The popularity of Instagram is rising so rapidly that a lot of the stats that are out there on the internet are very quickly becoming outdated. But it’s always been the same with this very unique player on the social media stage – so let’s take a quick look at the history of Instagram’s growth.
A Potted History Of The Growth Of Instagram
At just 3 months old, the Instagram community had grown to 1 million by December 2010, and, less than a year after its launch, the photo-sharing app saw its 150 millionth photo upload in August 2011.
By the time September came around in the same year, Instagram had grown to 10 million worldwide users, prompting Apple to name it the ‘iPhone App of the Year’. By July 2012, Instagram had 80 million users; in February 2013 it had 100 million; September 2013, 150 million. Today, that figure has doubled, and here are the full stats, straight from the horse’s mouth, Instagram.com:
If you ever wanted to see some stats that speak for themselves, then here they are.
300 million users are sharing 70 million photos every single day, generating 2.5 billion daily likes. That is exemple of an extremely active and engaged community. And, what is more, users of the app are even more likely to be liking other people’s posts than they are creating posts themselves.
And this is not surprising. I’ve said it before on this blog, but it’s worth repeating – social media has become visual. And, as such, the likes of Instagram and Vine have taken off and are continuing to skyrocket away.
Indeed, if we think about the last 4 significant social media launches – first Pinterest, then Instagram, then Vine, and then finally Periscope – the one thing that they all have in common is that they are visually based platforms. Plenty of new networks continue to emerge, all claiming that they are going to be the next Facebook – I’m sure I don’t really need to be the one to tell you that they aren’t.
The problem is that we’ve already got a Facebook that works perfectly well, thank you very much, and the new contenders have, frankly, misaimed their focus.
With Pinterest, Instagram, Vine, Periscope, and even Snapchat for that matter, what we’ve seen time and time again is that in order to make a successful social network these days, you need to be focussed on the visual.
Defining Your Instagram Marketing Message
But, let’s not get hung up any further on which new social networks might or might not come out, and whether or not they’ll fail. We’ve got enough here already that are working and succeeding, and Instagram is one of the most popular of the lot.
So, how do you stand out on Instagram when there are more than 70 million new photos being shared every single day?
This is the pertinent question, which I am now going to give 3 strategically oriented tips in order to offer up an answer. Here goes…
#1. Determine Your Target Market
Ok, so we’ve established that Instagram is an incredibly popular platform – but amongst whom? Well, you might have already known, or otherwise surmised, that Instagram is in fact most popular amongst the younger generations.
According to E-consultancy, the figures break down like this:
- In Q2 2014, 20% of internet users aged 16-64 had an Instagram account. This is up from 15% in Q2 2013.
- The app is more popular among younger people, with usage at 41% among those aged 16-24 and at 35% among 24-34s.
- 51% of users are male while, you guessed it, 49% are female.
This needs to be taken into consideration first and foremost when thinking about how you are going to define yourself on Instagram.
Ask yourself – which members of your audience are active on and engaged with Instagram? If you’re targeting a product at the younger generation, then you’re onto a winner with Instagram. But, if only a portion of your customer base is likely to be present on the platform, then you’re going to need to tread a little more cautiously.
Either way, you must remember one very important thing – Instagram, more than any other social network, is decidedly hip. Yes, Instagram is where the cool kids hang out. Ok, it’s a photo-sharing network, but it’s a very particular sort of photograph that you can expect to find on Instagram, and also of a very particular quality.
The platform isn’t really meant for family photographs and pictures of youngsters with their mates getting drunk at the weekend. Although there certainly are plenty of users who choose to post these sorts of images, they are generally frowned upon by the core Instagram community, and such people really should go back to Facebook to post such things.
No, Instagram, is all about the quality, the skill, the art and the wit of the photographic image, and you need to become au fait with this before you move onto the next step, which is…
#2. Develop A Content Strategy
You will get the most out of Instagram if you find fun and quirky ways of photographing your product being used in ways that are outside of its main function.
Take Oreo, for instance. In fact, I wrote about this in last week’s blog, but I make no bones about repeating myself here – and I may as well do it verbatim:
“Oreo is one brand that have got this completely nailed with their #playwithoreo hashtag. This is where the brand encourages their fans to come up with all sorts of weird and wonderful ways to use the Oreo cookies – usually by making artwork, fun recipes, or even by inventing games that can played using the cookies as rollers or counters or what have you.”
My point in last week’s post – as it is in this week’s – is that if you can come up with a content strategy that will empower your fan base to contribute to as well, then you’re onto an absolute winner.
Instagram, as I said, is a hip platform. And that means that Instagrammers are also hip, which is to say that they like to think of themselves as being cool, clever, and creative. So, give them an opportunity to shine, and get them creating their own content of your products in use.
#3. Develop A Signature Photo Style
Instagram, of course, is more than just a plain old camera app – it’s also a pretty nifty photo editing tool. With a range of cool filters and various wizardly editing functions, any old muppet with an iPhone can turn themselves into the next Rankin or Duane Michaels in next to no time.
Indeed, the simple-to-use editing tools on Instagram completely democratises the art of photography, and it’s not an exaggeration to say that practically anyone can make even the most banal of images look edgy and cool using Instagram.
But, in order to define yourself on the platform, you need to develop a style and stick to it. Now, this might be that you always use the same filter – low-fi, amaro, ludwig, etc. – when it comes to uploading your image. Or it might be that you decide that you’re going to go for the black and white shadowy look with your images, or that you’re going to make your mark with focus, tilt, or framing. Whatever it is, you have the chance to define yourself on Instagram, and whatever you choose will say a lot about your brand.
And perhaps the worst thing that you could do is to not be persistent in your style. You want your fans to be able to recognise one of your photos immediately, before they even see your logo attached to it.
And please note, this shouldn’t detract from your efforts to garner a stream of consumer created content. For your user created content, you need to create a hashtag, but for the stylish stuff, your hashtag should be your brand name, and possibly your tagline, and from there just try to ensure that you are publishing quality images again and again and again.
How does your brand define itself on Instagram? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Defining Your Instagram Marketing Message is a post from: GetResponse Blog - Email Marketing Tips
The post Defining Your Instagram Marketing Message appeared first on GetResponse Blog - Email Marketing Tips.
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