Instagram has done nothing but grow at a tremendous pace ever since it was released in 2010. The platform allows businesses and brands to reach their audience and gain valuable attention with photography and imaging. It’s a serious inefficiency in a business’ marketing plan for them to NOT be on Instagram. To put it as simply as possible… if your business is not present on Instagram, you are missing out on a TON of opportunities – for new business, new audiences, and new customers. Here are our reasons why B2C on Instagram is seemingly forever trending upward.
Instagram remains one of the top dogs in the social media landscape. Sure, Snapchat may have taken a bite out of their presence at one point, but Instagram (as driven by Facebook) was able to efficiently gain that ground back (yes, with a little help from Instagram Stories). Research from ComScore depicts users as spending over 12 billion minutes on Instagram each and every month – and that number was from 2014.
People pay attention disproportionately to Instagram, and it has ‘built-in’ word of mouth functionality. The Pew Research Center found that 32% of all adults were on Instagram in 2016, and in 2015 over half of the teen population was utilizing the app. Those numbers are certainly higher now, and users are checking in multiple times a day to follow their friends, favorite celebrities, and yes, even local brands. The word of mouth functionality is much like early Twitter, where users can tag their friends in the comments section in order to bring their attention to your account. A great promotion idea, discount, or special you’re running? Ask that users qualify for the discount by tagging a few of their friends. Those friends then could very well follow you and then… the cycle can begin once more.
Advertising has come a long way with Instagram, and you can localize ads or deploy content against a certain demographic (like with Facebook). What did you do the last time you got direct mail in the traditional method? Did you even look at it? Typically those flyers are just getting tossed into the trash. With Instagram, a well thought out ad tactically placed on the homepage of the audience you’re looking to attract, will gain much more attention. They won’t be able to scroll past the promo without their eye-catching it.
There is one strong misconception that we review with a number of clients when they first come to us. Businesses think that they have to have an element of their product or service be aesthetic or photogenic. With all the images of delicious foods, beautiful landscapes, and creative crafts, you may think that you need to have something photo-friendly to stand out on Instagram. That could not be further from the truth. Allow Loud Canvas media to work with you to become an expert storyteller on the photo-first and mobile-first platform.
Resources:
https://www.comscore.com/Insights/Blog/Which-Social-Networks-Have-the-Most-Engaged-Audience/
https://www.pewinternet.org/2015/04/09/teens-social-media-technology-2015/
https://www.pewinternet.org/2016/11/11/social-media-update-2016/
