Apple is looking to give a boost to its "Shot on iPhone" campaign that promotes iPhone photography through the creation of a new Instagram account.
The technology giant created the account with the handle @apple Monday. Within the first 40 minutes, the account gained 20,000 followers. The account features photos taken by various users using an iPhone and posted on Instagram with the "shotoniPhone" hashtag. Its description reads, "Welcome to @apple. Tag #ShotoniPhone to take part."
Other brands related to Apple, like iTunes, Apple Music, and iBooks, already have their own Instagram accounts, but this is the first time that the company will be using its simple name as a handle on the widely popular social media platform. With this move, Apple will be expanding its reach to the millions of Instagram subscribers, a large number of which are iPhone users.
Apple's "Shot On iPhone" campaign previously put up giant billboards featuring photos taken by iPhone users in 2016. The campaign highlighted the phone's advanced capabilities when it comes to photography, showing that pictures taken with an iPhone have enough quality and details to be put up on a billboard.
The campaign used actual pictures posted by people on social media. They contacted users for permission without letting them know that it's for an Apple campaign. "The process was interesting. They gave me nothing to go off of. They didn't say it was the Shot on iPhone campaign until the very end," explained Jordan Ison, one of the users whose pictures was featured by Apple, as reported by Techcrunch.
Several of Apple's industry rivals, like Samsung, Microsoft, Amazon and Google, have joined the Instagram bandwagon long ago. Even though a bit late in entering the game, Apple will surely level the playing field by leveraging the creativity of millions of iPhone users. As of writing, Apple's new Instagram account now has more than 500,000 followers.
