Instagram MANSHIP4002

“When brands first started having a social presence, content on social channels was usually just content taken from

traditional media and reformatted to fit social. Now, many brands have embraced real-life imagery.”

How Brands Are Using Instagram for Social MarketingBy Jessica Cassin

Many brands have jumped on to Instagram to share content and to show off their products in a new and different way.

◦ “a different, more personal side of their brand.”

◦ “Instagram allows brands to enhance their overall image and sentiment with product offerings and promoting core values visually.” - Jessica Cassin

Promoting Core Values on Instagram

Charity: Water has asked users to raise awareness by tagging images of water with the hashtag #charitywater

James Beard Foundation Inspires Diners to Snap Food for Charity

"Food photography is so hot right now and on Instagram people share their experiences through images in a way that’s really compelling," says Kris Moon, Director of Charitable Giving and Strategic Partnerships at JBF. "Diners can now say, ‘Look at this amazing dish!’“

As part of the Taste America national traveling food festival, JBF enlisted 162 restaurants in 10 cities to feature a limited-time dish celebrating their city’s local flavors. Participating chefs used Instagram video to announce the promotion: For every local dish ordered, the restaurants would donate $1 to the JBF’s educational programs.

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Top tips for Instagram … from Instagram

Be true to your brand: Ensure that your imagery expresses a clearly defined personality and voice. Photos from eyeglass retailer @warbyparker never feel overly staged or serious, but instead draw from trends in the Instagram community to reflect the company’s quirky creativity.

Share unique experiences: Think GoPro

Find beauty everywhere: Show how your company sees the world and make it meaningful to people. @generalelectric showcases the beauty of their technology … capturing the machines with elegant symmetry and imparting the grand scale of these man-made wonders.

Inspire action: Start a movement around your brand, whether that means inspiring people to capture photos while running like the #runfree campaign from @nikerunning, or to celebrate a delicious yogurt concoction, as @chobani has done with their #creationaday hashtag.

Know your audience: Learn what people love about your brand, and explore how can you capture the imagination of new customers. @missionbicycle takes the beautiful simplicity that customers love about its bicycles and uses imagery on Instagram to turn these everyday objects into works of art.

Instagram in the Museum

“Instagrammers work to construct their own narratives from their visits” to museums, etc.

People are increasingly bringing their mobile phones with them everywhere – their mobile applications influence and mediate their experiences in the real world.

Museum goers are not only documenting their visits on Instagram, but are sharing those experiences on social media.

Museums, as well as other organizations, are being called upon to be more responsive, democratic, and reflective, to “reach outside their own buildings to connect with broader segments of the public.”

social photography Platforms such as Twitter and Instagram facilitate social interaction through multimedia.

Instagram = smartphone + cameras + constant access to social media

Smartphone camera use: “to capture the more fleeting and unexpected moments of surprise, beauty and adoration in the everyday”

Tagging: done for both oneself, to organize photos for later, and for others, to communicate about and add context to photos

Why do we engage in social photography? ◦ Reminiscing: looking at photos we have shared, to remember an event together◦ Storytelling: telling the story behind the picture to others who weren’t thereTelling stories WITH images…

The use of filters… Creating a mood

A form of aesthetic expression

A departure from un-manipulated photos of photo-journalism … instead instagrammers use their photos for self-expression and storytelling

It’s like you try to get some kind of feeling into the picture […] try to deliver an idea about the subject […] add a different shimmer to it. Make it better or more funny or interesting.

Choice of subjects… Instagrammers often take pictures of subjects that embody or otherwise symbolize a location or event…

Things that are… “peculiar. Or interesting. Or imagination stimulating.”

Captions… Jokes

Word games

Funny

References to popular culture: “Lions are frequently captioned with Simba or Mufasa from the movie […]”

Location and name of the museum

Storytelling…

Add an extra dimension to the interpretation of the photo

”ran through the ocean department. the ocean makes me panic. feel much more safe by the hipster owls.” ”my pulse is? sweeping through the whole museum due to terror that something might move if I stay too long”

Social Media interactions affect our here and now experiences… Instagram is social & dynamic.

It’s Alive “The fact that Instagrams are mostly shared live, during the event that the photos are taken, makes it possible for the community to provide synchronous commentary.”

Conversations around Instagrams can continue in real time on Twitter, Facebook.

How does this affect how we use Instagram as individuals? As brands?

“Museums have so much potential to increase attendance through

social media with little effort or cost on their side. Museums could

create a hashtag unique to them and post signs encouraging visitors to

use it on the photos they post. Those visitors’ followers will see the

beautiful, interesting photo of pieces of history and click the hashtag

to see what else the museum offers. This would raise curiosity and

intrigue new people into visiting the museum themselves.”

- Madelyn Duhon

How Your Class Members Use Instagram

“In my opinion to get the perfect photo it needs to be at an angle that highlights the subject with a subtle filter that deepens a particular aesthetic. When I am posting a fun photo of my friends & I the caption is the most important aspect to me.”

Note: Instagram has yet to receive significant attention from the research community.

What questions do you think we could address with research on Instagram? What questions would you like to see answered?

What are YOUR best Instagram tips?