Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

In a world increasingly filtered through Instagram, a carefully crafted photo shoot starts to look dated. That's why retailers are rushing to crowdsource their product shots — harvesting a stream of photos from social platforms to help sell everything from West Elm couches to Coach handbags.

The photos are typically curated in galleries, where each picture is linked to a page selling the product. Increasingly, the amateur images are also showing up directly on product pages, next to professionally styled pictures.

"The path to purchase has evolved tremendously, and consumers are much more likely to trust their peers than a brand," said Mimi Banks, director of social media at L'Oreal's Lancome brand....

The results reported by Chobani and Taco Bell are in line with metrics Facebook disclosed from Ben & Jerry's and Levi's last December.

...Neither the brands nor Instagram disclosed the spending by the campaigns, an important factor for advertisers considering the platform. The ads are sold on a CPM basis, meaning advertisers pay a fee based on every 1,000 people reached. Salesforce has estimated the average price of an app-install ad on Facebook at $5.68. Assuming a CPM in the range, both campaigns cost in the tens of thousands of dollars....

Instagram is kind of a big deal. A recent surge in visual content is sweeping across every network from Twitter to Facebook. As the leader in image sharing apps, Instagram has become a household name in recent months with more than 40 million photos being uploaded daily to their platform.

Users are racking up a total of 1,000 comments and more than 8,000 likes on Instagram every second. Additionally, 28 percent of U.S. Internet users between the ages of 18 and 29 are using Instagram and that number continues to grow. As marketers, these numbers show that while instagram has yet to become a staple in the marketing toolkit, it’s definitely something to analyze and consider. Additional thought should be considered if you’re looking to connect with Generation Y using content marketing as they are using instagram more than ever before.