Digital Marketing Analysis and Recommendations; Oh Doughnuts Instagram

Oh Doughnuts- @ohdoughnuts

I have chosen to practice my skills in digital marketing and analyze a local Winnipeg Business. After my analysis, I provide a few recommendations on how to upgrade this company's current strategy for Instagram. This was not done for money nor instructed to be done by the company, just something I personally wanted to analyze.

Oh Doughnuts, located on Broadway and Taylor, have been a Winnipeg staple for years. Its two locations are queer woman owned and help support many local minority groups. Oh Doughnuts sells doughnuts and select styles of pastries that change daily and always sell out fast. They are known to have long lines in the early morning for their specialty doughnuts such as Pride, Canada Day, or Christmas. They currently utilize Instagram to showcase their current menu items and to update customers of what has been sold out. They currently have 55.3K followers and 4306 posts.

When analyzing their posts from March 11th, 2022 to March 14th, 2022, there are a few things stand out in a good way and bad way. Some of the things that stand out in a good way is that the account has been verified. It is difficult for an account to get verified and does take a lot of time to occur. This shows customers viewing their profile that this is a serious business that values its relations with the community and the content they post. Another thing that stood out in a good way was the sold out posts. These posts are meant to make customers aware of what is available to entice them to visit one of their locations, or save them the trip if they sold out of what they wanted. This also helps to alleviate customer conflict in the store due to frustrations of no product availability. Another thing that stood out in a good way is that in their Instagram bio, they have a message, contact, and order food button. This allows for customers visiting their profile, and are interested in learning more or buying their product, with the necessary information at ease.

Some of the things that stand out in a bad way is that the account posts mainly photos with only some videos. These photos tend to get repetitive and can be boring after scrolling their profile. Once you do come across a video, they are fun and still highlighting the product, while providing new content for the customer. Another thing that stood out in a bad way is that not all of their photos are high quality photos. Since their product is doughnuts, you want to ensure the photos are high quality so that the product appears appetizing. With every odd photo being of low quality or poor editing, the doughnuts in those images look unappetizing. Another thing that stood out in a bad way is that their captions contain every single menu items. Their captions are the max amount of characters that Instagram allows, 2200, whereas the recommended caption is 150 character. Another thing that stood out in a bad way is that their images are messy with fonts. When looking at the instagram story or the sold out posts, there is too much going on with themes, colours, and fonts, that it distracts you from the overall message. Another thing that stood out in a bad way is that they have never used an albums to "photo dump" multiple images or forms of content in one post.

Something that stands out in a good and bad way is that all of their posts are only product images. This is good because it creates continuity within their account. However, this is also bad because there is no attempt to explore other media and content to engage their customers.

Post Examples:

Instagram Story-

Instagram Bio-

Instagram Good Photo-

Instagram Good Photo's Caption-

Instagram Video-

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CbGqGlQjH6x/?utm_medium=copy_link

Instagram Video Caption-

Instagram Bad Photo and Caption #1-

Instagram Bad Photo #2-

Instagram Bad Photo #2 Caption-

Five Recommendations:

1. Instagram Captions

   • I would recommend to Oh Doughnuts to reduce their Instagram captions to be 150 character to help with the algorithm for their posts. Since their caption is meant to educated customers on their menu, I think its still really important to continue sharing that, but in a different way. Instead, they could post a photo album of images of their menu items with the names of the doughnuts in the photo or embedded on it. This will allow for the caption to have as little information as possible, and now show what the doughnuts are instead of only stating their names.

1. Invest in Camera/Editing

   • I would recommend to Oh Doughnuts that they should consider investing in buying a higher quality camera or learning food editing techniques. To photograph or edit food, it is very unique compared to typical photography and photo editing. It is really important to showcase all of their products as appetizing, and the quality of an image can help determine it. Personally, I know that their doughnuts are delicious and of high quality, but some of the images deceived me personally thinking they weren't.

1. Explore Media Types

   • I would recommend to Oh Doughnuts to explore different media types, rather than only posting product photos. The few videos that they do have, have tons of views, likes, and comments. They should experiment with posting more videos or more stories to keep their profile fresh and fun for customers. There is nothing wrong with posting photos, but when there is a mix of media, you are able to engage with more audience's and their preferences.

1. "Clean Up" Images

   • I would recommend to Oh Doughnuts to thoroughly think of their brand colours and fonts, and ensure they use only those in the posts they make. When their posts use multiple fonts and colours that are unrelated to the brand, it looks messy and it is hard to focus on the message of the posts. By thinking about your brand before creating posts, you are able to have them be consistent and on point with your brand. Another thing to consider is to not add as much information to one image. If there is a lot of information to share, you can do multiple story posts in a row, or an album post to get your message across to the customer without being too distracting with them post.

1. Explore Content Types

   • I would recommend to Oh Doughnuts to thoroughly think of their brand and the messages they want to share. They currently only post product photos and menu updates for content. If you are not planning on visiting the store within the next few days, the content they post is irrelevant to customers since it is only relevant for that time frame. They should consider posting a get to know the staff/staff favourites, behind the scenes/baking the doughnuts, contests, or things they are actively doing in the community. This will allow their followers and customers to be more engaged with their content and feel personally connected to the brand and people involved.

Recommendations on Overall Strategies:

Besides the above recommendations, I would recommend that for their content strategy, they consider what their brand means to customers and others in the community, and be creative with the content they post. To expand the last point above further, a get to know the staff/staff favourites, behind the scenes/baking the doughnuts, contests, or things they are actively doing in the community, helps to create a strong connection to the customer by having them feel like they are a part of the brand. When looking at the most successful companies who use Instagram, they are all creative with the content they produce to have their followers excited for their next posts. This will help to eventually create a loyal following and consistent engagement with your posts.