Instagram... For Business?

General Information

According to Wikipedia “Instagram is an online mobile photo-sharing, video-sharing, and social networking service that enables its users to take pictures and videos, and share them either publicly or privately on the app, as well as through a variety of other social networking platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Flickr.”  Instagram describes itself as “a fast, beautiful and fun way to share your photos with friends and family.”

Instagram has always been a mobile platform, so it requires the user to download the iPhone or Android app to their device to register for an Instagram account. It does not work on a laptop or desktop computer.

The app’s features include the ability to "follow" other user’s activity or a specific hashtag that has been attached to a photo or video. Similar to Twitter, any user can follow another user without permission if the account’s settings are public. If the share setting is private then a follow request must be made, similar to a friend request on Facebook. The photos and videos the user you are following posts will show on your Home tab. The "Home" tab is similar to Facebook's newsfeed feature. It allows users to view the recent activity of accounts they follow. Users are able to "Like" and comment on the photos and videos other users post, the exact same way users can like and comment on photos from Facebook. The "Explore" feature enables users to search for other user accounts, find photos or videos, or hashtag activity. The most distinguishing feature of Instagram is the ability to apply a filter to photos or videos. The filter options allow users to enhance colors, dull the light, include a nostalgic glow, take color away to black and white only; and many other options which give the photos and videos a professionally developed and unique appearance.

                                                                                                Purpose

Instagram’s catch phrase is “Capture and Share the World’s Moments.” The obvious purpose is to enable fast sharing of photos and videos. Beyond the obvious, given the company catch phrase, I am not completely sure what the purpose of this platform is. It combines the features of Facebook and Twitter together. However, my best guess is the purpose of Instagram is to take the most appealing features of both Facebook and Twitter and create a new platform allows for a fast review of photos and videos but also limits the user’s ability to post controversial topics to make the platform one that focuses more on exchanging fun and positive content than other platforms.

Use in Business

Instagram stands apart from other social media platforms in how it maximizes the effect of visual images and search engine results. Instagram limits the text associated with photos and videos and allows the images themselves convey the message. “A picture is worth a thousand words”. Many social media platforms have the addition of text with the photo that can detract from the photo. I believe Instagram limits that distraction. The text is still there but is less emphasized in Instagram’s format. Therefore, this platform’s design limits the application of Instagram in business to a pure visual marketing role.

Marketing on Instagram is similar to marketing on Pinterest because the platforms both emphasize using an image to sell the product. Business are posting photos and videos with the goal of attracting potential customers to buy a company product or service. High numbers of followers leads to increased traffic and hopefully results in increased sales.

The demographic information of Instagram allows business users who’s target market falls within those demographics to be effectively market to them through Instagram. Instagram has over 300 million users, 22 percent of Instagram users are male, 29 percent female, 53 percent of user’s age range from 18 to 29, 31 percent have some college education, and 28% earning less than $30k annually but 26% earn more than $75k annually. The key for a business is to know the audience on Instagram and translate that knowledge into setting appropriate expectations as to Instagram’s effect and create the best strategy.  

Assessment

Instagram is limited to use only mobile devices and that reduces its effectiveness. However, the percentage of mobile users is growing rapidly at over 4% globally, so Instagram’s ability to reach consumers will presumably increase parallel to mobile device users. Unfortunately for Instagram, consumers will be regularly using desktops and laptops for the foreseeable future, which will limit consumer’s access and therefore use of Instagram and gives Pinterest, its main competitor, in my opinion, a significant advantage. Instagram is directly linked to Facebook and Twitter which allows user accounts to grow their follower base faster, which gives it an initial significant advantage over Pinterest. So, Instagram’s potential to gather followers exceeds that of Pinterest, in my opinion. Another advantage Instagram has over Pinterest is its total user population is larger. My favorite feature of this platform is the limited application of text accompanying the photos and videos. This allows consumers to make their own judgments with less influence by others. That feature combined with the ability to build a large follower pool creates the POTENTIAL for Instagram’s use for marketing to be effective and significant.

Overall, my assessment of Instagram’s use in business is similar to most other social media platforms I have assessed in prior blog posts. Its effectiveness cannot be quantifiably measured, to my knowledge, therefore firms should be cautious when expecting significant results. It can, presumably, be useful as part of a comprehensive marketing strategy using all forms of advertising including other social media platforms. Instagram’s use in today’s climate is necessary to reach consumers through the medium they want to be reached through and keep pace with competitors. 

My Experience

Many of you may have inferred through reading my opinions in discussion posts and other blog entries I am slightly technology resistant, skeptical of the correctness of popular opinion, and generally overly critical. I have also been described by friends and family as an old soul, born a couple generations before I should have been. Given that context, please do not laugh when I tell you, I do not own a smart phone or tablet. This made creating my own Instagram account impossible. But I wanted to experience what all the cool kids enjoyed about Instagram so I “borrowed” my girlfriend’s smart phone and temporarily claimed her Instagram account as my own. Overall, I understand how it can be appealing to users but I did not personally care for it. I already begrudgingly use Facebook, have a Twitter account for this class only, and thoroughly enjoy using Pinterest. Instagram merely combines parts of those platforms into a simpler one with fewer features. If I am forced to one day own a smart phone I will not create an Instagram account.

References
Wikipedia- Instagram
About Instagram

Global Media Research

Pew Research Center

Sprout Social

Getting Started with Instagram for Business