Learn a franchise lesson from social media: Slow and steady doesn’t win the race in 2015

“5:15 PM, Pampered in Paris #MKTimeless.”

This text captioned Instagram’s first ad, for Michael Kors, in November 2013. Since then, Instagram has continued to post ads for various brands. This year, they’ve begun to offer “carousel ads” with multiple images that users can swipe through. According to their blog, these news ads provide users with the same experience of multi-page print ads. Andi Summers, digital executive at No Limit Agency*, feels that these new ads make it “easier than ever for fans to follow the advertisement and hopefully make a purchase or donation.”

It’s good that Instagram is developing new initiatives, because if you’re not evolving, you’re irrelevant, right?

Take Facebook. Besides its layout, it hasn’t changed much over the past few years or done anything to make itself unique. And it shows. Teens are switching it out for Instagram and Twitter, according to a 2014 survey by investment bank Piper Jaffray.

Platforms like Twitter and Instagram have stood out by evolving with the times and knowing what people want. People’s attention spans are getting shorter, and no one wants an information overload. Twitter designed itself around the mantra “140 characters or less,” and it changed social media forever by inventing the hashtag. Instagram was created solely for the mobile phone and is centered around images. These two platforms are nothing like Facebook (or each other) and take information sharing to a whole new level.

Even Snapchat, as a fairly new platform, continues to innovate. It recently added Discover, which gives users access to a dozen news outlets’ video and text content. It provides news and information in a creative, user-friendly way without disruption from advertisers. More than that, Discover signifies that Snapchat is staying proactive and creative to keep users interested and coming back.

So, what’s the takeaway here? If you’re not bringing something new to the table, no one wants you anymore. This applies to any business or brand, not just social media platforms. If you don’t have a unique message, a superior product or service, and a passion for innovation, you’ll become a has-been.

Summers says that innovation is key to staying in the game these days.

“If you’re not the one coming up with the next best thing, then someone else will,” she said.

In short, settling for the status quo may just be the fastest path toward irrelevancy.