Is Instagram marketing a dying channel?

Over the past few years, we've definitely seen Instagram evolve from a simple photo-sharing app to this multi-faceted platform with Reels, shopping features, and more. It's definitely shifted how both users and brands interact with it. 

Q: How do you feel the landscape of Instagram has changed over the past few years? How do you see that evolution impacting the way brands approach their presence on the platform?

Nicolas Mertens, President, Genuine Sadness: I mean, the biggest thing is that everything is becoming more personalized. At least in my opinion, that's the most important thing. 

You know, with the way that the algorithms are developing to be more recommendation content than it is the content that you're following — especially with video content, to just as many people that aren't following you than people that are following you. 

So the creative does a lot more of the driving than before, obviously a lot of people have already said that but it’s definitely a big part of it.

Q: That makes a lot of sense, and it's really interesting to think about how that personalization changes the strategy. It's no longer just about building a follower base, but really about creating content that resonates on a personal level and can reach new audiences organically. It really shifts the focus to quality and authenticity, which is pretty exciting!

NM: Yeah, I mean, people blame poor performance on the algorithm and stuff like that, but really what it means if a video or a post isn't getting a lot of reach is because people aren’t watching it, so it isn't being recommended to people. 

So either it doesn't have enough signals to cue the algorithm with what it's about and what kind of people are going to be interested in it, or it's just not good enough. 

I come from PR, so I always kind of have this lens of what's newsworthy and why should people care. A lot of times these old strategies from five years ago on Instagram that were just beautiful lifestyle photos of products isn't really enough to get the content views and shares. Maybe if it’s tied to an announcement or something like that it will, but that’s not enough on its own.

Q: In this evolving landscape, what are some of the key strategies or approaches you recommend to keep content feeling fresh and engaging? What should brands be focusing on to stay relevant?

NM: I go back to that PR approach of what's actually newsworthy. One thing is: news. 

We know that one of the top three reasons people are on social media, and I think this is especially true for platforms like Instagram, is that they want news. 

Brands can't be expected to have a new offering, all the time, everyday; but the way it's delivered has to be really new. 

I think the industry is suffering in a way from a lot of people finding a trend and jumping on it, and then relying on that for visibility — where I'm much more interested in trying to find a new way of having an oftentimes banal conversation, in a way that hasn't been had before. 

That can mean doing something totally bizarre and weird and strange, but in a way your audience will find entertaining or valuable or something like that. 

I think this idea of having an idea of what would be newsworthy. Like, if a newspaper wouldn’t publish it, why do we think people on social media would care — you know, that place that’s filled with thirst traps and threats of World War III. We don’t stand a chance talking about product benefits when there’s a mad man in the White House doing stupid shit all the time.

If we go into foundational elements of journalism, like what kind of stories make things newsworthy, it's going to be things like relevance, timeliness, the human interest in the center of it. There's all sorts of other principles, and I think they all have a place. 

I think that the relevance piece is really huge, not just in what the product or offering or services, but the way it's told. Especially in this is space where AI is making content (if not the whole internet) homogenous, right?

Q: I think you're right — having that PR lens, thinking about what truly makes something newsworthy and meaningful, can really help brands stand out in a space that can sometimes feel a bit saturated. 

Where do you see the platform going in the next few years, and how should brands prepare for those changes?

NM: It's funny, I feel like maybe five years ago when video came onto Instagram via IG Reels, it was so disruptive and everything was so different and, you know, the recommendation engine was becoming a thing, but I don't think those core principles have really changed much. This is how YouTube has functioned for years and Mark Zuckerberg has been fiending for YouTube’s market share for sometime — and was willing to do and pay anything to make sure TikTok didn’t beat them to it.

I don't think this is specific to Instagram, but there's more competition on social media. Before, there were fewer social platforms, so it was easier to win, and there was less people invested on these platforms. 

I've worked for huge brands — you know, I used to work with a bunch of beauty brands, and they would go from spending like 70% of their media budget on traditional media into pretty much dumping traditional media entirely and spending it all on influencers and going all-in on social. 

So that makes it really competitive and kind of makes the creative even more important if you're actually going to stand out. 

And standing out is the big thing, because whether we're talking about ads or we're talking about organic content, you know, if your content is ignorable, then it doesn't matter what your message is or what you're offering is, people aren't going to see it.

Luckily, bigger brands with big budgets are so risk adverse (at least, historically; and especially in Canada), so brands with tighter budgets stand a fighting chance with more interesting creative.

Q: Absolutely, and that competition really does push everyone to up their game, which is exciting but also challenging. It definitely means that brands have to be more creative, more authentic, and really understand their audience deeply.

What are some practical tips or strategies that brands can apply right away? How can people identify what makes their brand unique?

NM: Focus on the human truth at the centre of the brand or campaign, instead of just trying to game the algorithm.

There’s this trick in Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath that I think about when I’m kicking off with clients that I think gives us a real jumping off point. The idea is that you take the message, usually something shitty like a product benefit, and you ask “why is that interesting?” Then you take the answer and ask again, why is that interesting, then again and maybe again if you can.

The idea, at least to me, is that you can distill the idea down to its human truth. A lot of marketing people aren’t used to thinking this way and they fuck it up…Luckily for me, I have a degree in philosophy so I usually fair okay.

Here’s an example. Let’s say a brand like Sony releases a new camera and it’s got crazy long battery life. In a press release, all you can print is the truth, no opinions other than the quote, and that’s not enough to make the release newsworthy. But on social media, we can really bring the brand to life in various ways.

Okay so, here it goes:

The Sony camera has longer battery life. Why is that interesting?

Because you can keep the camera running longer. Why is that interesting?

So you don’t miss out on capturing the moment. Why is that interesting?

Because “the moment” is fleeting. It’s serendipitous. It’s not planned. The only way to get that shot is to keep the camera rolling.

The deeper we go, the better the idea gets. You can already see it developing into a campaign at this stage, right? The hero spot is all of those moments you can’t believe you caught on camera. You reach out to videographer influencers and ask them to share a moment they caught on camera by mistake that they love. You make Sony the brand about capturing that fleeting moment.

It’s such a beautiful idea because there’s so much humanity in it. Because those moments are like life: the beauty is fleeting. And much like photography/videography, you need to keep your eyes open and look for that beauty — it’s a mindset. That could be a whole other campaign or subconcept for this brand message: finding the beauty in the world.

Q: I love how that exercise really gets to the heart of the human experience behind a product or a service. When brands can tap into those deeper, more meaningful truths, it really resonates with people in a much more authentic way. And you’re right—that kind of genuine, human-centered approach is what’s going to help brands stand out, especially in a world where so much content can feel a bit same-y.

One potential critique is that focusing on those deeper human truths can sometimes be more time-consuming or harder to measure in the short term, especially when brands are looking for those quick wins or immediate results. How would you respond to that?

NM: At the heart of it, I think that's the difference between whether your creative resonates or not, right? The human truth.

You can pump as much money into a campaign as you want, you can hire the biggest influencer, but if it's empty of that truth, it's just telemarketing. Like why bother doing marketing anyways? 

This humanity is how we build brand. 

So many companies have competitors who are doing the exact same service (or product) at the exact same price at the exact same quality. The only difference is brand. 

The human trust is what brand is, because without that, you don’t have brand preference. 

Sure, you'll going to win some leads without it because you're the first offer they saw, but I don't think that's enough, especially these days when consideration phases are so long with a bad economy and it’s so easy for competitors to conquest your leads. 

Like what would it truly take to build brand preference? Think about brands you actually like. Why did you choose them? There’s more to life choices than being the cheaper option.

Q: Leaning into authenticity and creativity can feel a bit risky for some brands, especially if they're used to a more traditional approach. How would you respond to that concern?

NM: I used to do a bunch of social media for a popular fast food chain in Canada. 

One of the things people always say about fast food when they see those traditional ads with the big, perfect, shiny sandwich is: ‘It never looks like the ad.’ 

So we took this authentic approach, so we could prove them wrong and do the opposite. 

We would go to the restaurant incognito, not tell them who we were and just order the sandwich like you were a normal customer and take videos and photos on our phones and turn that into the content. 

So it was indisputable that it was indeed what it looks like in real life. Sometimes we would be kind of gross and graphic with it — like decidedly unflattering. Funny enough, people still said the food never looked like that in real life. 

So that's an example from a top player in the fast food space. But I think that's true about anything, especially if you're in an industry where everyone is really traditional. 

I know a lot of times clients are in a space where they say, “Well, none of our competitors are doing that, so we shouldn't do that.” And to me, that's the reason why you should. 

If everyone else is making this kind of more traditional, and by traditional, I mean, perfect, shiny, got the big logo and everything follows the brand guideline perfectly, kind of ads and content, especially on social, it’s all the more reason to stand out.

Besides, people tend to skip this overproduced shit on social anyways. It’s like putting a radio ad on TV. People aren’t going to pay attention. Each social media platform is it’s own channel with it’s own vernacular.