7 Reasons Why Instagram is the Most Important Social Media Platform for Brands
Many people are still surprised when I tell them they can use Instagram to grow their business. It seems to be difficult for small business owners, especially older ones (no offense), to understand just how important Instagram is and how it can be used to grow a business.
They seem to be stuck on the idea that it’s just a simple photo app where girls post selfies and try to get as many likes as possible.
Then they always bring up the issue of links not being allowed in captions and struggle to see a way around that roadblock.
In this article, I’ll show you why Instagram is important for business and why it’s the number one social media platform you should be focusing on.
1. 600 Million Instagram Users
We all know Facebook hit the 1 billion user milestone not too long ago, however, many people are unaware that Instagram is not far behind.
Instagram just hit 600 million active monthly users and there’s no doubt it will hit the Big Billy (billion) mark in a couple years.
That’s not all, what’s amazing is that most of these users are active daily users! People love Instagram, most of them jump on the app at least once a day to scroll through their feed and see what their friends are up to and catch up with their favorite Instagrammers.
This brings us to my next point, engagement!
2. Extremely High Engagement
The engagement on Instagram is higher than any other social media platform out there, and not just a little higher, way higher!
Engagement with brands on Instagram is 10 times higher than Facebook, 54 times higher than Pinterest, and 84 times higher than Twitter.
This may be because there are no links allow in captions so spammy companies and marketers don’t fill everyone’s feeds with ads. Businesses are then forced to create beautiful-looking content that people want to see and build a genuine audience before pitching to their followers.
Instagram is a visual-based platform where the way things look matter, you can’t just throw up any old image and expect people to care. Brands and anyone trying to build a following must work hard to create aesthetically pleasing content, this keeps engagement high for people who post the right content.
The type of engagement we’re talking about here doesn’t just mean likes and comments, people actually take action on the platform.
According to Instagram Advertiser statistics, 50 percent of Instagram users follow at least one business, 60 percent say that they have learned about a product or service on the platform, and 75 percent of Instagram users take action, such as visiting a website after looking at an Instagram advertising post.
Statistically, Instagram is a great place to be spending your time and money if you’re looking to raise awareness about your brand.
3. Type of Users on Instagram
Everyone and their grandma is jumping on Instagram these days. The age demographic is wide, the income demographic is broad, and the location demographic is global.
However, we do know that for the most part Instagram users are tech-savvy and keen to make a purchase or two from their smartphones.
According to Global Web Index, over a third of Instagram users have used their mobile to purchase a product online– making them 70% more likely to do so than non-users.
For now we know that female millennials who make between $50,000 and $74,999 and live in urban areas (aka. online shoppers) are using the platform more than any other Instagram demographic.
With ecommerce on the rise and mobile device usage on the rise, it’s easy to see that more and more people will start making purchases on-the-go right from their smartphone.
Instagram is making it easier than ever for it’s users to buy products right from their smartphones.
This brings us to our next point, all the changes already made by Instagram, and the future changes in the works will create the greatest ecommerce opportunity the world has ever seen!
4. Changes Already Made by Instagram
Instagram made a crazy amount of changes in 2016 and many of them were geared towards increasing the platform’s effectiveness for brands.
2016 brought the addition of business profiles, boost posts from the app (ads), Instagram stories, and live video to the platform. These major changes show that Instagram isn’t falling behind the trends and is determined to stay relevant, especially as a marketing platform for businesses.
For more information about all of Instagram important changes, read this article, 9 important changes made by Instagram in 2016.
5. Changes Coming to Instagram Soon
Just because Instagram made so many changes recently, doesn’t mean they’re done!
Instagram is currently testing a ‘Shop Now’ button with a few select brands. This feature will allow users to click the button and be directed straight to that product’s page on a brand’s website. From there they can make the final decision on whether to buy or return to Instagram.
Along those same lines, verified users are able to add links to their Instagram stories. For now they’re only allowing one link per story.
These 2 future features are major game changers for businesses looking to turn their followers into sales. It still won’t be easy, but it’s a huge opportunity for brands and influencers who figure it out!
6. Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing it so new right now, and even though it’s being talked about a lot, most brands and small businesses still haven’t figured it out.
Instagram is the best platform for influencer marketing and a few select brands have made a killing using this marketing technique.
I won’t go into it here, but when a brand can effectively partner and use an influencer’s audience to sell it’s products, big things can happen.
7. It’s Easy to Build an Audience on Instagram
If you’re just starting from nothing or you have a very small audience, Instagram is the best place to focus your marketing and audience building efforts.
Instagram is the best platform for building an audience for free, it just requires a little time and hard work.
Out of all of the top social media platforms, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Snapchat, LinkedIn, Medium, I’ve found Instagram to be the easiest one to build an audience on.
It’s easy to target your potential customers based on their interactions with other Instagram accounts, locations and hashtags.
It’s also easy to get those ideal customers to follow your brand on Instagram if you have the right content and use the right Instagram marketing techniques.
If you stay consistent with your growth efforts, you will be surprised how fast you can build a large account with highly engaged followers that actually care about what you’re offering!
Facebook’s algorithm killed business pages, unless you want to pay for your content to be seen by your audience.
YouTube is crowded, difficult to gain traction, and time consuming.
Twitter’s engagement is incredibly low.
Pinterest’s demographic is extremely limited to a primarily young female audience.
And it’s nearly impossible to build an audience on Snapchat.
If you want people to see your brand and start to care about you, I highly recommend putting in some serious effort into Instagram.
It’s quickly becoming the number one social media platform and it’s future looks incredibly bright.
There you have it, 7 Reasons Why Instagram is the Most Important Social Media Platform for Business!
I hope this article has opened your eyes to the opportunities available to you if you take advantage of this platform. Or maybe you’ve be aware the Instagram was something you needed to focus on, but this has confirmed it and lit a fire under you to really level up your Instagram strategy.
In either instance, you should download our completely FREE Instagram Success Guide! It’s everything you need to know in order to start crushing it on Instagram and using it to start or grow a business!
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