10 Fresh Instagram Tips Inspired by @wildmintcosmetics

With over 200 million business accounts on Instagram, it can be difficult to know how your business can stand out. However, with a multifaceted approach, combining best practices with the heart and soul of your brand, you can improve your Instagram game and get in front of the right people. In this article, we’re going to look at how health and beauty company @wildmintcosmetics does just that, so you can grab hold of these golden ideas and apply them to your presence on Instagram.

Here are 10 tips that make @wildmintcosmetics a breath of fresh air…

1. Be driven by ethics and values 

At the core of @wildmintcosmetics is the desire to be conscious about its business practices. It does this in several ways including being 100% vegan, cruelty-free and planting trees with every order. As this is such a vital part of the business, the values and ethics of @wildmintcosmetics take centre stage on Instagram too. They are woven into every element, reiterated through the profile bio, stories, posts and content descriptions, making it impossible to ignore the ethics and values surrounding the @wildmintcosmetics brand.

Having a clear mission and/or values helps to shape every decision a business makes. It also helps connect the right audience with the brand as it brings together a community of people who deeply care about the same topics. Even with more casual consumers, the knowledge that care and consideration is going into a brand and its products can sway purchasing behaviour. An OpenTex survey found that 90% of global consumers want to buy products sourced in a responsible and sustainable way and 83% would pay more for goods that are ethically produced.

2. Clearly define your target audience

Another key focus of the brand has to be its clearly defined target audience. Although there are a few men (and a bunny rabbit) featured, the vast majority of people in content by @wildmintcosmetics are women. While not excluding other demographics from using and loving the products, tailoring content towards a defined target audience helps to connect with people who are relevant to the brand. If the vast majority of customers are women, it makes sense for the business to cater for women on its Instagram profile.

Having a target audience that’s clearly defined provides focus and clarity when making decisions for an Instagram presence. Everything from the Instagram bio, profile picture, content, descriptions, emoji use, ad creation, product development, collaborations, colour choice and font use can all be influenced by the audience you are trying to appeal to. Whether you’re targeting people of a certain age bracket, gender, location, with certain interests or a particular amount of expendable money, pinpointing exactly who the products make sense for and what might appeal to them is an extremely important part of being successful.

Head to Minter.io to view your current social media demographics. Armed with this knowledge, you can decide whether to lean into this audience and nurture its growth or make different choices to appeal to a demographic more suitable for your business.

3. Join collaborations that make sense 

With values and ethics at the heart of the company and a clearly defined target audience, making smart decisions about who to partner with gets a lot easier. Partnering with other companies that share similar values and a similar target audience naturally lends itself to collaborations that make sense and further strengthen the brand. This is why @wildmintcosmetics partnered with two powerful brands - WUKA and Eden Reforestation Projects.

WUKA is a company that creates period-proof clothing - a great solution for people with periods who want sustainable and reusable options.

Eden Reforestation Projects is a company that helps protect and restore landscapes, fights climate change and protects ecosystems in multiple countries across the world. Companies can partner with Eden Reforestation Projects to support large-scale landscape restoration.

It’s clear to see why these collaborations make so much sense for @wildmintcosmetics given the audiences and ethics they appeal to. To make sure you choose collaborations that fit your brand, clearly define your audience and the things that are important to your brand. If a potential partnership aligns with these elements, it might be a great fit to go ahead with.

4. Show real faces in adverts

A growing trend (and something many of us appreciate a lot) is companies showing real people in ads. No Photoshop, Facetune or airbrushing here. This is particularly important when the product is solving a visible problem. It’s easier to connect with an ad when the person you’re seeing is relatable and the issue they’re aiming to solve is recognisable. This kind of advertising builds trust with the audience as real people have flaws, so the solution no longer feels unobtainable.

Relatability is a powerful social media approach. According to FinancesOnline, more users are following authentic and real influencers who lead ordinary, relatable lives than ever before. Also, users are finding greater content value from people that mirror their own life experiences. This trend swerves away from traditional advertising that showcases unobtainable perfection to sell goods and services. On a financial note, this approach could also save a lot of time and money when creating content and sourcing people to be featured.

5. Shine with social proof 

Another way @wildmintcosmetics builds trust is through social proof. The most notable ways it does this is through sharing star-rated positive reviews and before/after imagery with testimonials. 

The stories highlight named RESULTS is where @wildmintcosmetics groups together before/after imagery. Imagery is a powerful marker of proof, while testimonials back up the imagery and star ratings are easily recognisable at a glance. This 3-pronged approach creates 3 layers of trust. Placing these key images in a prominent position on an Instagram page makes them easy for viewers to find and access. 

While placing reviews in one space on Instagram is great, putting them in more places is even better because reviews provide a fast path to building trust with potential customers. Content by @wildmintcosmetics regularly features reviews, particularly when the content is showcasing products. There’s even a series called WildMint Product Reviews added to the Reels tab on the @wildmintcosmetics Instagram profile. 

There are numerous ways to social proof your social media profiles. While a large follower count or celebrity endorsement may help towards building trust, a more personable way to build trust can be through providing authentic, positive reviews wherever relevant on your Instagram profile. 

6. Listen and respond to comments

Beyond sharing success stories, @wildmintcosmetics also answers questions and concerns of potential customers. This helps the audience to feel heard and get answers while the business can cover frequently asked questions in an efficient and creative way.

Instagram has a feature that allows you to make a reel in direct response to a comment on your posts. This is a quick way to respond to your audience in a very personal way and provides an opportunity to go more in-depth than is easy to do in a written response.

7. Own a brand colour

Throughout the previous points, it’d be difficult to miss the clear colour scheme echoed throughout the product packaging and every piece of content. The signature peppermint green paints the profile picture, stories highlight covers, written text, media backgrounds and media as a whole. It’s almost visceral as it mimics the mint in the brand name. This repeated shade makes it synonymous with the brand and makes it unmistakable when @wildmintcosmetics publishes a new piece of content.

When picking a perfect shade, think about your brand and your audience. What do you want the colour to say about your products or services and how does that relate to the end customer. In this example, @wildmintcosmetics is linking the word mint in its brand name with the minty colour choice, evoking thoughts of freshness and cleanliness. Think: fresh ingredients, fresh products, fresh skin. It’s all summed up in one shade.

8. Break up descriptions with emojis 

With so many great reasons to shout about the products, this can make for some lengthy descriptions. A great way to grab and hold attention through long captions, which is aesthetically pleasing, is to add emojis to break up the text. Emojis can be used as bullet points or to emphasise key points. They also add tone and character to the copy.

The emojis used by @wildmintcosmetics vary from post to post but they always make sense in the text. In the example below, the razor emoji is used as bullet points when writing about shaving. The delicate flower emoji is used afterwards to represent softness and contrast the harshness of the razor. Other relevant emojis are added to emphasise particular moments in the text worth highlighting.

Long descriptions are worth taking time to craft well as there’s no point in writing something wonderful if nobody’s going to read it. Using emojis can grab and maintain attention while drawing the eye to key phrases that deserve special attention. When selecting emojis for your descriptions, think about what makes sense for your brand, what each emoji represents and how you can use colour to link to or contrast from your brand.

9. Set up for success

Don’t underestimate the importance of a great first impression. The set up of your Instagram profile is crucial in turning potential customers into lifelong, repeat customers. All the above points are fantastic but they wouldn’t mean much if potentially interested parties were lost with a poor first impression.

The Instagram profile of @wildmintcosmetics is professional and set up for success. Check out the cohesive nature of the name, handle, profile picture and logo, all working together to present clear, well-thought-out branding.

The links and email button added to the bio are all working links. Broken links may be a simple oversight but they can lead to a lack of professionalism and a lack of sales - so check your links! With working, relevant links, interested parties can easily get in touch and get their hands on their favourite products. Good for your image, good for the customer experience, good for business.

People want to share great things with their friends and they will only do that if they believe in the brand. The Instagram profile set up is the first step in getting people to believe in what you do. It tells viewers who you are, what you stand for and what you have to offer. Make sure you set up your socials to be cohesive, clear and working. Make sure the name, handle and profile picture echo each other. Check spellings, links, and buttons. Share your values and mission. Make it easy for people to understand your brand, find your products, find answers to questions and purchase the things they love.

10. Link a Threads account

Another great way to stay relevant on Instagram is to make use of the latest features. In this case, @wildmintcosmetics has linked a Threads account with their Instagram account. Generally speaking, Instagram users are rewarded for getting involved in the latest features. This can be a result of there being less competition in a space if a feature is new, while sometimes Instagram boosts new features in the algorithm. 

It doesn't have to be Threads if that’s not something you’re going to utilise, but take note when a new feature is released on Instagram. If it’s relevant to your brand, hop on board early to see if you can benefit from a potential boost.

After implementing just some of these tips, you should see some improvement to your Instagram presence. Make sure you’re tracking your content performance to see which tips benefit you the most by using Minter.io - the social media analytics tool for brands online. Try it today!