The Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown led to shockwaves across industries in Europe and the UK, sending the European Union into the worst recession in its history.
As brick-and-mortar businesses shut up shop and physical touchpoints became few and far between, brands began relying on social media to stay connected. To help marketers understand Covid’s impact, Dash Hudson curated a series of Instagram benchmarks across six key industries, with a focus on what to measure and how to action those insights to optimise your social media marketing strategy in Europe and the UK.
The shift to online
Instagram has become a vital touchpoint on the buyer journey, and the absence of in-person interactions only accelerated this. In March of 2020, global social media usage jumped 44%, and throughout the year social media quickly replaced face-to-face communication.
Brands that saw success during this period used social commerce channels like Instagram as an important avenue for community engagement and generating ROI. Maximising brand awareness and creating revenue streams through Instagram has become the baseline standard for today’s top performing brands.
The business-critical data
Let’s dig into the data that matters. In times like these, making data-backed decisions and removing the guesswork is crucial to a social marketer’s day-to-day. As brands continue to leverage Instagram as a key piece of their social commerce strategy, understanding the key metrics that identify purchase intent and engagement patterns is necessary.
So what does success look like on this highly-visual channel? Here are the key metrics to track:
- Engagement
- Growth
- Weekly owned reach
- Number of posts.
Aside from diving into your own numbers, it is important for brands to take a look at the competitive landscape and understand how companies in their industry are performing in comparison.
These benchmarks will act as a frame of reference for your stats and help you pivot your social media marketing strategies accordingly.
How to use these benchmarks
Data and creativity collide in this benchmark report to enhance your social media strategy. Whether you’re looking at the performance of Instagram content from a granular or high-level perspective, the numbers across each industry are there to act as a guide for your brand.
If you’re looking for a starting point, campaign analysis is a great way to understand your content pillars and which creative is truly resonating with your audience.
Once you have a solid understanding of your content mix, keeping a pulse on key metrics with social media reports straight to your inbox is a great way to ensure your brand is always ahead of the curve.
No matter what stage your brand is at, we have the data to help drive your strategy for social media marketing in Europe and the UK.
Take your social marketing to the next level and download the benchmarks here.