Marketing: How Brands Embrace Instagram?

Instagram is the well-known mobile applications for sharing photos and videos instantly and is the social platform where we can get closer to celebrities, blogger, branded brands and etc. More than 16 billion photos have been posted on Instagram and with an average of 55 million uploaded each day. According to a report by a research firms, it shows that 92 percent of luxury brands who post an average of 5.5 times a week on instagram gain their customer base.

According to a survey, only 19 percent of marketers mentioned that they give Instagram a high priority in year 2014, whereas 23 percent said that they will not consider about it at all.

However, I have seen a numbers of marketers promote their brands through Instagram such as Nike, Puma and Adidas. Other than that, some of the marketers will promote their brands by sponsoring their product to bloggers or celebrities in order for them to promote their brand by capturing the product and post it and tag along the company’s name on Instagram.

In my point of view, Instagram is the best new platform for marketers to promote their brand by way of photograph. Marketers should have given Instagram a try with some of the tips that I am going to share now in order for them to gain customer base.

1.    Feature customers using your product 

Showing your follower or customer about how good is your product is a must. Marketers should follow their customer on Instagram so that they can get to know their customers’ satisfaction on their product.

2.    Take your fans behind the scenes

        
       
       Showing your customers behind the scenes of     
       the company can tighten the relationship
       between customer andy our brand.                                 

       We can share our feeling, seeing and thinking at
       the moment and provides followers a genuine   
       glimpse into our business life.

       Marketers should upload more random photos   
       happening in the working area in Instagram so
       that customers will keep their eyes open
       on your profile.

3.    Host contests and projects

  

 

Organizing a contest or a project is a great way to increase your brand’s visibility on Instagram. Furthermore, giving out free gifts is also a way to generate customer. Marketers can promote their project on Instagram so that the followers can promote to their friends as well. 

4.    Introducing new product

      

Customers are always excited for the launching of the next product by marketers. That is why marketers should have an Instagram account to let their followers to have a sneak peak of the new product so that it can drive awareness of customers.

5.    Power of hashtag

Hashtag is a great way to let your customer to simply notice your profile on Instagram. According to a report stated, 80 percent of brand posts contain more than one hashtag and there are averages three brand posts will have on Instagram.

TopShop is one of the brands that always use hashtag to encourage followers to adopt them in their posts. They are ranked of the top 10 hasgtagged brands and top 10 most popular brands on Instagram.

So, these are the tips that marketers should take it as a reference and I hope that this will help you to gain customer base on Instagram!

Reference:

Gillett, R. (2014). How the most successful brands dominate Instagram, and you can too. Retrieved from http://www.fastcompany.com/3029395/bottom-line/how-the-most-successful-brands-dominate-instagram-and-you-can-too

-Wong Wei Yee-

Introducing the new features on Instagram : Instagram Direct and Video sharing on Instagram

“Instagram Direct: Sending photos and videos privately”

 

Instagram introduce this new feature called Instagram Direct that enables users to send private messages to their followers. Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom summarized the service as “a simple way to send photos and videos to your friends”

 

If we get a message from someone we don’t follow, it will goes into the pending queue. We can either accept it by clicking the green check mark or reject it by clicking the red cross. This is a very good idea as we are protected from the privacy setting on Instagram.

 

Instagram Direct also allow us to comment on the photos or videos privately.

 

 

 

Undeniable, this new feature is very safe for the users as it can only send photos to the person that we want to share to instead of everyone who follows us and their privacy setting is very thoughtful so that we won’t get disturb by unfamiliar person.

However, we should be familiar with the person that we want to send the photos to or else they might screenshot it and send it to the others. We can solve it ourselves by turning the privacy on to approve follow requests where this can be done from the privacy setting as shown in the photo below.

 “Insta-video: Another way to share your stories”

 

When we talk about Instagram, it reminds us about posting and sharing photos. But today, Instagram has introduced a new feature which is video on Instagram which also known as Instant Video. There is now a movie camera icon and we can tap on it to change into video mode and started to record a maximum 15 second video. Furthermore, Instagram also introduced the stabilization tool when recording the video so that we can record the video even when we are walking or moving fast. And, the best part of this is that we can delete and re-record the video clip if we are not satisfied with it.  

 

After the video was recorded, there are thirteen choices of filter available for us to choose and it is like photos that are posted on Instagram. When we post a video, we will also be able to select our favourite scene from what we have recorded as the cover image.

There are now many video recording tools available on other social media applications such as Vine from Twitter. Vine is a feature that also provides a short video recording ability on Twitter. Some are saying that this new feature on Instagram is copied from Vine as Vine came out before Instant Video. But, the analyst at Forrester Research, Nate Elliott says that Instagram did not come out to copy Vine but to upgrade to next level.

 

Furthermore, there are a slightly difference between Instant Video and Vine. The length for Instant Video is twice longer than Vine and Instant Video have the tools for editing; re-record clips and stabilization function while these tools are not provided for Vine users.

 

 

From the above text, I do agree that Instant Video can bring up the creativity of users as they have editing tools to edit the videos clips with their own creativity. Additional of that, I do also agree that Instagram is borrowing the technology and features from other applications because video features is a must-have features for any applications. However, borrowing innovation from other application or not is not an important matter for us anymore since Instagram have bring so much fun to all the users in sharing their happy moments through photos and videos.

Reference:

Stenovec, T. (2014). Video on Instagram: Facebook adds 15-second videos to photo-sharing app. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/20/video-on-instagram_n_3473532.html#sthashhYfPFiQSdpuf

-Wong Wei Yee-

 

SNAPCHAT

In 2013, it was all about users discovering Snapchat. Snapchat is one of the latest and trending app. Snapchat is a photo-messaging app that allows user to set a time limit on the photos and videos they send before they disappear. “My Story” a Snapchat featured introduced in October 2013, has transformed the app from a simple photo messenger to a storytelling platform. Now, users can catalogue up 360seconds of their photo or video snaps for up to 24 hours before disappearing. To date, there are about 70 million monthly active users and 1 billion stories are viewed each day.

Last week, Snapchat disclose its Our Story feature through which Snapchat users that are at the same event can add their snap to the feed, creating a localized, shared stream. Our Story feature is available for the first time with the Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) event, which happened on June 20 to June 22. With it, users can add to the stream by sending their snaps to the “Our EDC story” user.

To summarize, Snapchat took the user generated content, from the user’s creative point of view, to tell the story EDC. I think this is a very creative, collaborative reinvention of the livestream, which is better than using hashtag.

Reference:
Sinha, R. (23 June, 2014). Snapchat Claims 1 Billion Stories Are Viewed Each Day, Outspacing Snaps. NDTV Gadgets. Retrieved from http://gadgets.ndtv.com/apps/news/snapchat-claims-1-billion-stories-are-viewed-each-day-outpacing-snaps-546556

Ang Jia Xin 

YouTube!!!

YouTube is one of the top most searched social media website on the Google search engine. I personally use YouTube every day to listen to songs, and maybe to relieve a little stress by watching funny videos and such. 

It is so much more convenient now that YouTube has been made into a mobile app. I used to complain about having to download songs (which is illegal now by the way, so I don’t anymore) and transferring them to my phone. It was a tedious and dreadful task for me, but I needed my songs or I would be bored to death when I’m out. 

The YouTube app is practically the exact same thing as the one we use on our laptops. The new addition of resolution adjustment is fantastic for me as it saves buffering time and data usage. 

The only thing I hope they would add is the ability to play your own playlists. All in all, this app is one of my top favs.

How it looks like on mobile

Aryeh D. (2014, June 5). Youtube app updated with video resolution choices. Retrieved from http://androidandme.com/2014/06/applications/youtube-app-updated-with-video-resolution-choices/

Lim Chooi Yin

Getting There..

Waze is currently the most popular GPS app used by youngsters these days. It has a very cute logo and a user friendly interface. 

This app allows you to travel with your friends in different vehicles, but still stay in contact. You can sync your contact list with your Waze friends. 

The feature that allows you to send your location to your friend is simply brilliant. It is very convenient when you’re trying to get to where your friend is, but your friend is terrible with directions. 

Let’s not forget the traffic warnings the app gives when you’re traveling. Total lifesaver! It saves you a lot of trouble and time.

Logo

Easy to use interface

J. Goh. (2014, June 19). Waze For Android & iOS Updated w New UI & Enhanced Location Sharing. Retrieved from http://discovr.smashpop.net/2014/06/19/waze-for-android-ios-updated-w-new-ui-enhanced-location-sharing/

Lim Chooi Yin

Let Me Take A Selfie ;)

Photography is a hobby of many whether or not one has the skills. The especially popular form of photography is of course, ‘selfies’.  There was even an annoying song made about it! (refer to title ^_^)

A large number of photo editor apps are available for download for free in the PlayStore. One of the most popular ones is Camera360. 

This app allows you to choose from about a hundred different effects to enhance your photos. The degree of how much the effect would affect your photo can be adjusted in terms of percentage preventing your picture from looking too fake or photoshopped. 

It is a great app to turn any photo taken in less than ideal conditions to look presentable. It has specific features just for selfies and scenes to make your photo look more interesting. Besides that, any photo you edit can be uploaded straight from the app to whichever social media you want such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and more!

Logo & Preset Camera Features

Available effects

Brian. (2014, June 16). Camera360 App Overview (Lumia 925). Retrieved from http://unsolicitedbutoffered.blogspot.com/2014/06/windows-phone-8-camera360-overview.html

Lim Chooi Yin

One of the Top Game Apps

Clash of Clans has created much hype over the past few years. This game currently ranks no.6 in the top free games of PlayStore. It is an interesting and addictive strategy game that involves a lot of planning and teamwork. Its feature of connecting to Facebook has allowed players to enhance their gameplay and connect with their friends at the same time. This game also has a feature whereby players can chat with anyone playing the game on a global level.  

The troops available for training include barbarians, archers, wizards and more; each cleverly designed to appeal to players. The buildings and defences available each have their own attractive design too. The most important point of the game is its clan war feature which involves a war between two clans fighting till the end. Great loots and bonuses are yours to take at the end of each war. Anyone who has tried the game would understand the excitement when you hear the game’s sound effects when you’re out in public.

Troops

Buildings and Defences

Asian American Pilot Association. (2014, June 18). The Number One Article on Clash of Clans Bot. Retrieved from http://aapa.us/index.php?document_srl=33496&mid=careers_jobs

Lim Chooi Yin