Week 7 Part B: How Other Businesses Use Instagram Including Hashtags

1. Panda Express: Panda express is a well-known Chinese restaurant across the United States and upon researching their Instagram account, I found that they actually don't include hashtags at all in their posts. Although accumulating 300k+ followers, their posts all seem to be underperforming, especially from a follower count to likes ratio. However, they post relatively often (once in a couple of days) and have had posts once in a while that seem to hit the algorithms' sweet spot

Upon checking out these posts, I've found that their success is mainly attributed to posts relating to special national events such as Valentine's Day or when they make "meme style" posts that seem to target a younger audience. This is potent, and they should be doing this more as a social media app like Instagram will definitely be dominated by a younger demographic! Ultimately, upon looking through, it seems as though Panda Express does not use any hashtags, and I probably won't take much inspiration from their Instagram posts. (306k followers)

2. Duolingo: Although not directly correlated with the concept of my fictitious business, upon past research, I have found that Duolingo had an amazing social media team. Their Instagram page is absolutely thriving, averaging over one hundred thousand likes per post! While examining their uses of hashtags, I noticed that they hop on recent popular trends and remix them in a way that promotes their business in a comedic fashion. For example, with the release of Squid Game season two that came out relatively recently, they made a parody video related to it with the hashtag #squidgame2. 

Being able to recognize the powerful bigger platforms and hopping on trends is crucial as there is already a huge existing fanbase that would help boost them over their competitors. This happened exactly with the squid game parody, and it amassed close to one million likes now in just ten weeks! To wrap up, Duolingo posts daily on Instagram and is definitely a business that I would take great inspiration from! (4.4m followers)

3. Noodles & Company: Despite the name of this company, I don't believe that they would be much of a rival or competitor for us due to the pretty big cultural difference in food that is served. With that being said, as they are not a big company, their social media account portrays just that. With 51.4k followers, they average just about 150 likes per post, with the occasional ones that blow up and exceed expectations. Similarly to Panda Express, this company does not use any hashtags on their posts at all! They seem to follow more of a trend of wholesome jokes and skits for posts, which is amazing but not the greatest for algorithmic interactions, unfortunately. Overall, they also have a very similar post rate as Panda Express: once every couple of days.

4. Sprite: As we will be in supply of drinks from many companies such as Sprite, I decided to check out their Instagram accounts to see how they are doing. With 910k followers, Sprite's page averages about 7k likes but posts nearly once a month. They are also not using any hashtags but instead are collaborating frequently with big sports stars and just names in the entertainment industry. This seems to get them some banging posts once in a while, which is great! This is a pretty new account, however, with only 25 posts and started in May of 2024. With that being said, I don't think there are any huge takeaways with how this company uses Instagram, nor will I be taking much inspiration as they use quite an expensive strategy, with little cost return or benefits. I understand their views, however, as they are a multi-million dollar brand and can afford to take some risks for greater rewards by recruiting specific people for advertisement shoots. 

5. Coca-Cola: Finally, I wanted to check out Coca-Cola's Instagram page as they are a competitor of Sprite, and it would be interesting to see what they're doing differently. They have 3.1m followers with an average of 10k likes per post with occasional bangers. Similarly to Sprite, Coca-Cola seems to post pretty rarely (monthly) and doesn't use hashtags in any posts. On top of that, most of their posts seem to be underperforming in respect to their follower count. With that being said, I don't think I would look at either of these beverage companies as poster boys for social media success. 

In conclusion, there wasn't much information I got regarding the uses of hashtags, as most of these big companies didn't use them at all. However, if I can take inspiration from any of these pages, it would definitely be the Duolingo page. Their daily posting not only encaptivates viewers for the long run but can also build a relationship over time with them. This is very similar to watching a YouTuber over time. If they suddenly stop posting for months, this would be a big risk and might kill their algorithm as their viewers would eventually forget about them. Overall, however, I would probably settle with following trends, such as what Duolingo did, and would use hashtags to battle the algorithm!

 

(Commented on the Instagram pages of Delilah's Design, Sterling's Pilates, LiveWeight, and Sav's Vintage Values!)