by David
Whitemyer, AIA
Instagram should be part of your
firm’s social media arsenal – especially now!
Facebook made
big news back in 2012 when it purchased Instagram for $1 billion. They saw the social media tsunami coming. Now, only two
years later, engagement on Instagram is 15
times that of Facebook. In fact, it’s the fastest growing of all mobile
apps, having increased by 66% in
2013 to over 30 million users.
Instagram is a
mobile photo-sharing app. It’s available for iPhones and Droid devices,
but not for tablets or computers (however, accounts and settings are viewable
on most browsers). It’s a great, easy, and fast way to share you firm’s
projects and culture, and not just with current and past clients, but with
everyone – your employees, your friends and family, the world.
You could use
Instagram to showcase your firm’s portfolio, but that’s not really going to
interest people and increase your “followers.” Keep in mind that Instagram
photos receive around 1,000 comments and 8,500
“likes” per second – that’s 1.2 billion per day!
People that are
drawn to your account don’t just want to see your firm’s work, they want to see
your firm – your employees, your fun, your thoughts and ideas. In addition to
posting gorgeous photos of your completed projects, here are seven other ideas
for Instagram pics.
• Projects in progress. Post photos from a construction site, of
structural connections or of your employees interacting with the contractors.
• Field trips. Do your employees periodically take trips to
factories or materials suppliers as part of the professional development? Take pictures
of those trips and post them.
• Office parties. If your office is fun, tell the world about it.
Posting pictures of your principals and employees being quirky at a party isn’t
unprofessional. It’s human.
• Meetings.
Whether they’re serious or silly, internal or with clients, it’s nice to let
people know that you work collaboratively. Take photos during meetings, and
share them.
• Sketches.
Sometimes your work-in-progress is more interesting the final product. If
someone in your firm does incredible napkin sketches, snap some shots of them.
• Inspiration. You don’t always have to share photos of your
own firm’s work. If you find another building or detail interesting, share of
photo of it and let people know why you like it.
• Your office and neighborhood. Where you work can be just as interesting as
how you work and your projects. Post photos of your streetscape or frequented
restaurants.
Don’t just post
photos and hope that people will discover them. Use hashtags like #modernarchitecture,
#officeparty, #newconstruction, etc. in order to grab more Instagram users. The
more hashtags you use, the better.
Not many A/E
firms have hopped on the Instagram bandwagon yet. Like any social media tool,
it takes time to manage, and there’s really no way to measure its ROI because
there isn’t any tangible profit from it beyond keeping your firm’s name and
buzz “out there.”
If you’d like to
see what others are doing, here are four small-to-midsize firms that are using
Instagram. Check them out.
1. Dattner
Architects (New York City) - @dattnerarch
2. Flavin
Architects (Boston) - @flavinarchitects
3. Sorg
Architects (Washington DC) - @SorgArchitects
4. Verge
Architecture (Seattle) - @vergead
Does your
architecture or engineering firm have an Instagram account? Please share it
with us and let us know how you’ve been using it. Send an email to
editor@psmj.com
David Whitemyer, AIA, is a Contributing Editor at
PSMJ Resources, Inc., a licensed architect, and project manager at a
Boston-area design firm. He can be reached at dwhitemyer@psmj.com
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