The recent Facebook announcements for brands regarding what can be done on Instagram (finally!) are still pretty disappointing. The story is very similar to Tumblr; Instagram promises marketers a sort of kiosk of relevant ads that will be presented to its growing user base. These ads would appear in the flow of pictures on Instagram, which could be clickable.
We already know it won’t necessarily work that way; on Instagram, people share their daily lives, fantasize, and “snack” on the millions of pieces of content.
A few kinds of content are performing extremely well, such as motivational content (just read about the success of fitness trainers on Instagram), travel Instagrammers or daily poets. But beyond these “positive” users, loads of things happen on Instagram: trash culture, drug culture and other things that are generally banned from social media articles are actually accessible in just a few clicks.
If social media was a city, Instagram would be this strange arty and hip neighbourhood, where you’d explore new cafés, while modern burlesque clubs would take the night on, you’d come across drug dealers and junk prophets. A mix of pop culture and underground trends.
The underground knows how to remain fairly inaccessible at first sight
To test this assumption, we have analyzed a very powerful community, the “pro ANA” community. It is probably (and sadly) one of the most efficient communities on Instagram. Nothing obvious at first sight (most of the hashtags related to pro-ANA are forbidden by Instagram), but the community knows how to connect despite an intense Instagram “washing.” (Pro ANA refers to the promotion of behaviors related to the eating disorder anorexia nervosa.)
Pro ANA Instagram activists find emerging Pro ANA users through a pretty subtle set of queries, and they very often connect to them, liking, commenting, following, and creating regular updates on which hashtags to use, which aren’t banned.
This intense battle led by pro-ANA paradoxically generates more attention from its members: there is a need to always be up-to-date with the new trends and to not be left behind. A fear of missing out seems to be key for this community.
It is worth noting that pro-ANA applies to Instagram what sects generally do to convert their members: an initial “door open” approach with strong support; then, a daily presence which is not directly imposing a constraint but which roots a cultural habit with the victims and slightly close the open doors; finally, a progressive learning system with stages, rewards and celebration.
This is where most of the power of Instagram lies; not through the explicit captions of pictures, but through private messages and through adding someone (or not). Instagram allows non-explicit communities to connect without the traditional social media tools: people following pro-ANA accounts and related friends are going to be suggested to similar people. A whole organization made of weak ties and invisible links is therefore created.
Brands love explicit relationships. Not Instagram users.
This kind of organization, which is the main social fuel on Instagram, is very tough to implement for a brand. Brands love “explicit” relationships. Brands love to categorize people in social layers, most of the time remaining at the very surface of interactions. Coca Cola loves its fans, explicit detractors, its nostalgia users and its newcomers – because this layering matches its marketing segmentation.
The truth is that on Instagram, people who share images of Coca Cola cans can do it in any number of different ways. People can smoke pot, drink diet coke and share it on Instagram. People create bongs out of Coca Cola bottles and share their creations on Instagram. People take selfies with a whole bunch of scenes in which the brand segment bursts.
Therefore, buying ads on Instagram, if well targeted, as is promised, could ultimately lead to inciting drug use. Something in contradiction with the spirit of Coca Cola: not being part of the solution (fighting against obesity, against dangerous behaviours…) but of the problem.
Brands are facing a tremendous noise on Instagram
As for other channels, noise is extremely tough to avoid for brands. Going back to this notion of accessibility (i.e: what do I get as a user in 1 click on a brand hashtag), we’ve analyzed 1 year of user generated content regarding Converse through a prototype we’ve developed with my agency.
The results are astonishing;
If “people” definitely share a lot of photos mentioning Converse, the noise represents most of the 1.5 million pictures crawled in the last 12 months.
This noise seems to accelerate proportionally to the rising number of users sharing photos of Converse on Instagram.
The most associated tags around Converse are those of competitors (Nike, Vans…) and those of very active online shops (sepatumurah etc.).
Trust people
The discovery function of Instagram (through “explore”) is more and more relevant, based on a strange chemistry of users’ actions (what they really consume, like, and comment on) and weak ties. This is crucial for users who actively dive into the Instagram cultural net, but it’s still highly complicated for brands to get rid of “verticals.” Facebook Fan Pages, though not that powerful compared to other social channels if marketers don’t buy ads, tend to simplify the daily lives of digital strategists. On Instagram, only brands who know how to deconstruct what they have to say through visuals can make relevance happen, to be discoverable beyond the hashtag noise.
Active listening is at stake
To shape this relevance, brands need to play the serendipity game and dare to connect with subcultures and more risky communities. By promoting them, rewarding them, and creating bespoke programs with this new sort of influencer, brands can enter some of the social mechanisms of Instagram users: follow for follow and tag for likes.