Instagram helps local shops with branding

Marshe Wyche had seen thousands of items pass through her Chapel Hill thrift boutique.

But black Dr. Martens boots, women’s size 9, 30 years old, made in England, 20 holes climbing to the knee — this find she’d only seen once. So she posted it to Instagram for a lucky user to find.

“I could have them in my store and wait for that girl to come in. Or that girl can find it in two seconds because she’s hashtag-searched Dr. Martens because she’s looking for a cheap pair,” said Wyche, the co-owner of Rumors Boutique.

Wyche is one of many business owners in Chapel Hill turning to Instagram — an online photo- and video-sharing social network — to brand and market themselves to a younger audience.

Wyche said each day, 30 or 40 people mention they saw something on Instagram, and the posts generate about $400.

While only a quarter of all adult internet users are on the site — compared to 71 percent who use Facebook — over half of internet users aged 18 to 29 use Instagram, according to a 2014 study by the Pew Research Center.

UNC has nearly 30,000 students, the majority of whom live in the Chapel Hill area.

Kristen Smith, spokeswoman for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce, said she urges chamber members to build relationships on Instagram.

“It’s a way businesses can get their content in front of their customers, but it’s while an individual is just scrolling through their account, whether that be on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter,” she said.

A 2014 study by Forrester revealed top brands’ posts on Instagram engaged followers almost 60 times more than on Facebook and 140 times more than on Twitter, which may be why more businesses are turning to the network.

“We know that a visual platform is really effective,” said Claudia Kubowicz Malhotra, who teaches marketing at UNC and has studied how companies use social media to build their brands. “It’s really just about creating and sustaining a relationship with customers.”

Sutton’s Drug Store, a nearly 100-year-old Franklin Street staple, created an Instagram account about eight months ago and now has more than 220 followers.

“I still think we haven’t figured out exactly what our main goal is with Instagram,” said cashier Sam Hodges, who created and maintains the account with fellow employee Clay Pinney.

Malhotra said Instagram is best for businesses in industries with a natural visual component, like fashion and food.

But nowhere to be found on @suttonsdrugstore are photos of the restaurant’s crispy crinkle-cut fries or its famous burgers, dogs, milkshakes, its red-and-white-striped awning or any of the photos plastering Sutton’s walls of athletes, celebrities or regular folks dining in — with the exception of one post featuring actor and former UNC basketball player Rick Fox.

Malhotra said many small business owners don’t appear to have much of a strategy when it comes to Instagram, and that works against them.

“They kind of try it and try to see what works, and they quickly learn that it’s hard to get much of anything to work,” Malhotra said. “There’s tons of things competing for those seconds and those eyeballs.”

She said older business owners can benefit from hiring young people to handle their social media accounts.

“Who better to talk to a younger target market than a younger person?” she asked.

Bennett Gibson, former manager of The Gentlemen’s Corner in Chapel Hill, said social media could help places on Franklin Street reporting slow business.

“I love this town, but sometimes it seems a bit stuck in its ways,” he said.

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