Life After Death: How Instagram Gives Life to Legendary Musicians of the Past

by Member of TrueSocialMetrics team ~ 4 min

Is there death after life? If you are a world-class star, yes! Labels that get rich on your name and social networks where you are still alive, have followers, comments and likes will do all the work for you. So how to be successful even after your death?

In this short study, we will analyze the Instagram pages of five world-class musicians - Michael Jackson, Amy Winehouse, Freddie Mercury, Bob Marley, Prince. We will compare their appearance on the social network over the past six months (from 10.01 to 30.04).

Leaders of Instagram Races for Six Months

First of all, we will evaluate the general data of each of the musicians: Conversation rate (comments per post), Amplification rate (shares per post), Applause rate (likes per post).

As you can see, the leader in the most of indicators is Michael Jackson.

But is he really as cool as he seems?

We will use the Relative metrics tool, which allows you to estimate the number of shares, comments and likes for a certain constant number of subscribers. Let's set this indicator to one thousand followers.

And here the unexpected awaits us. Because Amy Winehouse and Prince are among the leaders. And they have the smallest number of subscribers among all.

Yes, Prince has the highest Relative Conversation rate (comments per post per 1000 followers) and Comments per 1000 followers. Its audience is small, but actively interacts with the page.

Amy Winehouse has the highest Relative Applause rate (likes per post per 1000 followers) and Likes per 1000 followers. Her audience likes the content, she actively likes it.

What about the content?

So why does Michael Jackson rule in quantity, and Amy Winehouse and Prince rule in quality? Let's see what they fast.

Amy Winehouse actively uses the video format. This type of content predominates on her page, and her audience responds most actively to it. For example, her most popular post in 6 months is a piece of video with the Back to Black clip, timed to the release of this single. This post received 342,826 likes.

Let's look at the faithful posts of Amy Winehouse. They have a lot in common:

• Most of the posts are archival photos and videos from the singer's performances and photo sessions with brief notes on the history of the photo.

• Amy Winehouse's posts are designed in the same visual style, processed in a graphic editor. And it really attracts attention.

Prince's posts are the most actively commented on. A post with a clip of Prince's interview video and a quote from the interviewer has the most reach.

Most of the singer's posts have a link to a clip or an interview. Readers follow the link, watch the content, and then comment on what they saw on Instagram.

However, content is not the main thing. Still, Michael Jackson has the largest number of comments and likes, unlike the others. And it's not just because he's the king of pop music. His page is regularly updated and filled with content. Competitive analysis of Content shows that Michael Jackson posts a lot, and the audience actively interacts with them.

Takeaways:

• Amy Winehouse has a high Relative Applause rate (likes per post per 1000 followers) and Likes per 1000 followers. It distributes video content the most of all. So it looks like video content is attracting a larger audience.

• The single visual style of the content, like in Amy Winehouse, also attracts attention. That is why the audience likes her posts.

• Michael Jackson has a large number of comments and likes, because his posts are published often and regularly. Lots of regular content = lots of engagement.

• Prince uses links to the full version of the content. Instagram plays the role of a kind of "teaser" and a place for feedback, so Prince has a lot of comments.