????照片正迎來(lái)屬于自己的輝煌時(shí)刻,。Pinterest,、Tumblr和Instagram是三大基于圖片的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)平臺(tái)，這些公司似乎每周都會(huì)超越一個(gè)新的發(fā)展里程碑,。最近剛剛上市的Facebook此前拿出10億美元巨資收購(gòu)了Instagram,，還可能買(mǎi)下Face.com——顧名思義，這是一家提供面部識(shí)別軟件的公司,。同時(shí),，虛擬創(chuàng)意板Pinterest的估值一路飆升至15億美元，輕博客網(wǎng)站Tumblr最近憑借2,350萬(wàn)獨(dú)立訪客打入了康姆斯科（comScore）前50大網(wǎng)站榜單,。

????這一切,，各大品牌顯然都看在眼里,。

????營(yíng)銷人員對(duì)其他新技術(shù)——無(wú)論是早期電視廣告還是社交媒體——的反應(yīng)都頗為遲鈍,，但這次照片類應(yīng)用的大發(fā)展，各大公司倒是早早就加入進(jìn)來(lái),。它們紛紛創(chuàng)設(shè)Pinterest啟發(fā)板,、開(kāi)設(shè)Instagram賬戶，指望用高質(zhì)量圖片吸引顧客的關(guān)注,，最好還能進(jìn)一步鼓勵(lì)他們?cè)诰€下購(gòu)買(mǎi)其商品,。“為了在網(wǎng)絡(luò)上打造良好形象,，用視覺(jué)化的形式講好故事至關(guān)重要,，”全食超市（Whole Foods）2011年7月起就開(kāi)始利用Pinterest，其全球網(wǎng)絡(luò)社區(qū)經(jīng)理邁克爾?比珀科稱：“我認(rèn)為它使我們得以用海報(bào),、旗幟廣告和文本講故事,，我們可通過(guò)圖片分享傳達(dá)特定信息——傳播極為迅捷，瞬間可達(dá),?！?/p>

????這也符合商業(yè)界最基本的規(guī)則之一：受眾在哪里，我們就跟到哪里,?！皫z像頭的手機(jī)和可聯(lián)網(wǎng)的移動(dòng)設(shè)備無(wú)處不在，使得數(shù)碼照片的社交分享呈現(xiàn)指數(shù)級(jí)增長(zhǎng),，”紅牛數(shù)碼營(yíng)銷總監(jiān)奈特?華納說(shuō),。“我們看到,，不斷有網(wǎng)民分享自己拍攝的關(guān)于我們主辦的活動(dòng)的照片,，或者從我們的網(wǎng)站中復(fù)制下來(lái)的圖片,，還有很多人轉(zhuǎn)發(fā)紅牛社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)賬戶上的圖片。這種現(xiàn)象的持續(xù)增長(zhǎng)強(qiáng)化了我們的粉絲對(duì)紅牛品牌的正面聯(lián)系,?！奔t牛是最早登陸Instagram的品牌之一，也是該網(wǎng)站最熱門(mén)的品牌之一,，粉絲數(shù)量已經(jīng)超過(guò)23萬(wàn),，用戶上傳了逾8.7萬(wàn)張帶有#redbull標(biāo)簽的圖片。

????人們或許會(huì)說(shuō),，啟動(dòng)這種相對(duì)新穎的品牌與其顧客之間的圖片驅(qū)動(dòng)型社交聯(lián)系乃是Tumblr,。各大公司紛紛涌入這一輕博客網(wǎng)站，分享幕后照片,，而其粉絲們熱忱地轉(zhuǎn)發(fā)幾千次,。每一次轉(zhuǎn)發(fā)，都代表某位用戶不僅堅(jiān)定地站在這一品牌背后,，而且還認(rèn)同這些圖片所宣揚(yáng)的美感,。比如，在凱特?絲蓓（Kate Spade）品牌的Tumblr賬戶下,，有2,275位用戶在一張上世紀(jì)50年代沙灘鞋的股東照片后面進(jìn)行了互動(dòng),，這些人可以說(shuō)是集體表達(dá)自己的觀感：即懷舊風(fēng)格有助于提升該品牌現(xiàn)在的形象。

????Photos are having a moment. Companies such as Instagram, Pinterest and Tumblr, the big three image-based platforms on the Internet, seem to be reaching new milestones every week. Facebook bought Instagram for a whopping $1 billion, and the newly public company may be purchasing Face.com, which provides software that recognizes, well, faces. Meanwhile, virtual inspiration board Pinterest's valuation skyrocketed to $1.5 billion and microblogging site Tumblr recently broke into comScore's top 50 web properties with 23.5 million unique visitors.

????Brands have taken notice.

????Unlike the slow uptake by marketers of other new technologies -- from early television advertising to social media -- companies have jumped on this bandwagon quickly. Companies are creating Pinterest boards and Instagram accounts, hoping high-quality images will grab customers' attention and, hopefully, encourage them to buy offline. "Visual storytelling is essential to building a strong online identity," says Michael Bepko, global online community manager of Whole Foods (WFM), which started using Pinterest in July 2011. " I think it allows us to tell a story – through posters, through banners, through text – we can get particular messages across through image sharing...in a very instantaneous way."

????It's also following one of the first rules in business: go to where your audience is. "Ubiquitous camera phones and connected mobile devices has exponentially boosted social sharing of digital images," says Nate Warner, Red Bull's digital marketing director. "We saw a constant stream of people sharing their own images from our events as well as images pulled from [our] properties, or re-sharing images from Red Bull's social media accounts," he continues. "The ongoing growth validates this type of positive connection our fans feel with the brand." Red Bull – one of the first and more popular brands on Instagram -- has more than 230,000 followers and more than 87,000 user-submitted images tagged #redbull on the app.

????One could argue that Tumblr started this relatively recent need for image-driven social connection between brands and their customers. Companies have flocked to the microblogging site to share behind-the-scenes photos that followers are only too eager to reblog thousands of times. With each repost, a user firmly aligns themselves not only with the brand, but the aesthetic being pushed through their curated images. The 2,275 people who interacted with a vintage photo of 50s era beach combers on Kate Spade's Tumblr are collectively saying they get how the bygone look inspires the brand's quirky prep creations today.