Instagram, a social media platform where users can post pictures about their lives and share them with friends and their followers, is popular especially amongst teenagers. Typical #selfie photos, where users snap a photo of themselves showing their clothes and outfits are often used as inspirations among other users. However, the new ideas and fashion tips also have its downsides.
According to The Daily Mail, Instagram has created a new social media phenomenon among the teenagers called “Insta-envy”. Based on a survey by Vinspired, nearly half of the young instagram users envy other users’ fancy outfits and spend about $ 150 per month to be able to copy their idols’ looks. Alexa Chung, Cheryl Cole and Kim Kardashian were considered as the most popular fashion icons among the female users.
This interesting study and a phenomenon can be used as a great example about the power of the social media and the possibilities it can offer for companies. As discussed in class, in order to create and increase brand awareness, most brands use “influencers” who then act as brand ambassadors. So getting Kim Kardashian to wear your newest fashion piece and share it on Instagram would mean reaching a wide audience and therefore increasing your brand awareness.
However, targeting the most popular celebrities in your start-up’s social media strategy would perhaps not be the wisest thing to do, or even necessary. The key is to identify the influencers in your target market and try to benefit from them. Finally, I believe that Instagram show great potential for many companies – both large and small. With more than 30 million users (2012), and a fast growing user base, the audience and the opportunities are out there – we just have to learn how to capture them.