Instagram is a service that is quintessential to all companies and individuals in the globe. It offers its users online photo-sharing and social networking services, such that they can take photographs and apply digital filters to them.Thereafter, they can share these pictures with their friends and colleagues in other social media sites like Twitter and Facebook.
Sidra Medical and Research Centre plans to open an account in instagram in a bid to let people know about the activities of the hospital, its scholarship program, events as well as social activities. This paper presents a one-year strategic plan for Sidra’s account in the networking site.
This is important for all people wishing to visit Sidra, as they can learn about it and its activities from the site. The hospital will also get feedback regarding its services from the site.
Executive Summary
The Aim of This Plan
With this plan, we intend to grow to a higher level, by increasing people’s awareness regarding Sidra.
Organizational Mission
Sidra Medical and Research Centre will provide patients with world-class healthcare services in an innovative and state-of-the-art facility specially designed to promote healing. In particular, it will initially address the growing need for more comprehensive patient-focused medical services for women and children in Qatar and throughout the region.
In collaboration with the premier medical school in Education City, leading research institutions worldwide, and Qatar’s health sector, Sidra will provide a diversity and quality of care conducive to training medical students and highly skilled clinicians, and will be a pioneer in clinical and translational biomedical research of value to the population of Qatar and the world.
Organizational Vision
Sidra Medical and Research Centre will be a beacon of learning, discovery and exceptional care, ranked among the top academic medical centres in the world.
Core Organizational Competencies
Our key organizational competencies are good management, quality leadership and remarkable coordination.
Core Values
Integrity – we always act in an open manner and are truthful; in all that we do
Accountability – we work with open staffs that are responsible for all their actions
Collaboration – we work together in a cooperative manner, with the recognition that combined efforts achieve the institution’s goals faster than individual efforts
Commitment – we are dedicated to serving our customers and providing excellence in all aspects
Community – we recognize the health needs of our community and respect every individual’s needs
Innovation – we are of the belief that new ideas and a good flow of information will lead to provision of better healthcare services
Authors of the Plan
This plan was developed by the hospital’s management team and administration, in conjunction with the hospital’s Board of Directors. The whole team identified twelve strategies to be accomplished through five pillars, in an effort to meet the ever-increasing medical needs of the community.
Service
Enhance clinical services
Ensure better relations between the community and the government
Enhance healthcare delivery by increasing physicians
Quality
Ensure patient safety
Enhance customer care and build a quality focused team
Events
Provide full coverage of local and international events.
Social Activities
Build good relationship with staffs through parties and celebration of their outstanding performance.
Successful implementation of these strategies will help Sidra to achieve the following future goals:
Short-Term Goals
Improve the health of the community members
Long Term Goals
Enhance value of Sidra through improvement of services and outcomes
Provide a comprehensive program that provides services that meet the needs of women, children and the community at large
Choice Of Material
For the Instagram project to attain the intended success, it is imperative that the uploaded pictures be tied to the mission and vision of the hospital. Before a photograph is uploaded using the hospital account, it needs to be vetted for relevance and effectiveness. It is imperative that the photos to be posted illustrate the quality of services offered by the hospital.
Photographs to be used will be primarily taken by the hospital staff eliminating the need to seek permission when posting them online. As far as the variety of content to be posted, anything that reflects well on the image of the facility is good material for publishing.
In this regard, photos of the various departments of the hospital, preferably, when patients are being served will help make the fans aware of the fact that the facility is in business.
Photographs of satisfied patients taken with the members of staff will also contribute to the objective of getting the hospital’s name to always be regarded in positive light. It is worth noting that in photos that will have patients in them, it is mandatory to first let them know what you intend to use the photograph for and ask them if they would be comfortable with it. If they decline, then there are no two ways about it but to commit to their requirements.
Mention Policy
The name Sidra Medical and Research Centre is a brand on its own. Therefore, every marketing strategy should recognize the importance of maintaining the integrity of the brand, by only associating it with high quality establishments. As such, any mentions or other links associated with uploaded photographs need to positively contribute to the growth of the brand.
Among the companies that would be appropriate to receive mentions in the photographs posted under the Sidra account are product suppliers, media houses, doctors associated with the hospital and other high-profile individuals. Typically, these are institutions and individuals with a high following and therefore any form of association with them is bound to impact well on the attention that the hospital will receive.
Publishing Time
Instagram, like all social media platforms, has specific times when uploading content will be more beneficial to the institution in terms of the quality of attention received. Research will be conducted to find out the specific times that a post will receive the most shares, likes and/or comments as these are the parameters used to determine how effective a message will be.
Shooting and posting photos at the same time might not be a good approach for the institution because by the nature of the business, it is imperative that the photos be well analyzed, confirming that every person in the shot is comfortable with it being made public.
In addition, because the primary mission is to promote Sidra and not its partners, photos will need to be assessed, with product suppliers and manufacturers consulted regarding the publicity that they get through instances of their brand in the photographs.
It is worth noting that the social media promotion will have its own department which will handle all the decisions regarding what to be posted and at what time to post it. Any photographs submitted by other members of staff will have to go through the department before being posted.
An Overview Of Sidra
Directors and managers
Brief history of the hospital
Main activities
New programs
Location
Past performance and major achievements
Strategic Action Plan Focus By Month
Month
Summary of Activity
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
January
Conclusion
In the instagram account, we will explain all the strategies in place for achievement of our short-term and long-term goals. We will also include extensive information regarding our new scholarship programs. This will be done systematically through the following steps:
Posting photographs of the hospital on the site
Illustrating the site of the hospital by locating it on a map
Sharing the information with bloggers in other social sites
Urging instagram users to visit our account on a daily basis as we always have something new to offer
Requesting users to share what they learn about our hospital with their friends.
In the recent decades, advancements in technologies have dramatically changed the research process across all disciplines. Some of these innovations have revolutionized research with titanic and far-reaching implications. The internet, for instance, has made it easy to access information and communicate across long distances. Some of these innovations are slightly less revolutionary but with tremendous impacts on research.
Online social media platforms are examples of modest innovations whose impact on research-related tasks can only be felt cumulatively through daily interactions. With a base of 90 million active users monthly and over 40 million photos posted each day, Instagram is a powerful tool for social science research (Titlow, 2013). The innovation uses hash tags to allow users share similar information.
A researcher can visit those hash tags to get vivid graphical results on a research topic. This paper will demonstrate that despite its shortcomings as a source of social problems, Instagram is a powerful research tool on virtually all social sciences disciplines.
Kevin Systrom and Michel Krieger, a Brazilian, developed Instagram in the beginning of 2010 (How did it Impact Society? –Instagram, n.d., par 3).The innovation got a financial boast from venture fund investment in March 2010. One year later, Instagram discovered hash tag, afeature that allows users to share and discover similar information and photos.
Like-minded Instagrammers create specific hash tags to help them discover each other. Instagram became very popular and hit over million users in 2010. With invention of the hash tag feature, this number rose to 10 million in 2011. By August 2012, the innovation had over 100 million photos uploaded on its service. This number surpassed one billion in 2012.
Each second, Instagram receives fifty-eightphotos and one new user on its service. Renowned personalities and celebrities have created Instagram profiles. This allows them to share photos and videos with their followers and fans. The innovation, though modest, has exceedingly many users on its platform. It is in recognition of the growth that Times listed it as the Best Android Application for 2013.
Instagram has gigantic impacts on research, some positive and others negative. To start with, the innovation provides a platform for expression of opinions through photos. Images are very powerful in sharing opinion especially in a world saturated with text. Instagram users post captivating images on their profiles. It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words (Prives, n.d., par 4).
Social activists, opinion shapers, and commentators post photographs that capture issues affecting their worlds. It is thus easy for a researcher to discover people’s opinions on different aspects of life. It is also a powerful tool for social and political mobilization. In the aftermath of a devastating earthquake in Indonesia, people used Instagram photographs to highlight the humanitarian crisis in the country.
Through these images, it was possible to appeal to people’s emotions and mobilize help. A researcher can therefore find Instagram extremely useful in such areas. Instagram allows users to interact with people they would never have contacted before. By sharing pictures, people miles away stay connected. Through hash tags, like-minded people interact with one another as they share ideas, jokes, and exchange pictures.
The more people share and interact, the more societies build social and political ties. A social researcher interested in studying the influence of celebrities on teenagers can use Instagram. A photo of a celebrity dressed in a certain fashion can attract many young people to dress in the same way and share their photos.
Another benefit of Instagram as a research tool is the ease in access to vast amounts of information. The innovation has made it possible to access readily available resources at a click of a mouse. Researchers do not have to read volumes of newspaper or sit down for hours watching or listening to news. Instead, they can search for a relevant hash tag and get all relevant information.
For instance, a search on the “#fiscalcliff” hash tag generates in excess of five thousand pictures. A search on the hash tag “#new” has more than three hundred thousand images. Instagram as a tool for research in social sciences is therefore convenient, fast, and highly resourceful.
In spite of being resourceful and convenient as a research tool, Instagram has several negative consequences on users. To start with, the innovation has led to emergence of narcissistic stars of social media platform. Rinosa (2013)reports that the hash tag “#me” is the third in popularity in Instagram. Through this hash tag, young people share explicit self-images.
Additionally, young users upload too much personal details on this platform. They spend most of their time on cellphones sharing where they visit, what they eat, among other details. This leads to social awkwardness as young people are detached from the real world. It is impossible to regulate what people share on Instagram. The platform therefore contributes to erosion of moral fabric and cyber bullying.
Personally, I have been an Instagrammer since 2010. I signed up to the invention under influence from friends when I was in high school. The invention has had many effects on my personal life and as a college student. At a personal level, I interact with friends and share photos. I also get information on what is happening around the globe.
It had never occurred to me that Instagram is a powerful research tool until I ran out of information while explaining something to friends. We decided to search for the information on a particular hash tag on Instagram. We were overwhelmed by the amount of readily available information on the hash tag.
We got many images that helped us to understand our topic better. Since then, I realized the truism in the statement that a picture is worth more than a thousand words. Whenever I need information on something, I simply search for the particular hash tag. I did the same during the Halloween and the photos that came up inundated me.
In conclusion, technology will play a big role in future research. Instagram, for instance, has plans to have a video-sharing feature on its service. By using this feature, it will be possible to share and watch videos online. For researchers, this is an opportunity for clear evidence in the course of research.
With the recent acquisition by Facebook Inc., Instagram has obtained financial muzzle to develop more features (Titlow, 2013). Instagram has several shortcomings including social awkwardness and rise of narcissistic online stars. However, this does not negate the invention’s power as a social science tool.
With ninety million monthly users and an even higher photo sharing capability, researchers cannot ignore this vital tool. Rather thanincur high expenditure on other tools, researchers can exploit the convenience offered by Instagram as research tool in social science subjects.
References
How did it Impact Society? – Instagram. (n.d.). Web.
In modern realities, people are forced to stay away from each other, and for the majority, social platforms are the only opportunity to communicate with the world. Nevertheless, young people are prone to quickly develop an inferiority complex from the imposed standards of wealth, beauty, and success displayed on social media. Nowadays, being an active Instagram user has become a competition to showcase a life that does not exist. Thus, Instagram promotes life standards heavily detached from reality and becomes the reason for depression, social anxiety, and low self-esteem development in the younger generation.
In the conditions of a lack of physical interaction, people have to resort to virtual communication. Collective mental health seems to benefit from it: one may highlight that social media has become a wellspring for political activism, allowing people with similar views to meet and unite. In particular, the movements such as Black Lives Matter or #MeToo emerged due to the Internet; they both fight for the social change that the public has been waiting for many years. Besides, Bekalu et al. discovered that routine non-excessive social media use positively affects human well-being and increases happiness as it compensates for the lack of real-life communication (78). However, the researchers avoid admitting that, in most cases, public network services manipulate human consciousness, mostly immature minds, as they involuntarily promote creating illusory pictures of life that users willingly believe.
Instagram is one of the most popular formats of personal interaction among people today. Nonetheless, the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) proclaimed the platform to have the most dangerous effect on youth’s mental health (19). The order of social media from less to more harmful, according to the study, is as follows: Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram (Royal Society for Public Health 18). It is widely accepted that Instagram has a specific unwritten format. One must be beautifully and fashionably dressed in the photo with a good-looking background, eat and drink esthetic food only. It all encourages the content that promotes false beauty and living standards, which exerts pressure on individuals.
The network has turned into a factory of illusions; it forces people to live not the way they want but to seem what they are not. Vivid photos from the accounts of stars, popular fitness models, and travelers on social networks often do not correspond to the average person’s relatively dull everyday life. The problem under consideration is open to discussion, as one might point to studies, which manifest the positive effect of Instagram’s ‘good life’ modeling on youth through inspiration and role-modeling (Meier et al. 722). Except, Instagram algorithms encourage users to post only perfectly edited and staged visuals so that they are liked and do not disappear from the feed. Thus, a luxurious life is invented, a priori declaring everyone who does not follow it as losers.
Instagram, in particular, makes young people feel anxious and dissatisfied with their bodies. According to the RSPH report, girls significantly compare themselves to pictures created on Instagram using special filters and are out of touch with reality (11). The study quotes one respondent: “Instagram easily makes girls and women feel like their bodies are not good enough as people add filters and edit their photos to make them look ‘perfect’ (Royal Society for Public Health 10). People, in general, tend to compare themselves and other individuals. Moreover, their ideas about happiness may vary considerably, but the desire to be ‘no worse’ embedded in the depths of the psyche can depreciate the system of personal values and make one doubt their significance.
Someone else’s life, exposed, seems brighter and more intense than one’s own, precisely according to the principle by which the grass on the other side is always greener. Research provided by Ozimek and Bierhoff has shown that social media-generated FOMO – fear of missing something exciting, accompanied by chronic nervous tension – can lower a person’s self-esteem and lead to anxiety and depression (1120). Therefore, instead of inspiring, colorful images can provoke teenagers to consider their lives miserable compared to others.
Initially made to call for communication, social network services trigger the opposite desire – to go into a shell, hide, and communicate with the world only through an account. The experiment conducted by Primack et al. showed that the more people are online, the more lonely and isolated they feel (7). If friends post photos together and communicate without one of their friends, it makes the latter feel lonely. As Covert and Stefanone admit, if a person is not accepted into a group, they feel rejected and, naturally, experience negative emotions (11). The excess of emotions, in turn, slows down thoughts and prevents individuals from reasoning. Furthermore, since frequent isolation is fraught with health and psychological problems, it is essential to remind people about the effects of social media on the brain.
In a world that is actively digitalizing, social media is becoming a vital mode of communication. Social media, however, can give erroneous information about users and real-life phenomena. Virtual life does not coincide with real life, and in these contradictions, a person’s mental health cannot but be affected heavily. Society cannot blame Instagram or other platforms for the decline in mental health: it is not the social networks themselves that affect the psyche, but the content people consume. However, social networks can hurt those who are particularly vulnerable emotionally, including teenagers or those who already have weaknesses, particularly people with a problematic attitude towards their bodies. The power of social media today is too great to be frivolous about its impact on human health; thus, more research is needed to obtain more detailed data on the health effects of social media.
Works Cited
Bekalu, Mesfin A., et al. “Association of Social Media Use with Social Well-Being, Positive Mental Health, and Self-Rated Health: Disentangling Routine Use from Emotional Connection to Use.” Health Education & Behavior, vol. 46, no. 2, 2019, pp. 69–80. Sage Journals.
Covert, Jessica M., and Michael A. Stefanone. “Does Rejection Still Hurt? Examining the Effects of Network Attention and Exposure to Online Social Exclusion.” Social Science Computer Review, vol. 38, no. 2, 2018, pp. 1–17.
Meier, Adrian, et al. “Instagram Inspiration: How Upward Comparison on Social Network Sites Can Contribute to Well-Being.” Journal of Communication, vol. 70, no. 5, 2020, pp. 721–743.
Ozimek, Phillip, and Hans-Werner Bierhoff. “All My Online-Friends Are Better Than Me–Three Studies About Ability-Based Comparative Social Media Use, Self-Esteem, and Depressive Tendencies.” Behaviour & Information Technology, vol. 39, no. 10, 2020, pp. 1110–1123. ProQuest.
Primack, Brian A., et al. “Social Media Use and Perceived Social Isolation among Young Adults in the U.S.” American Journal of Preventive Medicine, vol. 53, no. 1, 2017, pp. 1–8. ScienceDirect,
Royal Society for Public Health. Status of Mind: Social Media and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing. RSPH, 2017.
The company is a successful start-up technology enterprise that focuses on creating innovative products for food and beverage preparation and storage that allow people to create quality products at home. A new product has been developed which appeals to the adult beverage community. This widely appraised kitchen utility takes store-bought beer and processes it to enhance flavor and create the exquisite micro-foam usually found inexpensive, high-quality beverages that cannot be brought home. Management believes this product can appeal to the vast consumer market and raise the profits and outreach of the company. The product’s design, utility, and purpose present an opportunity for an extensive marketing campaign because it satisfies the demand for high-quality and mobility at an affordable price.
Campaign Purpose
Instagram is considered the contemporary advertising platform amongst social media platforms. Focus groups have described Instagram advertisements as appealing and engaging which is key to attracting customer interest. They are not commonly perceived as unwanted and aggressive commercials unlike other media platforms (Love, 2015). The concept of framing is a theoretical approach to advertising in social media. The customer exposed to a message in advertising frames begins to form an attitude towards the brand based on product knowledge and personal involvement. On Instagram, visual symbolism is critical as the process of customer perceptions and relationship to the brand shifts from simple awareness to absolute loyalty (Lavoie, 2015).
The main purpose of the campaign is to promote the brand and its new innovative product within the kitchen appliance, alcoholic drinks, and food technology markets. A successful social media campaign for a non-general product often requires finding a niche market where the product will generate consumer interest. The targeted demographic would be anyone aged 21 and over in the United States and Europe as the most affluent markets.
Millennials should be targeted as they exhibit a combination of consistent alcohol intake, interest in technology, and susceptibility to visual branding. Instagram allows selecting targeted audiences based on followed pages and likes. Therefore, investing in advertising to casual drinkers and craft beer enthusiasts can be beneficial. The psychographic information provided by Instagram allows the group of people based on interests and behaviors. The behavioral patterns are subconscious to a regular user but analyzing psychographic information can reveal deeply personal needs and trends that the company can target. The presented product will fulfill the people’s need for improved quality alcoholic drinks without the necessity to socialize and overpay at bars.
Instagram Contest
The contest should not be implemented immediately at the start of the campaign. It is important to gain interest and following for the product through basic posts and paid advertisements. Followers can be enticed through announcements that announce an upcoming contest and giveaway. Soon after, the contest should be posted. It should be a simple but visually attractive image that shows the product being used in a home setting with a social group of people drinking the produced beverage.
It is possible to include a caption such as “this season, you do not have to leave your home.” Similar to other social media platforms, Instagram utilizes hashtags which can become trends or a way to see collections of images based on a topic. The marketing team should come up with a catchy and relevant hashtag for the contest.
The image post caption should describe the rules of the competition which ask users to do several things to win a deluxe custom gift set with the product and a month’s supply of craft beer. The company can partner with a beer brand to advertise the product as well as gain access to their customer base. Relevant links to the product website and reviews should be included in the description. Instagram users will be asked to like the post, follow the brand page on Instagram and Facebook.
This move allows for a wider audience to be reached through future posts and advertisements. Finally, the users will be asked to post a creative image with a specific hashtag of how or why they would use the product. It will lead to user engagement on Instagram, thus spreading to the user’s followers who might have similar tastes. Also, it will cause people to evaluate their need for the product, which means they might explore the company website or relevant resources to determine the product’s functions. By establishing a sense of need for the product through participation in the contest, users may be inclined to purchase it for themselves or as a gift later.
Campaign Metrics
Instagram has tools and 3rd-party software that help to measure the success of advertisement campaigns. The most relevant to this campaign would be to gauge the number of followers gained from the campaign as it is part of the contest. There is a metric that allows measuring user engagement by analyzing the number of likes and comments on a post. It is possible to analyze the hashtag performance which highlights the engagement and the discovery rate. Finally, the metric analyzing referral traffic from Instagram to the product website is crucial for tracking the return on investment of social media advertising (Instagram, 2017).
Campaign Benefits
The modern Instagram audience is based on the visual culture which follows the psychological process of instantaneous glances as the person swipes quickly through the images. Only something unusual and sensational will catch the consumer’s attention for more than a brief second. If consumers are drawn to an Instagram page or brand, it is likely they will follow it to see more images. Successful marketing campaigns focus on the brand-building aspect of Instagram so that more people are exposed to the company and its products. In turn, this results in rising sales, revenues, and word-of-mouth advertising. User participation allows creating a carefully crafted culture around the brand which is appealing for attracting new customers that will loyally buy the product (Carah & Shaul, 2016).
Visually demonstrating the product and its functions helps to build the customers’ trust. It appeals to their subconscious which is heavily influenced by the demand for satisfying desires. A futuristic design of the utility producing an enhanced version of a popular beverage serves as a trigger for the customer to participate in the contest, potentially buy the product, and follow the brand.
Active Versus Passive Marketing
There are various frameworks for advertising techniques that a company must consider when conducting a marketing campaign. Passive marketing consists of placing an advertisement or mention in any general media. Further, consumers may notice it and act on it if it is relevant to their needs. There is no targeted market or customer engagement as any general consumer will be exposed to the advertisement. Meanwhile, active marketing includes using interactive, platforms (such as Instagram) to target the consumers as well as engage in consistent advertisement and user interaction. It focuses on building popularity and provide continuous updates to those interested in the company or product (Joel, 2013).
The company can use passive marketing by creating a well-designed website page for the product and using necessary technology resources to appear in search engines when relevant keywords are entered. It is possible to place an advertisement with Google that will determine to show it to potential customers based on its user interest algorithms. This type of passive marketing requires little input after initial development while reaching potential customers through anticipatory tactics that provide up-to-date information.
References
Carah, N., & Shaul, M. (2016). Brands and Instagram: Point, tap, swipe, glance. Mobile Media and Communication, 4(1), 69-84. Web.
Social media has become an integral part of life in the developed nations, and it is only natural that it has an impact on how people perceive brands and make buying decisions. When people engage with each other online, they perceive others as real people and therefore trust them as they would their friends in real life. Hajli (2014) explains how trust has a statistically significant effect on someone’s decision to purchase a product, which was recommended by someone familiar. Influencers also harness that trust, because they present themselves as real people, and their core appeal is their relatability to the audience.
The trust that the influencers get from their audience makes them more effective at marketing than traditional celebrities. Another significant reason for their effectiveness is the niche appeal and the specialization of their celebrity. Influencers appear to be the middle ground between a famous celebrity and a trustworthy acquaintance. The audience identifies with the influencer and regards them as a real person, and thus the endorsements they make as part of a marketing campaign are seen as genuine recommendations (Schouten, Janssen, and Verspaget, 2019). However, that only works if the product fits the niche of the influencer: for example, a beauty vlogger advertising lipstick is seen as genuine, but a travel vlogger advertising a set of spanners is not. That product-endorser fit is not available to traditional celebrities, as they are primarily famous for completely unrelated artistic accomplishments.
At this point, influencer marketing is a developed industry, and employing social media personalities is a staple for advertising. All of the benefits of influencer marketing over traditional tactics are well-known to the advertising market. One report shows that using influencer marketing can generate up to 11 times more return on investment than the traditional channels (Kirkpatrick, 2016). While there are many different platforms and networks for influencer marketing, approximately 79% of the brands use Instagram, with Facebook, a distant second at 46% (Schomer, 2019). Instagram appears to be the most attractive social network for both media personalities and brands that wish to partner with them. A survey performed by an influencer advertising platform shows that nearly all of the brands plan to keep using Instagram (The State of Influencer Marketing 2020, no date). The survey also reports that influencer-generated content is 2.7 times more effective than typical branded content.
That survey reveals one additional insight that is important for digital marketing. 77% of marketers report that they prefer microinfluencers over other kinds of influencers. That hints at an incentive to utilize smaller personalities with less reach, which appears counterintuitive. However, it has been shown that influencers with a smaller audience enjoy more engagement, as their audience is more interactive and loyal (Instagram Marketing: Does Influencer Size Matter? no date). The microinfluencers, or the influencers with 10,000 or fewer followers, appear to be more genuine, more authentic, and thus more trustworthy (Bohan, 2016). The influencer marketing industry, in this regard, seems to follow the same logic as it does with traditional celebrities. As a particular example, Amazon seems to understand that, and it successfully utilizes microinfluencers to promote its Audible audiobook service (Amazon’s marketing strategy with social media influencers, no date). The advertisements are personal, relatable, and seemingly authentic, which generates a lot of engagement and helps the brand. Partnership with microinfluencers is also significantly less expensive than with larger-scale media personalities, which increases return on investment even further.
Consumerist culture
As the commodification of Instagram influencers grows, the platform increasingly becomes an infinite advertisement reel. Consumerism is nothing new to a person living in the XXI century, but Instagram, with its influencer-driven sponsored content, creates new ways for it to blossom. The industry that is possibly affected the most in this digital advertising evolution is fashion. The integration between the social network, the marketers, and fashion outlets has made shopping for clothes both a seamless and desirable activity (Kozlowska, 2019). One of the most harmful effects of this cultural shift is the rise of fast fashion. Also known as disposable fashion, it is aimed at pumping out cheaply made clothing that is supposed to be worn for a short while and then discarded in favour of a new trend.
Instagram is rapidly becoming one of the primary inspirations for fashion choices for the modern consumer. Instagram influencers are reported to be chief fashion inspiration for approximately 17% of the people, as a survey by Fashion Retail Academy reveals (Skeldon, 2019). Consumers are not unaware of the trend, especially the younger generation: about 73% of respondents say that Instagram personalities are to blame for the rise of fast fashion. That awareness, however, does not translate into abstaining from it, as fast fashion brands are successfully operating and advertising around the world (Wood, 2019). Despite the claims that Generation Z and the young people, in general, are more environmentally conscious and sustainability-driven than ever, the sales of such brands as Missguided continue to grow.
Perhaps the most telling testimonies about the drive of fast fashion come from the consumers themselves. Paton, Lorenz, and Kwai (2019) present interviews from several teenage and young adult girls, which shed some light on the thought process that drives this new brand of consumerism. As they use Instagram and other social media apps to share their looks to their followers, their chief concern is not to appear in the same outfit twice. They also use Instagram to find fashion inspiration, which is where they likely picked up that ethic of not wearing the same outfit twice from the influencers that promote the clothing. A positive trend is buying second-hand clothes due to price considerations, but it is unlikely to offset the almost daily purchases of new clothes from fast fashion outlets.
The environmental concern of many of the journalists that cover the worrying trend appears to be justified. According to Boström and Micheletti (2016), the textile and clothing industry is one of the biggest polluters of the planet. As an example of some of the best-known human rights violations of the modern world, many clothing producers rely on sweatshops that run on what is essentially slave labour. Driving the production expenses down to be competitive in the fast fashion environment can cost fashion brands actual human lives, for which they have rarely been held accountable. Another critical factor to consider is the harmful impact on the environment due to land use, chemical waste, and air and water pollution. The consumer culture that has grown around Instagram fame and influencer marketing only serves to accelerate and reinforce these practices as demand rises and costs drop. Considering that, according to Paton, Lorenz, and Kwai (2019), sustainable clothing is more expensive than the unsustainable, and that there is a social pressure to always buy new articles of it, it is unlikely that the problem can be solved without some significant upheaval of the current consumer culture.
Envy as a Driver of Consumerism
It has become a truism in recent years that advertisements do not sell products, but experiences or a lifestyle. When the general public became savvy and less receptive to traditional forms of advertising, Instagram influencers became the go-to for creating content that appears authentic. With that degree of authenticity that is necessary to stay competitive, influencers inevitably begin to project their own lives onto the content they make. Because for some of them, it is a primary source of income and business, the content is likely to have high production values. A single sponsored picture posted to Instagram can have entire teams of professional photographers, lighting engineers, makeup artists, tailors, and editors working on it. Naturally, that does not create a representative depiction of real life, while claiming to do so for the relatability, authenticity, and trustworthiness crucial to effective marketing. No actual human life can measure up to that polished snapshot of artificial reality, creating feelings of envy and inadequacy in Instagram users.
Influencers posting about their daily lives, even without sponsored content, can cause users to feel inadequate. According to Chae (2017), the projections of influencers’ daily lives can negatively impact the users’ emotional wellbeing when they are expressly interested in them. The effect is lessened for the followers that view informational content with an express purpose. Some types of content may trigger social comparison behaviour more than others, which can also influence the feelings of envy in the viewers. A significant mediator is the viewers themselves, as social comparison and subsequent envy was more pronounced in individuals with low self-esteem and high self-consciousness. As the author focused on the female perspective, a particular point was made in the paper that an image of a successful woman who ‘has it all’ can have additional repercussions on the users’ mental state. These images are as artificial as advertisements, and as reliant on perceived authenticity to drive engagement.
Like any other emotional state, envy can be harnessed to drive the purchasing decisions of the consumers being advertised to. According to Jin and Ryu (2020), there are different patterns of envy between men and women, which they recommend to take into account when making advertisements. According to the authors, men seem to feel greater intragender competitiveness, which drives them to purchase the products advertised using selfies and photos of a single person. Women, on the other hand, feel envy as a form of parasocial interaction, thus feeling more envious of groups of women, which influence their purchasing decisions more. These findings represent the commodification of envy and the ability of advertisers to consciously manipulate feelings of competitiveness and social comparison, as well as the subconscious mechanisms that allow people to relate to media personalities as if they were real acquaintances.
The negative consequences of viewing Instagram posts of strangers and influencers are a well-researched topic at this point. According to Lup, Trub, and Rosenthal (2015), viewing the content generated by friends and acquaintances may be associated with positive emotional affect, because the social media images of their daily lives are balanced with the knowledge of their actual lives. However, that knowledge is not present in case of strangers, and their social media images become associated with reality, which triggers unfavourable social comparison and subsequent adverse psychological effects. The same cannot be said about negative body image that results in women from seeing others on Instagram; the negative effects are present both for celebrities and peers (Brown and Tiggemann, 2016). Feelings of inadequacy and envy seem to be endemic to a social network that is based on sharing pictures of oneself, and they appear to increase when viewing successful influencers that can afford to project an unrealistically perfect image of daily life.
Unrealistic Body Image
As it was mentioned already, the pictures and videos that Instagram influencers tend to post are highly produced artificial depictions of a life that does not exist. The staged, well-lit, and heavily-edited bodies of influencers invite unfair comparisons and decrease body satisfaction of the users. The culture of disposable fashion and filtered selfies is perpetuated by regular users, spreading and integrating itself further into the people’s daily lives. The influence of Instagram and its edited and manipulated collective visage is so strong and pervasive that people have begun referencing it while getting cosmetic or plastic surgery (Kelly, 2020). The plastic surgery has seen record spending, and the most popular procedures are those that are performed by face-editing apps. People engage in social comparison and find themselves lacking, while their ideal is completely fabricated.
That ideal being the stranger, the influencer, or the model, can be more detrimental to the psychological wellbeing of an individual, as previously stated. Moreover, Vendemia and DeAndrea (2018) suggest that acquaintances and friends that engage in similar behaviour are viewed as more pathologic and less virtuous. The thin, attractive, sexualized professional models that posted pictures on Instagram were regarded as posting these images as motivation or inspiration. The people from real life that also posted sexualized pictures were regarded as doing it for the attention, and thus less virtuous, altruistic, and intelligent. It appears that this mismatch of judgement can elevate models and influencers, driving upward social comparison and making them even more salient when internalizing ideal body type.
The negative impacts of these body comparisons on the psychological wellbeing are well-researched at this point as well. Its adverse effects are especially pronounced for women, who tend to engage in parasocial relationships more often, and thus compare themselves to others (Jin and Ryu, 2020). Several articles describe how edited pictures are more harmful to the self-esteem of an Instagram user than non-edited ones. Tiggemann and Anderberg (2019) describe how seeing highly manipulated fake pictures triggers upward social comparison, which leads to feelings of envy and inadequacy. However, seeing the non-edited picture, or both the edited and non-edited pictures together creates a more relevant target for comparison, which features a less attractive and less thin model. Comparisons often become lateral or downward in that case, which leads to increased self-esteem, even if it is at the expense of someone else.
Earlier research on the topic supports these findings and adds several additional points. Kleemans, Daalmans, Carbaat, and Anschütz (2016) have found that there are personal differences in the perception of edited and non-edited pictures by adolescent girls. Girls with a lower tendency to engage in social comparison do not exhibit significant differences in personal body image after viewing edited and unedited pictures. However, the body image of girls who were prone to social comparison was especially lower after seeing edited pictures. The authors suggested that even if image manipulations are disclosed to the public, they still facilitate the negative body image.
There is evidence to suggest that no measures can hold the body image dissatisfaction in check effectively. An article by Tiggemann, Anderberg, and Brown (2020) suggests that including body-positive captions to pictures of female bodies does not have any effect on social comparison or body image. The picture itself is the only thing that has any effect on the body image of an Instagram user. It is reasonable to suggest that when body-positive captions about acceptance and celebration of all body types are included with pictures of conventionally attractive thin women, they are seen as disingenuous pandering, and, at best, have no effect. However, the same captions could help women internalize a more positive beauty ideal when they are accompanied by larger, plus-size models.
It appears that the marketing industry has come to similar conclusions regarding body types of models and influencers. Shoenberger, Kim, and Johnson (2019) describe how purchasing decisions are manipulated more effectively by influencers with a diverse set of body types. Pictures of plus-size models with no digital enhancements are reported to increase the perceived authenticity of the message to a female audience. The dissemination of these findings to marketers may increase the presence of plus-sized, or otherwise divergent models, and decrease the amount of digital editing of the pictures. While that may reduce the incidence of negative body image and subsequent psychological problems in girls and women, that perspective does not take other ethical considerations into account. For example, the influencer’s daily life, which is also a fabrication aimed at perceived authenticity, remains a driver of unfavourable social comparison. Moreover, the findings may force influencers or marketers to find other, better forms of picture editing, which are as harmful while being harder to distinguish.
Reference List
Amazon’s marketing strategy with social media influencers. (no date).
Boström, M. and Micheletti, M. (2016) ‘Introducing the sustainability challenge of textiles and clothing’, Journal of Consumer Policy, 39(4), pp. 367–375. doi:10.1007/s10603-016-9336-6
Brown, Z., and Tiggemann, M. (2016) ‘Attractive celebrity and peer images on Instagram: Effect on women’s mood and body image’, Body Image, 19, pp. 37–43. doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2016.08.007
Chae, J. (2017) ‘Explaining females’ envy toward social media influencers’, Media Psychology, 21(2), pp. 246–262. doi:10.1080/15213269.2017.1328312
Jin, S. V. and Ryu, E. (2020) ‘“I’ll buy what she’s #wearing”: The roles of envy toward and parasocial interaction with influencers in Instagram celebrity-based brand endorsement and social commerce’, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 55, 102121. doi:10.1016/j.jretconser.2020.102121
Hajli, M. N. (2014) ‘A study of the impact of social media on consumers’, International Journal of Market Research, 56(3), pp. 387–404. doi:10.2501/ijmr-2014-025
Kleemans, M., Daalmans, S., Carbaat, I., and Anschütz, D. (2016) ‘Picture perfect: The direct effect of manipulated instagram photos on body image in adolescent girls’, Media Psychology, 21(1), pp. 93–110. doi:10.1080/15213269.2016.1257392
Kozlowska, H. (2019) Why go to the mall when you can look at Instagram?
Lup, K., Trub, L., and Rosenthal, L. (2015) ‘Instagram #Instasad?: Exploring associations among Instagram use, depressive symptoms, negative social comparison, and strangers followed’, Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 18(5), pp. 247–252. doi:10.1089/cyber.2014.0560
Schomer, A. (2019) Influencer marketing: State of the social media influencer market in 2020. Web.
Schouten, A. P., Janssen, L., and Verspaget, M. (2019) ‘Celebrity vs. Influencer endorsements in advertising: the role of identification, credibility, and Product-Endorser fit’, International Journal of Advertising, 39(2), pp. 258-281. doi:10.1080/02650487.2019.1634898
Shoenberger, H., Kim, E., and Johnson, E. K. (2019) ‘#BeingReal about Instagram ad models: The effects of perceived authenticity’, Journal of Advertising Research, 35. doi:10.2501/jar-2019-035
Skeldon, P. (2019) Social influencers have led to the rise in fast fashion, with 30% of shoppers using Instagram for inspiration.
The state of influencer marketing 2020 (no date).
Tiggemann, M., and Anderberg, I. (2019) ‘Social media is not real: The effect of “Instagram vs reality” images on women’s social comparison and body image’, New Media & Society, 146144481988872. doi:10.1177/1461444819888720
Tiggemann, M., Anderberg, I., & Brown, Z. (2020) ‘#Loveyourbody: The effect of body positive Instagram captions on women’s body image’, Body Image, 33, pp. 129–136. doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2020.02.015
Vendemia, M. A., and DeAndrea, D. C. (2018) ‘The effects of viewing thin, sexualized selfies on Instagram: Investigating the role of image source and awareness of photo editing practices’, Body Image, 27, pp. 118–127. doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2018.08.013
The growth of the internet has led to a surge in the development of online applications. Twitter and instagram are examples of social media applications that are widely used by internet enthusiasts. Both applications are great tools that have eased communication between people in different parts of the world.
They have created a phenomenon that marks a critical period in the evolution of technology. Social networking sites offer opportunities for people to interact and conduct business from different geographical locations in the world. Businesses have taken advantage of both applications to improve their business processes and operations.
For instance, they use the applications to advertise their goods and services as well as create strong relationships with customers. Twitter and instagram have attracted many users because they are free to join, easy to use, and very efficient in communication.
Advantages and disadvantages of twitter
Twitter is a social networking tool that has a large online community that comprises millions of users and visitors. It has advantages and disadvantages that affect its embracement and use among internet enthusiasts. One of the major advantages of twitter is that it is free to join (Fitton 44). This means that an individual is not required to pay a subscription or registration fee (Lipshcultz 34). After joining, it is easy to connect with millions of people in different parts of the globe.
The process of registration takes a few minutes because it has few requirements and restrictions. Unlike other social networking websites, twitter’s registration process does not require users to give detailed personal information (Lipshcultz 35). The site is free from advertisements that are usually a common source of distraction. The website’s interface is easy to use and navigate. Therefore, it makes communication easy and enjoyable.
For instance, celebrities connect with their fans by posting messages and photographs. A large online community is beneficial to businesses because they can use the application to inform their customers about new products and services, changes in business operations, and upcoming promotions (Lipshcultz 37).
This enables businesses to attract new customers and improve their sales. In addition, businesses can also use the platform to conduct market research in order to obtain information that is vital in determining prevailing market forces, demands, and emerging trends (O’Guinn et al. 29).
Many people join twitter to socialize with other users. A new user needs only to follow individuals that they are interested in befriending (Fitton 44). Unlike other social networking websites, there is no need for confirmation after following another user. Finally, twitter provides high- level security features for its users that make it difficult for online hackers to steal their personal information for other uses.
Twitter has several disadvantages too. One of the challenges that users face is spamming. Many people use twitter to promote their products, services, blogs, and other online endeavors (Fitton 46). They send spam tweets to their followers in efforts to increase online traffic to their websites and blogs (O’Guinn et al. 31). Due to the high number of daily users, the website experiences overloading problems that sometimes crash it.
This interferes with its effectiveness in communication and online networking. Another disadvantage is the propensity to become addicted to twitter from constant use. As the number of users increase, the frequency of visiting the site also increases (Fitton 47). For instance, users who follow celebrities easily get addicted because they develop the urge to always read and send replies to their posts. Twitter addiction leads to waste of precious time that can be used for more important endeavors (Lipshcultz 47).
In the case of young people, they lose time that they could use to improve their academic performance. Twitter messages are limited to 140 characters only. Therefore, it is sometimes difficult to communicate effectively. In order to succeed in using twitter as an advertising application, it is important to have a large number of followers. It is difficult to attract followers especially if one is not famous. In order to overcome this challenge, many users purchase third party software that help them to obtain followers.
Users who use software to obtain followers are banned from using the service because of spamming. Finally, twitter performs poorly with regard to viewing videos and photos when compared to other social networking services (Fitton 56). In addition, it is limited in the scope of fun activities it offers users to pursue. It is limited to tweeting, posting pictures, and uploading videos. Therefore, it offers inadequate opportunities for users to have fun.
Advantages and disadvantages of instagram
Instagram was developed several years after twitter was launched and has grown significantly. Many people have abandoned twitter in favor of instagram because it offers more exciting opportunities for fun experiences. Like twitter, it is an effective tool for communication and socialization among people in different geographical locations across the world. Instagram has advantages and disadvantages that determine its popularity and use.
An important advantage of instagram is its feature that allows users to share photographs (Abbott 2). This feature is common among students who share photographs of assignments. Instagram offers users an opportunity to alter pictures in order to create different visual effects. Business owners use the application to promote their businesses because it is easy and free to use (Lipshcultz 51). In communication, pictures are more effective than words.
Therefore, businesses can influence the purchasing patterns of customers by posting nice pictures of their products (O’Guinn et al. 37). The pictures can also be accompanied by brief descriptions that improve their effectiveness in communicating specific messages. Instagram offers effective privacy features that enable users to restrict the number of people that can access their profiles (Lipshcultz 52). In addition, it protects the integrity of users because it has a feature that blocks followers who post bad comments.
Instagram has several disadvantages that users need to consider before registering. The application does not allow individuals to post links to other websites. This is disadvantageous especially to businesses because they cannot link their accounts with their websites and blogs (O’Guinn et al. 38).
Such linking would increase online traffic to their websites. Many of the pictures uploaded by users are usually altered in order to create desired visual effects (Abbott 3). It is sometimes difficult to determine whether a photo is original or not. Another downside of the application is the propensity of individuals to copy pictures posted by other users for personal use in other websites. It is common for rogue internet users to copy the photos of celebrities and use them in ways that affect their reputation.
Instagram is limited in its application because it is impossible to upload photographs from a personal computer. The application only runs on mobile phones. Even though the application’s developers offer privacy settings that restrict the number of people than can access a user’s profile, third party applications have been developed to circumvent certain privacy settings.
Finally, using instagram is a time-intensive activity. A lot of time is spent in approving new followers, reading comments, sending replies, and taking pictures to upload. These activities consume time that could be used for more beneficial activities.
Rating
Based on their features, effectiveness, and user experiences, the two applications have different ratings. I would award twitter a rating of 4 stars and instagram a rating of 3 stars. Twitter allows users to post links, upload long videos, and use privacy settings to avoid spamming. In addition, it is easy to use.
On the other hand, instagram has a lower rating because it blocks users from posting links, limits the size of videos that can be uploaded, and alters the appearance of pictures.
Many users post edited pictures that are used fake to their physical appearance. Businesses can benefit more from using twitter than they can from using instagram. Instagram has many features that limit user experiences. Even though instagram offers better user privacy settings than twitter, third party applications have been developed to circumvent those settings.
Conclusion
Twitter and instagram are two of the most used social networking applications. They each have millions of users that post messages, pictures, and videos daily. Each of the application has a different class of followers because they offer different features and user experiences.
Advantages of twitter and instagram include fast, cheap and effective communication, effective platforms for socialization, and availability of business opportunities. Their disadvantages include a propensity for addiction and time wastage. Twitter limits the size of messages to 140 characters thus affecting the effectiveness of communication. Instagram does not limit the size of messages that users can post. However, it does not allow users to post links to other websites.
This makes it less useful as a business tool for advertisement. Instagram includes filters that alter the appearance of images. An advantage of twitter is that it does not have a limit to the size of video files that can be uploaded. Instagram has a limit to the size of video files that can be uploaded thus affecting user experience. I would give twitter a rating of 4 stars and instagram a rating of 3 stars.
Works Cited
Abbott, Wendy, Donaghey Jessie, Hare Joanna, and Hopkins Peta. The Perfect Storm: the Convergence of Social, Mobile, and Photo Technologies in Libraries. 2014.
Fitton, Laura. Twitter for Dummies. New York: John Wiley & sons, 2012. Print.
Lipshcultz, Jeremy. Social Media Communication: Concepts, Practices, Data, Law, and Ethics. New York: Routledge.
O’Guinn, Thomas, Allen Chris, Semenik Richard, and Scheinbaum, Angeline. Advertising and Integrated Brand Promotion. New York: Cengage Learning, 2014. Print.
We are living in a world that relies on different technologies more and more. Humans cannot imagine their lives without smartphones, tablets, and numerous platform-specific apps that became available throughout the last decade. Our society began shifting towards an updated version of itself because we are becoming more digital and willing to interact with others on the territory of the Internet. With this in mind, an interesting mobile application appeared on the market. It allowed people to share their photos and was organized in the form of a social network using concepts such as followers and likes. The title of this app was Instagram. Since its initial release, the application became much more powerful and stable, similar to its real-life impact. The influence of Instagram became more of a trend rather than a consistent pattern because of its major popularity among the younger layer of the world’s population. Therefore, it can be hypothesized that the positive impact of Instagram is multifaceted and can be divided into several different directions that combine into a unique experience helping humans to appreciate themselves and find more ways to live in harmony.
How Instagram Impacts Our Society
The first reason to believe that Instagram is rather influential and positively affects our society is the development of an open forum for opinions. Using sharing pictures, we become able to amalgamate with the world that is oversaturated with text. In other words, there are Instagram users that decided to take on the role of social monitors and share the most vivid pieces of information with their followers. This resulted in a situation where their visual messages capture the attention of a large auditory that is interested in seeing these images. Therefore, Instagram is responsible for the advent of the so-called social critics that can also be defined as activists of the social networking world (Al-Kandari et al. 55). It can also be mentioned here that Instagram contributed to the development of a segment of society that can be characterized as a proactive youth. The latter is interested in resolving the issues that impact our society, but they are doing it in an improved way.
Another way in which Instagram affects our society is a direct shift toward a consumerist society. Every day that you spend on Instagram, you will be bombarded by images and videos shared by numerous brand names that are trying to convince you to purchase their products. This led to a situation where Instagram turned into a virtual battlefield where different businesses are trying to conquer the market and reach a bigger audience daily (Al-Kandari et al. 55). For the majority of these companies, it is a mere marketing opportunity, but it has an impact on our culture as well. We see these visual advertisements every day, and it leads to a situation where the modern youth is growing up with the idea that they may be subject to buying some of these products because they are promoted on Instagram. Currently, approximately more than half of all businesses that have Instagram accounts have tried to use Instagram for their marketing purposes. This significantly impacted our culture and turned out to be a switch that can be perceived as a painless modification of modern values that were replaced by some slightly more materialistic worldviews (Hochman and Manovich 10). This led to a situation where youth became more narcissistic while trying to show off and get in line with large brands that are always marketing expensive products.
At the same time, one of the biggest advantages of Instagram that impacted our society the most is the ability to interact with other people from all over the world. We can talk to people that we will never meet in person because they live too far but we will always have the opportunity to see how they live and what their interests are (Salomon 408). The essential impact of this possibility lies in the fact that our society becomes more online-oriented and now we can interact remotely instead of being tied to our local places, friends, and events. From this point of view, Instagram is practically magic because it allows you to go live and talk to people that you may never see in person throughout the whole life.
The last way in which Instagram impacted our society is how it gives us access to numerous sources of information. The difference is that Instagram significantly facilitated and reworked this process so now we do not have to go and watch TV, for example, or read newspapers. On the one hand, the modern generation can be seen as the laziest one, but there is nothing wrong with using all the means of technological innovations to learn more about the latest news from all over the world in a matter of seconds (Al-Kandari et al. 56). The culture of hashtagging took over the Internet by storm and Instagram is known as the frontrunner of this movement. Even though there may be posts that are hashtagged merely for the sake of it and their relevance is questionable, the majority of posts are designed to be informative and provide all the necessary information to any person interested in these facts. Our society majorly benefits from using Instagram, and it may be safe to say that being lazy does not always bear a negative connotation, especially when it comes to using Instagram to access chats with friends from all over the world and breaking news from all areas of interest.
Conclusion
There will be applications that will follow the example of Instagram and create an even more powerful impact on our culture. These online tools will give us the possibility to access different sources of information instantaneously. On a bigger scale, it can be concluded that even though the impact of Instagram on our society is a major event in human history, this is only the beginning and the practices regarding the creation of a perfect social networking app will be reviewed numerous times. While considering the bad sides of Instagram, we should appreciate it for the opportunity to reach out to the world and share a personal vision that can contribute to the cultural and behavioral development of our society. Therefore, the impact of the use of Instagram can be seen as powerful as a political campaign that is commonly launched as a means of shaping community views and interests. For the modern youth, Instagram became a unique news sharing opportunity that has an unlimited potential that must be used by both government and distinct individuals.
Works Cited
Al-Kandari, Ali, et al. “The Influence of Culture on Instagram Use.” Journal of Advances in Information Technology , vol. 7, no. 1, 2016, pp. 54-57.
Hochman, Nadav, and Lev Manovich. “Zooming into an Instagram City: Reading the Local Through Social Media.” First Monday, vol. 18, no. 7, 2013, pp. 1-14.
Salomon, Danielle. “Moving on from Facebook: Using Instagram to Connect with Undergraduates and Engage in Teaching and Learning.” College & Research Libraries News, vol. 74, no. 8, 2013, pp. 408-412.
The target audience of the #Bloomieselfie instagram contest were fans especially women who had interest in the competition as well as the participants. Women value beauty and this competition was important as it was able to enlighten them on tips to ensure they stay attractive (McCarthy, 2013).
The #Bloomieselfie instagram contest was looking for fans in general but women were selected because beauty tips are of more value to them as compared to men. The issue that was being addressed by this competition was conducting an informative campaign on beauty tips (McCarthy, 3013).
Considering the problem situation, many women are not informed of various beauty tips they can apply. In addition, while the #Bloomieselfie Instagram contest was in progress campaigns had to be run so as to inform the fans of the various entrants and to present an opportunity for them to vote. It was an opportunity for all fans not just women only to appreciate selfies (McCarthy, 2013).
The use of social media is very effective as it enables information to reach many people at once. Furthermore it is a very cost effective means of advertising as compared to using advertising agencies or the mass media (McCarthy, 2013).
The #Bloomieselfie instagram contest was successful as more awareness about beauty tips and self-confidence was created. This is ascertained by more likes on their Facebook page and an increase of their followers on twitter (McCarthy, 2013).
It would be appropriate for more competitions of this nature to be launched so as to help in improving self-esteem and self-confidence of individuals as well as increase the level of public awareness of beauty.
Model S Fire
The target audience is the prospective car buyers and by extension all individuals. The S car model hit a metal object and the battery of the car caught fire. The fire department personnel were called and ascertained that the use of water and dry chemical extinguisher was very effective (Musk, 2013).
This was a safety procedure that is important to all individuals. Prospective car buyers prefer a model that is efficient and capable of adaptation in all instances. Tesla was also targeting those are interested to learn more about the S model and the issue that was being addressed was the resilience of the car in severe conditions (Musk, 2013).
The problem situation tackles the severity if a gasoline car hit the metal object on the highway. The issue Tesla was trying to raise concerns the safety of a car even in the event of an accident (Musk, 2013).
Tesla’s use of social media is very effective since they are able to market the S2 model and in the process educating the public on fire safety procedures. The use of social media enables Tesla to display the tenacity of the battery pack in the S model.
The marketing plan is very successful since awareness is created easily and in turn the S model car is also marketed. Furthermore the plan succeeds in educating the public on what causes battery fire (Musk, 2013).
The battery packs implemented in cars should be able to withstand extreme conditions just like the S model battery pack. In addition, safety measures should be put in place to make the gasoline car safer so as to ensure safety before any accident occurs.
References
McCarthy, J. (2013). Bloomingdales balances selfies with beauty tips in Instagram contest. Web.
Confinement of photographs to a square silhouette was unheard of until Instagram emerged. Instagram is an online service that facilitates photo-sharing and social networking. It allows users to take pictures, filter them using digital filters, and then share them on social networking sites of their choice.
Company background
The advent of Instagram brought a new experience for social networking enthusiasts. Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger developed it in 2010 to improve social networking (Lux, 2010). The service was originally unavailable to many people because it was limited to the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch only.
At the time, it had very few users. However, after adapting it for use in Android operating system in 2012, its popularity rose. Statistics showed that Instagram users increased to 100 million in 2012 after its introduction to the Android operating system (Lux, 2010).
After its adoption for android, more than 1 million users downloaded Instagram on the first day. In April 2012, Facebook acquired it at a price of approximately $1 billion dollars.
Industry background
The social networking industry has grown tremendously for the last few years. Each entrant tries to develop unique services that will guarantee its dominance on the market. Some dynamics of the social media include ranking and content (Lux, 2010).
It is important for participants to possess knowledge on the strategy used by competitors in order to develop a strategy that will facilitate dominance and competition.
In addition, content is important. This includes what is on offer, its quality, value, variety, amount of activity, and its effectiveness (Lux, 2010). These aspects determine success in the industry.
E-business/ IT background
Instagram is unique from other photo sharing and social networking sites because of its technology. It mainly focuses on photo sharing. Instagram uses a combination of SQL and NoSQL technologies and open source applications.
Mai technologies include an operating system, load balancing, WSGI, data storage, task queue, and monitoring (Lux, 2010). Other technologies used include Sentry, Pingdom, PagerDuty, Gearman, Pyapns, and Vmtouch among others.
Analysis
Instagram is facing several challenges. First, there is stiff competition from other photo-sharing services. These include Pixlr-O-Matic, PicPlz, Hipster, and StreamZoo (Henry, 2012).
Secondly, their new privacy rules will make it less appealing than it was before acquisition by Facebook. Instagram can now sell users’ photographs to third parties without the consent of users.
Thirdly, better services have been developed that provide better services than Instagram. For example, Pixlr-O-Matic has 68 digital filters while Instagram has 18 (Henry, 2012). In addition, it has additional features that Instagram misses. This makes it more appealing than Instagram.
Instagram is a highly feasible idea comparing its success after its launch. Currently, it has over 100 million users. Instagram possesses ability to generate revenue. For example, it recently diversified its services to include a product that enables users to view feds on the web (Henry, 2012).
This has made assess to user content easier, an opened an avenue for Instagram to make money. Instagram has more opportunities to generate revenue through advertisements even though it does not generate any revenue currently.
Its business model is based on the fact that people love images and might spend a lot of time on the internet. This will give advertisers opportunity to market their brands.
Recommendation
Instagram is an excellent service that has a bright future. It does not currently generate revenue but with new products under development, it will start generating income soon. Even though alternatives such as Pixlr-O-Matic, PicPlz, Hipster, and StreamZoo exist, they are not as popular as Instagram (Henry, 2012).
Its 100mmillion users imply availability of more opportunities for investors. This makes it a viable business that people should invest in.
Conclusion
Instagram is one of the e-business start-ups that have taken the world by surprise. Instagram allows capture and sharing of photographs on social networking sites. Since its acquisition by facebook, many things have changed that will affect it prominence.
Its new privacy rules are unappealing and may affect its popularity. Instagram is a viable start-up business that has a bright future despite stiff competition.
Instagram is a website that enables people to share information on the internet. Facebook started the website in 2010 to make users have a unique platform on which to share their photos (Instagram, n.d). Therefore, users are presented with an excellent site on which to share their videos and photos, as well as interact with their family and friends.
The networking approach of Instagram has made people create networks that are important for both social interacting and marketing purposes. Its services offered are supported on the following computing applications: Apple App Store and Phone Store. Although the services of the site were initially available on limited devices such as the iPhones and iPads, they are now accessed via Android camera phones.
The increase in the number of devices that could support the application has led to an increase in the number of users (Instagram, n.d). For example, a few weeks after the social networking website was started, it attracted about one million consumers. A year later, the clientele base grew by 5million users.
Surprisingly, in 2012, Instagram had more than 30 million users (Instagram, n.d). This essay aims at developing an effective customer relationship management (CRM) plan about Instagram. It is expected that the plan would lead to better relationships between the site and users (Chen & Popovich, 2003; Newell, 2001). It would be important to execute an excellent CRM plan due to the ever-growing clientele base of Instagram.
SWOT analysis
SWOT analysis is an approach that is used by businesses to identify crucial factors that could impact their performance outcomes. To identify the areas to focus on when developing a CRM plan, it would be important to understand various issues about the website. A SWOT analysis will help in comprehending the internal and external factors that could impact the social networking provider.
The provider would have control over the internal factors, i.e., strengths and weaknesses. On the other hand, it cannot control the external factors that could influence it either negatively or positively. About internal factors, strengths of business lead to better outcomes while weaknesses result in undesired outcomes.
Opportunities for a business in the external environment present chances of growth to a firm while threats increase the probability of a company to record poor financial results. SWOT analysis of Instagram shows that it has the following components:
Strengths
A sizeable social networking site
A free communication platform
A global presence
A popular brand
Many users (more than 50 million users)
A series of applications
Stable technologies
Adequate number of workers
Weaknesses
Slow in responding to users
Bugs that interfere with applications
Users cannot customize their pages
Fake accounts on the website
Insecure personal information
Opportunities
Potential to increase revenues
The online attraction of customers
Anticipated growth in the future
Advertising via mobile devices
Online analysis of market dynamics
Threats
Competition business rivals
New market entrants
Online photo leakage
Spamming of messages
Legal problems
Adverse government
Customer background and description
Instagram is a global site that supports consumers from countries across the world. Thus, when its founders were designing it, they had in mind that they could provide a website that could support customers from different lifestyles. History of customers about Instagram shows that the website is mostly visited by people aged 30 and under (Instagram, n.d).
The ages are important because they show that the younger generation is computer literate and it can run applications through digital devices such as cameras and modern phones. In terms of industry, the website does not have users who are inclined toward a certain industry. Users could be from different sectors of the economy. Therefore, the proposed plan will address customer issues from a holistic perspective.
Specific customer needs
It would be essential to understand the needs of customers of Instagram so that the proposed CRM plan could effectively address all issues that could lead to better utilization of services (Chen & Popovich, 2003). Instagram users are interested in creating their accounts and uploading photos, which they can share with their family and friends. Customers need fast applications that could be used to upload and download images.
This implies that the servers that are used by the website should be stable and always support internet connections. Customers require a safe website whereby they would be assured of the safety of their private information.
This is particularly important because some people could use other persons’ data for criminal purposes. Users would need a site that could provide immediate responses to users when they aim at knowing some issues about some applications or safety matters, among others.
Additional customer opportunities
Although Instagram was created to provide a platform on which to share photos and interact online, users of the website could bring some potential opportunities that could be utilized to increase revenues. Thus, it would be important for the management to be alert about opportunities that might be presented by customers. The opportunities can be known if the website can adopt an interactive relationship with its users.
For example, users might show interest in using the site for additional purposes like transactions. The management can evaluate the feasibility of such an opportunity to determine whether it could result in an increase in market share and gain competitive advantage. However, there could be some risks associated with opportunities.
Therefore, it would be important to conduct a risk analysis before implementing approaches that would be intended to reap from additional opportunities (Newell, 2001).
Relationship strategy
A strategic approach would be important in developing and maintaining a relationship between a business and a customer (Newell, 2001). Such a relationship should be mutual. An important aspect of creating an excellent relationship is an understanding of customer needs. When Instagram understands customer requirements, it would be easy for the management to develop and execute a unique platform on which a relationship would be conducted (Newell, 2001).
The current relationship is not healthy because customers do not receive instant feedback from the website. Thus, the site could view improvement in the customer relationship as a strategic move that could result in more users. For the site to improve customer relationship, it should adopt automated systems of responding to customer queries.
Also, an adequate number of personnel could be employed to respond to unique customer issues that may not be addressed by automated responses. About Instagram, there is not anticipated conflict in customer relationships. Also, there are no individuals or groups that must be part of the relationship.
A communication plan
When a firm adopts effective communication with its customers, it ensures that it builds and maintains healthy business interactions with customers that lead to improved business performance outcomes. The aim of a communication plan is to ensure that customers are provided with the required information promptly.
Instagram will maintain healthy communication with its customers by ensuring that it has an adequate number of personnel to communicate with customers. Although the frequency of communication cannot be predicted because it would be affected by several factors, it would be high. The type of information to be communicated to customers will depend on what customers would want from the site (Belch, Belch, Kerr & Powell, 2008).
Also, Instagram can also communicate with customers because of initiating promotions and other businesses. For example, the management could decide to remind users to update their accounts if it detects that some users have stayed for a relatively period without logging into their accounts. Various approaches to communication will be adopted. While the use of emails would appear convenient, customers might take a long time before they respond.
Thus, the management would be requested to adopt communication via mobile phones. Before starting communication, it will be essential for the website to determine its purpose (Chen & Popovich, 2003). This is vital because the purpose of communication would imply that the right messages are delivered to users in time. Ultimately, users of photo-sharing services would be satisfied with the quality of customer service.
Value proposition
Value addition to customers is an important aspect in businesses because it identifies the unique approaches of offering products (Vargo, Maglio & Akaka, 2008). The concept helps firms to increase their market shares and gain competitive advantage. About Instagram, the website has been at the forefront of providing customers with an excellent platform on which to share their photos and interact online.
Just like its founding website, Facebook, the site ensures that customers interact instantly when they send and receive photos. The photo-sharing platform supports many applications, such as Google Play and App Store, which are utilized to upload and download photos. Customers do not need to have access to computers so that they could send and receive photos from their family members and friends.
Instagram provides efficient services that are supported by many communication devices, such as digital cameras and some mobile services. The broad spectrum of devices makes users utilize the services offered by the site. Instagram is unique about its competitors because it ensures that many people can use different devices to communicate (Belch et al., 2008).
The best value addition approach that has been adopted by the site is the use of modern technologies in communication. Thus, it provides its customers with hi-tech applications for various uses of photo-sharing and social networking.
Approvals
For this CRM plan to be effective, it must be approved by the management, which might form a team to review the recommendations proposed. If it is approved, then the suggestions will be implemented either at once or in phases, depending on the evaluation of the project by the management.
References
Belch, G. E., Belch, M. A., Kerr, G. F., & Powell, I. (2008). Advertising and promotion: An integrated marketing communications perspective. New York, NY: McGraw- hill.
Chen, I. J., & Popovich, K. (2003). Understanding customer relationship management (CRM): People, process and technology. Business process management journal, 9(5), 672-688.
Instagram. (n.d). Capture and share the world’s moments. Web.
Newell, F. (2001). Loyalty. com: Customer relationship management in the new era of Internet marketing. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, Inc..
Vargo, S. L., Maglio, P. P., & Akaka, M. A. (2008). On value and value co-creation: A service systems and service logic perspective. European management journal, 26(3), 145-152.