Jake Lynch is the Director of Network Communications for the Vandaleer partner: West Virginia Hub.
Last Saturday, Clutch MOV, a Vandaleer.com partner, hosted their second “InstaMeet,” bringing people together for a walking photography tour through historic Marietta, Ohio.
Their first InstaMeet, held last August, took place in downtown Parkersburg, and included an afternoon of exploring Blennerhassett Island State Park.
Both events were attended by local aspiring and professional photographers alike, as well as members of the community who simply wanted to explore their city in a new way.
While the name might not be familiar, the concept is pretty simple. The term “InstaMeet” was coined by the Instagram community to describe a meet up of folks who enjoy using the Instagram app for a few hours of photographing each other, scenery and props.
InstaMeets occur all across the globe, varying in location, length and scale – a fellow Mid-Ohio Valley instagrammer attended a Global InstaMeet in Berlin, Germany last summer. Another attended a state-wide meet-up in Wheeling last spring.
As the second most popular social media platform, Instagram has grown tremendously over the past few years – in large part due to the community it fosters. The foundation of Instagram is the sharing of beautiful pictures as they happen; the app encourages immediate sharing, rather than professional uploads. The app is focused on sharing the beautiful, the uplifting, and the inspiring.
One of Clutch MOV’s missions is to use Instagram to highlight the Mid-Ohio Valley’s best features. By hosting local InstaMeets, the group hopes to bring people together to celebrate and draw attention to these features: Public art, scenic views, historic buildings, parks – all of these make for great photographic opportunities.
Photos taken during the instameets are shared by using predetermined hashtags throughout the day – for Clutch MOV, the tag #livelovemov is used year round to share moments of “living and loving life in the Mid-Ohio Valley.”
Interested in hosting your own Instameet?
- Pick a date and a meeting place and post a “Save the Date” on your Instagram account
- Tag other local photography and community groups in your post and encourage them to share as well
- Create a hashtag or two for attendees to use to track photos posted throughout the day
- Take a group photo of all attendees!
Whether you have 50 attendees or 5, your Instameet will be a success if it’s showering your community with a little love.
Feature Photo taken by Kaitlyn Hickey
