The GIRLS brand on Instagram reflects the series’ most resonant moments with episodic and promotional imagery, creative hashtag use, and “behind-the-velvet-rope" access to red carpet premieres and VIP events. Regular updates include fan favorite quotes, images from the episodes as episodes air, and a polling of fan-favorite moments from the series. The young audience of GIRLS likely watches episodes on a delay with DVR or with their devices, and the @girlsHBO Instagram account “live grams" popular episode quotes and images to entice viewing and remind fans to watch. @girlsHBO on Instagram gives the series a space to connect real-world events and pop culture moments to the content from the series, such as wishing fans a “Happy Shosh Hashannah" or encouraging young viewers to Vote. To bring fans access to the red carpet premiere events, @girlsHBO shares pictures from the premieres with cast and crew’s own “#resolutionsGIRLSbreak" for Season 2, or 20-something confessions from Season 1. During the Season Finale, these signed papers are given away as a reward for interaction with the Instagram profile during the day-long finale marathon. The Season 2 #UOxGIRLS promotion teamed with Urban Outfitters to offer 1 year of free rent to fans who shared their makeover-ready apartments with @girlsHBO on Instagram, acknowledging the prevalence of Instagram with the series’ audience as well as supporting the “broke" 20-something audience. In 1 year, the GIRLS Instagram profile has grown to almost 98K followers. Sharing fan contributions and images from the series have matched the existing fan behavior on the platform, while pushing content in a natural way to reflect the series’ “millennial" tone.
