Businesses see the bigger picture of using Instagram for marketing

Instagram is growing increasingly popular, revealing advertisement advantages as well as acting as a social media site.

With over 500 million active users a day, Instagram has become more appealing to companies as a platform for business growth.

According to a study into Instagram’s users, over 70% of businesses now use the site for marketing purposes.

The number of Instagram influencers has increased as well, with predictions that businesses will spend up to $10 billion (£7.5b) on them as a source of advertising, by 2020.

Instagram influencers can profit on payments or free products by featuring various items on their profiles, with some celebrities such as Kim Kardashian-West being paid up to $500,000 (£380,000) per post.

Lydia Lahmann-Sharbonda has nearly 20,000 followers and uses her fitness Instagram account, ‘fit.kid.lyd,’ to provide information on exercise and maintaining a healthy diet.

The fitness influencer says: “I would consider myself an upcoming influencer, but I started this to motivate and inspire others.

“A lot of influencers that aren’t celebrities start off this way and, at the moment, my following is growing by about 100–200 people per day.”