Instagram: Behind the Scenes Branding

January 2, 2015

By design, the social media go-to-source for sharing photos taken with mobile devices, Instagram, ensures an actual person must be behind the capturing and posting of a carefully crafted image. In a Business Insider piece, Taylor Lorenz quotes Instagram’s community guidelines, “We ask that you keep your interactions on Instagram meaningful and genuine.”

In fact, Instagram is so focused on not allowing automated robot programs to churn out content for publicity’s sake that the social media platform in mid December deleted millions of “spam” (fake) accounts—ones whose posts and comments included overly promotional material and URLs. This controversial action depleted the list of followers tied to many international businesses and celebrities.

Clean out the junk and keep it real!
Even with this fine-tuned focus on requiring real, engaged users, Instagram also announced in mid December that the service has more than 300 million monthly active users, with 55 million photos shared per day—accounting for a 50 percent growth in the past nine months. This leap makes Instagram larger than Twitter.

Marketing industry insiders speculate that this large growth is due to what Instagram offers that Twitter lacks. Twitter’s focus seems to be more of an immediate bombardment of news and tweeters sounding off the moment a topic is trending. Despite its name, Instagram seems to actually promote users taking their time to set up a visual representation and even adjusting colors and applying filters to capture the mood behind the image. “With Instagram, however, I feel refreshed, like I’ve just visited a miniature art gallery staffed by friends and talented strangers,” Chris Taylor writes in his analysis, Instagram’s nice factor is key to its victory over Twitter.

Focusing on the business model
In April 2012, Facebook purchased Instagram for $1 billion. According to a Bloomberg piece, Citigroup Inc. estimates Instagram’s current worth at $35 billion. This revelation, along with the first placements of sponsored ads in the social network’s feed, shows Instagram is about business.

The consumer presence is likely to increase, as even the largest of brands are using Instagram to connect with the public and show a personal side. To help our Mopdog clients become an instant success, here are 10 tips on running your company’s Instagram account.

The most important key is to provide a hyperlink on your nonprofit or commercial Instagram profile to your organization’s website.
The second most important key is to loosen up, have some fun and show personal moments that represent your brand.
An Instagram post is not a Twitter tease or a Facebook announcement. Steer clear of images that look like advertisements and captions that contain discount information or hyperlinks to product pages.
Don’t be boring; be creative. Remember a picture says a thousand words. Take the time to search for an interesting perspective or include a bit of humor. The emotion from the snapshot should last longer than 140 characters of text.
Show off your products and services! Your company needs to showcase new offerings or packages that solve problems. But, find a way to capture real life examples of people using your tools!
Talk about your company. Take your followers on the trade show floor or to a special event to build interest in what your business stands for and the value of your work.
Go behind the scenes. Show the R&D behind your service lines or the ingredients that create a product. Also highlight the employees at your office or facility, like special occasions or meetings. (Our Instagram account includes snapshots from our final employee lunch of 2014, Ham-E-Lujah It’s Friday, pranking the Top Dog on National Boss Day, corporate gifts being packaged for a Mopdog-organized event and a video shoot for a client’s rock star-themed trade show presentation.)
As with all other social media platforms, interact with followers by loving and commenting on their posts. Gain followers by adding the feeds of strategic partners, community groups and even employees. (At Mopdog, we follow Adobe and Pantone, which are great examples of colorful engagement that is specific to the Instagram audience.)
Keep your written message short, but add several hashtags in your captions to become part of a great conversation. Search for a term on http://hashtagify.me/ to see its popularity and related, existing hashtags.
Promote your presence on Instagram in corporate newsletters, business cards, event signage and printed sales collateral. And connect your Facebook and Instagram accounts to let existing followers know your company joined and automatically share your snap shots to both profiles.