Company Profile:

Interesting fact:

Only 0.2% of Instagram users are unique to the platform. A large number of users use it alongside other social media platforms such as Facebook (80.8%), YouTube (77.4%) and TikTok (52.8%). A strong cross-platform market strategy is used here. 

Why did I choose Instagram?

Hi there,

This is Priya from Setu by Pine Labs. I am 22 years old and working as a growth associate in Bengaluru. After WhatsApp, Instagram has been my most used social media app for years. The app has retained me as a core user for more than two years. I’m curious to dive deep into how they can achieve this. Another reason for my interest is that they have the highest active customer base in India, which is incredible, accounting for 36% of their overall MAU. 

Core Value Preposition:

The core value proposition of IG is to connect with people. I have divided the same a little deeper device into different types of users, what does the CVP look like?

Understanding Users and the problem statements and CVP. 

Ideal customer profile

ICP Prioritisation

The focus of this assignment:

I am going to focus on ICP 3 which uses IG for content creation and ICP 4 a small business that uses IG for lead generation as the frequency of use cases and distribution is high. As Instagram has multiple products that I have collated in the diagram below, I will be focussing on the Feed product for both ICPs. I have also outlined the sub-products under each product. 

The core value proposition for users and how they experience it? 

ICP 3 - 

• Core Value preposition: To build a brand and connect with people globally. Through this, they can grow a following on IG. 
• How?: Create content and grow a following. They can create content in 4 different forms. 

1. Posts that appear on the feed. Can be a single or a carousel post where they can post 10+ posts at once. 
2. Reels that appear on the feed and the reels section. Can do both short and long videos. 
3. Stories that disappear within 24 hours. Followers and non-followers can interact with them in terms of reactions, reply, likes and share. 
4. Add a note that stays for 24 hours. Followers and non-followers can again interact with them in terms of reactions, replies, likes, and shares. 

How does a follower/non-follower engage and discover the content creator?

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Discovery:​

1. The post appears on the feed.
2. They search for the profile. 
3. They follow the same hashtag.
4. One of their friends shares their profile/post. 
5. They discovered this through an advertisement run by them. (Monetisation for Instagram)
6. Collaborations on the platform. 
7. They have been tagged by another person. 

Engagement:​

1. Like 
2. Share
3. Comment 
4. Bookmark - Save 
5. Watch time on the video
6. Follow 

ICP 4 - 

• Core value proposition: To generate leads and convert the leads to customers for their business. To build a digital presence for their brand. 
• How? - Create content and run advertising campaigns on the same. (Paid ads).
  
  

1. They can create content in the same 4 forms described above. 
2. Additionally, they also have a shopping section which can be used. Here the ICP can display their products. 
3. They can also run paid ads which is shown to relevant leads, based on the demographic and user behavior selected by the ICP. (Monitisation for Instagram). 

The engagement module remains the same as ICP3. Additionally the users can also buy from their page and ICP can redirect to the website. 

Natural Frequency of the product

Active user: An active user on IG is someone who spends time on their application and does more than 2 actions on IG. The more they spend time, the more they watch advertisements → IG earns revenue.

Actions:

1. Respond to / send DM
2. Scroll - Like - Comment - Save - Follow - Share
3. Create on feed
4. Explore different profiles
5. Watch stories.

For Feed as a product

1. Creator: Post actively and also engage with the comments, likes, DMs, etc. He/ she also runs ads on the platform that contribute to IG revenue.
2. Consumer: Scroll through the feed/reels/ stories and interact with posts via a like, comment, share, or save. Best engagement framework:

Frequency (Time) of the different user cohorts. 

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Sub-products and their frequency:

Best engagement framework for Instagram:

Depth: Time 

Why?: 

If a user spends more time on the application, which could be scrolling or performing more than one action, then the UX for the user will improve and Instagram can earn more revenue.  

1. More time spent on Instagram will be more IG understanding of the user. 

2. Users can now be targeted more accurately from an ads perspective & from a content personalization perspective

3. More ads will now show up on the user’s feed. 

4. Higher engagement of users on the platform will increase the time spent on the app.

5. This will give Instagram more users on the consumer and creator side. 

6. The creator will run more ads and IG will earn revenue. 

7. Consumers will consume more ads and personalization will increase. 

Why not frequency or breadth?

Segmentation:

For segmentation, we have already defined the ICP along with goals, features, and frequency. Now let’s deep dive into the natural frequency based on user segments. 

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User segments here are casual, core, and power users.

Engagement Campaigns

Campaign 1:

• Hypothesis: A casual user only opens IG for Direct message of his or her friends. This user does not use IG for any other purpose.
• Goal of the campaign: To make this user use the feed product of IG. This way he will be able to consume content, Which will enhance his UX as IG will have his data and the content can be more personalized. 
• Channel of Distribution: Application
• Feature Used: Direct message
• Target feature: Feed
•  Distribution channel: App notification
• Pitch and Content: 
• Ideation: Check all the profiles the user is following who were verified on IG and have a public profile. This gives us a sense that the user is interested in the profile he is following and the topic. For example, if the user is following Virat Kohli we know that he or she might be interested in cricket as a sport or an RCB fan, or a fitness freak. 
• Solution: Send an app notification every time Virat Kohli posts or the posts that most users have engaged with. We track if the user is opening IG through this notification and scrolling through Virat Kohli's feed. We also send an app notification when he is scrolling through the profile of another big cricketer and his recent post.  for example - Rohit Sharma. 
• Offer: If this works then we start personalising his feet which will in turn make him scroll through Instagram and he can consume more content and spend more time frequently on the application. 
• Frequency and Timing: We send enough notifications once a week and the timing would be in the evening around 7 PM. Because usually texting friends on IG happens in the evening. Once he opened the app we again sent him an app notification on IG. 
• Success Metrics; Time per session on scrolling through the feed. 
• Milestones for the campaign:
  
  1. Increase in the number of feed scrolls.

2. Increase in the average session time.

3. Growth in engagement with feed content over time.

Campaign 2:

• Hypothesis: A casual user only opens IG for Direct messages of his or her friends. This user does not use IG for any other purpose.
• Goal of the campaign: The goal of this campaign is to get the user to engage with the feed product, with a lot of personalisation. How? To get the user to make their first post. 
• Channel of Distribution: Application
• Feature Used: Direct message
• Target feature: Feed
•  Distribution channel: App notification
• Pitch and Content: 
• Ideation: The idea here is to get the user to post on their feet so that their followers can interact with that post. This in turn is going to boost the App notifications of who likes their post who commented on their post who saved or shared their post. This is going to engage with the user and bring them back to this application. 
• Solution: While the user is scrolling through the feed, nudge the user to make their first post. We will also nudge the user to make their first post while they are swiping through the stories. 
• Offer: Post your first post and see who likes it first. Or Show your friends what is going on in the Background. 
• Nudge: Post Now
• Frequency and Timing: The frequency will be every time this user opens the application and spends at least one minute scrolling through stories or the feed. 
• Success Metrics: Makes their first post. 

Retention Design

Current retention:

DAU: ~ 700 million

MAU: ~2 Billion

Retention curve:

2. 1. D0 - 100%
   2. D7 - 75%
   3. D14 - 60%
   4. D30 - 30%
   5. D45 - 17.5%

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When does the retention curve flatten?

For Instagram, the retention curve flattens post 3 3-month period.

ICPs that drive the best retention rate:

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Resurrection Campaign:

User Type: Casual

Goal: To get the user to start using the feed product and increase the average session time. 

Ideation: Since this is a user who has come back, once he joins, we will show him an “Updates” section which will essentially be some major updates of his daily interacted followers. 

How can we do this?: Since we have the user data, we can see the top 5 people in his network and show what they have posted which had high engagement in the past days. 

How will this help? This creates immediate FOMO once the user enters the app and checks what their top people are doing. Which results in a better retention rate. 

Time?: The moment the user logs in to the application instead of being bombarded with notifications, we will have an updated section with a nudge. (Similar to the activities section today). 

Frequency: Nudge every time the user opens the feed. 

Success metrics: Number of days they have the app installed and track Daily and monthly engagement metrics. 

Early warning: The user came back to the app for one day, but did not use the app for 3 days. In-app notification of the highest engaged post from their most engaged network should be triggered.

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