Brands Just Faced a Big Test on Instagram. Here’s How They Did.
Their responses to George Floyd’s shocking killing by police suggest that the social media corporate playbook has yet to be written.
Messaging matters.
Photographer: Scott Heins/Getty Images
Among social media platforms, Instagram surely stands out as one of the more curated channels of corporate communications. In contrast to the rough-and-tumble of Twitter, the visual chaos of Facebook, and the C-suite buzzwords of LinkedIn, it’s the closest social-media analogue to the glossy white pages of magazine advertising — a powerful platform for companies seeking to make a striking statement, and a problematic one for those hoping to keep a low profile while remaining relevant.
Instagram’s immediacy and curated quality also make it a useful gauge of how brands react when their painstakingly constructed “look and feel” confronts an event as shocking as George Floyd’s killing by Minneapolis police on May 25. Granted, large institutions can’t always react nimbly, social media is only one facet of any corporate response, and communication delays or stumbles aren’t necessarily signs of malign intent. That said, the variety of responses suggests that, as yet, there is no common Instagram playbook among top brands, whose strategies have ranged from statements of support and declarations of principle to curious adaptations of established branding and, in some cases, absolute silence.