If you are an active Instagram user, you must’ve come across your favourite brands going bizarre with their marketing techniques!
Sept 30th, 6.00 PM: I open Instagram, and Swiggy is the top attention-seeker again!
Me: Hey M.R.K! Don’t you think Moment Marketing has reached its peak in the past few months, especially on Instagram?
M.R.K: It is the best way to obtain mind-share and keep your audience engaged!
Me: Have you seen Swiggy go all guns blazing with the new music feature?
M.R.K: Yes! And I loved how the customers reponded. Guess this will soon be a new form of eMarketing!
Me: Do you think so? I haven’t seen the feature being used much – either by individuals or by brands!
M.R.K: Do you know that there are more than 25 million business accounts on Instagram, and you barely follow 10-12 of them!
Me: Yes, but this is also the case with most of my friends who are very active instagram users.
M.R.K: For individuals, it is the effort it takes that’s the pull-back! Instagram stories are “then and there”. They address a moment in a person’s life! Stories are not available for more than 24 hours. Will users spend the time to search for a relatable song, select the part they want, and then post? They would rather scribble out the line on the story board. They will add a song if it just strikes them at the moment.
The features I just mentioned are best suited for brands to use for what you addressed earlier – “Moment Marketing”.
Think of this below story by any famous coffee outlet (Starbucks or Coffee Day) on the International Coffee Day (1st October) –
This is relevant for 24 hours, and is a great way to remind people to grab their favourite coffee! Starbucks has got 18.2M followers, so just look at the potential you unlock for free!
Me: That’s nice! So, why didn’t these come up on TikTok? Instagram has copied the feature from there.
M.R.K: The audience and the image of the platform matters (one of the 4 Ps – Place). TikTok is a naïve platform with not-so-serious people doing ‘very serious’ stuff! Individuals become stars overnight! 2/3rd of the platform is filled with people under 30 who are trying to become famous.
On the other hand, Instagram is a more organized platform. On Instagram, you are interested in what your favorite public figures are up to. You want their daily routine! You want to see those moments that make them feel special.
Me: So, brands don’t want to get to TikTok because they are stars already!
M.R.K: Brands have been looking to use TikTok for a long while as it is an engaging and the fastest growing social media platform. But the crowd would have obviously made them stand back and wait till it got streamlined a little. And Instagram was quick to act before that happened!
Put simply, if social media platforms were answers to your interview questions, Instagram would be the “Tell me about yourself”, and TikTok would be “Tell me your hobbies”.
Me: Will the 24 hour timeline really work well to resonate with brands? I mean, on occasions like an International Coffee Day, I understand. But what about otherwise?
M.R.K: The best radio ads are those with Jingles – Nirma, Ghadi, Humara Bajaj. You listen to a song on radio, and it keeps playing at the back of your head. That is the power of songs/jingles. They have tunes that are easy to remember! Whenever you listen to “Do you wanna partner, Swiggy would definitely pop-up for the hilarious connect made!
This is not just songs in a story, it is about seizing the moment and connecting in a way like never before!
Me: So, I guess in a few weeks, we’ll have an article “Marketing Musically – The Instagram Way”
M.R.K: Keep an eye on this trend. We are not far from that day!
