April 21, 2011
This April Instagram, the photo sharing app, passed 3 million users. It reached this number after only six months. For a service that is only available on iPhone this is a staggering figure.
Instagram is a phenomenon. The rapid growth of the service means that it’s one of the hot topics in social media. To recap: Instagram is an iPhone app that enables users to take a photo, enhance it using 12 different possible effects and then share it on Instagram. It’s simple and easy to use interface makes it an attractive proposition to users.
However, what also makes Instagram such an appealing platform is that it is also extremely social. People can follow other users and comment on their photos, meaning you can build an entire network of friends around your Instagram photos. The app has also managed to add seamless social integration to sites like Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, FourSquare, and Tumblr.
There are also plans for further growth. Its founders, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, have set out a strategy that would see the app evolving from being ‘merely’ a photo platform for friends to share photos, into something larger and more powerful. Their vision is for the platform to be seen as “a storytelling service” which allows people to connect with news events in a rich way.
Instagram and brands
These features are obviously very appealing for brands. Indeed, Instagram is proving particularly popular among brands. Innovative brands are already using the app. For example, when Starbucks unveiled their new logo, they immediately shared it on Instagram to get feedback. Burberry has over 13,000 followers and promote Instagram hashtag campaigns like #TheArtOfTrench to help build brand engagement.
Red Bull has also been inventive in its Instagram presence, posting a ‘daily awesome’ image and naming the winner of its first #redbullwinter hashtag contest.
The introduction of hashtags has opened the service up to social media brand campaigns. It means that brands can organise content using a hashtag and push out content to fans creating powerful communities.
The fact that it also works across social networks means that brands can expand the portfolio of their social media offering. Kate Spade’s (Fashion label) Instagram presence features not just product shots but also pictures of New York and iTunes songs. These are regularly posted onto Tumblr and Twitter which can leads viralability.
The future of Instagram
Brands and users will be even more excited by news that the founders are looking into creating an Android app and website. However, their grander goal for the product goes beyond this with the service becoming something where people use it to see the world as it happens.
The founders have a clear vision for the service and how it can be developed, most notably how they will monetise the platform. They recently told TechCrunch: “We’re moving in a very clear direction that will allow us to make money in the future. In the history of advertising the most profitable avenues of advertising have been pushing images to people. As we see outside of the digital world those verticals are struggling in one way or another, money is moving online. We’re going to be one of the largest ways to push images to people, that entertainment platform I was talking to you about. That puts us in a really interesting spot in terms of making money on advertising in the future.”
It will be extremely interesting to see how this idea develops as more and more brands develop a presence on the app.
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