 opened its doors in Los Angeles. The two-month pop-up was an interactive experience that took people through the evolution of the selfie, with installations that encouraged visitors to take photos of themselves in exhibits ranging from Van Gogh’s bedroom to a throne of selfie sticks. “I think one of the reasons people respond so well to selfies is that they have this feeling of intimacy and spontaneity,” 

, co-founder of the museum. “Even though it’s maybe just as staged as any other photo, it feels more natural to see Kim Kardashian posing in a mirror with product nearby, as opposed to a model holding a Coke and saying, ‘Drink this.’”

Indeed, as well as their popularity among the public – there are over 348 million Instagram posts tagged with 

 – these digital self-portraits have caught the eye of marketers. Whether it’s Absolut’s ‘

’ campaign promoting a limited edition vodka or Coca-Cola 

 by recruiting Selena Gomez for a selfie with a Coke can, user-generated content is taking centre stage online. But why exactly do people share these photos?

‘Selfie-marketing: exploring narcissism and self-concept in visual user-generated content on social media’

, people portray different versions of their self depending on the nature of the app – Instagram is typically for portraying your ‘ideal-self’, while Snapchat is for your ‘actual-self’. Canvas8 spoke to authors of the study, Alexa Fox and Chinintorn (Pom) Nakhata, to understand how narcissism can be a driving force for selfie-taking among young people and what this means for marketers.

Why is this topic important to understand?

Selfies are becoming incredibly popular – there are about 93 million taken each day. It’s a trend that Gen Yers are really into and our team has seen companies increasingly devoting resources to selfie-focused marketing activities. We wanted to gain a better understanding of why sharing selfies has gained such popularity among consumers and how various social media platforms play a role in sharing this type of communication.

We focused on the comparison between Instagram and Snapchat because they both have some distinctions in terms of permanency of content. On Instagram, unless you’re posting a Story, posts reside on the platform for good, whereas on Snapchat the content is never really permanent, it disappears after a certain period of time. We thought that because the technology of these two platforms is so different, it would be interesting to explore how people use them to share similar types of visual communication, like selfies.

The purpose of a selfie can change from platform to platform

Self-presentation theory has been studied for decades. The theory suggests that a person develops a sense of self by creating an impression they want to showcase to other people. We have now started to study how self-presentation can be attained through social media, especially since the addition of the front-facing camera has helped consumers present themselves on these apps.

For example, on Instagram, people post their ‘ideal self-image’ because they want to be perfect when they post a selfie – they have to edit, crop and sometimes it’s not real. We see a lot of fashion and beauty brands on Instagram that are a lot more appearance-focused and tend to get at the trait of narcissism. On Snapchat, by contrast, we know that people post images about their everyday life, being goofy and funny.

The growing importance of these apps where you’re trying to enhance your self-image begs the question of how new forms of media relate to classic research on the self-concept and self-preservation theory. We wanted to understand how Gen Yers are using selfies on Instagram and Snapchat, and how people feel about participating in selfie marketing – when companies use user-generated images to feature in branded posts.

Instagram’s permanence makes people want to project perfection

We conducted two studies. The first consisted of interviews with young adults using Instagram and Snapchat to understand how they were using these apps. Once we had a good understanding of this, we then wanted to explore how they viewed these apps in terms of marketing behaviours. So, the second study looked at the effect of narcissism and self-concept and how it applied to attitudes and behaviours towards selfie marketing. We asked participants questions in the context of a specific brand they already followed on social media, so that it would be relevant to them.

We found that the opportunity for consumers to express their self-concept in an online context changes depending on the app used, and there are more opportunities for this with selfies. Snapchat and Instagram satisfy consumers’ needs for self-importance in a different way. ‘Actual self-concept’ had an effect when people participated in selfie marketing on Snapchat because it shows how a person sees themselves in everyday life. ‘Ideal self-concept’ is more associated with Instagram because it represents how a person would like to be seen by others.

Depending on which of these two self-concepts is active at a specific moment, Gen Yers decide to post content on one app versus the other. Narcissism did emerge as an important clue as to why Gen Yers may post content on one app over the other – it’s positively related to their attitudes toward and intention to participate in selfie marketing campaigns. We also found that the term ‘Story’ is interesting as it focuses on storytelling in real-time – there’s no time to edit when you’re representing your actual self. This is important for implications on what type of app to use. Everyone has moments when they want to represent their actual self and moments when they want to represent their ideal self. I also think that our findings will be applicable for how marketers want to use Instagram Stories in comparison with typical Instagram because it is very similar to Snapchat - it's available for only 24 hours and also has some fun features.

Our narcissistic tendencies are tempered when sharing in real-time

 towards narcissism than other generations. And with 

 rating Instagram as the most narcissistic social media platform, the research suggests that there are clear implications for what type of content resonates most on each channel. “Marketers of products designed to improve customers’ lives in some way, like cosmetics, might benefit from using Instagram,” explain Fox and Nakhata. “Whereas products designed with everyday life in mind – like coffee – might find more success on Snapchat.”

, with over 87 million followers and 16,000 posts, followed by Nike and Victoria’s Secret. Taking just one look at the carefully crafted feeds for each of these accounts shows how the picture-perfect look is key to success on the social network. But with people increasingly drawn to imperfection – whether it’s 

 – there’s a desire for brands to embrace more behind-the-scenes imagery. It’s why Stories are rocketing in popularity, with Instagram Stories garnering an estimated 

Snapchat content tends to have an informal and fun approach, which – as the research suggests – taps into people’s actual self rather than their ideal self. It’s a positioning the brand is aiming to solidify with the launch of its first TV campaign in April 2018, dubbed ‘

’. The 60-second spot features people using Snapchat to capture everyday moments, from brushing their teeth to having dinner with the family, sending the message that ‘how you feel matters more than how you look’.

Selfies have evolved from self-portraits to displays of confidence, with #nomakeupselfie gaining 

 mentions on Instagram. For brands, the benefit of selfies as marketing material taps into people’s love of user-generated content. And considering that these images are 

 than company-made ads, businesses are taking note. 

 is a beauty brand led by online influencers, while 

 is a video collaboration tool helping marketers better harness the power of the crowd.

Alexa Fox is an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Akron and co-author of ’Selfie-marketing: exploring narcissism and self-concept in visual user-generated content on social media’. Her research is focused on digital marketing, user-generated content, physiological measurement of cognition and emotion, and online privacy. This paper was co-authored with Pom Nakhata, Todd Bacile and Aleshia Marshall.

Chinintorn (Pom) Nakhata is an assistant professor of marketing at Penn State Harrisburg and co-author of ’Selfie-marketing: exploring narcissism and self-concept in visual user-generated content on social media’. Her research interests include social media marketing, user-generated content, behavioural pricing and retailing. This paper was co-authored with Alexa Fox, Todd Bacile and Aleshia Marshall.

Advertising

Behavioural sciences

Psychology

Millions of people share photos of themselves on social media every day, but the kind of pictures they post on Instagram rarely match those on Snapchat. Canvas8 spoke to marketing professors Alexa Fox and Pom Nakhata to understand how people use selfies and what it means for brands.

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