Why an increasing number of brands are utilising Instagram
Posted: Tuesday 17 May, 2011
George Guildford
With the photo-sharing trend continuing to grow among smartphone users, an increasing number of brands are starting to take note and explore the ways in which they can make the most of what is surely set to be a trend that will continue to get bigger and bigger this year. One photo-sharing application in particular that is continuing to grow in popularity is the fantastic Instagram app. With more than 4 million users, Instagram has certainly raised more than a few eyebrows since it launched last year. A lot like an image-based version of Twitter, Instagram enables users to follow, comment, share, like, include #hastags, and edit and upload their own photos to the Instagram feed. Additionally, the app is fully integrated with other social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Foursquare, allowing users to share their photos with friends and followers quickly and easily.
For brands in consumer markets Instagram presents a particularly interesting opportunity to not only share their own visual content to fans, but also to utilise the app as an interactive and engaging part of upcoming promotions and campaigns that focus upon User Generated Content. By encouraging users to capture images of brand-related images and categorise these with pre-definted hastags, brands are not only able to tap into the photo-sharing buzz but are also able to become a part of it, shaping the user experience much in the same way that we have seen with Twitter and Facebook. A fantastic example of a brand integrating photo-sharing as the focus of their campaign is the #redbullwinter hashtag competition launched recently by Red Bull. As well as uploading their own photos and commenting on photos of interest, Red Bull also invited fans to upload their own Instagram photos of cultural and sports areas, using the #redbullwinter hashtag to label their photos. Red Bull then highlighted the best photos each week on their Facebook page, picking a winner in each image category as the campaign progressed.
Another great example is with U.S. group Deftones who recently set up a promotion challenging their fans to upload photos from Deftones shows they've attended. Fans simply tag their photos with #deftones hashtag as well as the city where they attended the show (e.g. #London), with the best photo each day chosen and featured as "Fan Instagram of the Day" on the group's Facebook page. Additionally, the group also offered a grand prize to the overall winner, with one lucky fan receiving a guitar signed by the band.
Interestingly, one of the first media organisations to use Instagram as a tool for posting news content was U.S company National Public Radio (NPR), an organisation that has continued to utilise social media platforms such as Instagram to connect with fans in new and different ways. NPR's Andy Carvin recently commented on the thought process behind this, saying: "Our main focus has always been to go to the places where we believe existing and potential NPR fans are hanging out and give them an outlet to interact with us and our content... We are always keeping tabs on up-and-coming communities that attract smart, curious people who have an interest in news, music and the arts."
It will always be the case that where more and more crowds gather in the social media space, brands will surely follow. There is no better example of this than the incredible uptake of Twitter and Facebook by brands over the last few years and Instagram is no exception. In many ways, we are still at the beginning of the photo-sharing phenomenon, however, as the number of Instagram users continues to grow at such a rapid rate it surely can't be long before, much like Facebook and Twitter, our Instagram feeds soon become filled as much with content from brands as they are with content from friends and followers.
