the optimal results in terms of customer loyalty and brand engagement” (Kokotsaki, 2017).
According to the author, the new paradigms created by social media if well utilized by an organization can serve as a platform on which an organization receives feedback from consumers on the company’s products more importantly on quality and performance. In most cases, consumers express their inner feelings and experiences with products without fear and hence such approaches can help an organization to re-engineer its processes in order to improve quality for purposes of maintaining competitiveness (Kokotsaki, 2017). Contrary, Emmy et al. (2015) chose to use a deductive design in understanding the relationship between brand image and brand identity as created by social medial more importantly Instagram. There was a close association between image and identity where it was asserted that once a product’s image is negatively regarded, the identity is also marred with negative opinions leading to its sluggish performance in the market. The opposite is also true and organizations should have this in mind while designing their marketing strategies. Nevertheless, it is important to note that the study also noted some negative influences on brands due to wrong engagement approaches on social media. Despite this, it was generally found out that Facebook has the strongest influence on brands followed by Instagram, with the use of hashtags and videos enhancing more likes meaning a product becomes famous by reaching to many people (Kokotsaki, 2017).
Lavoie also concentrated on “Instagram and Branding” in the year 2015. The author noted that;
“Instagram, a social media app, is becoming increasingly popular as a business and communication tool. Analyzing 12 posts on Dunkin’ Donuts’ Instagram account, this case study attempted to understand branding through framing theory. The study found that Dunkin’ Donuts used its brand name, logo, colors, and images of its products on Instagram to create a strong brand presence. But the company failed in creating an image of its brand as being people-oriented because it scarcely used text, photos, or videos to represent its fans or involve them” (Lavoie, 2015).
From the findings by Lavoie, maintaining presence in social media is actually not sufficient evidence that a product’s image is well received. Instead, firms should focus on promoting good relationship between their organizations and the publics, with efforts of making their products to be tailored in meeting the needs and expectations of the customers. By so doing the image of the products or services are registered by consumers and thus it contributes towards brand image creation and presence (Lavoie, 2015). Contrary, another study was carried out on “strategic customer engagement on Instagram” in 2014 focusing on global relationship from Business to Consumers (B2C). The main outcomes of the study revealed that indeed Instagram is not only a modern platform due to technological advancement but also a strategic platform to fruitfully engage customers (Gong, 2014). In this case, the author mentioned that although Instagram was introduced in the year 2010, marketers have invaded it as a new social network avenue to engage customer on products of different companies (Gong, 2014). By virtue that firms use their logos, names, products images and colors on social media implies that the primary objective of such moves is to inform, remind and persuade clients of the existence of a given service or products (Lavoie, 2015).
Further, Nummila (2015) investigated the “successful social media marketing on Instagram” as a case study in which case it was noted that for marketing to be successful especially on Instagram, a combination of various strategies is necessary. Among these strategies include the use of visual approaches that serves as good opportunities to appeal to customers towards products by displaying a number of attractive features (Nummila, 2015).
In order to have a systematic and analytical comparison of the reviewed literature, the following table compares different authors and hence helps to have a blended review.
Visual Communication
According to Hanlein and Kaplan (2010), social media is a group of applications based on the internet built on technological and ideological foundations with features that make possible creation and sharing of user created content.
