Key Success Factors

You may wonder why some companies make it and become a well-known success while others fail, and no one ever knows about them. This all has to do with key success factors. Key success factors essentially separate the good businesses from the bad and have to do with their products attributes, competitive capabilities, marketing achievements and other things that result in the greatest success within their industry. I am going to be identifying the key success factors for Instagram as well as for the industry that my food account/cake business is in.

Key Success Factors of Instagram:

1. Time Commitment/ Consistency

2. Quality Over Quantity

3. Aesthetic Overview/ Theme

4. Distinctive Identity

5. Community Connection

Time Commitment/ Consistency:

They say Rome wasn’t built overnight, and the same goes with your Instagram account. You aren’t going to wake up one morning with 10,000 followers, this takes time. In order to gain those loyal followers, you need to not only dedicate lots of time to developing your account, but you also need to be consistent with your posting schedule. Instagram has a certain algorithm that rewards those who post in a consistent manner, either daily or once every other day, by showing your content on more explore pages and therefore increasing the interactions that people have with your post. Having a post go out once a week or one a month will not keep this algorithm happy and is valuable publicity time that you are losing as a brand.

In terms of this key success factor, I would rate my food account a 9 out of 10. The reason why I would rate it so high is because I am very good a posting pretty much every day. This food account is something that I have been working on for a couple of years and my time commitment has definitely been paying off with large increases in followers. Something that I can focus on is creating enough content to keep up my posting schedule in the long run. I know that once I go back to school, I won’t be able to create content like I currently do, so making sure that I say consistent even without the ability to produce new content is key.

Quality Over Quantity:

Would you rather see 10 mediocre, not well taken pictures or 4 really great, high quality pictures? Which one would draw you to an account more? I know what my answer would be, and I probably know yours as well. Better quality pictures will result in more interactions and more people will follow your brand. Don’t just post to post. Take the time to create high quality content and it will draw more attention to your brand than just having lots of posts that are not as good. The business setting on Instagram also makes it really easy to track which of your pictures generates the most views, reach, engagement, followers, profile visits, and so much more.

For this key success factor, I would rate my account at a 7 out of 10. Recently have gotten a lot better at posting higher quality content, but I definitely have room to grow. From analyzing my posts, I found that the best pictures and posts that have videos always get higher interactions, likes, and comments. In order to consistently produce quality content, I need to take time to learn more about food photography and the aspects that make up a better composed shot. As I don’t work with professional photographers, this will help me create professional looking pictures on my own.

Aesthetic Overview/ Theme:

Posting quality content directly relates to having an aesthetic theme that ties all of your pictures together. The way that Instagram profiles are set up in a grid pattern makes having a cohesive overview very important. You can achieve this look in many ways, whether you want to focus on a light and bright feed, a colorful feed, or a topic focused feed. Taking the time to plan out your posts in advance allows you to have control of what your account looks like. There are many apps that allows you to do just that, where you can upload photos and rearrange them so that they convey the theme you are trying to achieve. An aesthetic theme will not only compel users to follow your account but will become the feed that they are most excited to look at.

Judging my account on its overall theme and aesthetic, I would rate it an 8 out of 10. I have been working really hard in trying to create a feed that is colorful, bright, and eye catching. In order to achieve this, I try to mix up the type of pictures that I post, balancing out the dark chocolate pictures with the colorful ones. I have also learned that posting pictures taken from different angles helps diversify your page and makes your feed look more unique.

Distinctive Identity:

There are so many Instagram accounts out there that focus on similar topics. So why do some have thousands of followers while others don’t? Simply put, those Instagram feeds have their

own identity. While they may be a fashion account, or a food account, or a sports account, each popular account has found a way to take a commonly used theme and make it their own. You can take the ideas that work for others but make it stand out as your own by finding a different perspective, utilizing unique styling, or adding a filter.

I would rate my food account as a 7 out of 10 for this key success factor. I really try to make my content unique, but it is not always easy to stand out from other food accounts. When creating content, I focus on the styling of the food as well as the overall look of what I am making. If I can bake something that looks super cool, then it helps create a distinctive identity for my account. I also think that my cakes help make my feed stand out from the countless other food accounts that exist. I definitely need to work on integrating more unique content, and I will continue to find new ways to give my account its own identity.

Community Connection:

Ever wonder why some Instagram accounts get lots of comments, interactions, and engagement? It’s because those accounts have a strong community. Instagram is another form of business, and just as important as networking is in real life, creating connections and “networking” on Instagram is another way for more people to gain awareness of your brand. The more you interact with your followers, through responding to comments, asking questions, and creating content that your followers want to see, the bigger and stronger your brand community will be, and more collaborations will become available. Instagram is a social media platform, so be social on it!

For this key success factor, I would rate my food account as an 8 out of 10. I actually just spent a lot of time focusing on my community interactions and started to implement more interactive aspects into my account. I realized that responding to comments and being present in the food blogger community really helped with the overall awareness of my account. People love to reciprocate likes and comments, and I found that the more posts that I commented on, the more those accounts would comment and interacted with my posts. I would still like to grow more of a community following, and plan to increase my interactions with my followers as well as others in the Instagram food community.

Key Success Factors of Cake Bakery Industry:

1. Quality

2. Market Research

3. Social Media

4. Website

5. Network

Quality:

I would argue that the most important aspect of a bakery is the quality of the food. If the food tastes bad, then no one will buy from that shop and it will go out of business. Creating a niche for your bakery, such as stunning cakes or unusual pastries, can help set you apart and build

a loyal customer base. Even the most elaborate cake will not impress anyone, if it does not taste good. It is important to take the time to build your skills and learn proper techniques to create tasty treats that will ensure repeat business and a loyal following.

I would rate my cake business at a 10 out of 10 for this key success factor, and I’m not just saying this under false pretenses or an inflated ego. I have worked extremely hard to provide the highest quality and best tasting cakes to my customers. I have never had someone say that my cake or baked goods have tasted bad and most of my customers come from recommendations of past clients. I take this success factor extremely seriously and will continue to provide the best tasting and looking treats.

Market Research:

Before making any steps to opening up a bakery, knowing your audience and market is super important. You need to know the what the demographics of your area are, who your target market is, what kind of baked goods they want, and how much they are willing to spend. This factor can essentially make or break your business, as misinterpreting your market and your potential customers can have detrimental effects on the outcome of your bakery. Finding a hole that your business can fill in that specific marketplace is a great key to success and will attract more customers.

For this specific key success factor, I would give my cake business a 9 out of 10. I have lived in this area my whole life and I know this marketplace very well. I know who the potential customers are, how much they are willing to spend, and what they are looking for. The market in which I operate is a predominately affluent area, so I know that I can charge higher prices, but I also know that they are looking for the most unique and incredible cakes. I also offer special cake for all types of dietary restrictions and allergies, which people in this are love. Moving forward, I would love to analyze the demographics of my customers more in depth so I can better promote my business.

Social Media:

Like for all businesses, having a great social media is a must for a bakery. All great businesses have a presence on social media and use the different platforms to promote their business.

Without the use of social media, a bakery would be substantially hindering their reach on potential customers as well as the promotion of their overall brand. Building a following on these platforms allows your customers to connect with you and keep up with what your bakery is doing and what products are being offered. It also is a great way to have more personal connections with people creating a strong community feeling.

In terms of this factor, I would give my cake business an 8 out of 10. I have built a solid following on my food Instagram that also serves as a page for my cake business, but as of right now, most of this page is about other types of food. I am working on incorporating more cake related posts onto this page and grow my following even more. I also want to expand my business onto even more platforms. I very recently made a Facebook page, so I am very excited to see where this takes me. I have plans to spend lots of time developing this page, making it a great way for past customers to leave reviews and comments. While I have already done many things to promote my businesses on social media, there are definitely many ways for it to grow and attract more potential customers.

Website:

Having a website pretty much legitimizes your bakery or business. If you search for a business and they don’t have a website, then they essentially don’t have a exist. Who trusts a company without a website? But a website does more than just legitimizes you as a business. Optimizing your website with searchable terms allows potential customers in your area to find you even if they are not specifically looking for your business. This is called Search Engine Optimization or SEO for short. Websites are also a great way to have a storefront online if your bakery offers national or international shipping of your products.

I would give the website for my cake business an 8 out of 10. When originally building my website, I spent lots of time not only making sure that it looks very professional, but that it also contains all of the essential information about my business. But I have found that optimizing my SEO is not easy and takes a while. This is definitely an area of improvement and is a big focus of mine moving forward.

Network:

Building a solid network is extremely important for any business, especially for a local bakery. Reviews are essential in keeping your business afloat and asking for referrals or introductions is one of the swiftest ways you can build a bakery business and become more successful. A business such as a bakery runs to keep those within the community happy and having a strong network of people to back you up makes you a staple in your area.

For this key success factor, I would give my cake business a 7 out of 10. My business is fairly new so not as many people know about my cake business as well as others in the area. But t

he people who have bought a cake from me have done a great job at spreading the word to others. While my network is small, everyone within it is very loyal to me and my business. For the future success of my bakery, I am finding ways to continue to spread the word of my business and hopefully the strong testimonials of others will be substantial enough to better my network.

Identifying the key success factors within your industry is essential if you want your business to succeed. They allow you to better analyze what you are currently doing and find ways to improve or change the areas that need help. I personally know that looking at the key success factors of these two industries has already taught me so much about my business and will definitely help me succeed in the long run.