In the war to stay in the market and remain relevant, social networks have been using many weapons over the last few years. In a way, it could be said that all fashionable social networks have gone through a similar life cycle. They arrived, succeeded and positioned themselves as the element to be in, until a newer rival appeared with a ‘cooler’ offer and displaced the social network of the moment as the emerging star of the market.
When the social network on duty was in that dangerous position, seeing how another competitor occupied its position as the most ‘cool’, the situation became especially complicated in terms of branding. The declining social network had to convince consumers that it was still cool or seek out newer grasses. Facebook embraced at the time ceasing to be the star of youth and embraced middle age, but along the way it bought Instagram and made sure to remain at the epicenter of modernity. But what will Instagram do when it declines as the most modern social network of the moment?
Certain signals have been warning that Instagram could be entering at that time. Actually, the trend has been going on for a few years now, but Instagram has managed to give it a slip. When Snapchat was growing in buzz as the favorite social network for teenagers, Instagram incorporated a functionality that matched its offer and that generated the entire boom of stories in social media.
Now, Instagram is taking on TikTok and things are not going so well for it. TikTok is eating the market, it is establishing itself as the fashionable social network among the youngest and the attempts of other social networks to copy its claims are not managing to stop its growth.
Does Instagram fear the impact of TikTok on its brand image and its reputation as the hippest in the place? You could almost say yes bluntly. In addition to launching its own version of the videos that hit TikTok, Instagram has launched its first global ad campaign to create brand image. It’s a classic move that longtime companies have used for decades. One wonders if, given the problem in question, it will work.
The global Instagram campaign
As AdWeek has just published , Instagram launched the Yours to Make campaign last Friday in the United States and in the United Kingdom . The two countries function as the starting gun, because the campaign is global. Instagram’s forecasts are to launch it in more countries before the end of the year. The protagonists of the ad are real users of the platform (including profiles with a certain pull among Instagram users) and it focuses on selling the idea that the platform is a key gateway to exploring one’s own identity.
The campaign does not sell, therefore, popularity or connection with friends, not even fun. It focuses on its own, on selling the idea that it is on Instagram where you discover yourself (taking into account the latest scandal on Instagram , it is a somewhat risky bet in terms of potential reception of the campaign). ” Yours to Make shows how you can explore who you are with Instagram,” they explain on the company’s corporate blog.
“For young people, identity is not defined, it is something they are constantly exploring,” they add, adding the importance of being connected “deeply” with the people who matter and discovering interests, something that – obviously in their reflection – can be do on Instagram. The big question is whether this campaign will be enough and even if it is the type of movement that really works to reach the consumers that Instagram is losing to the push of TikTok, the younger ones. A recent study indicates that both Facebook and Instagram have problems of dissatisfaction with the experience of using the platforms. That is not cured by advertisements.