Welcome @apple to Instagram.
The tech giant officially opened an account Monday, which it’s using to show off photos taken on the iPhone—essentially a social media version of its “Shot on iPhone” ad campaign. Instead of simply posting images, Apple is using video galleries with dialog from photographers to share multiple photos at a time and give context to each shot. This also allows it to feature five different curators in one post. Apple doesn’t take any of the images itself.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BXffs_QDMVv/?taken-by=apple
Apple says its new account is meant to provide a “look through the lens of iPhone users around the world.” That’s more than 700 million different cameras going by estimate from BMO Capital Markets analyst Tim Long.
Speaking of incredible statistics, the @apple account already has more than 140,000 followers after just nine posts, gaining more than 40,000 in less than two hours. The company is encouraging its entourage to add to the collection of iPhone photos using #ShotoniPhone. The tag is already nearing in on 1 million posts.
Apple isn’t new to social media, though we aren’t convinced it knows what to do with it. The @Apple Twitter account has teasingly existed since 2011, but hasn’t posted a single tweet. It did wake up from its dormant state a week before the release of the new MacBook last September, but only to change its profile picture and send out a single promoted post.
Now Apple has a booming platform of more than 700 million to show off one of its best smartphone features just a month or so before the release of the iPhone 8. The new account seems like a smart way to organically transition its popular ad campaign into internet culture using one of the largest social media apps in the world. Instead of posting product shots with nauseating buzzword-filled descriptions, Apple is relying on people who already use the iPhone to share photos of cats and food to their followers. It’s subtle, but could be an effective way to quietly integrate its brand into millions of Insta posts. It could also serve as an easy way for people to see the real-world capabilities of its phone cameras.
The Cupertino, California, giant already operates multiple accounts for its many services, including Apple Music, iTunes, Beats 1, iBooks, Carpool Karaoke, and Planet of the Apps. It’s not clear what caused the delay for Apple’s main account, but it may have something to do with its long-running beef with Android. As the Verge points out, Apple’s Senior VP of Marketing Phil Schiller deleted his Instagram account in 2012 after it launched on Android. He later said his decision didn’t have anything to do with the rival OS, and that he simply felt the app was getting too big.
Whatever the case, Apple is now going full-speed ahead on the Facebook-owned social media platform. Here are a few of our favorite posts from @apple’s inaugural batch:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BXffjJqjfpF/?taken-by=apple
https://www.instagram.com/p/BXff8xIDdxR/?taken-by=apple
https://www.instagram.com/p/BXfgbGHjrZX/?taken-by=apple
H/T the Verge
