As Instagram surpasses Twitter for monthly active users, We can explore how brands should/could use the platform to tell their story visually in 2015.

Instagram has attracted a huge global audience, with the number of ‘selfies’ and photos being taken, there are now 300m users documenting their lives, one photo at a time.

1. No matter what your product is, Instagram can make it look like the best product ever.

Because Instagram is a picture upload site, theres no need to describe the product, just pictures relating to it. As long as whatever your posting on Instagram is entertaining, valuable to the customer and relevant, then you’ve got a successful marketing strategy. For example, Sharpie, a permanent market company currently have 110 THOUSAND followers on the site, yet they sell pens? This picture is the reason why….

Hand drawn pictures from sharpie users are on display to make a vibrant and capturing page.

2. Trying to reach a larger Audience? Is over 300 Million enough?

With over 300 million people using Instagram on a daily basis it would be criminal to not be using this platform as a digital marketing scheme. Companies such as fashion giants ASOS and Burberry are both racking up a whopping 2.6 million followers. While these are well known companies and already asserted their authority in the fashion industry, they can still use Instagram as a way of showing their new fashion line or their new campaigns that they are so well known for. Burberry also use Instagram in a more personal way mixes in merchandise pictures, as well as behind-the-scenes pictures from photoshoots and commercial filming.

3. The Customers generally do all the work for you…

Instagram can be the perfect way to use other peoples pictures as your own! As mentioned above, Sharpe have capitalised on this and use their customers drawings to decorate their page and show off how good their products are. Another good company who exploit this is Starbucks. By using the Hashtag ‘Regram’ they are allowing their customers to send in their own pictures to put up on their Instagram, as pictured below…

The Future is bright…. But is the future is Instagram?

Applications on phones are becoming increasingly used and loved, which got me thinking, is there an app in which “EVERYONE” loves? With currently 2.9 million available apps on both the apple store and google store (Statista, 2015), odds would suggest that there would be an app which is ‘perfect’ for everyone and anyone. The more that people use apps, the more feedback companies would receive to further better their apps. While not every app is suitable for everyone, Metcalfe Law (Metcalfe, B 1980) states that the value is proportional to the square of the number of users. Which in app terms suggests that the more people who use the app, the more recognised the app.

While i agree  with many of my friends about the enjoyment of apps that they rant and rave about, there will always be an app that will suit them, but not myself. This got me researching what sort of things companies would need to introduce/include into their branding of an app which could possibly suit everyone.

So here are 3 suggestions to all of you who are thinking about making an app:

Do something different: Yes, you’ve probably heard this before, but it is probably the best way in which would entice people to download your app. If they can do something that they’ve never done before on their snazzy new smartphone, they will want to see it. This is representative of apps such as one of the very first apps, Carlsbergs ‘iPint’. The concept was simple. Fill up your viral pint, then drink your virtual pint by tipping the glass towards you. It was fun because no one has seen the iphone do that before. It was a great bit of brand engagement, because the only reason you would download the app was to show off to your mates.

Make it useful: While this might sound simple, it is extremely effective. What people want the most is to use their smartphone as much as possible. Creating an app which can help them in everyday life will let these users live this dream and utilise their smartphones even more. This can be related to the AA app which has been heavily downloaded, it gives all traffic information on the road, fuel prices nearby and parking information. While this is not suited to everyone, this gives a small idea on what a good branded app can be like.

Well Targeted: Finally, developing the perfect branded app means not just meeting the brand and campaign objectives, but also being where your users are, which is not necessarily on an iPhone. One great advantage of mobile is that one can target specific demographics through the mobile handset itself  something that could not be done through other digital channels. A typical iPhone user represents one of those groups.

These suggestions wont create the perfect app, but it will make you 1 step closer to creating the app that could be branded to everyones tastes.

References:

Statista. (2013). Statistics and Facts about Apps. Available: http://www.statista.com/topics/1729/app-stores/. Last accessed 9th Feb 2015.

endler, J. Golbeck, J. (2011). Metcalfe’s Law, Web 2.0, and the Semantic Web. Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute. (1), 3.