A Portrait of Modern Media … · users great image-based storytelling capabilities like no other...
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A Portrait of Modern Media Insights into the social site du jour JOAN MANCUSO & KAREN STUTH -45 jm a n c u s o @ 5squaregroup.com -4j [email protected] I n 2012, whenFacebookbought mobile photo-sharing app Instagram for close to a billion dollars, it seemed like a social media marriage made in Wall Street heaven. However, nearly two years after the deal, Facebook still hasn’t realized the benefit of its acquisition, and in fact, it might actually be harmed by it. After the acquisition, Instagram, considered by many at the time to be a budding competitor to Facebook, remained an independently branded, standalone app that’s separate from Facebook. Two years later, it appears to industry experts that Instagram is indeed becoming a Facebook competitor. According to the Pew Research Center, 53% of Internet users age 18 to 29 use Instagram, and 49% of Instagram users use the site daily. “U.K. teens aged 16 to 18 embarrassed to be associated with Facebook are moving to ‘more hip’ social media sites, including, you guessed it, Instagram,” writes Jamal Carnette on the finance and investment site The Motley Fool. “This puts Facebook in a tough situation. Right now, they derive no direct benefit from Instagram’s existence and are actually harmed by cannibalization as it grows. These are the hallmarks of a competitor, not a business unit.” If this attitude is more widespread than just among older teens, then the attrition of Facebook users in favor of Instagram would not bode well for Facebook and, in fact, presents a quandary for its marketers. Further, it would mean that the acquisition, which was likely meant to build Facebook’s own customer base through the addition of the media capabilities of Instagram, is, in fact, presenting the threat of user attrition. But not all Instagram users are teenagers, although its demographic definitely skews younger. Business Insider reports that more than 90% of the 150 million people on Instagram are under the age of 35, which makes it an attractive platform for many apparel, entertainment and media brands focused on the 18- to 34-year-old age bracket. Also according to Business Insider, Instagram is telling advertisers that early photo ads have generated great results, and that one client, ice cream brand Ben & Jerry’s, reached 9.8 million people in the U.S. age 18 to 35 in eight days. But Instagram’s subscribers are not necessarily Fortune 100 brands. Small businesses find a welcome home at Instagram, unhampered by the current and ever- evolving policies at Facebook that are running small businesses into the ground through highly restricted access to their own fan base. In short, Instagram offers its users great image-based storytelling capabilities like no other platform. This is a serious boon for marketers and market researchers alike. With more than 300 million users, Instagram has become a visual way for businesses and brands to connect with people. Recently, Instagram announced a new scrolling, multiple-photo “carousel” that allows for the measurement of clickable advertising messages. This offers marketers ROI information that is more difficult to calculate on Facebook and Twitter. The application, in concert with Instagram’s use of hashtags for marketers, is obvious: Testing ad visuals, product names as hashtags, subject matter hashtags, product placement, logos, excerpts from storyboards for commercials and videos, form factor, product color and other visual elements is a snap on Instagram. Social media tracking tools help marketers and social media managers track the use of particular hashtags, user searches, and real-time notifications. This also provides a marketing roadmap as to what is of interest to customers and users of a product or brand. But marketers, researchers and business owners alike should take note of Instagram and Facebook’s shared privacy policy, which allows users to take and reuse any image, sell it, repost it, and embed it on a website—and the list goes on. In short, anything posted becomes both property of Facebook and Instagram, and also places the image in the public domain, 16 MARKETING INSIGHTS MAV/JUNE 2015
Transcript of A Portrait of Modern Media … · users great image-based storytelling capabilities like no other...
A Portrait of Modern MediaInsights into the social site du jour
JOAN MANCUSO & KAREN STUTH
-45 j m a n c u s o @ 5 s q u a r e g r o u p . c o m
-4 j k s t u t h @ 5 s q u a r e g r o u p . c o m
In 2012, whenFacebookbought mobile photo-sharing app Instagram for close to a billion
dollars, it seemed like a social media marriage made in Wall Street heaven. However, nearly two years after the deal, Facebook still hasn’t realized the benefit of its acquisition, and in fact, it might actually be harmed by it. After the acquisition, Instagram, considered by many at the time to be a budding competitor to Facebook, remained an independently branded, standalone app that’s separate from Facebook. Two years later, it appears to industry experts that Instagram is indeed becoming a Facebook competitor. According to the Pew Research Center, 53% of Internet users age 18 to 29 use Instagram, and 49% of Instagram users use the site daily. “U.K. teens aged 16 to 18 embarrassed to be associated with Facebook are moving to ‘more hip’ social media sites, including, you guessed it, Instagram,” writes Jamal Carnette on the finance and investment site The Motley Fool. “This puts Facebook in a tough situation. Right now, they derive no direct benefit from Instagram’s existence and are actually harmed by cannibalization as it grows. These are the hallmarks of a competitor, not a business unit.”
If this attitude is more widespread than just among older teens, then the attrition of Facebook users in favor of Instagram would not bode well for Facebook and, in fact, presents a quandary for its marketers. Further, it would mean that the acquisition, which was likely meant to build Facebook’s own customer base through the addition of the media capabilities of Instagram, is, in fact, presenting the threat of user attrition. But not all Instagram users are teenagers, although its demographic definitely skews younger. Business Insider reports that more than 90% of the 150 million people on Instagram are under the age of 35, which makes it an attractive platform for many apparel, entertainment and media brands focused on the 18- to 34-year-old age bracket.
Also according to Business Insider, Instagram is telling advertisers that early photo ads have generated great results, and that one client, ice cream brand Ben & Jerry’s, reached 9.8 million people in the U.S. age 18 to 35 in eight days. But Instagram’s subscribers are not necessarily Fortune 100 brands. Small businesses find a welcome home at Instagram,
unhampered by the current and ever- evolving policies at Facebook that are running small businesses into the ground through highly restricted access to their own fan base.
In short, Instagram offers its users great image-based storytelling capabilities like no other platform.This is a serious boon for marketers and market researchers alike. With more than 300 million users, Instagram has become a visual way for businesses and brands to connect with people.
Recently, Instagram announced a new scrolling, multiple-photo “carousel” that allows for the measurement of clickable advertising messages. This offers marketers ROI information that is more difficult to calculate on Facebook and Twitter. The application, in concert with Instagram’s use of hashtags for marketers, is obvious: Testing ad visuals, product names as hashtags, subject matter hashtags, product placement, logos, excerpts from storyboards for commercials and videos, form factor, product color and other visual elements is a snap on Instagram. Social media tracking tools help marketers and social media managers track the use of particular hashtags, user searches, and real-time notifications. This also provides a marketing roadmap as to what is of interest to customers and users of a product or brand.
But marketers, researchers and business owners alike should take note of Instagram and Facebook’s shared privacy policy, which allows users to take and reuse any image, sell it, repost it, and embed it on a website—and the list goes on. In short, anything posted becomes both property of Facebook and Instagram, and also places the image in the public domain,
16 MARKETING INSIGHTSMAV/JUNE 2015
making it fair game for anyone viewing it. Social media managers, brand managers, marketers and even private individuals should read the privacy policy carefully and study its meaning and application. Once posted on Instagram, it is arguable that any intellectual property interest in the image is permanently relinquished. This includes photos of family, friends, pets and even photos of the inside of your home, which can be reposted by any person or business in the future.
Yet business owners should not be deterred. Images intended for advertising in any form are appropriate for Instagram and can be watermarked by the company to indicate origin. Further, it is a marketers dream to have a product image reposted—and reposted over again—without having to pay for ad placement, especially if your marketing department subscribes to the old adage that any publicity is good publicity or that there is no such thing as bad publicity. According to industry
experts, some of the top best-branded companies on Instagram include the Boston Celtics, Coach, Puma, Sharpie and Starbucks.
What do these companies have in common in their approach and brand strategy on Instagram? They have the ability to bring a human, highly personal quality to their brand in a way that is uniquely “Instagram.” Doing so helps build relationships with their customers and Instagram followers in a way that words alone cannot achieve. In the end, an Instagram picture truly is worth a thousand words, m i
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