Instagram allows people to take photos from their smart phone, apply a filter and share the photos. Now, what is interesting about Instagram is that it started as a very personal social network; it didn’t really have a business context — but now some of the major brands are using it. There are over 80 million users, and the user base increased by 40 percent over just a few months. Interbrand ranks the top 100 brands every year, and 40 percent of those top 100 brands have set up Instagram accounts. For example, Tiffany & Co. ran a competition where people were encouraged to take photos of romantic situations using Instagram, apply a Tiffany custom filter (which gave them a romantic, sepia look) and then post them with the hashtag around “TiffanyLove” or something like that. From a brand awareness perspective and a brand affinity perspective, Instagram became a very powerful tool for this cleverly thought out social media campaign.
Instagram became a very powerful tool for this cleverly thought out social media campaign.
Most small businesses don’t have the budget for that level of campaign execution, but small businesses can use it too. For instance, if you owned a swim school, you can post photos of the facilities, classes in action, and products that you sell. Instagram offers a great brand awareness opportunity.
