Instagram grew its user base through creative use of technology and focusing on user needs. It integrated with popular social networks like Twitter and Facebook, allowing users to simultaneously post photos on Instagram and their other profiles. This cross-posting helped spread awareness of Instagram and attracted new users through the Instagram branding on shared photos. By making it easy for users to share beautiful photos across platforms, Instagram understood users' desire for social gratification, which increased their follower counts and engagement.

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Famous Growth Hacks:
Instagram’s Disruptive Entrance into the Photo-
Sharing Market
Instagram is an image-based social sharing app with 300 million monthly
active users that was recently acquired by Facebook for $1 billion. Users
share photos, utilize filters that give their images a distinct “Instagram
look”, and categorize photos by using hashtags in photo descriptions.
How was Instagram creative with technology?
Instagram, much like AirBNB, was a new social network and they needed to find a
way to build their user base. After all, a social network without a social users is
not a social network!
By integrating existing popular social networks like Twitter and Facebook, they
allowed users to post on Instagram and their other social profiles
simultaneously. This naturally helped spread the word about Instagram and
attracted new users because every image shared from an Instagram account
featured Instagram branding.
How did Instagram focus on what people want?
Instagram understood the users’ desire to share beautiful photos on other social
platforms, particularly Facebook. In the process of building a user base, the cross
post growth hack also helped users attract more followers to their profile,
resulting in social gratification as their follower counts, “likes”, and comments
increased.

2. ©
Meg
Media
Incorporated.
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rights
reserved.
What can we learn from Instagram?
Growth hacking is all about finding a way for the company to benefit from the
tactic while primarily focusing on what the user wants and needs; how to bring
gratification to the customer.