my scoop on goop

     Happy New Year! It’s been quite some time since my last post, so it feels great to write something new. As you can see from my previous posts, I love to choose one brand and focus on what it’s doing in the digital world. For today’s post, I chose goop.

     I first discovered goop on the J.Crew website over a year ago when J.Crew sponsored it. Gwyneth Paltrow founded this “digital media and e-commerce company” back in 2008. I instantly subscribed to the weekly issue – who doesn’t love Gwyneth? goop delivers creative lifestyle content and features exquisite – yet very expensive – apparel, accessories, home décor, recipes and more. I always look forward to a goop email each Thursday.

Cheese Puffs. I made some myself, and they were too good to eat just one.
Click here for the recipe.

     goop is present on all major social media platforms, but I’m only writing about the brand on Instagram. goop is fairly new to this platform (it joined late November 2013), and so far has created interesting work. The following is what it should change or add to this platform to make it even better:

1) Cut back on the captions. This does not apply to every photo, but to some photos of food. The recipe should not be in the caption. Instagram is a place of little words, so having caption too long reduces the chance followers will actually read the caption.
     Instead, a caption should be short and sweet including a link or reference to where more information can be found. This way the audience is not overwhelmed with text, and it leads the followers to goop’s website or other platforms.

2) Be more hashtag trendy. Many photos on Instagram include #goopsee (in addition to 1 photo with #goopgo), which follows the theme on goop’s website. “goop see” is not the only category on its main website though; other categories are: make, go, get, do, and be – each of these should have its own hashtag.
     To be more engaging on Instagram, goop should promote followers to post their own photos using a hashtag. goop could learn more about the lifestyle of its audience as well as increase its strength (likelihood of being talked about online) in digital media. A trend is used to see what other people are saying. No hashtag is helpful without other people using it along with a brand. For example, goop shares recipes. Followers should be encouraged to follow a goop recipe and then Instagram a photo of the final product using a hashtag, such as #goopmake. This would create more activity and engagement between the brand and its audience.
     goop’s website content in each of the categories is so unique and appealing. goop’s Instagram photos should be a goop-glimpse of what the website’s categories feature. This keeps the Instagram platform interesting and leads the followers to the main website.

3) Oops – Don’t forget to add the Instagram link and icon on goop.com! A brand should have links to ALL social media presence on the main website. In goop’s case, if there was a link to its Instagram account on the main website, it could have more followers and higher engagement.

     Again, goop is new to Instagram, so the company is still learning. I am excited to see its future posts and will still eagerly wait every week for Gwyneth’s goop issue (with hope that I may be able to one day afford her timeless style).

Check out goop here, and subscribe for weekly issues – you'll love it.
Follow @goop on Instagram here.

Wishing everyone joy in 2014.
Lynley