Instagram For Brands

ROOM 214 POV | INSTAGRAM FOR BRANDS

RECOMMENDATION
Most marketers have taken command of their Facebook and Twitter presence over the past few years, paving the
way for big budget campaigns and a plethora of tools and resources, but social media is moving at a fast pace. As
“experts” in the field, we must be careful not to focus so much time and energy into the current leading networks, that
we miss the next big thing.

Sure, a lot of us are still fighting for budgets and we need the bang for our buck. It’s understandable that any
community manager would choose to only expend efforts within popular and highly engaged communities, but when
you look at the numbers, Instagram fits that exact description:

• Strong Growth: In just over a year, Instagram has reached more than 15 million users (roughly as many as
Foursquare, but with double the growth rate). The community continues to grow at an incredible rate of 2
million new users per month.
• Remarkable Opportunity: Instagram achieved their current popularity with an application that is only
available in the iOS market. As they expand into the Android market in 2012, expect to see their user
numbers get a huge boost.
• High Engagement: Over 200 million photos have been uploaded to Instagram and users post over 1.3
million photos every day (roughly 15 per second).

The truth is, a lot of brands have already begun to adopt Instagram and use it to their advantage. If you were to start
your account today you wouldn’t be the earliest of the early, but you would be in on the ground level of an active
community with huge growth potential. Bottom line, the bus is waiting for you to board.

BEFORE WE BEGIN
So now you’re all jazzed up about Instagram! Let’s do this! Wait… does your community manager have an iPhone?
Unfortunately, the only way to post content to your Instagram at this time is to use the iPhone application. Other
options include waiting until the Android app is released or eff-it, I’ll just buy the stupid iPhone.

FEATURE OVERVIEW
Instagram’s features are easy enough to understand, but from a brand perspective you should keep a few things in
mind as you begin to build your community: be interesting, be consistent, post often, and actively engage with
your fans. Just as with any other community, Instagram will require time and effort to get off the ground. However,
once you understand the basics of being an Instagramer you can brainstorm more advanced contests, campaigns,
and promotions specific to the platform.

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Posting Content

Choose a photo: The first step to posting a photo is to either snap a new photo with your iPhone’s camera or select a
previously existing photo from your library (tip: the photo library makes it possible to email yourself high quality
images from other sources for use in Instagram).

Edit, filter, frame: Instagram supplies 17 high quality filters that can instantly give your photo an edgy/vintage look.
You can also use the blur tool to draw focus to a specific point in your photo. Some filters come with an optional photo
frame for an added touch. Play around with the settings until you have a great-looking image to post.

Enter Description and Publish: Enter a quick description of your photo before you send it live. Remember, you can
use a hashtag to categorize or use @mentions to interact with other members within your photo descriptions.
Instagram automatically publishes to Twitter, Facebook, eMail, Flickr, Tumblr, Foursquare and Posterous, so sync
your accounts to give your photos maximum exposure.



Interaction

Interact and Respond: Instagram adopts many of its user functions from Twitter and Facebook. When browsing your
home feed, you can like and comment on photos to interact with your friends. Also, within photo descriptions and
comment streams you can use hashtags and @mentions to interact with other users.

Use the feed: Your photo feed is a stream of posts coming from the friends you follow. Consider it an opportunity to
get some one-on-one with your customers. You should get very friendly with the like button, and go out of your way to
comment on a great photo from one of your fans.

PRO TIPS:
• A hashtag will enable viewers to search a feed of posts with the same hashtag.
• An @mention will notify another user that you have mentioned him/her in a comment.
• The “…” located to the bottom right of photos in your stream will allow you to copy URLs, delete a post, or flag
inappropriate photos.
• Choose filters that brighten up your pictures to receive more comments, likes, and tweets. Research has
shown that bright pictures gain more interactions.

THIRD PARTY APPS
There are a plethora of third-party applications that take the photo-sharing experience outside of Instagram.
• Instaprint: An on-location photobooth service, which instantly prints photos as they are posted to your profile
(See Nike's Make it Count campaign).
• Postagram: For 99 cents you can send a postcard of one of your Instagram photos to anywhere in the world.
• Ink361: A web-based Instagram viewer that allows you to view, search, like, and comment on photos.
• Gramfeed: Another web-based Instagram management tool.
• Statigram: Analyzes your account usage, likes, and comments to deliver personalized stats and infographics
about your photos.



SUCCESSFUL INITIATIVES

Brisk Photo Contest: Brisk Iced Tea teamed up with Instagram last year to have users help create a limited edition
can during South By Southwest. Anyone who tagged a photo with “#briskpic” was eligible to appear on a limited
edition can. The effort saw good traction although Instagram had only a few million users early in 2011.

The Vaccines Music Video: An indie band called The Vaccines leveraged their fans’ Instagram photos to create a
music video for their song “Wetsuit.” Fans delivered over 3,000 photos using the #vaccinesvideo hashtag, while tech
and music blogs wrote countless posts about the creativity and ingenuity behind the video.

INSTAGRAM RESOURCES
• Instagramers.com: A blog dedicated to Instagram news and updates
• Briskpic.com: Landing page for the Brisk + Instagram SXSW promotion
• Instagram Helps the Vaccines Put Fans in Music Video – Mashable
• Instagram Becomes the Largest Mobile Social Network – Social Fresh
• The Latest Crazy Instagram Stats – TechCrunch
• 23 Brands Using Instagram and What They’re Doing Right – Social Fresh



WHAT WE LIKE
• With an expected expansion into the Android market, this community will continue it’s incredible growth.
• It’s a very creative and visual way to tell the story behind your brand.
• It easily functions with existing social sites to deliver your photos everywhere.
• It can be a simple platform for photo contests.
• There is proven success from early adopters.

WHAT WE DON’T LIKE
• Posting content is limited to the iPhone app only (plans to launch Android app in 2012).
• Most user following is automated through Facebook and Twitter, which creates a need for a high level of
integration with current social and digital efforts to build a strong following.

FINAL THOUGHTS
As consumers begin to engage on new social networks, the brands that are the quickest to adopt new platforms will
win out over the latecomers. The point of social media marketing is to engage your consumers in an environment
where they are active. As communities like Instagram come around, the most innovative brands will find ways to
connect with customers on platforms that are outside of the norm (i.e. Facebook and Twitter). Don’t be afraid to
experiment with a new community. It will show your audience that you really do pay attention.

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Instagram For Brands

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