Image based social networking site Instagram rose to prominence in 2010 and experienced such rapid growth and popularity that Facebook purchased them two years later for a cool $1 billion (didn’t they know they could download it for free?) With roughly 60 million photos shared on Instagram daily, it’s certainly a place crammed full of engaged users – but is it a place where your business should be operating?
At a time when many businesses are finding it an increasingly difficult struggle to get their message heard within these crowded social media platforms, it is beyond doubt that the value of visual content is increasing all the time. This is reflected in the rise of popularity of visual apps such as Instagram and even Snapchat. If you’re a B2C business, Instagram should be at the forefront of your strategy because of the amount of people using the app a day. You have a total of 500 million users to potentially reach!
The foundations to a good Instagram strategy
In order to have an awesome online presence the first step in any successful social media marketing strategy is to build a foundation, and that’s no different when Instagram is concerned. It’s important to research and to discover the photos that people share related to your business or industry. Are your competitors already on there? If so, what are they doing and what kind of engagement are they getting? Can you go one better and do something that they’re not? This needs to be considered before you jump straight in and start posting. You can also use hashtags related to your industry to see what your potential audience are talking about to.
The next thing to consider is what your Instagram objectives are. You’ve already established that the platform is where your audience is, now you must determine what exactly you’d like to achieve from your time on it. Instagram is brilliant for creating brand awareness and generating engagement. If you do this successfully, then you’ll build a truly engaged community that will interact with your every step. According to Hootsuite, 60% of users seek out and discover new products on Instagram.
More to Instagram than pretty pictures
Trust us, although it’s easy to get caught up looking at all the pretty pictures and testing your hand at using a range of wonderful, arty filters, there’s a lot more to the platform than just solely images. It’s not unlike the other social media networks as it’s about being social and networking with your audience. Above all else, the platform was designed to help people meet new people and to them build relationships. It allows interaction to occur between like-minded people and that dialogue can result in new customers for businesses.
Instagram offers an excellent opportunity for brands to diversify and really broaden their reach in an entirely new scope. Ultimately, it enables your followers to gain an inside perspective about your business to stimulate a deeper connection.
If you’re not on Instagram yet, it’s really time to sit down and have a re-think. Failing to keep up with modern marketing, means you’ll get left behind. If you need any help with your Instagram advertising or strategy, please get in contact today.
Edited by Olivia Newman – 29/08/2019.
