MARKET RESEARCH
There are numerous independent businesses within Dundee, especially food based companies. Assessing other company’s social media activity instigated my research methods as I thought the best form of market research would be to visit the Instagram pages of other independent businesses and analyze their Instagram analytics. The information I aimed to gain during my research was;
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The average follower counts that competing companies had
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How long they had been using the social media site
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What type content was being posted and how often
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Identify USP of business campaign i.e. hashtags etc.
Upon researching other companies, I discovered that the businesses with aims and products similar to Madigan's had between 800-2,000 likes on Facebook and anywhere from 35-800 on Instagram, with the majority ranging between 100-200 depending on length of time active on social media. Madigan’s had 900+likes on Facebook which was within the bracket for new businesses.
Jute Café Bar was the first company I analyzed, they were fairly new to Instagram with their first post being in October 2015, since then their follower count has reached 40 and averaging on 3-9 likes per photo. Their content was predominantly food based images but also contained competition opportunities for users to engage with too.
Tonic is a popular, well known bar in Dundee. They have been active on Instagram for over a year and have accumulated a following count of 162 in that time and their feed consisted of drink based images and drink related comedic meme’s. Tonic average on 20 likes per food/drink based images.
Cafe Rodi was on the higher end of the spectrum in terms of follower count on Instagram with 800+ followers, they have been active on Instagram since January 2015 and have built their following to 800 within one year. Although they have a high follower count their like, similar to Tonic, average at 20+.
This information provided an accurate representation as to the scope of audience build and engagement gained for independent business in the Dundee area. I also used this analysis in creating and developing a marketing strategy as to how many followers I aimed to cumulate in the first month as well as possible long terms projections.
The numbers presented in my research proved that their was a market for Instagram as a promotional tool for Dundee businessess but that a marketing strategy was still to be set in place to make the campaign effective. This acted as a guideline as to what I aimed to achieve through this campaign within the first month, by comparing to their progress and engagement activity of their Instagram accounts.
The main competitors I used when proposing this campaign were:
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Jute Cafe Bar
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Tonic
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Cafe Rodi
Fig.1.3 Cafe Rodi Instagram
Fig.1.2 Tonic Dundee Instagram
Fig.1.1 Jute Cafe Bar Instagram
Instagram is the fastest growing social media, the app sees more engagement through posts than Facebook by 54% and 208% more than Twitter. These statistics were effective in Madigan's agreeing to choose Instagram as the main engine for this campaign. It was important within this campaign to retain as much of Madigan’s already established brand, beliefs and following as possible, with this I thought it would be a beneficial move to link the Instagram and Facebook accounts together.
