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Instagram – What Motivates Users to Post?

October 19, 2019

A survey of college students revealed that the main reasons for Instagram use are “Surveillance/Knowledge about others,” “Documentation,” “Coolness,” and “Creativity.” The next significant finding was a positive relationship between those who scored high in interpersonal interaction and using Instagram for coolness, creative purposes, and surveillance.

A positive relationship between high levels of social activity (travelling, going to sporting events, visiting friends, etc.) and being motivated to use Instagram as a means of documentation was also discovered.

The study interview  239 undergraduate students, including 104men and 133 women, ranging in age from 18 to 52.

 Of the four motives, Surveillance/Knowledge about others was the most influential reason behind Instagram use.

The second most important motive is  Documentation. In terms of results found in other various literature, the discovery of Documentation as a motive appears to be unique to this particular study as the platform relies on photos, unlike other social media platforms.

The third motive up for discussion is that of Coolness/Popularity. One of the psychological needs individuals have includes the need to feel seen and valued.

Creativity is the fourth motivator and there are many opportunities for users to portray their creative talents on Instagram. Instagram allows users to apply filters, post creative captions and add a range of hashtags. Instagram is a visually-based social networking site so it makes sense that creativity is a motivator.

The study also identified that different psychological and social circumstances (life satisfaction, social activity, narcissism) may reinforce different behavioural tendencies (in terms of motives for Instagram use)that ultimately trigger different behavioural outcomes (the number of hours spent on the site, editing photos, using hashtags etc).

 

Applying the Findings to Marketing

Instagram

 

1. Play to your followers needs for information by providing useful informative posts.  Also, include competitions where they add their friends’ name to the post as users will be interested to see what their friends are interested in online

 

2.  Coolness and Creativity – tap into your followers need to be cool and creative by allowing them to co-create in competitions where you ask them to post a creative response to a question as a competition entry. This would include competitions that say:
“Show us how you wear our new coat in five different ways”
“Show us your favourite part of our Dayspa/Resort by uploading your fav image” etc
Not only does it allow your follower to be creative in their response but also demonstrates cool to their friends.

 

Study:

Instagram: Motives for its use and relationship to narcissism and contextual age. Author Pavica Sheldon

Filed Under: Digital marketing, General Tagged With: instagram, instagram engagement, instagram management, social media competitions, social media marketing, social media platforms

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