We always say Digital Marketing is something that any company can benefit from. Whether you’re looking to be the latest fashion brand or breaking into the local plumbing scene, getting your presence seen online can be the difference between failure and exponential growth. Recently, Britain’s military intelligence service MI5 decided to put this statement to the test. MI5, in an unprecedented move of transparency for the agency, has opened up an official Instagram account. Why have they done this? What can your business learn from its endeavours? Learn more with Wildfire below.
What is MI5?
We’ve all heard of MI6, the British spy organisation with a penchant for non-shaken martinis and cheesy intros according to the Bond series (by the way, what on earth happened to that new movie?). MI5 differs slightly in its operations, however. In the modern era, MI5 has become the “anti-terrorism” surveillance agency of Britain. They survey and protect Britain from domestic and international terrorist threats. Their work is shrouded in secrecy and considered highly important. There is very little known about the agency beyond its head – Ken McCallum – and bits and pieces revealed through enquiries. It would seem MI5 is looking to remedy this fact with their new account.
What is MI5 posting?
We hesitate to criticise an agency that has the legal right to commit certain crimes against citizens but in all honesty? MI5’s current Instagram presence is rather dated. A heavily filtered picture of Thames House is their first post:
Followed by a moving, hard to read infographic on spy pigeons that looks straight out of 2012.
The posts are of course reaching a sizeable audience, with interaction from high-ranking government officials. But it’s hardly going to take the world by storm. There’s no one, in particular, to blame here (imagine how difficult it must be for a marketing team to get an Instagram post approved by one of the most secretive agencies on the planet) and no failures from which a lesson may be learned. So why are we talking about it?
The Lesson to Be Learned
We said there was no point to be learned in their failures, not in general. What MI5’s new Instagram account proves is that simply being online gives your business (or agency) an air of transparency and generates hype.
Even for an established presence, creating a social media account sends a strong message. “We are here, and we’re opening up a little”. Just look at the hype stars such as Rupert Grint and David Attenborough got when they opened an account – a million followers in under 5 hours. Opening an account as an older business is big news to your existing customer base. This hype creates lots of activity in a short period of time, practically guaranteeing your platform of choice is going to push your account to a new audience.
Long story short, get online already! There’s nothing but benefits.
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