Zach Pentel from AnalogFolk: People follow brands on Instagram to pick up clues on lifestyles

The possibility of achieving return on investment in social networks constitutes one of the biggest challenges for companies. The recent incorporation of purchase buttons or the possibility of clicking on ads in platforms such as Pinterest or Instagram arrived as a solution to make the path less blurry, however, experts are dubious as to whether the alternatives favor brand construction.For Zach Pentel, Strategy Director and partner at AnalogFolk, the tendency in the last few years has been for Instagram to maintain the “sanctity of its visually driven roots”, avoiding the deviation of creative formats in order to benefit brands, but this fact does not encompass the entire reality, according to his experience.”People follow brands on Instagram to pick up clues on lifestyles and, in the case of retailers, commerce is an integral part of their brand story. This is particularly true in Pinterest, where lists of people are a selection of the articles they hope to buy. To make the path easier is like an added value”, he states.On the other side is Jill Sherman, Social Strategy VP at DigitasLBi, for whom purchase options and ads on these platforms can lead to saturation and for consumers it could be annoying if a balance isn´t achieved: “To understand the moment when a person is willing to buy and offer a path in a natural way, without interruptions, is what is ideal”.