#teammindshare

10 years ago Kevin Systrom, the creator of Instagram, said “I think that communicating via images is one of these mediums that you’re going to see take off over the next few years because of a fundamental shift in the enabling technology” when asked why did he build Instagram. Fast forward to 2020, Instagram has become one of the pioneering platforms with more than 1 Billion users and a game-changer in the social media landscape.  

In its early years, Instagram was solely a digital album helping you capture and save your special moments with its iconic filters. It, later on, became a space for bloggers migrating from other platforms in order for them to be on-trend and further reach their people. This growth prompted Facebook to buy Instagram 2 years after its launch bringing in more success to this application.  In the early 2010s, Instagram witnessed several upgrades to the app enabling users with a better experience from introducing video content (including the Boomerang app), advertising, tagging, and different editing tools. Later on, in 2015-2016, Instagram released its currently most used products Stories & Live Videos where it took down the hype of Snapchat at that time considering the fast growth of IG stories. As the application kept on growing and taking over other social platforms, Instagram launched IGTV in 2018 intended to compete against YouTube and most recently in 2020 releasing Reels against TikTok. Looking at Instagram, we can see a super-app bringing in different features from different apps, mastering them, and taking the lead.

What makes Instagram special is that it goes beyond the platform - it’s about the people, sharing stories and documenting everyone’s life. From there, people created a new persona for them on social media trying to fit in resulting in the phenomenon of “influencers” eventually. Instagram became much more than a “digital album” it evolved into a space for people to connect based on similar interests and tell a story together. Throughout the years, Instagram transformed into an influencer’s hub – can anyone remember it before them anyway? This platform created an opportunity for influencers allowing them to monetize their stories, opinions, and activities through brand partnerships. Instagram is all about monetization now which is a win-win situation for all involved stakeholders from brands, to influencers, and the platform itself. 

With Instagram, brands were able to reach their target audience through different ways including ads and influencer collaborations. It has even become the home to many small businesses as it acts as their digital storefront enabling everyone to sell what they have whether directly through Shopping catalogs or acting as an intermediary.

Since 2010, Instagram has not yet lost its momentum as a matter of fact it has been growing more and more as time passes. Why is that? It’s because Instagram listens (we promise it’s not eavesdropping though), understands, and implements. Over the past years, Instagram has introduced different policies, updates, and campaigns, in order to fight this “perfect image” ones, are expected to have on this platform after different incidents happened. This shows that Instagram is open to change and is ready to implement. They have been able to integrate many features and updates into this app in order to make it a one-stop-shop for users to consume content, buy a product, engage, and converse without leaving their app, and people like it!

Where is Instagram going? Well, it’s not going anywhere as it’s here to STAY, no? We see that the basis of Instagram will be built on three pillars: Influencer Marketing, Content, & Shopping.  Seeing how things are working now, influencer marketing is the future and it will take some time for it to lose momentum as they’ve been the voice of brands that users want to hear. The way users consume content is constantly changing and on Instagram, brands are being able to reach them no matter the way. Mastering stories should be the next milestone for brands as this is what people want to see. Finally, integrating a seamless shopping experience for users through social media and especially Instagram might even compensate for websites.  

Over the past decade, Instagram has changed the way people eat, travel, dress, live, and consume content – and the best is yet to come! Where do you see Instagram in 2030? 🤔

Nermine Al Kassar

Social Media Executive, Mindshare MENA | Social & Performance Hub