Halifax's Dash Hudson adds new functionality to Instagram marketing platform

Halifax Instagram marketing platform Dash Hudson has added a feature called Boards to its offering, allowing users a granular analytics glimpse into their Instagram marketing efforts.
Using a comparison between two Instagram strategies implemented by Urban Outfitters, Dash Hudson demonstrates a slight uptake in engagement between original content (2.34% engagement) and re-purposed user generated content (2.76% engagement).
User generated content (UGC) is literally marketing tagged by non-marketers, aka. regular people, which is then recycled by brands with variable levels of effectiveness.
Urban Outfitters, for example, was an early adopter of user generated Instagram content, generating significant earned reach and engagement through recycled free material.
For brands, it’s a clean and testable method of sorting through hashtags, trying to spot trends.
Dash Hudson was founded in October 2014 by Thomas Rankin and Tomek Niewiarowski as a men’s style app, and has since morphed into a way for shops and brands to turn their Instagram accounts into shoppable online retail outlets.
“We’re focused on building an integrated platform that allows brands and talent to be successful on Instagram,” said CEO Thomas Ranking to ProfitGuide last year. “So we’re positioning ourselves as the experts in this space, and we’ve created a few interesting innovations that are proprietary.”
Dash Hudson now counts Gilt, Frank & Oak, Matchesfashion.com, Clover Canyon and Nicole Miller among its clients.
Dash Hudson raised $1 million in March 2015, from Innovacorp, an early stage venture capital fund focusing on Nova Scotia entrepreneurs.
In June 2014, Dash Hudson raised $400,000 through former Groupon CTO Paul Gauthier and DHX Media co-founder Charles Bishop.