In October of 2010, Instagram hit the app store and took the internet by storm. Within one week’s time, the social photography app hit one hundred users. 2 months later, it breached one million users. There’s no question that Instagram is big and that it will keep on getting bigger. People are flocking into the Insta atmosphere. That should be signal for any business to be on Instagram as well.
Social Media has now grown to be a staple to marketing efforts for businesses. It’s not longer just an add on to your strategy. It could very well be your strategy. Aside from having high reach potential, it’s extremely underpriced with content development and an option to put out paid ads being the only cost. That cost can go as little as $100 a month for small businesses.
Instagram is one of the best examples of that. If you’re a business and you don’t have an Instagram account yet, then it’s time you started one. Why? Here are just six of the many reasons.
1. Enhance your visual branding
93 percent of all human communication is visual. Most of the information the brain will retain is visual. We are visual beings looking for visual conversations. That’s where Instagram did things right. Compared to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and many other platforms, Instagram has a higher emphasis on visuals.
2. Flocking in of users
If there’s anything a marketer knows instinctively, it’s to go where the crowds are. Well, there are more than 600+ million active users with 400+ million using Instagram daily. The average time on the social media platform is 29 minutes a day. Imagine your page getting even the most insignificant fraction of that base as a following. It could open you up to an enormous amount of business growth.
3. Big brands are saying “yes”
Well, Instagram is nothing new and businesses who jump into it aren’t necessarily trend setters. A reported 9 out of ten of the world’s international brands are now on Insta. So if they’re on the platform then you should be too.
4. Tap into influencers
Influencer marketing has grown tremendously on Instagram. How does influencer marketing work? It’s pretty simple. You look into people in your immediate field or industry with a high following and tap into them to feature you for a deal- whether cash or in kind. Unlike other social media platforms, the Insta app has a very accepting atmosphere from its users when it comes to this approach. If you want to jump into this trend then this is the place to be.
5. Stories, stories, stories
No, I’m not just referring to the Stories feature on the app (which is also a wonderful reason for you to be on Instagram). Instagram is a great avenue to tell stories. It allows for long captions, big graphics and a lot of hashtags. Instagram is a great place to tell a story.
6. It’s a mobile world
What’s unique about Instagram is it’s high emphasis on mobile. You can’t post without a mobile phone. Others might see that as a challenge. But with a big chunk of the world now switching to mobile, this is definitely a good and forward thinking direction. This social media platform is great on mobile and focuses on that, making it an important player in the mobile marketing field.
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