Caught on Cam – Instagram

Caught on Cam!?

Combine the hours I spend each day sitting in front of a computer and the hours spent with cell phone in hand, I can’t deny it – I’m a social media fanatic.  My precious Iphone 4, still hanging in there (with a broken button and often freezing home screen), keeps my social media accounts logged in at all times.  But, even if you’re a social guru like me, it can be difficult to keep up with all of the social media platforms and their constant changes.  I recently came across an article I thought was worth sharing with all of you like-minded social animals called “Diversify Your Social Media Marketing Platforms”.  The article was posted on inboundmarketingagents.com and talks about 7 brands that use Instagram videos effectively.

Videos taken to the Internet can go viral quick, and marketers are using this tool quite effectively.  Thinking of video sensations on the internet, you cannot ignore the popularity of YouTube.  With more than 1 billion unique users each month and having over 6 billion hours of video watched each month, there’s no denying its success.  Predictably, there’s a newcomer fresh out of the gate.  The popular photo-sharing social network app Instagram introduced its newest feature this summer—videos.

Instagram allows and encourages its users to post 15-second, customizable videos.  The 15-second Instagram videos cater to us with short attention spans.  I mean, I can pay attention, but who really wants to watch a 7-minute video of a cute baby laughing.  Okay, okay…  I’ve done it.  Admittedly, I also enjoy watching those videos of crazy circus cats flying off of furniture and bouncing off walls.  But there’s a time and place for everything, right?

What Instagram is offering its users is a more convenient way of shooting a short video, editing it, and uploading it all in a matter of minutes or seconds. Users can add Instagram’s trademark filters to the videos, giving them that vintage charm, making colors pop, or simply turning them into black and white classics.  So, who’s got the competition beat to the punch?  Let’s take a look at a few of the brands mentioned in the article.

1. Ford – used Instagram to show a short clip from inside the vehicle, demonstrating the way the vehicle rides and how quiet the inside of the car is
2. Nike – used a video of a person putting on and lacing up the Free Flynit shoe, shows how the shoe flexes and fits, ties into Nike’s traditional advertising by posting part of a commercial
3. Lululemon – used Instagram’s video feature to show what their brand is all about, featured a woman doing yoga.

Although Instagram videos are still fairly new, the brands above have been blazing trails with the new trend.  They’ve understood and acted on the understanding that you and I are more likely to spare 15 seconds to watch what promises to be an interesting clip.   These will surely not be the only brands to use Instagram’s newest feature, and maybe you should ask yourself, could this work for me?  Stay connected, you social animals.

Jaclyn Bickerton, Social Media, Raven5 Ltd, Oakville and Toronto Ontario, August 2013

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