How MailChimp, Trello, Slack And Asana Use Instagram

A discussion we often target on our blog is about the difficulty of Instagram as a social media platform. Running a Twitter campaign usually comes down to who has the most timely and relevant content mixed with sarcasm.

At the same time, Facebook is a hub that is flexible enough to encourage a wide array of social media marketing strategies. But on Instagram, it’s a different playing field. You have to take into account the big picture, play a ton with hashtags and ultimately deliver up-to-par visual content that compliments your brand. And you’d still have to get your audience to interact with you to receive a consistent boost in natural traffic from the Instagram algorithm.

This is the reason why we often discuss different industries and how brands on the corporate battlefield battle it out for the piece of the Instagram action.

It’s hard enough for a brand to come up with a constant array of visual content, including images, stories and video. But when a company offers nothing but a digital service, things get even more peculiar and difficult.

Online applications and services that help you in a variety of ways are becoming more popular with the day. And what’s a better place to market them than their native lands? With that in mind, this week we decided to take a look at a few digital service brands that are on Instagram and see how they perform.

Analyzing the possible reasons behind their successes and pitfalls, we hope to inspire you for your next digital service brand promotion on the difficult, but investable, photo sharing network. Without further adieu, let’s get started.

Note: Instead of taking a look at some of the biggest digital brands, such as Google, Twitter, Facebook, Netflix or Amazon, we decided to go for web-based applications that might be more similar to the tech-savvy individuals that use such apps and services on a day-to-day basis. The reason for this is that smaller and lesser known digital service brands might be more similar and have issues that a newer or an up-and-coming brand in the industry on Instagram might tackle.

MailChimp

One of the most popular email marketing campaign tools, MailChimp is often used by startups and agencies. From newsletters to promotional emails, the tool is easy to use and boasts a huge active user base. And, as you will note, compared to the other digital service brands on this list, they are one of the top social media marketing dogs on this list.

To start off, one of the core items that gives MailChimp a huge advantage is their playful brand nature combined with the infamous money brand mascot. As their six most recent images reveal, more than two thirds of their content is focused around that particular mascot.

The monkey brand logo and mascot allows them the flexibility to feature an array of different visual imagery with a variety of artful styles. Going further down the Instagram profile of the brand reveals that the playful nature of the brand also plays a role in the artistic visual style that represents MailChimp on the social photo sharing network.

The Take?

Instagram is not always about trying to promote your brand via advertorial pieces. Instead, you can play to the strengths of your brand and your marketing message. What does your brand represent? Is it more playful or more serious? Take into account the character and try to fit visual imagery that fits that certain style.

Trello

A productivity tool loved by many digital marketing professionals, Trello is an organizational app that helps you and your team manage and keep track of your tasks and projects. How can that be represented through visual content? Let’s see how this company does it!

Similarly to MailChimp, the first thing to note about the Instagram feed of Trello is how in-sync with the brand it is. In compliance with the actual functionality of the digital tool, the brand profile on the social network is filled with organized imagery. Instead of focusing on achieving engagement through viral-potential posts, the brand rather relies on expressing their marketing message as much as possible.

An interesting note to take, scrolling down their profile, is the fact that Trello also isn’t shy about sharing photos of the teams and individuals that make up the company. If not else, the profile of the brand sends a clear message of the “this is who we are, this is what we stand for,” so that everyone who wants to try out their services actually knows who’s behind the digital services tool.

The Take?

Similarly to MailChimp, the Trello team prefers expressing its marketing message through visual imagery. But lacking a mascot, the brand has taken the approach of humanization through social media. This shows, that even if you are out of ideas, you can always post a photo of what your team is up to right now on your Instagram to boost your engagement.

Slack

Another famous product in a digital working environment, Slack is a tool for team and business communication. Taking the humanization approach a step further, Slack often posts photos of their team and corporate events.

An interesting idea that we noticed on their profile is that while they don’t have a particular mascot, the team at Slack has managed to turn their logo into adorable plush toys. A few photos later on Instagram and their growth in engagement can clearly be seen in the numbers.

The Take?

Creativity goes a long way on Instagram. You can’t go about a proper social media marketing strategy without having a few out-of-the-box ideas in your mind. See what works, see what doesn’t, check the analytics, review and adapt. These are the steps you should take if you want to truly succeed with your SMM strategy. And if you don’t have the tool to help you out with your analytics and insights, you can always sign up for a 7-day free trial of Locowise.

Asana

Another workflow optimization tool for teams, Asana has taken the humanization of their brand on a whole another level. Rather than focusing on sending a promotional message via their Instagram business profile, the team at Asana has decided to rather feature themselves as the ambassadors of the digital service tool.

The social media marketing strategy is not only clearly seen through their photos, but also through the name of their Instagram profile. Rather than focusing on the product “Asana,” the company has featured their team, setting their name to “teamasana.” Of course, there are a few offbeat content pieces that don’t feature a corporate event, but the general flow of the humanizing content is still there.

The Take?

One of the best things that comes from focusing solely on your team is the fact that you can have content ready on the go. As it can be clearly seen from the numbers, having a more consistent posting schedule definitely helps out with the growth and the increased overall engagement of an Instagram business profile.

If you don’t have access to analytic tools, make sure to sign-up for a 7-day free trial of Locowise. We have all the tools you might need to boost your social media marketing to the next level.