Design

Gone are the days when a double tap on your post was the only measure of Instagram success. Today, there are a number of Instagram metrics you should be focused on to gauge whether your audience is engaged, your posts are resonating and, of course, if you are playing to the ever-elusive Instagram algorithm.

According to Instagram itself, the most important engagements that will affect your account’s ranking are comments, likes, saves, reshares, and views for videos.

1. Comments: If your post incites a comment from a follower, Instagram can be pretty sure the follower was interested in your content and found it TIMELY and RELEVANT.
2. Saves: Dubbed the “SUPER LIKE” by James Nord (Fohr), a save is a very, very clear indicator of high-quality content. Now, you can’t actually see who saves your post, but racking up this type of engagement will really help your feed visibility and can even land you on the Explore page!
3. Likes: We’ve been waiting for almost two years to see our like counts disappear. Who knows if or when Instagram will actually pull the trigger on this move, but for now, likes do still play into the Instagram algorithm. There is also a ‘herd mentality’ of sorts when it comes to likes. Seeing a large number of likes on a post can inspire a follower to stop, look and like your post for that reason alone.
4. Shares: When a viewer reshares your post onto their stories it does two important things. 1) Tells Instagram that your post was quality and relevant enough for you to share with your network and 2) it spreads your content to new potential followers (aka customers) *We must note that Instagram has stopped some users from resharing posts to stories as a test. We have not seen this happening personally, but some users in some countries have been a part of the test. Who knows if this will roll out to more users…

For the average business user, mastering the Instagram algorithm can seem daunting. But with a little prep and planning—and patience—you can see improvements in your overall engagement. Our biggest tips: Stay consistent, stay real and stay fresh! If you need more specific recommendations or social media help, we’d love to chat! Hit us up at [email protected] to get the conversation started!

BRIZO Everything Dressing is a family-owned, women-run business that has a product our team is in love with. Their dressings—mild and spicy variations of the dressing—are made ever so simply with extra virgin olive oil (or EVOO for you culinary folks out there), lemon, and an herb/spice blend. 

After working with the brand for a few months, the opportunity to revamp their label and work in a fun graphic element to their social media arose. Needless to say we jumped at the opportunity to give them a fresh and new design as they were preparing to participate in Expo East 2019. Our account management team and graphic designer put their heads together to create a label that was as simple, beautiful as the product that it holds, but one that would stand out on the shelves of popular retailers like Jimbos, Hensons amongst others.

DO YOU JUDGE A PRODUCT BY IT’S LABEL?

The BRIZO bottle label was crafted to reflect the personality of the product itself. Coast Creative worked to tie in the brand’s fun, natural, vibrant, carefree personality into the design, and we’re pretty happy with the results. Additionally, light colors were used to reflect the lightness of the product’s ingredients. The EVOO, citrus, and herbs are all simple elements that shine on their own. Keeping the design natural, simple, light and airy were intended to instill a feeling in buyers where they could experience the product before even tasting it. You know, that whole “eat with your eyes thing.”

BRANDING IN ACTION

The new labels were launch in September of this year, just in time for the Brizo team to strut their newly branded stuff at EXPO 2019 and test the effectiveness of the new design. 

In tandem with EXPO 2019, Brizo’s Coast Creative account team began working on a new social media strategy that would 1) introduce current and potential clients to the new look 2) enhance and solidify the brand personality 3) illustrate important product details including uses, ingredients and new locations (including their move to AMAZONPrime!). Not only was the new look well-received, it was pretty fun to work on.