59 AEGEE antennae use Instagram. That doesn’t sound much, compared to the fact that almost every antenna is present on Facebook. But: the number of locals doubled in the past twelve months. Exactly one year ago only 31 locals used this great medium. The Golden Times spoke to nine antennae, which are all very enthusiastic about this communication tool: AEGEE-Cagliari, AEGEE-Kyiv, AEGEE-León, AEGEE-Ioannina, AEGEE-Salerno, AEGEE-Skopje, AEGEE-Heidelberg, AEGEE-Bakı and AEGEE-Moskva.
AEGEE-Cagliari: “Choose an optimal timing for sharing content”
GT: Since when does your antenna use Instagram?
Lorenzo Ligas, PR Responsible: Our Instagram profile is active since 2014.
GT: Why do you use it? What is the role of Instagram in your antenna PR?
Lorenzo: Communicating through Instagram can be more effective and faster than using other socials media. Instagram has a key role in order to show our beautiful city and our events, in a fast and visual way that probably only this social network can offer.
GT: How often do you post pictures or videos?
Lorenzo: It depends on how many events or information we have to present. I used our Instagram profile for the first time about two weeks and a half ago, and I already posted 11 photos!
GT: What kind of pictures or videos do you post?
Lorenzo: Pictures about our events; our ideas and tips; funny and viral pictures; pictures from Cagliari.
GT: What is the feedback that you get?
Lorenzo: I’m having a good feedback right now.
GT: Any advice that you have for other antennae that want to use Instagram? For example what to tag or to get subscribers?
Lorenzo: My suggestion to other antennae is to choose an optimal timing for sharing content. I prefer posting in these time frames: 11 am to 3 pm, 6 pm, 8 pm to 9 pm; but I often try even also hours. I use hashtags used by the local Instagrammers’ community; #aegeeans and #aegee and of course the hashtag of our antenna: #AEGEEcagliari; also hashtags who describe the pictures. Final piece of advice: I always keep the caption clean with a couple of hashtags: usually five or less; then I copy and paste other hashtags I chose in another comment.
AEGEE-Kyiv: “Everyone sees that AEGEE is soooo cool”
GT: Since when does your antenna use Instagram?
Iryna Sheremeta, PR-Responsible: We have been using Instagram since April 2015. Our PR Team made an account before the conference “Stating Democracy”. We started to be really active on Instagram during the Agora in Kyiv last autumn. So many cool events and people helped to make our account bright and interesting.
GT: Why do you use it?
Iryna: During our first meeting before the conference “Stating Democracy” we discussed the most popular social media. Instagram was among them. We wanted to spread information about AEGEE in Kyiv and to show people that we spend our time together really cool. We discussed that people mostly like to look at pictures, which increase their interest in projects or the organization. That’s why we thought: “Why not? It should be a cool idea”.
GT: What is the role of Instagram in your antenna PR?
Iryna: For PR Instagram is really important. People often don’t want to read posts on a Facebook page or Vkontakte. On Instagram our subscribers can see that we have several events every week. They can see that we are active and that AEGEE is soooo cool. Moreover, when friends of our members see their smiles on photos, see foreigners who come to visit us, they as a rule want to join us.
GT: How often do you post pictures or videos?
Iryna: We try to post photos and videos from each AEGEE event which we organize or attend. Sometimes we post photos from our working meetings. We don’t have special rules for this.
GT: What kind of pictures or videos do you post?
Iryna: We post photos and videos which are connected to the AEGEE life of our members. We are happy that we are together, so want to show this to people! Also we post photos of board members who have their birthday in a particular day, photos of member of the month, and many other pictures.
GT: What is the feedback that you get?
Iryna: We can say that the interest in AEGEE in Kyiv rises and more people ask about our projects and activities. They tell that we have so many cool photos. It’s success, we guess.
GT: Any advice that you have for other antennae that want to use Instagram? For example what to tag or to get subscribers?
Iryna: We can advise to tag people on photos and to make reposts to personal pages in order to show the own activity in the antennae. One more way which we are using is to subscribe to the Instagram accounts of friends of our members. They look in any case through our page, see familiar faces and subscribe to our page then as well.
AEGEE-León: “More than 450 followers in 21 weeks!”
GT: Since when does your antenna use Instagram?
Laura Pérez, Secretary: Our first picture was uploaded to Instagram 21 weeks ago, so we’ve been using it for about five months.
GT: Why do you use it? What is the role of Instagram in your antenna PR?
Laura: We saw that many people in León were using it, so we decided to create a profile. It was an idea of our Erasmus students responsible Alvaro. The role of our account is mainly to show pictures of the activities we do on the daily, but sometimes – like for our LTC – we use it for promotion.
GT: How often do you post pictures or videos?
Laura: We post pictures as often as we have a really nice event, usually every two weeks or so. We haven’t tried to post videos yet.
GT: What kind of pictures or videos do you post?
Laura: We mainly post pictures of the adventures of our mascot Leoncio – the account is named in his honour. And we add an informal description as if Leoncio was writing to his followers. In many of the pictures we also show our members’ activities or trips across Europe.
GT: What is the feedback that you get?
Laura: We have gotten really good feedback! We’ve had many “likes” and people saying they found the texts very funny. We always write them both in Spanish and in English. We just checked and we have more than 450 followers!
GT: Any advice that you have for other antennae that want to use Instagram? For example what to tag or to get subscribers?
Laura: As advice we can say that Instagram is a really good tool to promote your antenna better in many ways, it’s also really easy to post and very visual. We love Instagram!
AEGEE-Ioannina: “A picture is worth a thousand words”
GT: Since when does your antenna use Instagram?
Vaggelio Kolliarou: We have an Instagram account since spring 2015.
GT: Why do you use it? What is the role of Instagram in your antenna PR?
Vaggelio: We use Instagram to keep in touch with people that don’t use Facebook that much and want to see what we do and what we stand for. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words.
GT: How often do you post pictures or videos?
Vaggelio: It actually depends on the material at hand; we post from once a week to everyday.
GT: What kind of pictures or videos do you post?
Vaggelio: We use Instagram as a way to show our local activities and parties, to promote our events and especially the Summer University and to show the rest of the AEGEEans the beauty of Ioannina. We also post pictures and quotes to celebrate special world days and AEGEE values.
GT: What is the feedback that you get?
Vaggelio: We have the support of other antennae that have more followers. They like our posts and even repost our events. We really love our local members for liking every single picture that we post and sometimes they send us their own pictures to upload. Because it’s all about team work.
GT: Any advice that you have for other antennae that want to use Instagram? For example what to tag or to get subscribers?
Vaggelio: I don’t really think there is any advice to give. Everyone has their own way of doing things. For example, we always use #aegee, #aegeeioannina and #BLUEstories and occasionally a whole lot more. What matters is to do something you enjoy for the antenna you love.
AEGEE-Salerno: “Use the same image for Facebook and Instagram posts”
GT: Since when does your antenna use Instagram?
Giancarlo “Johnny” Mennillo, IT Responsible and Vice-President: We started to use Instagram two years ago, when I became IT Responsible for the first time. I also created a Twitter account and made a new look for our webpage. I wanted create a new and more modern image of AEGEE-Salerno.
GT: Why do you use it? What is the role of Instagram in your antenna PR?
Johnny: In general we use Instagram to promote ours events – such as trips, parties or European events. I think that Instagram is a great springboard to make oneself known.
GT: How often do you post pictures or videos?
Johnny: In general we don’t post videos, just pictures of the events of the week.
GT: What kind of pictures do you post?
Johnny: We try to be as ingratiating as possible when we post images on Instagram to be noticed by the users. I also create the graphics of the events that we make here in Salerno, so often I use the same image for the Facebook event and for Instagram posts.
GT: What is the feedback that you get?
Johnny: We have a good feedback. We have 742 followers and on average 30 likes per post.
GT: Any advice that you have for other antennae that want to use Instagram? For example what to tag or to get subscribers?
Johnny: My only advice is to be very imaginative and active because nowadays Instagram is a social network used by a lot of younger people, so is a great way to make our association know. Every time you make an event in your local it could be a great idea to publish images, using also attractive tags related to the event that you are making.
AEGEE-Skopje: “We want to get the attention of some big companies”
GT: Since when does your antenna use Instagram?
Monika Borovchanska, former Vice-President: We use Instagram since October, as I checked our first post was 20 weeks ago.
GT: Why do you use it? What is the role of Instagram in your antenna PR?
Monika: We use Instagram because it has a very vivid role in the promotion of our activities. We share some social moments and the upcoming activities as well. Instagram is very popular nowadays and if you want to catch the audience by promotion via pictures, it is one of the best options.
GT: How often do you post pictures or videos?
Monika: We post pictures very often. Every here and there, after meetings, while having an event or before after event.
GT: What kind of pictures or videos do you post?
Monika: We mostly post promotions for our events but also for other AEGEE events which are upcoming.
GT: What is the feedback that you get?
Monika: We got the attention of the audience, AEGEE members can always be up to date of what is happening and people got to know us better than before. We will try to become more popular and get many, many likes so that we can even receive a price or get the attention of some big companies.
GT: Any advice that you have for other antennae that want to use Instagram? For example what to tag or to get subscribers?
Monika: Instagram is very easy to use, it is fun and it takes only two seconds to share. We use hashtags that lead to aegee, to our antenna, our country, city, some famous places, and we often tag how we feel, for example, #partyanimals or #workhardplayhard!
AEGEE-Heidelberg: “People the adventures of our penguin mascot”
GT: Since when does your antenna use Instagram?
Brenda Holz, President: We use Instagram since April 2014.
GT: Why do you use it? What is the role of Instagram in your antenna PR?
Brenda: We wanted to expand our social media presence and used it when we started to promote Friedrich, the penguin, as our official mascot.
GT: How often do you post pictures or videos?
Brenda: Two to four times per week.
GT: What kind of pictures or videos do you post?
Brenda: We use Friedrich mostly to establish our brand image as a local students’ initiative in Heidelberg so our posts – mostly – focus on university life in Heidelberg and the adventures of our penguin mascot.
GT: What is the feedback that you get?
Brenda: Instagram use in Germany is not as big as in other countries yet, however we have gotten a lot of positive feedback, especially because people really like to see content featuring Friedrich. #penguinsareawesome
GT: Any advice that you have for other antennae that want to use Instagram?
Brenda: As with any social media profile it is important to regularly post new content. Another thing that is important is to follow other users – especially fellow AEGEEans – and be very active in general. For example, comment on other people’s posts, follow users, participate in the use of certain hashtags, such as #aegeespirit, to make your content easy to find.
AEGEE-Bakı: “All our photos and videos are positive and energetic”
GT: Since when does your antenna use Instagram?
Shams Mammadli: It’s been more than three years that we use Instagram.
GT: Why do you use it? What is the role of Instagram in your antenna PR?
Shams: The majority of the young people in our society widely uses Instagram. And as our aim is to attract them, we use it. Our posts mainly demonstrate AEGEE spirit, that’s why our Instagram account is very important for us in PR.
GT: How often do you post pictures or videos?
Shams: We don’t have a special number, we try to keep up our account active.
GT: What kind of pictures or videos do you post?
Shams: We mainly post photos and videos from our projects and events, also showing our upcoming events. Moreover, our posts include our office work. And our all photos and videos are positive and energetic.
GT: What is the feedback that you get?
Shams: We know that our members are very satisfied, yet the part that makes us pretty glad is that non-members also like our posts and what we do.
GT: Any advice that you have for other antennae that want to use Instagram? For example what to tag or to get subscribers?
Shams: Just do it. You’ll see its benefits.
AEGEE-Moskva: “Every picture tells a story itself”
GT: Since when do you use Instagram?
Sergey Agaltsov, PR responsible: We created an Instagram profile two times. One was unsuccessful, we played with it for some time and left it alone. The new one, aegee_moskva_official is on air for a year and half now.
GT: Why do you use it? What is the role of Instagram in your antenna PR?
Sergey: We really started to like the power it has: every picture tells a story itself and serves as a spotlight of the antenna’s ongoing activities.
GT: How often do you post pictures or videos?
Sergey: Last year we took three to four pictures a week, but now we don’t post often. The idea for now is to make the account not just interesting to see in the feed, but a great photoalbum itself.
GT: What kind of pictures or videos do you post?
Sergey: Mostly we use it to tell about activities of AEGEE-Moskva, but we also post announcements of future activities and events. We also like to use its graphic potential to show and tell about some spectacular facts or traditions in Russia. Sometimes we promote something great, like our new calendar!
GT: What is the feedback that you get?
Sergey: The main feedback we get is the awareness about AEGEE-Moskva and its life. We have a nice and solid amount of likes and comments, but the main role of Instagram for us is to have a bright visual platform, where we can easily communicate with AEGEEans and people, who can become interested in AEGEE.
GT: Any advice that you have for other antennae that want to use Instagram? For example what to tag or to get subscribers?
Sergey: If your target audience is international, please use English for your comments and don’t be afraid to explain what is in the picture!
Check out the AEGEE antennae on Instagram
