A mountain top view. A close-up of a hand-rolled pastry. These images, while almost pedestrian on Instagram, are hardly what you’d expect out of a finance brand.
But that’s exactly what American Express’ presence on the platform is all about: An effort to connect with an experience rather than a product. “Instagram is really about engaging — it’s so powerful because it’s so visual,” said Mark Arnold, a branding consultant who specializes in financial services companies.
With Instagram, finance companies are focusing on content that generates interaction, since peddling products outright can easily be shut out by users who may not want to see advertising on the platform.
