5 Brands Using Instagram Right

aaron   •   April 16, 2012   •   1 Comment

While the dust settles on the takeover of Instagram by Facebook, everyone seems to be talking about Facebook splashing 1 billllllioonn (that’s how we all should pronounce it) dollars for it. It’s definitely a success story for Instagram. Although it was a great feat for the Instagram founders and their team, I decided to focus on something more important and which I hope can inspire you.

I asked my friends about which brands are they following on Instagram, and after going through all of them, here are some of my absolute favourites.

1. Threadless

Threadless is a community based company that prints t-shirt designs chosen by the community. It is also my favourite brand on Instagram by far and over 141,000 users following them.

This company has the community DNA in their blood. I have ‘liked’ nearly all of their photos, and every photo that they have shared made me feel ‘part’ of them.

Trust me when I say that not many brands are able to do that, especially in a ‘specialized’ platform like Instagram.

2. Starbucks

Starbucks is another great company on Instagram. They share fun photos that humanize their brand really well. One of the funniest photos for me was putting a cup of coffee under a ladder on Friday the 13th. Besides that, they also share photos of their baristas and their cups, and cups, and cups of COFFEE.

3. Lululemon

Lululemon is a yoga-inspired athletic apparel company. They are also a great company that understands the meaning of being ‘social’ well.  With more than 6000 followers on Instagram, they post images of graffiti, quotes, and positions of yoga (which is impossible to do for me).

4. Charity Water

Charity Water is a non-profit organization that brings clean water to people in developing countries. Followed by 14,000 follows on Instagram, this company shares photos of their water projects and the thousands of real people who are benefitting from their projects.

While it might just be about sharing photos to others, to these people, who are thousands of miles away from us, are sharing their smiles and happiness of being able to get clean water in their lives.

5. WSJ (Wall  Street Journal)

Wall Street Journal is an international daily newspaper. What is amazing about their Instagram photos is they share behind the scenes photos from around the world. These photos range from reporters in China to photos of tribal communities in India. Perhaps what the media has been trying to achieve all these years, namely to tell real stories of real people, is actually happening today on Instagram.

Here are some key marketing takeaways

1. Post relevant photos to your audience, not just your products.

2. Share behind the scenes photos. Customers love to know you better and be a part of your brand.

3. Have meaning to why you’re sharing the photos.

Other brands on Instagram that are worth looking at are Burberry, Playboy, National Geographic, Pepsi, CNN, , and Sharpie.

What do you think? Are you following any brands on Instagram? If so, what is your favourite brand on Instagram and why? Share your thoughts below.