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Instagram: The Role Model for Creator Brands
When Kevin Systrom quit his job in 2010 to focus on the app he was developing, it was still called Burbn. It primarily focused on allowing users to check in places on their phones, with the added feature of being able to share photos. It wasn’t until Instagram co-founder Mike Krieger joined the project that the app was stripped of everything except photo sharing, commenting, and liking capabilities. All that remained were the creative and social aspects of the app.
On the day that Instagram was released in October 2010, it became the number one free photography app on the app store. Within three months, the app experienced an unprecedented explosion to over a million users. The app’s success was so remarkable that Facebook would buy the app in 2012 for a value of $1 billion dollars, but would leave the management of the app in the capable hands of Systrom and Krieger. The app now has over a billion users despite having made very few structural changes.
After “community first”, Instagram’s second core value is to “inspire creativity.” Taking pictures alone can be a creative action, but Instagram has made efforts to go beyond that since its founding. The company has added mechanics that allow users to manipulate the characteristics of the photo (lighting, sharpness, etc), record and share video, and add personal touches to pictures with drawings and stickers. All of these efforts are made to unlock customers’ creative passions.
Because Instagram sees its app as a creative tool, marketing their product to new audiences is a way of unlocking their creativity. In the brand’s marketing, they focus on providing new users with a way to express themselves and share their creative content. In doing so, they show an advertising blueprint for Creator brands to follow.
Let’s see exactly what that blueprint looks like.
Instagram made the controversial change to this new logo in 2016, laying to rest the beloved logo that more accurately represented a 1940s camera. Instagram maintained the outline of the camera in the new logo, keeping photography at the heart of the company. It added the burst of color that resonates on the bottom left corner and rounded the edges of the design to create today’s comforting logo. The warm colors relax the audience and introduce the app with an artistic personality. Instagram’s welcoming design makes customers feel safe to share their creative works.
Advertising
In 2013, Instagram added video sharing to its photo sharing app. With the new feature, Instagram users could share a whole new medium of original content. They announced the addition with this advertisement which shows videos of different people experiencing a variety of shareable moments. These moments span from extraordinary (enjoying kite festivals and riding sea-side gondola lifts) to ordinary (walking down the street with friends and playing with a pet). Some of these moments are shown from the point of view of the videographer, with some even being seen through the video lense on the Instagram app.
The variety of the clips is important to reach different audiences. So-called “creatives” are appealed to by images of people having grand experiences. Taking a video from the top of a mountain while looking down on the clouds is a highly desired experience for them. But Instagram lets non-creatives know that the app is not only for artists and professional photographers. Parents can use Instagram video to record their children playing. Baristas can record and share their espresso foam designs with Instagram video. In fact, these acts are all just as creative as scaling a mountain for a picture.
Showing these experiences from the participant’s point of view adds to the empowering message. The audience feels like their lived moments are valuable. They feel like their lives are worthy of sharing. It personalizes the whole act of recording and sharing videos, which is a powerful technique for unlocking the creativity of a mass audience.
In 2013, when Instagram introduced their take on social media stories, the company employed many of the same techniques that they used to introduce video. This ad once again shows different people doing different activities, but it only focuses on three groups of people, each for a longer period of time. The first 20 seconds shows a group of Americans hiking through nature, the second 20 seconds features a female Spanish speaker shopping at a boutique, and the final 20 seconds focuses on a group of friends in Japan enjoying a night on the town. For each segment, the audience gets to see the different ways that people can use Instagram stories to improve their different experiences.
Featuring a diverse pool of Instagram users from across the world is Instagram’s way of getting customers to see themselves using the app. No matter who they are, they can feel like Instagram was made for them. Instagram explicitly reenforces this idea with the closing message, “Everyone has a story.” Then, by showing how people can use the app during typical experiences, customers feel that the app is useful for them even if they don’t think their lives are especially interesting. In fact, Instagram’s stories feature is a way to make everyday experiences more interesting. The brand shows people using the feature to add creativity to their lives. Experiences in the commercial become more enriching with funny stickers or the ability to draw on images. Instagram’s advertising promises all people a way to make their lives more enjoyable through creativity.
Brand Voice
Instagram often opts to forego spoken or written messages in favor of visual messages. As a Creator brand and a photo sharing app, it makes more sense to display creativity rather than telling the audience about it. The tone of Instagram’s visual messages is highly inspiring and empowering. The brand inspires audiences byby showing them how others use the app to create; it empowers them by showing how anyone can use the app to create. Visual, inspirational, and empowering messages are how Instagram unlocks the world’s creativity.
Public Perception
Instagram has had to weather the storm of criticism over social media’s negative impact on users’ mental health. Instagram has taken more of this criticism than any other platform thanks to a 2017 Royal Society for Public Health study that found it the most damaging platform for users’ mental state. But the company has recently received praise because of its new policy that hides the like count on posts, removing users’ ability to compare their popularity to others. After implementing the new policy, Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri said that the company “will make decisions that hurt the business if they help people’s wellbeing and health.” Hiding likes also encourages users to post more original content without fearing online criticism. While some people are skeptical of the true intentions behind the switch, Instagram has improved their public perception by showing itself to be the company that risks profits for customers’ wellbeing.
Top 3 lessons that other creator brands can learn from Instagram?
- Show, don’t tell, in order to inspire audiences’ creativity. Use visual messages to stimulate the audience’s imaginations.
- Find ways to make customers feel safe enough to embrace their creative side. Acknowledge that people can be nervous to reveal their creative work and find ways to help them overcome their worries.
- Broaden the typical definition of creativity to appeal to those that don’t consider themselves creative. Make sure those that don’t enjoy traditional creative outlets like photography or music feel that your product is still useful for them.
Could your brand be a “Creator” brand like Instagram?
Take Ardent’s Brand Personality Quiz to find out which of the 12 brand archetypes you represent.
