How Country Living UK Balances Data and Aesthetics to Engage New Audiences on Instagram

[Originally published on the Dash Hudson blog.]

Striking a balance between growing engagement and accelerating audience growth is no easy feat. Learn how Country Living UK outperforms the industry standard — thanks to a data-driven approach to Instagram.

Modern era publishers are evolving the norms and practices that have historically defined the industry to capture today’s digital consumer and generate growth in the competitive publishing space. Innovative publishers are investing in digital mediums like Instagram to amplify their multichannel marketing strategies and foster an engaged community. With this shift, marketers need to bring their brand to life through compelling photos and videos that lure followers to their website and convert them into readers of their print magazine.

Hearst UK’s Country Living is one of the leading publishers that leverages its content curation expertise to engage new audiences on Instagram. Whether it be through its print magazine or across social channels, Country Living UK seeks to inspire and engage those whose hearts are in the country. The publisher mixes homes and decorating with food, farming, crafts, and gardening to bring the best of the country lifestyle to its community.

Country Living UK had mastered how to curate eye-catching visuals in the pages of its magazine, but needed to better understand the types of photos and videos that would stop its online audience mid-scroll. While staying true to its niche brand voice, the publisher aimed to increase engagement and follower growth on Instagram.

With Dash Hudson, Country Living UK team can keep a pulse on their growing audience’s tastes and preferences, photo and video performance, and community created content — all in one place. The publisher takes visual storytelling to the next level with data-driven insights on every photo and video in its library to inform its content curation and maximize its performance on Instagram. Partnering with Dash Hudson empowers Country Living UK to hone in on what types of visuals resonate with its unique audience the most to effectively accelerate community growth and serve up imagery that best speaks to the country lifestyle that its followers crave.

Uncover Country Living UK’s data-driven Instagram strategy:

• How Country Living UK uses Dash Hudson’s content segmentation tool Boards to compare the engagement of its content pillars and measure the impact of its campaigns.
• The data-backed insights that Country Living UK leveraged to inspire and optimize its #CottageWeek campaign.
• How Dash Hudson equipped the publisher with actionable insights to fuel follower growth and photo and video performance on Instagram.

See below for a sneak peek, and check out the full case study here.

As the number of publications investing in creative resources on Instagram rises, it’s increasingly paramount for publishers to carve out a unique voice to build an engaged community. Hearst UK’s Country Living provides escapism for those whose hearts reside in the country. There’s no better way to transport readers from their current reality to country bliss than with captivating images and video — and there’s no better visual channel to do so than Instagram, but Country Living UK needed to better understand the types of photos and videos that would stop its online audience mid-scroll.

Visuals That Resonate

Country Living UK’s feed is a vision of rustic farmhouses, quaint cottages, and the adorable creatures that roam picturesque rural landscapes. The publisher’s top priority on Instagram is to share authentic content that lives and breathes the country and resonates with its online community. To strategically engage its followers, Country Living UK turned to Dash Hudson to uncover the visual styles that truly resonate with its audience.

Dash Hudson equips Country Living UK with actionable insights on each and every owned and earned photo — whether from its content library, a post on its feed, or community created imagery. Previously, the publisher solely relied on branding cues to fuel its image and video selection, but with Dash Hudson, Country Living UK uses data to optimize its content curation on Instagram, resulting in much higher engagement. The publisher uses Dash Hudson to dive deep into each of its content pillars to understand which types of visuals resonate with its unique audience, to outperform on the Instagram KPIs that matter most.

To continue reading, download the case study HERE.

Header image: @countrylivinguk

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