Celebrities and Corporations
Instagram has become a way for big corporations and celebrities to interact with their followers. The approach to which this interaction occurs varies depending on the situation, it seems. The overall image of Disney is known for its positivity, being highly moral due its vast following among children as well as those who want to revisit their childhood. This identity, or face, that the corporation creates for itself then becomes something they must uphold, especially within their social media. For Disney lovers, there is likely nothing better than being greeted by one of the happiest places on Earth, even if the happiest place is not a person. It becomes exceedingly important then for Walt Disney World to be accessible; this platform is one of the few ways that ensures their followers have hand-held access to their influence. Thus, there is a need to spread positivity with every picture and accompanying caption that aims to appeal to both those seeking their past innocence and those who still have it, driving the profile to make a post such as shown on the left. A simple but sweet "good morning" post promotes to devout followers to have a positive outlook throughout the day. Adjoining such a caption with the picture of Cinderella's castle creates a connection between positivity and a popular attraction at the Walt Disney park itself.
An account that uses positivity and encouragement when creating content for followers is seemingly the approach most large corporations attempt to maintain due to wanting their followers to be appealed to whatever the corporation is sharing.
With this post from Nike, there is a continued theme of maintaining a positive face. This post echoes the function of a Public Service Announcement in that it relates its content to the events surrounding the coronavirus and attempts to spread a subconscious message about staying home in order to make their followers aware of the power they each have in this situation. Assuming because the pandemic is often spoken about, the post itself does not directly refer to it by name. Ideally, a corporation would not want to have others think about the risk of not being at home due to a post on their page; this would breed fear, and negativity overall, when looking at Nike content. This is likely why the post is uplifting, encouraging their audience to change their behavior by having them play their sport at home and equating it to playing an official game on television. In other words, while encouraging their followers to play an ambiguous sport at home, Nike is attempting to convince their followers to not leave the house while under the blanketed message of working with the sports corporation and with each member of their wide audience to accomplish the intended effect of the post and keep the world from getting sicker.
Similar to that of corporations, celebrities use social media as a means of interaction, or a way for their followers to interact with their image. As depicted to the left, sisters Chloe and Halle subtly market their new song and reach out to their followers to direct them to where they can find the song within their caption. In one caption, the girls show appreciation for those already listening to the song and ask them for their opinion while also acknowledging those who haven't already heard it. For those who haven't listened to the song yet, seeing Chloe and Halle ask them a question about opinion gratifies them, encouraging them to listen to it to provide the opinion that was personally requested of them by celebrity sisters. If this approach works, then the sisters direct them to exactly where they have access to it. One may question the necessity of attaching one's face to a caption about content, but this provides a humanizing effect. Chloe and Halle are reinforcing what was established in the caption by further implying they want to hear what their followers think about their music. For fans especially, this is appealing due to there being sort of human to human interaction that is only a few evolutionary phases away from being face to face.
Being that this platform allows for big corporations and celebrities to use their profiles in any way they see fit, there are times when celebrities decide to maintain the distance between them and their fans by posting without captions, which is the norm for a celebrity like Beyoncé. While Beyoncé is a human being, she has created a brand of herself in the way that Nike's is a sportswear corporation and Disney is a realm of nostalgia and childhood. This creates said distance between her and her followers, which she uses to her advantage. Looking at her page, there a few times when she captions her photos, especially when the photo is of herself. However, there are a few occasions when she decides to populate her captions with some text, such as in the post to the right. This post is the combined effort of her brand and herself in that the photo represents her brand and the caption is supposed to represent herself. In the photo is Beyoncé with an adidas grill on her teeth. Being that there is no other image to indicate Beyoncé's brand, she is indicating that her image is a brand. In the caption, she acknowledges all the fans who supported her collaboration with Adidas by giving them all thanks for the effort they made in making her deal a great success. Therefore, she uses the brand of her being a music icon and the image of her being a breathing human with feelings to make her followers feel legitimized for their efforts, encouraging them to continue supporting her brand and image in her other endeavors.