Content Analysis Report on the @spendwiththem Instagram Account and #spendwiththem Hashtag
Introduction
New South Wales South Coast locals, Turia Pitt and Grace McBride, combined influence and marketing content expertise to create their Instagram account, @spendwiththem. In January 2020, the pair launched an incredible new initiative established in the form of an Instagram and hashtag, to showcase the abundance of micro and small businesses affected by the Australian bushfires. Spend With Them promotes ventures that require assistance and directs Instagram followers to profiles and websites where they can make direct purchases. Volunteers help to run the @spendwiththem Instagram account, whereby they process inquiries from hundreds of small businesses and engage with their audience through informative and heartfelt captions.
Significance & Overview
Due to the proliferation of the global platform, Instagram, individuals and brands are able to humanise their content, showcase products and services and inspire their audience (Collins 2020). With such pervasiveness, individuals use social media platforms in their everyday life, which is amplified during crisis and emergency events (Reuter, Hughes & Kaufhold 2018). Created for the purpose of producing in-the-moment content, Instagram enables users to respond and adapt quickly to the emergence of unprecedented events. In turn, Instagram accounts and subsequent hashtags are created to raise awareness and encourage individuals to collaborate, connect and support one another (Forsey 2019). Through a compelling message, an Instagram account and hashtag may also be featured across print and broadcast media, which may lead to exponential reach.
Research Methodology – Content Analysis
According to Karlsson and Sjovaag (2015, p. 178), content analysis refers to the “…systematic assignment of communication content to categories according to rules, and the analysis of relationships involving those categories using statistical methods”. This methodology enables an objective evaluation of content, in comparison to subjective impressions generated by an individual (Audience Dialogue 2012). Although content analysis can examine written words, it primarily produces quantitative data, measures of values or counts which are identified as numerical figures (ABS 2013). Instagram enables audience content to be produced, whereby an individual’s feedback is portrayed through their ability to engage and interact with others, which may be derived from likes or comments. Content analysis highlights links between causes (e.g. an Instagram account/hashtag) and the effect produced (e.g. audience engagement) (Audience Dialogue 2012). This research methodology will be utilised to analyse the Spend With Them Instagram account and hashtag, whereby sampling analytics tools, such as Social Blade, Hashtagify and Socialinsider, have been employed to ensure data is transparently generated.
Analysis – Research Questions
In order to acknowledge potential patterns and determine whether similarities or differences have emerged across the Spend With Them Instagram account and hashtag, three research questions and subsequent hypotheses have been proposed. To highlight distinctions across the types of content on the account and hashtag, a content analysis has been examined from January 6, 2020 to April 21, 2020.
- Question 1: How did the Spend With Them account and hashtag get co-opted by COVID-19 in the wake of the Australian bushfires?
- Hypothesis 1: The creators of Spend With Them, Turia Pitt and Grace McBride, have pivoted the core focus of the account and hashtag into a new realm, yet have continued to provide ongoing community support.
- Question 2: Has the popularity of the #spendwiththem hashtag changed since January 6, 2020 to April 21, 2020?
- Hypothesis 2: The #spendwiththem hashtag has increased in popularity since its launch, as a result of increased awareness, regularity of content and influencer support.
- Question 3: Was the @spendwiththem Instagram account and #spendwiththem hashtag effective in generating coverage and promoting Australian businesses during a crisis?
- Hypothesis 3: The @spendwiththem Instagram account and #spendwiththem hashtag were effective in generating a response from their audience and in drawing wide-spread attention.
Results
The findings that have surfaced in regard to the proposed research questions, have presented interesting and identifiable patterns.
Social Media Audit – Summary of @spendwiththem Instagram Account
A social media audit refers to the process of compiling a company’s social channels, organising key information and evaluating the functions of each account (Newberry 2018). For @spendwiththem, a social media audit was conducted to present a high-level overview of key statistical metrics and to act as a reference for the content analysis (Table 1.0).
Question 1: How did the Spend With Them account and hashtag get co-opted by COVID-19 in the wake of the Australian bushfires?
The initial objective of the @spendwiththem Instagram account and hashtag was to help regional communities bounce back after an unparalleled bushfire season. Australians were encouraged to buy directly from shops, farms and wineries located outside of the major cities (Santos & Robin 2020). Shortly after the Australian bushfires started to subside, a second ‘once-in-a-generation’ crisis emerged, coronavirus (COVID-19), which pummelled businesses nationwide. The emergence of a new global crisis resulted in Pitt and McBride pivoting the core focus of the account into a new realm, connecting Australians with businesses struggling to stay afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pair stated, “…as the Spend With Them community grew, and grew, and grew, we did have a thought that perhaps we’d be in a position to help other businesses in other times of crisis” (Santos & Robin 2020).
While communities and businesses based in bushfire affected regions continue to be featured on the account and utilise the hashtag, a new emphasis has been placed on promoting in-demand products that can be purchased in the comfort of one’s own home (Preston 2020). Pitt stated, “So, stay at home, and when you need to buy something…check out our page to see if you #spendwiththem first” (Skelly 2020). On March 25, 2020, Pitt and McBride announced on their individual Instagram accounts the new face of @spendwiththem, as well as on the accounts page. The account also shared how businesses affected by COVID-19 can be featured on the page.
Has the focus of the content on the account and use of the hashtag remained similar?
In light of COVID-19, a similar response from the account has remained, highlighting small businesses products through a heartening, uplifting and supportive tone-of-voice. Posts featured on the page include information on each featured business, such as their website and social media accounts, to provide an opportunity for individuals to place online orders. This conclusion has been determined through analysing two posts from the @spendwiththem Instagram account, one shared during the bushfire period and one during COVID-19 (Table 2.0).
Furthermore, @spendwiththem continues to regularly utilise the #spendwiththem hashtag, featuring it in a total of 396 posts (Socialinsider 2020). Despite a new crisis emerging, the purpose and use of the account and hashtag has remained consistent, seamlessly addressing a current issue and responding to community needs.
Question 2: Has the popularity of the #spendwiththem hashtag changed since January 6, 2020 to April 21, 2020?
The #spendwiththem hashtag is an archetypal example of a hashtag tied to an initiative to support communities during a time of crisis. An analysis regarding the level of interaction with the #spendwiththem hashtag, has occurred through the utilisation of Social Blade, Hashtagify and Socialinsider (Table 3.0 & Graph 1.0).
According to Social Blade (2020) and Socialinsider (2020), the @spendwiththem Instagram accounts following and the total number of posts using the #spendwiththem hashtag, has maintained a relatively consistent baseline. However, followers of the account and posts to the hashtag appear to have steadily declined (Graph 2.0 & Graph 3.0). A campaign hashtag may be developed to mobilise and support the launch of a specific campaign, whereby it assists in driving and generating buzz around a specific realm that an account focuses on (West 2019). In this case, Pitt, a motivational speaker who has a personal following of 976,000, may have assisted in generating initial enthusiasm and attention around the campaign (Barnhart 2020). This suggests that during the time of the Australian bushfires, engagement and interactions reached a peak, yet as a new crisis emerged, popularity of the hashtag started to decline. One may allude this is due to new hashtags being created in light of COVID-19, such as #togetherathome and #supportsmallbusiness.
The level of engagement and popularity towards the hashtag has also been analysed through a comparison of the top post affiliated with the #spendwiththem hashtag during the Australian bushfires, with the top post during COVID-19.
Comparison of top post during Australian bushfires with top post during COVID-19
In congruence with the data retrieved from Socialinsider’s analytic report, despite post one receiving a higher number of likes, the overall engagement figure is higher for post two. Although Graph 3.0 highlights a decline in the #spendwiththem hashtag, post two employs a strategic tool to engage with their audience, incorporating a ‘giveaway’ within their post. This branded promotional effort not only expands the profile of @mapleridgegoatsoap, but also re-positions the hashtag, resulting in high levels of engagement (Collins 2020). However, this data-set is not a true indicative factor of overall popularity. For small businesses, utilising this technique during COVID-19 was one way to re-generate awareness and reach of the #spendwiththem initiative. Yet, in accordance with Socialinsider’s figures, it is clear an incentive may have resulted in inconsistent ‘spikes’ within the popularity trend line.
Question 3: Was the @spendwiththem Instagram account and #spendwiththem hashtag, effective in generating coverage and promoting local Australian businesses during times of crisis?
After only three days of running the account and hashtag, Spend With Them accumulated over 157,000 followers (Tracks Magazine 2020). In an interview with Tracks Magazine (2020), Pitt states, “…people have discovered amazing wineries, artists, little boutiques that they never would have heard about otherwise. People are loving it”.
@spendwiththem Instagram Account
Early on the account page received attention from public figures, such as the account owner, Turia Pitt, and other well-known influencers including, Celeste Barber and Kelly Rowland. This coverage aided in initialling spreading the word of the campaign, resulting in an overwhelming amount of traction to the page and hashtag (Forsey 2019). Through this momentum, small businesses across Australia reached out to Spend With Them, sharing the tremendous amount of support they received. According to the Australian Financial Review (AFR) (2020), a coffee roaster located on the NSW South Coast received a “…record-breaking 900 orders in a week”, whereby the owner believed it was made possible through being featured on the Instagram page. This suggests not only the accounts page, but the presence of the #spendwiththem hashtag, proliferated across Instagram, to which it was effective in connecting consumers with small businesses.
However, as the account was co-opted by COVID-19, data generated from Social Blade (2020) and Socialinsider (2020), indicated a small decline in followers starting from the month of April. One may conclude the effectiveness of the @spendwiththem account has recently diminished, as a result of limited coverage from influencers and potentially due to new initiatives emerging in response to COVID-19.
#spendwiththem Hashtag
Through utilising Socialinsider’s (2020) analytics tool, it was noted the #spendwiththem hashtag received a total of 830 posts during the assessed time period. The ‘super-users’ affiliated with the top posts of the hashtag were the @spendwiththem Instagram account, Turia Pitt, Australian tourism accounts and small-business owners. The content shared to the hashtag revolved around encouraging individuals to purchase from local businesses in fire affected regions. This has since evolved to encapsulate businesses which can be supported through at-home and online means.
An analysis of the hashtags engagement evolution revealed it was very effective in promoting local Australian businesses affected by the bushfires, receiving an impressive engagement figure of 317,899 (Socialinsider 2020). The hashtag experienced a second ‘peak wave’ on March 25, 2020 when Pitt and McBride announced the accounts new focus, and from this date to April 21, 2020, the recorded engagement figure was 47,547. Despite Spend With Them encouraging individuals to support the hashtag during the COVID-19 crisis, it is evident the hashtag has received a lower-level of engagement in comparison to the bushfire period, thus far.
News and Media Coverage
From the onset, Spend With Them was represented in the media, whereby coverage and recognition heightened for a second time as the account was co-opted by COVID-19. When the Spend With Them account emerged, news publications such as SBS, Mamamia, AFR and Broadsheet, were quick to detail and spread the word of Pitt and McBride’s new endeavour. The character of the narrative focus remained similar, emphasising the community initiative the Instagram account and hashtag supports.
Discussion / Conclusion
Spend With Them continues to effectively operate as an impromptu marketer, catalogue and agent for small Australian businesses. The coverage generated from the initiative and the support displayed from individuals, created a ripple effect, from direct sales to emotional support for small-businesses. Through conducting a content analysis report on the Spend With Them Instagram account and hashtag, social media analytic tools, Social Blade, Hashtagify and Socialinsider, have revealed unique patterns and insights. However, limitations of the tools utilised to assist in conducting a content analysis of this body of work, may appear, as data displayed may not be entirely accurate.
Hypothesis one was confirmed through an analysis of the posts Pitt and McBride shared on the @spendwiththem Instagram account and their own personal accounts. It was evident they pivoted the core focus of the account and hashtag to also encompass small-businesses impacted by COVID-19. Contrastingly, hypothesis two was not supported by the data gathered from the sampling analytics tools. The #spendwiththem hashtag did not increase in popularity, evident by the ‘Post Evolution’ graph (Graph 3.0) (Socialinsider 2020). Finally, hypothesis three was supported to some degree, the @spendwiththem account and #spendwiththem hashtag were effective in promoting small-businesses during times of crisis, particularly during the Australian bushfires. However, both were limited in generating the same results during COVID-19. In turn, news and media coverage assisted in supporting the initiative and were effective in wide-spread attention.
Reference List
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