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ATTENTION.

As marketers, before we can create interest and compel action, we must get our audience’s attention.

That’s the job of the headline copy, which can take many forms:

• It can be the subject line of an email
• It can be the title of an article or press release
• It can even be the first sentence of hand-written note

Whatever the context, one fact remains constant: The headline is the most important sentence on the page.

“On average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy,” said David Ogilvy, the Father of Advertising. “When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.”

Point being, make your first words good. Make them so good — so relevant and valuable — that they can’t be ignored.

This is the only way to ensure that the rest of your message gets consumed.

How to Make Your First Words Too Good to Ignore

First and foremost, you must know your audience.

If you don’t know what your audience cares about, you can’t start writing for them. You wouldn’t know where to begin.

Before you write, research.

Then, once you know what your audience needs or wants, use any one of these proven tactics to craft an angle that commands their attention:

1. Leverage the “Curiosity Gap”

Humans experience curiosity in a couple ways: perceptually and epistemically.

Perceptual curiosity is the desire to understand something strange or puzzling, like an optical illusion or a magic trick. Epistemic curiosity is simply the desire to learn something new, to acquire new information. Of these sensations, the latter is more pleasant.

“Our brain and our mind assigns value to this [new] knowledge,” explains Mario Livio, an astrophysicist and curiosity researcher, “so this is usually experienced as a pleasurable thing, with an anticipation of reward in the form of what we learn.”

This moment of pleasure and delight is what makes “curiosity gap” headlines so compelling and ubiquitous: used across the internet, especially in social media marketing.

Headlines that leverage the curiosity gap are specific enough to connect with the reader, but not so specific that they fulfill the reader’s epistemic curiosity — their desire to learn something new and get that pleasure rush.

If the reader wants that rush, they’ll have to commit their attention.

Note this “curiosity gap” headline from 1987:

It helped Joe Sugarman entice readers through the opening of his “Vision Breakthrough” ad, widely regarded as one of the greatest pieces of direct response ever written.

It went on to sell more than 20 million pairs of BluBlocker sunglasses.

2. Apply the “Scarcity Principle”

People are hardwired to value things and experiences that they perceive to be rare — or at least in short supply. Psychologists and economists refer to this tendency as the scarcity principle.

It’s an evolutionary trait, developed to ensure that we get what we need. Thousands of years ago, early humans leaned on it for survival. Today, copywriters evoke those same gotta-have-it feelings by using words and phrases like:

• “Hurry!”
• “Exclusive offer!”
• “Limited availability!”

The scarcity principle is also tied to our self-worth. Acquiring something uncommon or in demand makes us feel powerful.

“Scarcity creates fashion,” Seth Godin said. “People want something that others can’t have.”

Note this “scarcity principle” headline from 2013:

This is the opening of a sales letter from The Agora, a global marketing network known for publishing incredibly effective direct response sales letters.

The headline offers “six” people an “exclusive” invite to “experience the adventure of a lifetime.” The ad ultimately leads into a real-estate investment opportunity in Nicaragua.

The letter sold out in a couple days.

3. Use Numbers

Want to stop scanners in their tracks? Use a number in your headline.

Whether your headline appears in a newsletter, a popup, or a YouTube banner, a number will make it stand out.

Numbers work this way because words and images make up most of the content we see each day. Webpages, magazines, billboards, emails: They’re all dominated by words and images.

So when our eyes spot a number, it sticks out. It pops, focusing our attention. Simple, but effective.

Numbers also signify finality, a definitive beginning and end, which is comforting to readers.

“The more we know about something — including precisely how much time it will consume — the greater the chance we will commit to it,” explains Maria Konnikova, who writes about psychology and science for newyorker.com. “The process is self-reinforcing: we recall with pleasure that we were able to complete the task (of reading the article) instead of leaving it undone and that satisfaction, in turn, makes us more likely to click on lists again.”

Note this “numbers” headline from 1925:

Copywriting legend Claude Hopkins opens this century-old ad with a number.

And you thought BuzzFeed invented listicles!

4. Share Something Surprising

Research tells us that a genuinely surprised reader has your full attention, 100 percent.

This complete state of absorption is the product of an involuntary mental sequence our brains go through when we’re surprised — for better or for worse — by something, like a headline.

“It’s a strong neuro alert that tells us that something is important about this moment and we have to pay attention,” explains Tania Luna, who co-authored a book about how our brains process surprise. “Our cognitive resources are basically hijacked and pulled into the moment.”

In other words, surprising your audience will momentarily stun them with intrigue or curiosity or repulsion or glee, giving you an opportunity to move them into the next sentence.

Note this “surprising” headline from 1974:

This ad was written by famed copywriter Gary Halbert to sell a book called How to Turn Plastic Into Gold.

To set up the offer, Halbert jolted the reader with a paradox, a contradiction that, if true, would be a delightful surprise to every credit card holder alive.

How could you not read the next sentence?

5. Ask a Question

Warning: There’s a wrong way to ask a question in a headline.

Questions that are too obvious (e.g., “Is drinking water good for you?”) won’t compel readers because they already know the answer. And fear-mongering questions (e.g., “Does your newborn have cancer?”), while compelling, ultimately destroy your integrity and credibility.

The best question headlines make the reader think critically about their behavior or psychology. The best questions force the reader to look inward, to investigate their own reality, their “truth” so to speak.

These questions work well because moments of deep reflection are incredibly emotional — and emotions sell. Of course, they also take the most effort to research and develop. Success demands investment.

Note this “question” headline from 1997:

Master copywriter Gary Bencivenga wrote this headline to sell a report called Interviews That Win Jobs.

Though he never actually answers the question in the body copy, it was still a successful ad. Whether you answer the question or not doesn’t matter. What matters is how the question made the reader think and, of course, feel.

In this case, the question worked because it quickly shifted the reader’s perspective — and that made all the difference.

6. Promise Value

The easiest, clearest way to promise value in a headline is to start it with the words “How to.”

“Many advertising writers claim if you begin with the words How to,” writes copywriter Bob Bly, “you can’t write a bad headline.”

The reason is simple: We’re desperate to be told what to do, to be directed. Because making your own decisions is terrifying. Stepping out of the box is terrifying. Guessing is terrifying.

It’s much easier, safer, and less stressful to lean into someone else’s guidance.

Note these “value-based” headlines from 1974:

The copywriters at Ogilvy & Mather consistently leveraged the power of value-based headlines to capture attention.

These are but a fraction of the incredibly simple and straightforward “How to” headlines created by Ogilvy’s agency over the years.

The format’s prevalence can only mean one thing: it works.

7. Help your Audience Self-Identify

“Remember,” wrote Dale Carnegie in How to Win Friends and Influence People, “that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.”

This attention-grabbing trigger plays off of that concept, because while a static headline can’t call out your reader by name, it can help them self-identify as part of a larger group, or tribe.

By implicating your reader directly in the headline, you’re making it crystal clear that they’re in the right place, that they should focus, settle in, and keep reading.

Note this “self-identifying” headline from 1936:

The Newspaper Institute of America created this advertisement to sell writing classes.

The ad ran for almost 30 years, yet the headline and sub-headline never changed.

As you can see…

These tactics aren’t a new phenomenon. Copywriters have been leveraging these psychological tricks and triggers to command attention for generations.

In other words, they’re proven — and now, they’re yours for the taking.

Take them. 

What does it mean to do something “like a girl”?

This is the question Always asks in its empowering 2014 #LikeAGirl campaign, which sought to exploit and forever bury the term “…like a girl”.

Turning an insult into a bold movement of confidence not only brought revenue and popularity to the Always brand, but the 2014 campaign also won an Emmy, a Cannes Grand Prix award, and the Grand Clio award — a recognition practically unheard of in the advertising world.

This is only a glimpse of how effective emotional marketing can be — for both brands and consumers.

Today’s consumer base is better educated and better equipped to research what they don’t already know. They’re also flooded with advertisements on a daily basis.

In such a busy marketing world, how can you make sure your company stands out?

Here’s how: By tapping into another major component of the consumer’s attention span and purchase decision — emotion.

In this guide, we’ll explain what makes emotional marketing so powerful and how you can leverage it to connect with your audience and encourage them to act.

Before diving into why emotional marketing is effective and how to incorporate it into your marketing efforts, let’s first talk about emotions.

Take a moment and think about what emotion you’re feeling right now. Remember, emotions aren’t exactly how your body is feeling. They’re more descriptive of your state of mind.

Right now, it’s 8:30 a.m. as I write this. I’m tempted to say my emotion is tired … but tiredness isn’t quite an emotion. Instead, I’ll say I’m slightly annoyed because I’m tired, but I’m also excited because I have a great day ahead of me.

Also, did you notice how my chosen emotions didn’t precisely fall into the four basic emotions of happy, sad, afraid/surprised, and angry/disgusted? Annoyed could be grouped under angry, and excited could be considered happy … but their definitions aren’t quite the same.

That’s because emotions are like colors. There are a few defined concepts, but for the most part, emotions exist on a spectrum. One tiny change on the spectrum can lead to a different kind of happy, a different kind of sad, and a different kind of angry … kind of like the color green has infinite shades.

Robert Plutchik’s “wheel of emotions” illustrates some of these emotional spectrums — using colors, no less.

I’ve taken a second to explain emotions because it matters exactly what emotion you include in your marketing.

Depending on your product, industry, and audience, you can’t always target general “happiness.” Like with your marketing goals, you must dig deep and define precisely what feeling you’re aiming to elicit. This will influence the details of your marketing — your copywriting, media, graphics choices, etc. — and help it be as effective as possible.

Why Emotional Marketing Works

People feel. As much as we wish we didn’t, say after a heartbreak or during a scary movie, we can’t help but experience emotions. It’s in our nature.

This is one of the reasons emotional marketing just works. Here are a few others.

Emotional Marketing Makes Great First Impressions

According to you, what makes for a great first impression? When you meet someone new, what stands out?

Now consider a new business. If it were between two advertisements — one that simply talked about products, and one that made you laugh or cry — which would “impress” you? The second one, right?

First impressions form in a matter of seconds. The same goes for a first impression of a product or brand, and marketing emotion can help shape that impression … and help that brand or product stand out in your mind.

Emotional Marketing Helps People Decide with Their Hearts

Think back to your last major purchase.

When it came down to the wire, how did you decide which option to buy? Better yet, what made you finally push “buy”? (Because, let’s be real, you probably bought something online.)

Sure, you compared prices and spent time reading about each product, but when it came time to make a decision, I’m betting you relied on your heart over your head.

I’m guessing that an emotion you felt, or wanted to feel, helped nudge you in the right direction. Dove’s marketing is a great example of this. Their inclusive, down-to-earth commercials focus on ensuring every woman feels beautiful, making their product seem like a source of many emotions — acceptance, serenity, optimism, self-love. 

Studies show that people rely on emotions, rather than information, to make decisions. Emotional responses to marketing actually influence a person’s intent and decision to buy more than the content of an ad or marketing material.

Out of 1,400 successful advertising campaigns, those with purely emotional content performed about twice as well (31% vs. 16%) as those with only rational content.

Emotional marketing helps people decide with their hearts, which actually has more influence on buying than their minds.

Emotional Marketing Inspires People to Act

While emotional marketing is a powerful tool for eliciting a purchase or two, emotions also encourage other activity that can help grow your business and brand.

Here’s a breakdown of that activity per emotion:

• Happiness makes us share … and sharing leads to increased brand awareness. If bad news sells, then good news travels fast. Studies show that good news and positive content spreads faster on social media than any other type of content. This phenomenon isn’t unlike the “social smile” in infancy, when babies reciprocate a smile. When someone is happy, we tend to mirror that emotion, which leads us to share any content that made us smile in the first place
• Sadness makes us empathize and connect … and empathy leads to increased giving. A 2007 study revealed that feelings of empathy lead to altruism and the motivation to act on behalf of others. It’s no surprise that organizations like the ASPCA feature sad photos and a moving song while asking for donations. Feelings of sadness inspire us to act and help people, which typically manifests in fiscal giving.
• Surprise and fear make us cling to what’s comfortable … and embracing what’s comfortable leads to increased brand loyalty. Marketers are typically afraid to leverage fear in their advertisements, for fear (literally) that consumers will associate negative feelings with their brand. But, the opposite is true. Studies show that eliciting fear allows your brand to be seen as the one good thing in a dark world, meaning your consumers will lean on you more when things take a turn for the worse.
• Anger and passion make us stubborn … and stubbornness leads to viral content and loyal followers. Think about that Facebook video about a local tragedy or political issue that has tons of likes and thousands more comments. Like happiness, strong emotions like anger and passion inspire people to share content. Studies show that producing content that purposely elicits anger and anxiety will lead to virality and increased views.

Now that you know why emotional marketing works, let’s talk about how you can incorporate it into your current efforts … or perhaps a new campaign.

Emotional Marketing Strategies

There are a variety of ways to market your business using emotion. The below strategies can be combined and used to evoke all kinds of emotion. We do encourage you to start with the first one, though, as what specific emotions you target will depend on who you’re marketing to.

1. First … Know Your Audience

This is a crucial step before doing any kind of marketing, much less emotional marketing. If you don’t know your audience, how will you know what kind of content they’ll respond to best? How will you know which emotion to target to elicit the best, most valuable response for both them and you?

Before deciding which emotion to weave into your marketing, conduct some serious target audience research. Like any marketing effort, you want to elicit an emotion that resonates with their pain points or general desires and dreams. Researching your audience will better inform your marketing decisions and save you precious time and resources.

2. Lead With Color

This might seem like a simple strategy, but it holds more influence than you think. Like I explained above, color and emotion are closely tied … in more ways than one.

Color actually plays a major role in evoking emotion. Have you ever walked into a room and immediately (and inexplicably) felt some type of way? This is called color psychology, and a wide variety of businesses and organizations use it. Therapists paint their offices to calm their patients, football teams choose jersey colors that excite their players and audiences, and movie producers design the color scheme for posters and trailers that elicit feelings of fear or surprise.

The same goes for brands. Consider the Coca-Cola red or Starbucks green. The color red evokes strong feelings such as love, excitement, and joy (as well as anger and warning). In the case of Coca-Cola, red portrays positive, friendly energy.

On the other hand, the color green is often associated with harmony, balance, nature, growth, and health — all components of the Starbucks brand and “green” movement.

Here are some other emotions associated with colors:

Source: Color Wheel Pro

3. Tell a Story

Storytelling is a surefire way to connect with your audience. Whether through sadness, anger, passion, or excitement, stories are easily relatable and shareable, regardless of the makeup of your audience.

Proctor & Gamble’s commercial titled “Thank You Mom” aired before the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. It features many famous Olympians and the stories of how their mothers supported them throughout their athletic careers. Since mothers are a large part of P&G’s target audience, the commercial is perfectly positioned to both tell a resonating story and market their products. 

Another heartwarming piece of emotional marketing is MetLife’s commercial “My Father is a Liar.” It chronicles the life of a young girl and her father, who’s attempting to get a better life to care for his family. The commercial closes with the tagline “A child’s future is worth every sacrifice,” which positions the ad to connect with MetLife’s target audience: parents and families who’d do anything to provide for their children.

4. Create a Movement or Community

Using emotional marketing to establish a movement or community around your brand taps into a few different psychological triggers. The bandwagon effect it creates keeps people intrigued by what the crowd is doing. Also, feelings of camaraderie, acceptance, and excitement can create a sense of loyalty to your brand.

TOMS does a great job of crafting this sense of community. When you purchase a pair of TOMS, you not only help someone in need, but you also join the TOMS community. You now belong. The marketers at TOMS enhance this community by promoting activities like “One Day Without Shoes” and encouraging their customers to use hashtags when sharing images.

Source: TOMS Marketing Strategies

5. Inspire the Impossible

Aspiration isn’t quite an emotion, but the process of feeling inspired definitely brings out many emotions: elation, joy, excitement, hope … just to name a few. Aspirational campaigns are powerful because they tap into a dream, goal, or vision that your audience longs to reach. To successfully target aspiration as a marketing approach, businesses should understand how their product helps their consumers reach those lofty dreams and desires.

Red Bull executes this approach well through their “Red Bull Gives You Wings” campaign. Their commercials feature intense moments where real athletes are achieving their goals and dreams. These ads also associate Red Bull with feelings of elation, excitement, and hope that, one day, you can reach your dreams, too.

6. Project an Ideal Image

While some advertisements tap into how we’re currently feeling, others elicit emotions that we’d like to feel. That’s the goal behind projecting an ideal image through your marketing. Great marketing explains how a certain product or service can solve for a pressing problem. Great emotional marketing uses emotion to convince consumers that your product is not only the right solution, but that you can also feel great using it.

Brands like Old Spice use the “ideal image” to their advantage when marketing their hygiene products. Their iconic “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” uses humor to insinuate that you (or your man, ladies) could be as handsome, accomplished, and suave as the actor in the commercial … all by purchasing and using the Old Spice product. 

How to Measure Emotional Marketing

Emotional marketing should be measured just like any other marketing effort … except for you’re measuring the emotional response itself. If you’re curious as to how your audience is responding to your advertisements (outside of a clickthrough, subscription, or purchase), you might need to do a little manual analysis.

To get a read on your audience reaction, consider running surveys or providing a space for feedback during your initial campaign launch. This open-ended, quantitative approach will leave room for honest, real-time audience reactions and give you ideas on where you can improve. Another method of manually analyzing audience feedback is holding a focus group.

To learn more about market research, read our guide here.

Another way to measure your audience’s emotional response to your marketing is to decipher how their emotions manifest as actions. As I referenced earlier, happiness typically leads to sharing, sadness leads to giving, fear leads to loyalty, and anger leads to virality. Depending on the emotion elicited through your marketing, you might expect to see a bump in activity surrounding one (or more than one) of these activities.

For example, if you release a short promotional video that centers on happiness, joy, and excitement, keep an eye on how your social media followers respond. If they’re sharing the video with others, it’s likely doing its job putting a smile on someone’s face. On the other hand, a fear-centered approach might lead to greater email subscribers or social media follows as your audience establishes loyalty with your brand.

Over to You

Weaving emotion into your marketing and advertising is a surefire way to attract, resonate with, and encourage your audience to act. Think of emotional marketing as the secret weapon you never knew you had.

To successfully put emotion in your marketing, all you need to do is know your audience and know which emotions would resonate most. Align these with your overall marketing goals, and your emotional marketing efforts will be some of your most effective.

After Facebook bought Instagram in 2012, the app has evolved from a fun social network for selfies and brunch pics to something much more impactful: marketing’s top platform for visual content.

Since they introduced key product updates like video, stories, and IGTV, Instagram now boasts over 1 billion monthly active users who spend close to an hour scrolling through the app each day they log in.

Instagram’s popularity lets most brands forge an emotional connection with a massive audience, and some brands are so good at visually engaging and resonating with Instagram users that they’ve attracted tens of millions of followers.

Let’s check out this list of the eight brands with the most Instagram followers and examine their content to learn exactly how they’ve built cult-like followings.

Quick note:

This post is about the business accounts with the most Instagram followers. The eight Instagram accounts with the most followers all belong to celebrities, so, since we predominately write about marketing, we thought this would be a more relevant topic.

Marketing Takeaways from the Top Accounts on Instagram

1. Instagram

Followers: 246 Million

Instagram sets a great example for brands who truly want to engage an audience on their app. By curating and reposting their users’ most captivating content on their own profile, Instagram shows their followers that everyday people can meet their creative and artistic potential on the platform. This inspires brands and normal Instagram users to spend the time and effort required to craft visually gripping content that will instantly hold an audience’s attention.

 

Photo by @george_and_troja Hello, world! Meet today’s #WeeklyFluff: Troja (@george_and_troja), an Irish setter mix who can often be found exploring the majestic Norwegian outdoors. “We live close to the countryside with the forest as our backyard, so she has been running between the trees since she was little,” says George, Troja’s human. “Troja wasn’t the most social or the strongest pup, but after years of challenging her to explore new things, see new places and meet other dogs and people, she has grown into a playful dog with an equal amount of passion for adventure and snacks.”

A post shared by Instagram (@instagram) on Aug 9, 2018 at 11:09am PDT

Instagram also does a good job of promoting their stories and IGTV show about celebrities, wildlife, and other culturally relevant topics. They post original content that highlights upcoming episodes, but the posts read more like a feature story than an advertisement, which sparks more interest in the show.

 

“Tokyo is my second home,” says Pharrell Williams (@pharrell), who recently spent a day in the city stopping in on some of his favorite spots. “The city has had this incredible impression on me since the first time I came here. It feels like going to another world, where humility is so thick in the air; as soon as the humidity hits you when you get off the plane, so does the humility. The people have an incredible appreciation for others, and they are some of the most amazing collectors of not just things, but also experiences.” Join Pharrell as he shops, eats and strolls in Tokyo, today on our story and on our IGTV channel. To watch IGTV, update your app now, then look for the new icon in the top right corner of feed.

A post shared by Instagram (@instagram) on Aug 15, 2018 at 11:50am PDT

2. National Geographic

Followers: 90.1 Million

National Geographic hires the most talented photographers in the world, so their Instagram posts of landscapes, cityscapes, and the surrounding life always seem to be awe-inspiring. But their stunning visuals aren’t the only reason why they’ve attracted over 90 million followers.

National Geographic is a historic magazine that’s famous for their credible journalism and compelling storytelling, so in each post’s caption, they are able to craft fascinating narratives about the photo or video, usually in a way that spreads awareness for a relevant environmental issue.

 

Photo by @beverlyjoubert. Staring straight into the amber eyes of a lion will always awaken a part of me that knows instinctively that I am not the true predator here. And yet – people’s amazing ability with tools and intelligence has made our species stronger by far and we are outcompeting every other predator on the planet. Lions are iconic – strong and proud and symbols of power throughout the world. But there are now more statues of lions in the world than there are real lions. Only around 20 000 remain, scattered in ever-smaller patches of wilderness. It’s worth noting this decline this #WorldLionDay but also noting that we have the ability to halt and reverse it when we put our minds to it. Nine years ago, together with @dereckjoubert, and National Geographic, we set up the Big Cats Initiative as a long-term effort to halt the declineof big cats in the wild. The initiative supports efforts to save big cats through assessment, on-the-ground conservation, education, and global public-awareness campaigns. To date, this has supported more than 110 innovative projects in 28 countries that are helping big cats and communities thrive – all working to keep these wild eyes alight across Africa, ready to pierce our souls with the truth about who we really are. To learn more about the #BigCatsInitiative or to help, please visit natgeo.org/bigcats. #bigcatconservation #WorldLionDay2018 #CauseAnUproar #TheEyesHaveIt

A post shared by National Geographic (@natgeo) on Aug 10, 2018 at 12:51pm PDT

National Geographic also uses Instagram Stories, Stories Archive, and IGTV to drive traffic to featured articles and videos on their website. But they also know their followers prefer not to leave the app. So instead of using gimmicky visuals and clickbait copy to coax people into visiting their website, they actually summarize the feature article or video in their stories and IGTV shows.

For marketers, National Geographic’s Instagram strategy clarifies that it’s crucial to meet your audience where they are, and not force them to go somewhere just because you want them to go there. If people end up clicking through to your website, that’s great. But you should be more than willing to educate your audience where they want to be educated, even if it results in a lower amount of traffic.

3. Nike

Followers: 79.5 Million

In the advertising industry, Nike is known for their motivational ads that inspire athletes to believe in themselves and work as hard as possible to meet their full potential. On Instagram, the iconic brand’s content follows this theme, with posts in the form of short films, documentaries, and inspirational videos and photos. Nike also uses Instagram to update their followers with quick news about the sports world, proving that they deeply understand their audience’s interests and desires.

 

MJ never lost, he learned. #WinLike96

A post shared by nike (@nike) on Dec 8, 2017 at 8:00am PST

4. Real Madrid

Followers: 62.1 Million

Real Madrid is arguably the most popular soccer team in the world, so most of the team’s Instagram posts update their massive fan base on scores, highlights, and transactions.

But the way they attract and engage twice as many Instagram followers compared to other teams with similarly sized fan bases isn’t through standard updates. They’ve built their enormous following by giving their fans an inside look of the team’s everyday activities through player takeovers and practice highlights on IGTV.

Breaking down these barriers between fan and player makes Real Madrid’s fan base feel like they actually know their favorite players on a personal level, which develops a more intimate and loyal relationship between the two.

 

👟⚽💥 UNSTOPPABLE! @Marcelotwelve | #RMCity

A post shared by Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadrid) on Aug 7, 2018 at 4:41am PDT

5. 9GAG

Followers: 46.3 Million

With plenty of dog, cat, and baby videos, SpongeBob references, and jokes that are almost too relatable, 9GAG has one of the funniest accounts on Instagram.

Their Instagram stories and Stories Archives engage their audience well too — they post a ton of polls about topics that everyone has an answer for like “Is soup a food or a beverage?” and “Would you travel to the past or future?”.

 

We are all one bee sting away from Benedict Cumberbatch. #9gag #adaptimproviseovercome

A post shared by 9GAG: Go Fun The World (@9gag) on Aug 7, 2018 at 2:14pm PDT

They also use Instagram stories to drive traffic to their website by asking their followers to swipe up and see if they correctly guessed the name of a TV show or movie with only emojis as clues. On IGTV, they generate even more brand engagement by letting their followers ask questions during live Q&As with celebrities.

As the only online content platform on this list, 9GAG proves to marketers that  interacting with your audience is one of the best ways to engage them, develop a relationship with them, and attract more followers like them.

6. NASA

Followers: 34.7 Million

Scrolling through NASA’s Instagram feed makes you feel a little like an astronaut floating through the depths of space. You’ll experience intimate views of different planets, constellations, and supernovas in the Milky Way galaxy, all of which are taken by NASA’s spacecrafts and Hubble Space Telescope.

 

This could be the biggest ghost in the universe.👻 A new image from our Spitzer Space Telescope shows leftover signs of an exploded star, or supernova. Spotted in the Milky Way galaxy, this is the largest known supernova remnant at 150 light-years in diameter and it’s possibly one of the oldest: Astronomers estimate the original explosion may have happened anywhere from 80,000 to one million years ago. Our Spitzer Space Telescope that spotted this fading ghost of a long-dead star is one of our four Great Observatories — along with the Hubble Space Telescope (@NASAHubble), the Chandra X-ray Observatory (@NASAChandraXray) and the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory. On Aug. 25, Spitzer celebrates its 15th birthday in space although it was originally designed to “stay alive” for 5 years in the harsh environment of space. Spitzer sees the universe in infrared light, which is slightly less energetic than the optical light we can see with our eyes, and helps us advance our knowledge about the Universe, Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/IPAC #nasa #space #solarsystem #Spitzer15 #universe #galaxy #milkyway #stars #astrophysics #astronomy #science #gammarays #ultraviolet #infrared #xrays

A post shared by NASA (@nasa) on Aug 2, 2018 at 6:21pm PDT

NASA’s Instagram stories, stories archive, and IGTV channel also educate their followers about interesting space insights, like the views of the sun and earth, the search for life in space, and NASA’s new launches and technology.

In an age where most people think the only thing that social media content can do is rot your brain, NASA’s popularity on Instagram proves that you can actually create educational content that doesn’t sacrifice any entertainment value.

7. NBA

Followers: 30.1 Million

Since basketball is only the seventh most popular sport in the world, it might be surprising that the NBA is the sports league with the most amount of Instagram followers. But after analyzing their Instagram strategy, their success on the app makes complete sense.

Most of the NBA’s Instagram posts are countdowns of each team’s and certain player’s best plays. And by posting each team’s and specific superstars’ top plays on Instagram, the NBA’s content appeals to all of their teams’ and stars’ fan bases, letting them reach almost every basketball fan in the world.

 

@karltowns’ TOP 3 PLAYS for the @timberwolves from this past season!! #BESTofNBA

A post shared by NBA (@nba) on Aug 16, 2018 at 1:39pm PDT

But the NBA doesn’t just rely on this clever personalization strategy to maximize their reach on Instagram. They also host account takeovers, Q&As, and behind-the-scenes access videos of team facilities on their Instagram stories and Stories Archive to give fans an inside look at their players’ life on and off the court.

Basketball has about three billion less fans than soccer does. But the reason why the NBA has five million more Instagram followers than the Champion’s League is because the NBA knows how to personalize their content, relate to each segment of their audience, and break down the barriers between their fans and players.

8. Chanel

Followers: 29.3 Million

Throwback Thursday will always be a huge deal on social media — who doesn’t love a heavy dose of nostalgia every week? Recently, though, Chanel decided to take #tbt to the next level. They’ve been evoking nostalgia in fashionistas all over the world by posting old ads that spotlight previous fashion trends for their Chanel Holidays campaign every day.

 

#CHANELHolidays Photographed by Karl Lagerfeld in Monaco, starring @AmberValletta. © CHANEL Cruise 1995/96

A post shared by CHANEL (@chanelofficial) on Aug 13, 2018 at 9:00am PDT

The legendary fashion brand also posts a lot of content about Coco Chanel’s early fashion influences to promote Inside Chanel, a web series that recounts Coco’s life and how she built her fashion empire.

 

Biarritz 1915. The seaside resort where female bathers endlessly bask in the ocean and take sun cures. A destination where Gabrielle Chanel responds to the growl of the waves with fierce determination by opening her first couture house. Watch the new episode of #InsideChanel Link in the bio. #GabrielleChanel #ChanelBiarritz

A post shared by CHANEL (@chanelofficial) on Jun 24, 2018 at 9:00am PDT

Harnessing the power of the past is one of the most effective ways to evoke an emotional response from your audience and forge a connection with them. With that in mind, nostalgia should always be in your marketing arsenal.