Instagram Is My Favorite Social Medium
I’m an Instagram fan. You don’t have to be an active uploader of images to enjoy this social media app. When you have extra time, this is a wonderful way to fill it with something that will cause you to smile, laugh, cry or be inspired. I follow NASA and the International Space Station. I follow NatGeo and my daughter. It connects you and amazes you throughout the day.
Instagram is a great app, but it’s also becoming an even better advertising vehicle with a high engagement rate. Instagram recently topped 500 million users.
Even more impressive is that Forrester reported that Instagram is the “king of engagement.” Its user interaction with brand fans and followers is at 4.21%. Facebook is only 0.7%.
For organizations, it is great way to communicate quickly with audiences as well. Nonprofits can ask all board members to sign on and send photos or video clips of organization events and special occasions. It’s a great way for a family group to keep up with the day’s activities without sorting through a long Facebook feed.
I don’t believe Instagram will replace Twitter for news and breaking news, but it does have all the entertainment value, low cost of entry and ease of use that should keep it growing as a social medium. And if that is not enough, it is owned by Facebook.
If you are not an Instagram user, try downloading the app and following NASA and NATGEO. And prepare to consider the stars and our own planet in a deep and meaningful way.
Mark Mathis
Mark wrote his first direct-mail fundraising letter in 1981 for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The effort raised a few million dollars in undiscovered wills and legacy gifts. From that day forward Mark discovered a love of the big idea that moves the needle.
After 12 years at KWWL, Mark became a business owner as a co-founder of ME&V — rebranded as AMPERAGE in 2015. After 25 years of leading creative teams in video production, graphic design, PR, writing and web development, Mark transitioned out of ownership in 2021. Today he serves in an employee role as special projects consultant.
He is creatively ambidextrous — son of an artist and engineer — and famous for distilling complex ideas down to a few words and a few visuals. Mark is a writer. When he found that many nonprofits struggled with complex branding puzzles, he wrote the book, “NonProfit-NonMarketing .” He also wrote a novel called “Reenactment.”
Mark is an active blogger OneMinuteMarketer® with nearly 1,000 readers each week on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. One of his most popular YouTube videos is on “How to Look Good on Zoom.”
One of Mark’s fondest business memories was being named to INC 500 two times and attending the INC 500 conference with other winners. Mark is considered by some a Civil War expert (and that explains his novel). Mark also served as an adjunct professor in the business and in the communications departments at Wartburg College.
Mark is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently vice president of the University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communications Advisory Board.
Mark is married to state Sen. Liz Mathis, and the two love to travel, even when it means being trapped by a volcano in the Czech Republic for three weeks.