Category: BCM114

The last stage of our digital artefact has been the most successful.

After OP2, we received feedback to post more consistently as this would help grow our audience.

We took on this feedback and saw the benefits. Our profile visits, following and likes increased dramatically.

Methods we used to be more engaging included tagging accounts in our posts, following and interacting with more accounts and hash-tagging. Another method we attempted to gain attention was collaborating with another digital artefact, @intoourgarden. While this was still a great addition to the project, unfortunately it did not benefit our following.

 

As mentioned in OP1 and OP2, we really wanted to create videos for our project. We got advice of instead of trying to create a new following on YouTube, we should utilise our following on Instagram and upload our videos to IGTV.

I wanted to make our videos as professional as possible, so I started filming on my canon camera. However, after hours of fiddling with the lighting, focus and framing, I eventually gave up. My on-camera presence was weak, and I accepted the fact I am better behind the camera than in front. To make up for this, I uploaded a montage onto our Instagram. The montage went okay- we did not receive any feedback and got below average likes. This is partially because we posted the video in the morning, which is when people are least active.  

My project partner May recently posted an IGTV video, but unfortunately did not gain much attention, as seen in the screenshot below. This indicated our followers better respond to our reviews than videos.

On another note, we recently asked our followers if our page has been helpful and relevant to them. This is what they had to say:

This feedback indicated we have achieved our purpose of writing helpful and reliable reviews for locals and tourists who come to the region. We have even been told by many followers that they have visited some places from our recommendation, which is super exciting.

Although challenging, this project has definitely been insightful and enjoyable. In hindsight, we should have used the methods aforementioned earlier to of further grown our engagement and following. Overall, Inside the Illawarra is and continues to be a successful and quality Instagram account for recommendations and reviews in the Illawarra.

My digital artefact, ‘Inside the Illawarra’, is an Instagram page which reviews and recommends places in the Illawarra- particularly beaches, waterfalls and look-outs. I developed this project because I have a passion for exploring and the outdoors, and I wanted to share my experiences at these locations with others. My digital artefact’s purpose and intention was to be a reliable and honest site where locals and tourists turn to for advice and things to do in the Illawarra region. To see if we had successfully accomplished our mission, we asked our followers about the relevancy of our page. Here’s what they had to say:

Our target market includes families and young adults who enjoy the outdoors.

Statistics from Instagram show that we successfully reached our target audience.

When researching how to be a successful account, we came across the Forbes ‘Seven steps to make your Instagram successful’. The steps included to understand your audience, use relevant hashtags, develop a creative style, optimise your profile, be part of the community, obtain reach, measuring your insights and reacting to improve them. 

We took on this advice, and to ensure our feed was aesthetic and unique, we used a professional camera for all our posts. Furthermore, we ensured all captions were well-written, honest and easy to read.

A huge struggle with our project was being consistent with our posting. This is because between university and work, it was hard to make time to photograph and review different locations.

We tried to reach and engage with our audiences by following many local and like-minded accounts, such as ‘Visit Wollongong’.  This was beneficial as through interacting with like-minded accounts, it grew our audience and engagement. As Chris Moore said, “Competition is an advantage, not a loss”.

Statistics show that over 200 million Instagram users visit at least one business profile daily, posts with a location get 79% more engagement, posts with hashtags get 12.6% more engagement and 50% of Instagram users use the explore page every month. So, we took this data and applied it to our account in aim to grow our reach.

In each post, we would hashtag, tag locations, tag @visitnsw and @visitwollongong, and we created our account as a ‘business account’. These methods proved successful, as our following is currently at 154, our average likes is over 40, and our profile visits weekly average 60.

We have faced many obstacles since our pitch which changed the direction of our project. In our pitch, we proposed creating a TripAdvisor, Red Bubble, Twitter and YouTube accounts. However, we soon realised these platforms were hard to gain a following on. In particular, Red Bubble too expensive and hard, ultimately going against the #FIST concept. We decided focusing on Instagram was the best way to effectively reach our audience.

We also intended to upload more videos to our Instagram. However, I soon realised it was a huge process to get the lighting and focus correct. After attempting to film twice, I eventually gave up and decided to create montages instead. My project partner, May, uploaded one IGTV video to Instagram in the last week of this project, however it did not get much attention.

Overall, our digital artefact has been a success. Our audience have enjoyed our posts and have found our account useful. I have really enjoyed taking photos and reviewing these beautiful locations in the Illawarra, and am keen to take what I have learnt from this project into my professional career one day.

Sources

Aslam, S 2019, ‘Instagram by the Numbers‘ Omnicore Agency, accessed 30/10/2019 https://www.omnicoreagency.com/instagram-statistics/

Instagram Press 2019, ‘Making Explore an Even Better Home For Your Interests‘, Instagram, accessed 30/10/2019 https://instagram-press.com/blog/2019/05/16/making-explore-an-even-better-home-for-your-interests/

Laberge, J 2019, ‘Seven Steps to Make Your Instagram Account Successful‘, Forbes, accessed 30/20/2019 https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2018/05/31/seven-steps-to-make-your-business-instagram-account-successful/#270d718319c7

My digital artefact, Inside the Illawarra, is travelling along well so far. However, there have been many changes since my Ideation blog.

First of all, we are no longer using TripAdvisor as a key platform for our DA. TripAdvisor was intended to grow our following and online presence. However, after prototyping with it, we realised we were not gaining any following and it was not growing our online presence. We tested it for a while, however, after a month we decided it was not worth putting time and effort in to.

Furthermore, another platform which we intended to use but have not followed through with is ‘RedBubble’. We planned to sell Inside the Illawarra merchandise on Redbubble, however, after further research, we realised it would be expensive, slow and a long process. Simply put, it was not #FIST.

We are now focusing on Instagram as our main platform. This is where we engage with our audience most and best reach our target market.

We currently have 10 review posts uploaded to Instagram. We are at 120 followers and average on 35 likes per post.

This is an improvement from our ideation blog, when our following was at 78.

We are currently going through a stage of dry content for our page. This is because it is quite the process to upload content for our page, as it involves travelling, taking photos and writing long reviews.  Hence, it can be hard to make time for during the week. We acknowledge this an area we need to improve in. Our page thus far has a main focus on reviewing outdoor hotspots, but we plan on posting more on local cafes, gardens and other hotspots for extra content.

In saying that, we are consistent with posting on our Instagram story. We use stories to keep our audience engaged and involved when we are unable to post content. Our stories are generally viewed by approximately 70-90 people.

We are about to launch our first YouTube video. If the video is successful, we will continue uploading videos. However, if it fails, we will stick with Instagram as our main platform.

Our DA’s inspiration are tourism accounts such as Visit Wollongong. This account is successful as it has a large following, posts quality content and are reliable for recommendations.

We try to engage as much as possible with local businesses and tourism accounts to grow our name and audience reach. As Christopher Moore says, ‘competition is an advantage, not a loss’.

The latest Instagram update has a setting that allows accounts to see their audience insights and reach. This keeps us accountable as to whether or not we are successfully reaching our target market.

By hash tagging, following and engaging with like-minded accounts and tags, we are attracting a huge local audience. The statistics show we are indeed meeting our market of locals and younger people.

An exciting upcoming addition to our DA is a collaboration with plant account @intoourgarden. This will be beneficial to both accounts as it will boost each other’s following, reach and reputation.

We are excited to watch our DA further grow by experimenting with new platforms and collaborations. Stay tuned! 🙂