A few weeks ago I had far too much time on my hands and found myself idly scrolling through pictures on Instagram. Every now and then when I get really bored, I’m a little ashamed to admit that I just Instagram stalk some random people just to see what their pictures are like (be honest, you’ve done it too…). I get this kind of borderline awe for people with great photography and editing skills, so I typically find myself on some really great Instagram page clicking on picture after picture to get a better look and read captions. These people, who often become “Instagram famous,” typically post “selfies” and “foodie pics” and tag or hashtag the name of the company is that produces whatever item they may be wearing or consuming. This form of advertising seems to me more or equally as powerful as a blogger referencing some brand they prefer. Just by virtue of the fact that I already respect the postings of the person I’m virtually stalking, I want to check out the brand they use, too.
I’ve ended up following companies like Cobian Footwear, Ten Tree Apparel, and Slingshot Coffee simply because I was led to their Instagram pages by a tag and happened to like the kinds of pictures that they were posting, too. Generally, if I visit the page of the company and see bad quality, uninteresting pictures I just leave the page, even if I like their product. However, if the pictures are interesting or there are images of things that match up with my personal interests, I’m hooked. I usually end up doing some more poking around, and, generally, follow the company just for their page content.
As I mentioned before, all of the brands I’m about the describe, I wound up following as a result of being led to their page by someone else on Instagram. To save myself some embarrassment here, I won’t say who led me there, I’ll just discuss the reasons they caught my interest and gained me as one more follower…
Ten Tree Apparel posts action shots of outdoor activities, beautiful pictures of nature, scenic landscapes with a quote that relates to their work over it, and the like. I found this captivating because I love the outdoors and adored the fact that this company not only advertises planting trees for purchases, but also shows tangible evidence of their work. Without even visiting the website, I was able to gather that Ten Tree plants, well, ten trees every time an item is purchased from them. The fact that I was able to discern this solely from Instagram was incredibly impressive to me, so I hit follow and haven’t turned back since.
Cobian Footwear’s professional looking pictures of surfers who promote their product and action shots of water sports gave me me a similar sense of outdoor adventure (there’s a theme here), so I followed them too. Slingshot Coffee, on the other hand, appealed to me because they post pictures of their product (which is appealing in itself simply because the graphic design of the label is excellent), but also post pictures of what they do when they’re not working. There are shots of things like concerts and farmers markets that the makers attended, giving the brand a feel on inclusiveness and familiarity. I like seeing what’s going on behind the scenes and what exciting things these companies are interested in and out doing. It doesn’t have to be all business.
Now who knows, maybe I’m a rare case of an individual who happens to get a little too into Instagram, but the fact that companies like these have so many followers definitely says something about the quality of their content. In my mind it’s a big deal that I follow these brands because I don’t even follow many of the brands I actually use, not to mention I can’t vouch for the products of some of the ones I do follow, but their content keeps me interested. It led me not only to follow them, but to check out their websites and bring them up in conversation with other people. As a matter of fact, it even led me to write this blog post.
One of the most interesting things about social media is it’s ability to make people think, through a series of words and pictures, that someone’s life must be incredible. In reality, they’re probably really average and just happen to be pretty good at using the camera on their phone and have some great editing apps, but the image that they give off makes people want to follow them. Exciting pictures depicting some fantastic lifestyle make people feel like their peeking in on something extraordinary, but I think companies forget to look exciting and, instead, oftentimes get caught up in only posting pictures of their products or use the little window of space on Instagram for words. The reality is: that’s boring. I bought your product. I know what it looks like. And if I want to read about it, I’ll check your website or Twitter.
So, to all companies looking to gain more followers (or me as a follower, anyway): for the sake of your viewers’ newsfeeds, post pictures you’d consider printing out and hanging up. Lift the curtain and show people what you do behind the scenes; the fun things that happen when you’re at work and when you’re not. And most of all: let the guy (or girl) with a good eye for iPhone angles and the afterlight app do the posting.
The Transition Artist 