@Apple: The Trillion Dollar Art Gallery
The world’s first trillion-dollar company has revolutionised the technology industry and digital society as we know it today. Everywhere you look, from in coffee shops to on a bus, you’ll encounter the glowing logo of an apple with a bite out of it. Despite the plethora of products that Apple has created, their centrepiece — the iPhone- has driven the company to take a unique standpoint in their digital marketing and online presence.
#ShotoniPhone
Apple has a unique ability to create and market products that meticulously tailor users’ journeys to create an immersive experience rather than a product. Their digital presence follows this methodology by creating an experience for users across their social media accounts.
Their creative path stems from their founders’ one of a kind creative thinking going against conventional viewpoints. In 2017, Apple hopped on the bandwagon, joining popular social media platform Instagram to create a centralised platform to promote their latest products. The Instagram handle @Apple was born, accompanied by its current 27.2 Million followers.
#ShotoniPhone is an extended marketing strategy that Apple has digitalised from their billboard campaign by using User-generated content to inspire other users to capture content in the same format.
Apple goes against competitors’ strategies, such as Samsung and Huawei, who display their latest products on their primary and dedicated phone profiles. Apple’s profile has adopted a more artistic approach to align with their aesthetically pleasing products, immersing followers in the apple experience online as they would in the store. The profile feels like a portfolio presenting users with the artwork produced by their products rather than the physical product itself, creating an art gallery feel compared to a promotional page. Apple has never posted a picture of a product on their main feed before.
However, Apple’s social media uniqueness is now decreasingly compelling as competitors such as Huawei adopt the same User Generated content approach as Apple has effectively done.
Instagram Reels
Apple utilises Instagram’s latest features, such as reals, to develop a culture around the iPhone. It aims to build a community by presenting the diversity of its users. Apple posts alternative content to evolve their profile, such as experiments with the iPhone, rather than users just seeing their product and scrolling past it.
The minimalistic approach apple centre their products around is also reflected on their Twitter account — maybe a bit too minimalistic. New followers to add to Apple’s 7.5 million may be slightly confused when they discover the account has no tweets or posts or any kind. However, just like everything else they do, Apple does not use Twitter in the conventional sense but rather as a free advertising platform. Due to the account’s inactivity, whenever apple tweets, its 7.5 million users get notified, captivating users to look to see what it could be.
However, Apple’s lack of social media interaction has hindered their digital growth as their following is minimal in retrospect to their market size and competitor’s accounts on the valuable platform.
Apple’s digital strategies reflect the experience users gain from their physical products and services. Followers are not bombarded with ads about the latest products but are showed their possibilities to inspire users to buy products and create content generating a community.
