Social media extends the life and reach of electronics PR and marketing activities but a blog post or text based tweet can only take the message so far. In order to maximize the impact of an electronics PR campaign you need pictures.
With the rise of smartphones and tablets, this year has seen an increase in demand for visual media across social networks. Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn have all redesigned their news feeds and profile pages for greater visual impact, while Pinterest, the virtual pinboard, has surpassed less visual networks for traffic referrals. Bought by Facebook for $700 million, Instagram is the big social media success story of the year. It is a quick, fun way to share photos straight from a smartphone camera but how can this be exploited in electronics PR?
Instagram is an excellent way to increase the visibility of a brand. Fine tune customers perceptions of a company with a managed strategy of photo sharing. General Electric is one of the biggest brands using Instagram successfully, inspite of a less than sexy product. Their account includes stunning images of turbines and larger than life electrical installations. The instagrapher competition generated 4000 uploads with the pre-arranged, #GEInspiredMe tag for sharing across their other channels.
Creating good quality digital content is expensive but Instagram is a simple way to generate effective visual content for use in inbound marketing campaigns. The filters included in the Instagram app make any location look cool, and lend style to any product. A quick snap becomes shareable in an instant.
