I spent years working in agencies, on accounts and no matter how hard I worked to strategically plan and craft social media content, I always felt that the endless hours of mapping out the idea, shooting with all of the fancy equipment I could get my hands on and losing sleep over final edits still didn’t result in something that 100% hit the mark for me. I wasn’t sure what the mark was for a long, long time. Then, it became glaringly obvious…

Ali, our Head of Social Media shares her top tips….

I won’t engage with a piece of content that feels over produced. Not from my friends, a brand, or even from my own mum. It needs to feel relatable to me. And the best way to do that? Stitch together something that prompts that ‘aha’ moment and makes me think to myself ‘I know exactly what they mean’ or ‘YES! This has happened to me’.

Chocolate strawberries, Murder on the Dancefloor and “More passion, more energy” are all Instagram trends from the past 6 months. What they have in common stems deeper than just gaining social virality – they all embrace the element of rawness and link to an internet/cultural reference.

Striking the balance between content that tells your audience what you need them to know while keeping it native and authentic can be quite the battle. I often find myself saying “you either get it or you don’t” when it comes to producing engaging social first content.

The long and short of it is this …

Social first content is content which is inherently social and spreadable. It’s best experienced in a social context and it’s drawn from social inspiration.

So what’s the impact of all of this on engagement? And how can it be applied to a destination brand?

Embracing rawness and the impact on engagement

According to Instagram, more than half of Instagram users prefer to engage with real-life content instead of photoshop-designed content. (https://embedsocial.com/blog/instagram-statistics/)

So, as a brand, how do you apply this?

  • Ditch the perfectly curated feeds and polished content for cut through.
  • Think about who your brand is and what you want it to stand for within the digital space. Ultimately, how are you showing up?
  • Instead of focusing solely on polished visuals and perfectly crafted captions, embrace the raw and unfiltered side of social media

The Trafford Centre: ordinary to extraordinary

Take Trafford Centre, a BWP client. We’ve taken their social footprint from present to one of the most engaged shopping centre accounts in the UK, with an average engagement rate of 11% on Instagram alone. The average Instagram engagement rate in 2024 is just 0.6%. (https://blog.hootsuite.com/instagram-statistics/).

 

 

Let’s face it, shopping centres aren’t the most exciting topic within the realm of social media. Not when you have the likes of meme accounts, your favourite restaurants, creators and influencers whos content is so aesthetically pleasing it spikes our endorphins by just consuming.

But, we have finessed the formula to solidify The Trafford Centre as a culturally relevant entity in its own right.

How have we achieved a hyper-engaged audience that spans further than Manchester?

  1. Personality – not just talking about tenants and the centre offering (and when we do, we put a twist on it), we are bold, brave and sometimes downright silly. According to Hootsuite 64% of users use Instagram to seek out funny or entertaining content, there is a place for brand-led content.
  2. Authenticity – by incorporating elements of authenticity and imperfection into our content, we have humanised the Trafford brand and connected with our followers on a more personal level. We use real life people (or our own social team) and we embrace rough and ready content.
  3. Audience curation – we have developed and implemented a strategy to help us get the ‘right’ eyes on our content. Taking the time to understand the channel is one thing, but understanding the channel audience will catapult your content curation to the next level. We only have 3 seconds to capture and hold users’ attention across social so deep-dives and analysis a no brainer.

Key Takeaways. Bland brand to brilliant brand:

  1. Social-First Content: Embracing the Element of Rawness
  2. Authentic, always: Reading the Room and Crafting Fit-for-Purpose Content.
  3. Understanding Your Audience and Community

Driving meaningful engagement on Instagram requires a shift in mindset, focusing on social-first content and authenticity. Remember, meaningful engagement goes beyond vanity metrics – it’s about building relationships, sparking conversations, and leaving a lasting impression.

So, start prioritising social-first and authentic content on Instagram, and watch as your engagement and connection with your audience flourish.

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