Why Instagram is the Largest Mobile Social Network
It’s official: Instagram is the largest mobile social network, retrieving the top slot from the check-in tracker app FourSquare. Not using Instagram to your business’ advantage would not only be a misstep, but a recreational failure as well. Life is all about the simple pleasures, and there’s something about seeing your photos transform into a nostalgic keepsake after they’ve been put through a vintage filter that, as trite as it may sound, nourishes the soul.
And that’s exactly the goal of the app to inspire a feeling. Instagram’s most commendable attribute is its noble intentions. Instead of having ulterior promotional motives, it serves as an expressive platform for your business to connect and relate with its existing and potential clientele. Instagram presents a special opportunity to share the human side of your business behind its formal fade. This can be accomplished by using behind-the-scenes photos of staff, the inner workings of a company or experiences captured locally or out of town.
Some businesses realized early on what more they could achieve by using the mobile network. Brooklyn Bowl did an exceptional job utilizing the app this past summer. To commemorate their second anniversary, they posted one Instagram a day from photos they took during the development of what once was an old abandoned warehouse in Williamsburg to what stands today: a 16 lane bowling alley with a full service bar and restaurant and a major music venue all in one. They took their leveraging of Instagram a step further when they held a contest to win free concert tickets eligible to anyone who took a photo at the venue and tagged it with #brooklynbowl.
One of FSC’s accounts, GoNOLA.com, implements the tool in their social presence as well to engage and interact with their Facebook fans. Through their Instagram Caption Contest, taking a cue from The New Yorker’s legendary cartoon caption contest, GoNOLA incorporates unique, on the ground New Orleans photography in a weekly caption competition.
Instagram not only gives your business a unique voice, it allows you to have some fun with brand building. The beauty of it is it’s free, easy to use and accessible to anyone with an iPhone, and soon to those with Androids. It instantly creates attractive photos with custom effects. The easy part is, whether you’re a regular Ansel Adams or you have a hard time operating a point and shoot, there’s nothing to working the app. Like all social media, it’s as powerful as you make it. It’s what you do with the finished product that counts.