What Can I Do With Instagram? — Part 1
The Beginner’s Guide
Instagram is a social media platform that has grown in popularity among smartphone users of all ages. What originally started as a means for users to share images and videos of their daily lives, has quickly developed into a global phenomenon. Brands have, in the past few years, taken to the platform in an effort to reach their online communities to improve their marketing efforts on social media.
Within this article set, we will help you discover what Instagram is, why brands should care about it, and help guide you on the ways in which it can help increase your bottom line.
“Social selling expands on the age-old basics of getting to know your customers and meeting their needs.” — Jon Ferrara (Pioneer & creator of CRM solutions) @Jon_Ferrara
In this article I will cover:
#1 What Is Instagram?
#2 Why Should I Care About Instagram?
#3 How Can Instagram Help Me To Hit my Company’s Revenue Targets?
#4 What Should I Watch Out For When Using Instagram?
So lets get started…
___________________________________________________________________
#1 What Is Instagram?
Instagram is a social networking app that was created for users to share photos and videos from their constantly available smartphone. Although it is similar to Facebook and Twitter in the sense that each user has a dedicated profile and news feed, Instagram differs in the sense that it places an emphasis on mobile use and visual sharing.
Just like other social networks, users are able to interact with other users on the platform by following them, being followed by them, commenting on posts, liking posts, tagged users and making use of private messages. Instagram has over 800 million active users currently, and is soon expected to increase that to over a billion unique accounts — with just over 500 million of those accounts being active every day. Is it for this reason that businesses have taken advantage of the site to promote their own agendas, as 80% of Instagram users follow known brands and celebrities.
As with other social media brands, Instagram offers businesses the ability to advertise their brands, products and services on the platform through paid and organic means. With high focus being placed on creativity, brands are tuning into their inner artist in order to promote themselves in more unique ways — as unlike with Facebook and Twitter, there is no lengthy content posting options available, this is where the phrase “A picture says a thousand words” comes into play.
According to Instagram, 60% of people say that they discover new products on the platform, and with over 15 million business profiles currently active on the site, it is fast becoming a source of marketing success for brands of all kinds.
Instagram has surely come a long way, business-wise, since co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger introduced the app in 2010. But on the whole, the app has remained simple, straightforward and social since its inception.
#2 Why Should I Care About Instagram?
Digital marketing is about reaching consumers to invoke a change in their purchasing behavior by providing them with enticing call-to-actions that elicit them to take action. With the past decade’s rise of social media, popular channels such as Facebook and Twitter have fast become the go-to for brand advocacy and advertising. Instagram is one of the newer platforms to enter the advertising ring, offering marketers a creative way to advertise their brand and offerings.
While traditionally being thought of as a photo sharing platform and little else, Instagram offers several compelling case studies that demonstrates the effectiveness of their ad features. Different from Facebook and Twitter, Instagram campaign successes are measured based on metrics such as reach, ad recall and awareness, in place of traditional likes and shares.
According to Score Mobile Trends 2014, Instagram ads have proven to be an effective means for generating new business. A report from market research firm eMarketer predicts that nearly three quarters of American companies with 100 employees or more will turn to the photo-sharing app for marketing purposes in 2017 — up from a little more than half this year, reports Mashable.
If the numbers aren’t enough to compel your brand to turn to the platform for strategic marketing success, there are benefits to advertising on the platform that one simply cannot ignore.
The Benefits Of Instagram Marketing
Brand Visibility
For many years, with the increased use of mobile, desktop traffic to sites has dipped. Instagram, being mainly a mobile-based appeals to the modern day generation by being a source of entertainment for users at any time of day. Brands can leverage this advantage by posting entertaining and engaging content aimed to build an increased interest among audiences and expose them to what they have to offer.
For inspiration, read up on how INIT Snacks used the platform to reach 72 Million people in its exclusive launch in 2016 by clicking here.
Engagement
The secret of all social media marketing is an increased engagement level. No platform out performs Instagram in terms of driving engagement. Research Centre study published on Forbes shows that Instagram delivers an engagement rate of 4.2% per follower, which is 58 times more engagement than Facebook.
Multi-Channel Marketing
Images and videos are popular marketing tools for marketers, as once prepared, they can be shared across a multitude of platforms and sites to ensure that your audiences are reached not only on Instagram, but on your other marketing channels too, increasing your brand’s chances for discovery.
Audience Insights
By monitoring what content of yours is being shared and interacted with, you can begin to gain an insight as to what your audience is most responsive to, allowing you to optimize your content strategy for increased results, and know which part of your business is in need of additional focus.
#3 How Can Instagram Help Me To Hit my Company’s Revenue Targets?
As with any marketing strategy, your efforts should be driven by strategic goals that ultimately influence your company’s bottom line. By understanding what your business is hoping to achieve, your campaigns will not only be more focused, but more successful.
The next article in this series, “What Can I Do With Instagram? — Part 2 (The Intermediate Guide)”, we will be taking you through the various steps you should be taking to ensure your success on the platform.
See how brands like Lego have used the platform to boost in-store product sales by clicking here. They not only increased their in-store purchases, but achieved a 58% lower cost per click and 45% lower CPM.
#4 What Should I Watch Out For When Using Instagram?
As with every marketing journey you embark on, there are actions and misconceptions that you need to be aware of in order to ensure your success on the platform.
By taking you through some of the tips used by the top brands on Instagram, as well as the common misconceptions people have about the platform, your brand cannot only be enlightened about the best ways to proceed on it, but master the best practices that has driven tremendous success on the site.
Read our article, “What Can I Do With Instagram? — Part 3 (The Advanced Guide)”.
“Be committed to excellence. Listen and respond better than anyone else. Aim to earn trust, not ‘followers.’” — Glen Gilmore (Speaker and Author) @GlenGilmore
___________________________________________________________________
Instagram is one of the most popular social media sites among users of all ages, where brands are seeing an opportunity to leverage the site to target a variety of different audiences in a more creative way than ever before.
This article will have shown you why it is important for you to pay attention to Instagram as a marketing tool. Read our next guide for a more complex look into Instagram, titled “What Can I Do With Instagram — Part 2 (The Intermediate Guide)”, where we will cover how you can increase your chances of hitting revenue targets using the platform.
Instagram Resources
What Can I Do With Instagram? — Part 1 (The Beginner’s Guide)
What Can I Do With Instagram? — Part 2 (The Intermediate Guide)
What Can I Do With Instagram? — Part 3 (The Advanced Guide)
How Do I Target Audiences On Instagram? — Part 1 (The Beginner’s Guide)
How Do I Target Audiences On Instagram? — Part 2 (The Intermediate Guide) — Coming Soon!
How Do I Target Audiences On Instagram? — Part 3 (The Advanced Guide) — Coming Soon!
