@Parisinfourmonths is the Instagram profile of photographer Carin Olsson, who in February 2012, left family and friends in Stockholm, followed a dream and moved to Paris for four months. Little did she know that she’d never end up leaving and soon become a social media success story...
With an Instagram profile boasting over 836, 000 followers with posts reaching on average 9,000 likes, there are plenty of lessons to learn from the young woman behind the lens of Paris in Four Months;
1. Consistent Theme:
Carin’s French themed profile exhibits beautiful and bright photos capturing the captivating moments of everyday life in Paris. Her photographs are creative and trendy as she covers a wide range of interests such as fashion, architecture, wildlife and scenery, and of course food. This in turn, allows for the engagement of Instagram users with varied likes and enables her to establish a strong and unique brand identity.
Consistently publish content that is interesting, useful and relevant to your audience. This is becoming more and more important and critical in differentiating a brand from its competitors. Make sure your content efforts have a purpose – what do you want to achieve? Are you trying to provide utility and be ever-useful, or maybe your goal is to build reputation and demonstrate knowledge leadership? Carin's goal was to develop a creative outlet and share original content coming from the heart and soul.
2. Cross-Promotion:
The blonde belle also uses her 'instafamous' profile as a means of endorsing her blog, Paris in Four Months in which the website sits in her Instagram bio description. This cross-promotional technique directs Instagram traffic straight to her blog allowing for a larger social reach.
When using cross-promotional techniques, always remember what your aim is. If your goal is to drive traffic to a blog post, don't make it difficult for your followers to find the link by using Pinterest to pin a Facebook page of the Tweet to your blog post. To prevent your followers from having to click too many times to get to your site, keep it simple. Sharing your blog posts on a variety of profiles helps draw attention.
3. Clever Use of Hashtags:
The photographer also snaps products of admired and exclusive global brands such as @LouisVuitton and @Dior. Tagging these well-renowned brands in her Instagram captions directs their followers to her Instagram profile thus again broadening her social scope of followers and allowing leads to pour in.
Although recent trends encourage the use of few or no hashtags, its importance shouldn't be underestimated. Once you use a hashtag on Instagram or another social media network such as Twitter, all account users who search the hashtag can view your post. Your used hashtag enters an ambiguous world of other hashtags which can be searched. Users who are not following your profile have a chance to see your Instagram or Twitter posts. In theory, posts are only one hashtag away from potentially being viewed by hundreds or even thousands of people online. When used cleverly, hashtags can aid in obtaining many followers within a short span of time.
A consistent theme, use of cross-promotional techniques, and clever hashtagging were the driving forces behind Carin Olsson's viral success. To discover how you can become a social media success story of your own,contact Social Media College today!
