Making Instagram a Sharpier Place

Social media darling Instagram recently unveiled its online web profiles, presenting yet another user engagement channel that has the opportunity to capture a wider reach beyond mobile audiences.

I thought I had seen it all with Instagram – good practices and interesting campaigns helmed by big brands like BMW, Red Bull, Tiffany’s, Starbucks. But it was through this AdAge article that I was thrust into the greatness that is Sharpie’s Instagram presence.

 

Wait, come again?

Sharpie?

Yup, Sharpie. Unwittingly overlooked in the social media sphere by most of us, am I right? I can’t blame you. The brand doesn’t exactly inspire thoughts of social media engagement and conversation. But it’s that exact notion that helps the brand command a surprising but exceptional presence on Instagram. Now it makes so much sense. I might have been slow to the uptake, but its 40,000-plus followers have already figured it out.

Its profile constitutes a colourful collage of hand-drawn Sharpie creations, and provides a simple yet energetic form of creative visual marketing. For the timebeing, the doodles are imagined in-house by the company’s community manager. But with a hashtag, a call-to-action, and a horde of inspired followers eager to share, the engagement opportunities are endless. Susan Wassel, Sharpie’s social media lead, already plans to run with Instagram’s new web profiles: “By doing so, we hope to tap into fans who do not have access to an iPhone or Android device, giving them the opportunity to see the collection of Sharpie inspirations … thus continuing to inspire creative use of our products.”

And inspiring creative uses they shall. I, for one, am already inspired to dig up the ol’ Sharpie collection.