We’ll skip the gory details of life in the 1980s and skip straight to today’s underlying premise: I’m old.
Totally. For sure.
But as social media has evolved over the past decade or so, I’ve tried to evolve with it – while remaining true to my favorite platforms. But for all of the changes sweeping across the web, up until the past few weeks, one social network had failed to trip my trigger.
Instagram.
Didn’t like it, didn’t get it, understood the value for a brand and as part of a social media strategy, but otherwise, it was one big meh.
That was until early last month, when we revitalized Smirk’s dormant account and I began to check it regularly. The Smirk New Media team already had some diehard Instagrammers and we had been executing content on some interesting client accounts, but in February, it all clicked.
One of the biggest benefits I’ve seen is how Instagram really redefines how you see potential content as well as how you can frame content with a little more eye to artistry than some of the other platforms (especially now that Facebook seems to be going against the grain to de-emphasize photo content in order to prop up video reach on Pages). Plus, at the moment, they’re not playing games. When users log in, they will see the most recent content from ALL of the accounts they follow.
As a big fan of Twitter hashtags, I’m also interested in how Instagram has grown its Twitter culture. I’ve witnessed first-hand how clients (and my teenage son) have connected with subcultures and ardent fans just based on hashtag use. Though I’m still not crazy about wild hashtag abuse on Instagram – the record I’ve seen for one post is 27 – I think using it as a niche audience finder is great.
Knowing Instagram’s solid audience numbers amongst the young – Fieldhouse Media’s latest survey found 80+ percent of college athletes are using it daily – it’s fair to say there are strategic advantages to using it. Are there workflow issues with it? Lord have mercy, yes. But, for the most part, Facebook’s ownership has done its best not to muck up a good thing, and if that continues, I just may like it more.