From NY, to London, to Paris. What Works On Instagram?
One of the common questions we’re asked is, “what should we be posting to Instagram?” Just like any other creator, brands want to know what kind of content gets the best response from their audience.
Perhaps the most pertinant question of all is the balance between inspiring posts and product promotion. So today, we’re putting the spotlight on three concept stores across three of the biggest style capitals of the world – New York, London and Paris – to see what works the best for selling an aspirational lifestyle.
The Line, New York
- 63,707 followers
- 55% female audience
- Best time to drive likes: Saturday, 10am – 1pm local time
The Line is a concept store that works with diverse designers across Home, Beauty and Fashion. Their motif of “The Apartment”, which is designed and branded to be so much more than a store, is reflected in their Instagram posts too.
The Line’s most engaging posts of all time focus on the lifestyle of the brand above specific products. Although the brand does share items available in-store week to week, it is their inspirational and conceptual content that works best.
In bloom with @putnamflowers #theapartmentbytheline
A photo posted by The Line (@thelinenyc) on
LN-CC, London
- 49,098 followers
- 60% male audience
- Best time to drive likes: Sunday, 10am – 2pm local time
The LN-CC is an appointment-only space that encompasses menswear, womenswear, music, and books. In-store you’ll find product rooms, a library and even a custom-built vintage soundsystem.
LN-CC’s most engaging posts of all time are in fact their least common. The brand’s featured product posts are creatively designed, but those that get the best engagement are either iconic abstract images, or content that’s tied to particular events such as a campaign shoot. Artistic expression seems to draw this London audience in.
Though used much less frequently than Instagram’s Normal filter (on 1,428 posts), posts using the Mayfair filter have been the most popular with LN-CC’s audience – used on 17 posts but generating an average of 326 likes compared with 228.
Merci, Paris
- 71,500 followers
- 55% female audience
- Best time to drive likes: Tuesday, 1pm – 3pm
Merci was created to bring Paris a fresh space that brings together the best of the world of fashion, of design, of household goods with welcome refreshment areas. And what’s more, proceeds go towards education projects in Madagascar.
Though used less frequently, Rise and Hudson are popular instagram filters for Merci – generating an average of 474 likes per post compared with 345 for a Normal filter. Merci’s most successful posts are those which focus on what’s happening in store, driving interest and attention for the brand as a desirable location in Paris. And the popularity of the iconic Fiat 500 that lives in Merci’s courtyard is unmissable!
Not only does the car drive great engagement for Merci’s own content, but for user-generated-content too. Posts using the Merci store location use #car as the third most popular hashtag. And one photo shared by Paris-based photogropher @fourmonthsinparis drove more than 16k likes.
Takeaways for brands on Instagram
Bring out your inner inspiration – for these three brands, content which evokes an aspirational lifestyle really does seem to draw engagement. Is there any inspiration that you can take from these concept stores to add a bit of magic to your brand content?
Experiment outside of your usual habits – we’ve seen here that it’s not always the most commonly posted content or filters that work the best. Play around with styles and times of day to see what drives the most engagement for you.
Know what your customers want from your brand – make sure your content choices are based on a solid record of what works best. Much more important than general best practice for Instagram, is to find out what resonates with your audience.
All of our analysis was done using Captiv8 Analytics. If you’d like to find out more about, we’re always here to chat.
