[JUDGING] Central Bank of Ireland
Section: Instagram Public Body
Organisation Name: Central Bank of Ireland
Instagram Questions
Name Of Brandclient
Central Bank of Ireland
Personpeople Who Leads This Account
Ronan Smith
Link To The Web Version Of Your Instagram Account
https://www.instagram.com/centralbankofireland/
Do You Use Alt Text In Your Images And Caption Your Videos
Alt text is applied to images used across all our digital channels. We provide captioned versions of all our videos, as well as transcripts on centralbank.ie. Some of our videos are text-led, and can be fully consumed without sound. We also produce many of our videos in both English and Irish to ensure our content is as inclusive as possible.
Outline Your Instastrategy - Why Is Instagram For You
Instagram is a key platform for Central Bank of Ireland to support our strategic goal of being “open and engaged” and to engage with the public, foster financial literacy, and demystify complex economic topics. Our strategy focuses on:
• Education & Awareness – Simplifying financial topics through digestible content, infographics, and explainer videos.
• Transparency & Trust – Sharing key policy updates, consumer protection updates, and economic insights in an understandable way.
• Visual Storytelling – Using dynamic formats (Reels, Stories, Carousels) to make complex regulatory and economic topics as engaging as possible.
• Employer Brand: To support the Central Bank’s talent acquisition strategy, especially for roles relevant to a younger audience (e.g. Graduate Recruitment), to help ensure we can attract talent in line with our recruitment targets, and to position the Central Bank as a progressive and inclusive employer through the promotion of our D&I activity and social responsibility activities.
We balance our messaging with a relatable tone, ensuring our content resonates with a younger audience and fits with how people communicate on Instagram. Video content (as well as rich information-based imagery) is a cornerstone of our content strategy, and our channel includes platform-exclusive content befitting the channel and audiences.
How Can You Measure Impact To The Bizorg
We measure the impact of our content on Instagram via:
• Engagement Metrics (likes, shares, comments etc.) to gauge content resonance.
• Follower Growth & Reach – Assessing audience expansion and content visibility (54.55% increase in Instagram followers in the 12 months up to end July 2026 – indicative of the success of our strategy).
• Click-throughs & Website Traffic – Monitoring Instagram-driven visits to campaign-landing pages.
• Sentiment Analysis/Trust – Evaluating public perception through comments/DM interaction and uplift in awareness and trust levels amongst those aged 18-35 from monthly tracking research.
• Campaign Performance – Measuring success of specific initiatives (e.g. Scams campaign, Consumer Protection Code).
We tailor our approaches based on what the data tells us and, over the past year, we have been increasingly experimenting with different concepts and formats, including collaborative posts with other organisations and user-generated content via our recently-launched EU Coin Challenge, which is allowing us to easily create a solid pipeline of content through the traditional summer lull.
What we measure on Instagram feeds into broader measurement of our social media activities and content strategy, which in turn feeds into how we measure the effectiveness of the Central Bank’s communications and our engagement with the public and other stakeholders.
Link To An Example Of A Great Update Include The Stats Business Accounts Have Metrics For This Update Tell Us The Purpose Of This Update
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DbSwnpaFCob/
On 27 July 2026, we launched an “EU Coin Challenge” to help raise awareness of the new €2 commemorative coin released to mark Ireland’s presidency of the EU. The challenge represents our first foray into user generated content whereby members of the public (as well as our staff) have to find the new coin in circulation, film it being revealed in a creative way, and send it to us for potential promotion on our feed (and a chance to win a proof set prize).
To launch the challenge, we created English and Irish campaign videos (with scripts produced in-house), and promoted these via organic and, in the case of the English video, paid (in-house) posts on Instagram.
While it’s possible to “buy awareness” on Instagram, engagement must be earned.
Our campaign video has reached 164,191 accounts (98% paid), garnered 44 comments (40 from ads) and received a staggering and unprecedented 4,631 Likes (98% from ads).
The post has also generated 11 hours+ of watch time, 163 “Saves” (153 from ads), which is a strong indicator of intent by people who plan to join the challenge once they find the coin – and we are seeing this come to pass already. Furthermore it garnered 228 “Shares” (203 from ads). The post has also directly attracted 259 new followers (249 from ads) to our Instagram channel, representing 4.4% growth from just one single post.
Link To A 2nd Example Of A Great Update Include The Stats Business Accounts Have Metrics For This Update Tell Us The Purpose Of This Update
https://www.instagram.com/reels/DWRQwbMknus/
On 24 March 2026, the new Consumer Protection Code came into effect. But how could we bring it to life in a way that is tangible and understandable for consumers?
We answered that question by developing a new series of videos that, rather than being fronted by our governor or senior leaders as would typically be the case, would be presented by young Central Bank staff – speaking in plain language (in English and Irish) – to explain how the Code can protect consumers in their day-to-day lives. These videos (28-50 seconds in length) were promoted on Instagram organically, with the English videos supported by boosted posts.
Our in-house team produced carefully constructed video scripts on topics that young people (and broader audiences) could relate to, such as insurance, scams and fraud, and short-term credit.
The first video provided a general overview of the Code and delivered very strong engagement, predominantly via paid promotion: 969,338 accounts reached on Instagram, 3,102,000+ impressions, 422 Likes (371 from ads), 4.5 hours of watch time, 28 Saves (27 from ads), 161 Shares (122 from ads), 12 comments (all from ads), and 230 new followers (all from ads).
This post was the springboard for the remainder of the videos, which combined reached 4.6 million accounts on Instagram, and garnered 1,292 Likes and 665 new followers.
Link To A 3rd Example Of A Great Update Include The Stats Business Accounts Have Metrics For This Update Tell Us The Purpose Of This Update
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DbDJMowKRLw/
As part of our strategic approach on Instagram, we have collaborated with a number of organisations throughout the year.
One shining example was our recent collaborative post with the ECB on an art exhibition launched in July to mark Ireland’s EU Presidency. The exhibition included art from the Central Bank’s offices, which needed to be packaged up and sent to the ECB’s offices in Frankfurt.
Our in-house team devised a video concept whereby we filmed the artwork being packaged and our ECB counterparts filmed the art being delivered, unwrapped and prepared for the exhibition. Our Governor and Christine Lagarde featured in the final video, with all post-production delivered by our team. The ECB then published the final video on their Instagram channel as a collaborative post.
The video performed very well, with organic promotion ensuring the post reached approximately 25,500 accounts. The post also garnered 342 Likes, 39 Shares, and 21 Saves, and served as a unique sneak peek of a very unique exhibition.