Instagram did something that other apps didn’t do at the time. Square photos in a vertical frame that you could scroll through with your iPhone. And because the cameras in smartphones were still taking some broken photos at the time, there was the possibility to use filters.
Two years later, 40 million people were using the app. The app was especially good because people immediately understood how it worked, says Sonja Loth, social media strategist and president of Social Inc.
“It was easy, beautiful and mobile from day one. And easy to use. With those filters, people could easily make something beautiful look. And you could easily view pictures yourself. It was one of the first apps to be ‘mobile first’. “
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Twitter founder lends Insta a hand
Jack Dorsey, the founder of the Twitter, was one of the first investors in Instagram. He shared his photos on Twitter, with more than 1 million followers. That made the app go viral and it quickly became the most popular app in the App Store.
Facebook immediately looked bread. Zuckerberg feared an emerging competitor and bought it for $ 1 billion. That turned out to be a masterstroke.
“Facebook was big, but not aimed at mobile use. Instagram was. Focused on fun and creativity. There was no business model behind it, that only came later”, says Loth.
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5.6 million Instagram users
In 2018, Instagram passed the 1 billion user mark, but that’s the latest official figure out there. Facebook does not share figures about how many users Instagram has, but throws the figures of Whatsapp, Instagram and Facebook on a mountain. In total there are now about 2.7 billion a month.
In the Netherlands, Instagram had 5.6 million users last year, according to research by market researcher Newcom. Moreover, Instagram was the fastest growing social media platform in our country.
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earn money
Ultimately, Facebook also manages to make money with Instagram, it does that with advertisements: exactly what Facebook itself became big with. Facebook does not say exactly how much that is. But thanks to casual people around the company, we do know something.
For example, about $ 20 billion in advertising revenue came in last year, writes Bloomberg. That’s nearly a third of Facebook’s total revenue 2019 ($ 70.7 billion).
But the total amount spent on ads via Instagram is probably greater, because a lot of money is also involved in influencer marketing.
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Better nicked well
Instagram became big thanks to photos with a filter, but has gradually become more and more a video platform. And it did that mainly by looking very closely at the competition.
“Basically it’s still a photo sharing app, but video has been added to that. The most exciting at the moment is Stories stolen from Snapchat,” Loth explains. “Still because Instagram now also comes with a new ‘killer feature’; Instagram Reels, which competes with TikTok.”
So first TikTok copied same function what made Snapchat popular: temporary photos or videos that can be viewed for up to 24 hours. And recently Facebook Reels was added. The function with which you just like in TikTok can make short movies.
“It really adds something. You can also see who has watched it. It makes it even more creative and addictive.”
And that is what ultimately matters. Because the time we spend on our phone is growing. On average, we spend 98 minutes a day on social media. And that makes it a formidable competitor for TV (132 minutes). And where the viewer is, there is also the money.
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Advertising market is growing
“The last two years, and especially this year, you see a shift in advertising spend analog media to digital media. Most of the growth will go to social media platforms, “said Remon Buter, head of trading and investment at Groupm, the largest media agency in the Netherlands.
Research by Deloitte shows that the total expenditure on advertisements via social media in the Netherlands rose by 18 percent last year to almost 452 million euros.
Facebook knows a lot
Facebook takes a big piece of that cake with Instagram. According to Buter, this is because the company knows so much about the users and has many users. “The system uses superior data and is able to reach and reach the target group very well.”
This is mainly done through advertisements where you are immediately persuaded to buy something. But we also see an increase in branding, including via video and Instagram Stories, where consumers are influenced to think in a certain way about a brand or company.
We all notice that every day, he says. The advertisements often seamlessly match our interests.
In addition, the most interesting target group is on Instagram, says Sonja Loth. “People between the ages of 20 and 40 are the most expensive target group. You can reach them in fewer places and they are super engaged. Half of that target group is on Instagram every day. So you reach the perhaps most interesting target group in the most relevant way.”
Other platforms are nowhere near that level, says Loth. And Instagram will only grow in importance in the coming years. “After ten years, the platform is still growing enormously and is becoming more and more valuable. In terms of data, in terms of possibilities for advertisers and especially for the Instagrammers themselves.”
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