The way that consumers interact with brands has changed. Since its 2012 acquisition by Facebook, Instagram has played a critical role in the relationships between businesses and consumers.
With over 25 million businesses currently on Instagram and another 2 million advertisers, the statistics certainly speak to the effectiveness of having an Instagram marketing strategy.
So what is it that makes Instagram so effective for business growth? We've compiled the top reasons that every business should know about Instagram marketing.
Social Proof
Businesses on Instagram use followers, likes, and other forms of consumer engagement to act as social proof. Social proof is crucial to growing your brand because it shows potential partners what your business is worth online. Social proof also helps to bring more followers to your profile.
People on Instagram are more likely to buy from a well-known business that has more followers and creates a positive Instagram relationship with their consumers. Having more followers shows consumers that your business is trustworthy, which makes them more likely to purchase your products and engage with your page.
If you want to increase your social proof to attract brand deals or influencer partnerships but don't have the time or knowledge to do it organically? Fear not. Many major businesses fluff up their social proof by choosing to buy Instagram followers.
Influencer Partnerships
Instagram is known for its abundance of influencers. Influencer partnerships are a great way to grow your business. This is because influencers have access to a loyal base of followers who look to them for advice on businesses and products.
When you partner up with an established influencer, they are giving you access to that base of followers and telling them that your business can be trusted. This can give your business a much-needed boost in followers and engagement because of the massive swaying power influencers have over their followers.
In fact, Influencers hold so much swaying power over consumer shopping habits that most major companies spend most of their advertising budgets on influencer marketing strategies.
Instagram Stories
Stories allow you to post temporary photos in a slideshow format, and provide a great way to form a positive relationship with consumers. Because what you post on Stories is temporary, you can post photos that are specifically designed to drive up audience engagement without cluttering your profile aesthetic.
While Insta-Stories is still relatively new, having only been introduced a few years ago, it has proven to play a key role in Instagram marketing. Nearly 300 million people use stories every day, and 50% of businesses on Instagram use them too.
62% of Instagram users reported becoming more interested in brands and businesses they saw on Instagram stories. In fact, 20% of stories posted by businesses lead to direct interaction with viewers. Joining Stories is a simple yet effective way for businesses to improve customer relationships and get people engaging with their profile.
Access to the New Generation of Consumers
According to a study conducted by ViralRace, Instagram is used pre-dominately by the younger generations. Gen Z and Millennials alone make up over 70% of Instagram's users. Since these two generations also account for the largest percentage of consumer bases, businesses really can't afford to not market to them.
It has been a running joke that Millennials are always online, but Instagram allows you to use that your advantage. Instagram has 500 million active daily users, 130 million of which visit at least one business profile every day. By bringing your business to Instagram, you can tap into its vast business resources while also appealing to the younger generation of consumers.
Now that Millennials make up the largest generational percentage of consumers, it is more important than ever to meet them on their territory. Especially since now more than ever Millennials like do their research before buying. Instagram gives your followers an easy platform to research brands and products, and compare prices without leaving the app.
Shoppable Posts
The recent introduction of shoppable posts has been a gamechanger for businesses. Shoppable posts allow Instagrammers to see product information and price and a shop now button users can click to be taken to your online store.
The main reason people choose to shop online is that it is convenient for them. Followers will be more inclined to purchase from your online store when they can reach it directly from your page. With the rise of online stores, more and more people are choosing to shop online instead of in traditional brick and mortar stores.
Shoppable posts also let you track what people are loving on your store, and what they could do without. This helps you get to know what types of products are most popular so you can continue to bring in new products that your followers will like.
Cross-platform Advertising
One of the biggest draws for companies marketing on Instagram is how efficient it is for advertising. Not only can you easily create advertisements for your Instagram profile, but you can run those ads across Facebook as well. That's right, you can easily and conveniently cross-post your ads across the two largest social media giants in the world with just a few clicks.
After Facebook acquired Instagram in 2012, Instagram has become of the top advertiser markets in the world. Out of Facebook's top 100 advertisers, 98 of them also chose to advertise on Instagram. Currently, Instagram has over 2 million advertisers running campaigns, showcasing just how effective online marketing can be.
Not only can you run Instagram ads on Facebook, but you can also push your Facebook ads to your Instagram profile. This cross-platform advertising method allows you to minimize your advertising efforts by allowing to draft advertisements for both platforms and reach more people with your ads.
The Bottom Line
The way companies do business has changed thanks to the way the younger generation is interacting with businesses. In today's ultra-tech society, many businesses relying on the visibility and engagement they get from Instagram.
Instagram's unique features and visual presentation have birthed a whole new way to grow your business and reach new followers. It's easy to see why over 25 million businesses are already using Instagram's lucrative marketing techniques.
