Instagram + Nike = Upgraded Shoe Collection
What was the last picture you uploaded to Instagram? A scrumptious dessert? A view from your last hike? Maybe it was your kid jumping into the pool. Whatever it was, Nike is betting that it was an event that meant a lot to you. So much in fact, that you’ll want to immortalize it.
How? As part of your shoe collection. Seriously. Nike has released an application that designs a pair of shoes from their Air Max collection using the color schemes in your photo. All you have to do is go to the Photo ID Nike Generator, sign into your Instagram account, choose a picture, then pick your favorite Air Max shoe, and ta-da! You get a customized shoe!
I wanted to see what a shoe inspired by my adorably photogenic dog, Bear, would look like. Sure enough, the colors matched. So I tried it again with another photo. And then another. And another. And another. Okay, so maybe I dind’t purchase any of the shoes, but Nike had my attention. Plus they got me to write a blog. Pretty shrewd, actually.
Becoming Part of the Conversation
Okay, so maybe you don’t have Nike’s marketing budget. Or maybe you do, but you don’t see the value in something like a customized shoe. But Instagram’s popularity is on the rise.
Consider this… each Friday Instagram announces a Weekend Hashtag Project (#WHP) that challenges users to go out and take a picture that they think best represents the challenge or project. On Monday, Instagram features several of the photos and tag the photographers. Some of the more recent ones have been #WHPpetportraits, #WHPflowerpower and #WHPportraitofahome as shown in the picture below.
The idea is to be creative and make it your own. For the #WHPportraitofahome project, a programmer could show his home screen or a designer could have taken a picture of his dog holding a paintbrush for the #WHPpetportraits project.
Even if Instagram doesn’t showcase your picture, your fans will be able to relate better to it and, in turn, your company. Making your page more human will help make your company seem more human too.
How Are Other Companies Using Instagram?
Companies are using Instagram to highlight culture more than product. Facebook, for example, has pictures of a tee-peed office for April Fools Day, a fox who frequently visits headquarters, and other pictures that represent their daily lives of the people who work there.
Hubspot has a similar feel and tries to put the focus of their page on the culture of the office space rather than their business. They’ve made everyone jealous with a picture of their newly installed candy dispenser wall and stayed relevant by highlighting their support for charitywater.org on World Water Day. You can see more of Facebook and HubSpot’s Instagram feeds on their pages: http://instagram.com/facebook and http://instagram.com/hubspot.
Whether it’s installing an application or showing the fun side to your business, the possibilities of Instagram are endless. Finding a way to relate your product back to the consumer may be difficult to accomplish, but it is possible. Nike could only post pictures of their shoes in different areas and at different angles, but they were able to integrate their end product with something that relates directly to the consumer. I couldn’t tell if you if it increased their ROI, but I’m sure it didn’t hurt it too much either. So play around with it, have fun, and show your clients or consumers what makes you want to come to work everyday.
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