Instagram- A personalised photo album of our lives.

If you have Facebook or Twitter, you most likely will have Instagram- the network where pictures says it all. There are 400 million monthly active users on Instagram- it’s becoming increasingly popular as the days go on. Moments are captured- nature walks, beaches, festivals, travels- all shared instantly with just one click. Over 80 million photos are uploaded each day. There is never a bad picture when you use Instagram, with all its features and effects- you can make your picture look as amazing as possible ready for the world to see. But who actually sees it?

Instagram is found to be more popular with the younger generation- over 90% of Instagram users are younger than 35. So why may this be? I think confidence plays a part in Instagram users- the younger generation are more socially active and care free about posting their own pictures on social media however the older generation can be more self conscious and aware of things that go on social media and things that don’t. It’s two different lifestyle habits that can be more attracted to certain social media platforms than others.

It is not just everyday people that use Instagram. Brands and bloggers have clicked on to using Instagram- what better way to promote your products than through pictures that are well put together. Over 70% of brands have Instagram.Brands can increase heir product awareness by not only the large amounts of followers that they obtain, but through shares and likes. More than 40 billion photos have been shared so far, the more shares the more people will see the pictures- enticing us to buy the product that we desire. There are 3.5 billion likes on Instagram per day, this shows the amount of people who have viewed and like your photo, portraying how popular and admirable a product is. Once you like or follow a page, Instagram tailors your sponsored posts on your newsfeed to similar pages that you may like.

Instagram is a very useful way for brands and bloggers to showcase their products. Bloggers post pictures of themselves promoting products/services. This can help persuade individuals to purchase products as bloggers are everyday people wearing/trying products and can give an honest opinion of what they think/feel about the product. Bloggers also include a link under each post where people can purchase the product in the photo with just one click- how easy! Bloggers can also become role models to individuals which can encourage engagement and purchases.

Instagram expanded to allowing videos to also be posted by individuals. When Instagram first introduced videos, more than 5 million were shared in 24 hours. Sharing videos have increased the number of active users Instagram obtains, making it more popular than ever. Videos can also be edited, cropped and effects can be added to your desire, with or without sound.

Instagram has become a lifetime journal of pictures of videos for individuals and is a great way to showcase what a brand/blogger/individual is all about. It is amazing for people who would rather express themselves through pictures rather than words. Instagram is definitely one of the top three social networking sites and can be powerful to influence individuals in any way.

Stay tuned for my next blog post! 

Twitter- the world of expression

Twitter- the social media guru in expressing your everyday thoughts to the world. Tweeting while having breakfast or walking to work- wherever you are, your easily pm the loop. 50 million people visit their twitter each month without logging into it =, it’s become a known habit to share your current thoughts or whereabouts to your friends or family- with the use of the app, a tweet for professionals, can take two seconds. Twitter has a total of 1.3 billion accounts but only 320 million of those accounts are active- why would we abandon our twitter accounts?

I personally used to be a massive tweeting addict, although it lasted two years- the habit began to fade. Lifestyle changes, people can be crunched for time- although twitter is powerful or voicing your opinion constantly, it can be tiresome and become boring- to some. But is it people’s personal lifestyle choices that leads them to abandon their twitter account or is it a fault that twitter has developed? Is there characteristics of twitter that people don’t like the limited character space in a tweet or random direct messages for twitters that you don’t even know about. Of those 320 million who abandoned twitter, 44% left before they even made their first tweet- clearly twitter is doing something wrong!

We follow numerous pages on Twitter of brands that we shop, celebrities that we adore, bloggers that we watch, along with friends and family that we chat with and stay on the loop. The average twitter user has 208 followers, it is entirely useful for keeping up to date with people/brands and also communicating to brands/individuals. However, 391 million accounts have no followers at all- are we mainly using twitter to follow brands and individuals without communicating with them?

Brand’s use twitter has a way to communicate with consumers and post up to date information about any promotions or new products that they offer. 66% of US companies with over 100 employees use twitter for marketing. Twitter had become a valuable marketing tool- with the power of sending an instant reply to consumers personally.  77% of Twitter users feel more positive about the brand when their Tweet has been replied to- this shows consumers that the brand cares personally for each individual and therefore can make us more likely to stay brand loyal and purchase products. Don’t forget the temptation to purchase products as we see brands advertise them through posts on social media including the unmissable unique codes to get 20% off your shop- these are all powerful techniques that brands have used twitter to communicate them across the world to people’s minds.

Bloggers use Twitter just as much, to keep their followers updated on their blog posts or personal stories- it’s a way for followers to get to know bloggers to a personal level. Fashion bloggers massively use twitter to post fashion trends and ideas which in turn includes links to brands that the outfit is from- this is a persuasive technique as we like what we see and being able to purchase it is just a click away.

There are 500 million tweets each day, that 6,000 tweets sent each second- all expressing our thoughts on a large scale social media platform. The power to express can work in our favour, to complain about any faults to brands, to keep up to date with the latest gossip from individuals and brands and the ability to become trapped in the persuasion to buy products through twitter. It is indeed, an ever-expanding social media tool.

Watch out for my next blog post and happy tweeting! 

The persuading powers of Facebook

If you were to create your first profile in the world of social networking where would you immediately think of? Facebook. It’s the most common social networking site we use today and the first thing we think of. Facebook adds 500,000 new users every day, that’s 6 new people joins the site every second. We use Facebook as a way of connecting to people, all over the world, we may use it to let our friends know how were doing or share our latest life moments or find out the latest gossip from friends, celebrities, brands or even the news. Half of all internet users who don’t have Facebook live with someone who does- this just shows the drastic number of people who have been consumed by this social networking site that connects the world together today. And even of those people who don’t use Facebook, 24%  have admitted to looking at posts and photos through another person’s account. Some businesses use Facebook to create groups in which colleagues can discuss any information such as holiday hours or rotas made. Facebook has not only become a personal use but a business one as well.

Businesses now use Facebook to create pages to represent the brand and the products they offer. There are 40 million pages made by small businesses but only 20 million pays for advertising- why is this? Brands have clicked onto not needing to pay for advertising on Facebook as the minute their page is liked, the customers see every post. These posts will promote new products, offers and information to the public. They also use it as a means to speak directly to customers with any questions or issues they may have, this can make us feel more inclusive with the brand as we get a one to one conversation. It’s almost like becoming friends with a brand- so can following brands on Facebook entice us to buy products?

I’ll admit it myself- as I scroll through Facebook while eating breakfast and see a post of new shoes that have just come out or a discount code I can use to get 20% off, it’s like I can’t stop myself- it’s like a must have! If you think about it, most of us are on Facebook almost every day, when brands constantly post their latest product or amazing offers, it can lure us into making a purchase, especially if we know we deserve it.

Brands who do pay for advertising show up as sponsored posts on our home page- Facebook tracks the type of brands we follow and therefore allows similar brands to pop up on our sponsored posts. This introduces us to new brands that we may like and there goes another purchase.

Apart from brands who can use Facebook to entice us to purchase products, so can individuals. Almost all bloggers have social media pages, including Facebook. Some of us may feel that seeing products such as clothes on a normal every day person rather than a 6ft size 6 model can persuade us to purchase them as we truly see how the product looks rather than guessing whether it’s been photoshopped or changed in any way to make us want the product. So when bloggers/fashion fans or any individual posts pictures of products they often provide a link of where the product can be bought- this makes it too easy for us to purchase them!

Facebook accounts for 62% of social logins from consumers who want to sign into apps or websites of brands. This just shows that brands and websites are using Facebook as a means of signing in due to how popular this social networking site is. The power of this social network is vast and it truly can play a part in persuading us to purchase products in so many ways.

Keep a look out for my next blog post, what Twitter can do!