IGers is a portmanteau of "Instagram" and "-ers" - it refers to active users of Instagram, particularly the community of photography enthusiasts, content creators, and influencers who built a distinct culture on the platform in its early years. The term originated around 2010–2012, when Instagram was primarily a photography community before it evolved into the global marketing platform it is today. In influencer marketing, "IGers" still appears in community hashtags and industry vocabulary as a reference to the Instagram creator community.
What Are IGers?
IGers (also written as "Instagrammers") can refer to:
The general Instagram user community - anyone who actively uses Instagram to share content, engage with others, and participate in the platform's culture.
The early Instagram photography community - more specifically, the enthusiast photographers who adopted Instagram as a creative portfolio platform before influencer marketing existed. This community organised real-world meetups (called "InstaMeets"), developed visual aesthetics, and built followings around genuine photographic craft rather than commercial objectives.
Community hashtags - the #igers hashtag family (#igersuk, #igersfrance, #igersmilan, etc.) became among the most widely used community tags on the platform, helping users discover local and global photography communities.
The Significance of IGers in Influencer Marketing History
The IGers community represents an important early chapter in influencer marketing development:
Authenticity foundation. Early IGers built audiences through genuine photographic skill and creative vision - not through commercial content or brand deals. The trust and engagement they built with their communities became the foundation that made Instagram influencer marketing commercially viable.
Community-first ethos. The IGers culture emphasised creative exchange, peer feedback, and location-based community (InstaMeets brought local photographers together physically). This community-first orientation created deeply loyal audiences.
Transition to commercial partnerships. As Instagram grew and brand marketing dollars followed, many prominent IGers transitioned from pure photography enthusiasts to professional content creators - navigating the tension between artistic identity and commercial content that remains central to influencer marketing authenticity debates today.
IGers Today
The term "IGers" has declined in common usage as Instagram has evolved from a photography platform to a multi-format content ecosystem (Stories, Reels, Shopping, Live). The community hashtag infrastructure still exists but is less culturally central than it was during Instagram's photography-community phase (2010–2015).
In influencer marketing practice today, the relevant descendants of the IGers community are:
- Photography-focused Instagram creators who maintain high aesthetic standards as a differentiator
- Niche community hashtag groups (travel photography, food photography, street photography) that continue the original IGers ethos
- Instagram creators who explicitly position themselves as photographers rather than influencers, often commanding higher rates for visual content production
For brands, understanding the IGers heritage helps contextualise why photographic quality and aesthetic authenticity remain disproportionately valued in Instagram brand partnerships relative to other platforms.
