User-generated content is a highly prized commodity with marketers who use it to prove their brand’s authenticity. When marketing to Millennials, a segment of consumers who are particularly swayed by user-generated content, visual content is especially useful. Instagram, a social media platform that relies heavily, and in some cases, solely, on visual content, is quickly shaping up to be a perfect match for marketers pushing a brand. Instagram has had somewhat of a meteoric rise among social media platforms. Within...

Approximately 150 million cards are sent out on Valentine’s Day, which has prompted the least romantic among us to scoff that the Cupid-themed day is actually a Hallmark Cards-generated “holiday.” While the origins of Valentine’s Day are fuzzy and lie somewhere between pagan and Christian traditions, the impact on consumer spending is massive: $19 billion on Valentine’s Day-related gifts. The National Retail Federation (NRF) says consumers will drop an average of $142.31 on gifts by this weekend. That’s about $19 billion...