In February 2025 the Nat Geo “In The Field” Instagram account was rebranded to @natgeohistory. The @natgeointhefield IG page had been inactive for two years with no intention to resume publishing. Content previously posted on the “In The Field” page showcased what it takes to create a Nat Geo image and to be a Nat Geo photographer. We chose to rebrand the "In The Field" account rather than launching a new page in order to have a built-in audience of 16.5 million fans of Nat Geo's content and the stories behind it.
Nat Geo has a credible presence in the history space, and transitioning to a history-focused account would allow for a more distinct presence for one of the brand’s content verticals while providing a new way to connect for users.
The purpose of this account change:
- Share fascinating history content—content that explores the past and our place in the modern world.
- Feature the full breadth of existing history content both on Nat Geo’s TV programming and editorial.
- Showcase the history of Nat Geo’s rich brand.
- Elevate the presence of our editorial verticals to deepen audience connections.
We wanted to make history accessible and engaging. The topic isn’t just for history buffs—history can be a topic that’s interesting to everyone.
Prior to launching the history account, we created a brand new social strategy. It included the purpose of the new account, benefits, tone of voice, content pillars, content pipelines, and more. For a year leading up to the page rebrand, we brainstormed ideas for repeatable history series we want to launch. We presented our plan and updated strategy to key internal and external stakeholders for buy-in.
The history account tone would blend informative content and a conversational style and delivery to better connect with and draw in our audience. Compared to our other social accounts, the history account is more descriptive, since its focus is on delivering reliable historical facts.
A History IG account with a distinct visual identity not only creates a consistent and cohesive look but also helps attract and engage the right audience. It allows for flexibility to create experimental types of posts—like timelines, quotes, and archival images—without clashing with the iconic, stunning imagery that the main brand @natgeo account is known for.
We coordinated with Meta reps to prepare for page transition. We justified to them the connection between the “In the Field” page and the history account to allow for the account change to be processed. The history content would still touch upon the core theme of the “In The Field” account of expanding knowledge and exploration.
With the In The Field page having been dormant for 2 years, we started with a 1-week “soft launch" to re-engage and re-activate the 16.5 million followers. To start to service this account, the soft launch period used highly engaging past evergreen top performing history content to spark engagement early leading up to the announcement of the new page, so it had a better chance of reaching our existing and new audiences.
After the 1-week “soft launch” we announced the page rebrand with a promotional video. We designed a cross-platform social campaign to promote the new account with collaborative posts with the @natgeo IG account.
Once the account launch period concluded, we established concrete benchmarks and to test and refine new formats.
The pivot to a history account successfully created a distinction for a topic that our audience is interested in with its own unique account voice.
In the months prior to the rebrand of the In The Field page, it was on a downward trend of losing followers due to it being dormant for 2+ years. Since the rebrand to History IG in February 2025, the launch period saw a net gain of +53K in the first two months.
New content formats were developed to support the page and better showcase everything that already existed in the Nat Geo ecosystem. Examples include bespoke short-form, text-on-screen social videos from our history show titles on the history account, and a photo series called “From The Archives”. With the upcoming new Nat Geo HQ base camp opening in 2026, the history page is a great opportunity to showcase our brand history to pull timely, relevant content from our archives. What sets Nat Geo History storytelling apart is that we provide exclusive access that most history publishers can’t offer.
