Instagram is a powerful marketing tool that can be used for businesses of all sizes. Whether you are a florist or plumber, this social media platform can attract more customers and improve your business reputation.
Instagram is mobile first and offers an experience that fits perfectly with users’ phones. This allows your content to be more relatable and authentic to your audience.
1. Visual Content is King
It’s a well-known phrase: “content is king.” But that statement isn’t just true in the world of blogging or website content. Content is important, but visual content is even more so. This is especially the case for social media marketing. Posts with visuals are shared 120% more often and receive 80% more engagement than posts without them.
Visuals also stand out, which helps them to be remembered. Studies show that adding a photo to any written piece of content increases the audience’s ability to recall that content several days later by 65%. This is why it’s important for businesses to focus on creating high-quality and memorable visuals, such as logos and brand photos.
Instagram is an ideal platform for businesses to showcase their visual content. It’s simple and clean, which is perfect for highlighting products or services in an eye-catching way. In addition, Instagram allows users to tag other accounts or business in their posts, which can lead to increased engagement and visibility for both parties. This can help to build relationships and foster trust between businesses.
2. Instagram is Mobile First
The fact that Instagram was built and designed first as a mobile app is a big reason for its success. It’s a beautiful and easy-to-use interface that takes full advantage of the power and potential of mobile devices.
Instagram offers users a range of filters that can alter the look and feel of a photo, as well as tools to edit photos by changing brightness, contrast, saturation, manual tilt shift, and vignette effects. Users can also add text to a photo, share multiple photos in a carousel post, and create videos on the platform.
In 2016, Instagram launched Stories, a feature similar to Snapchat that allows users to post 10 second vertical video clips. This is a key feature that has helped Instagram increase its user base and bolster ad revenue, according to research by Sensor Tower.
Users can also connect with businesses directly on Instagram by using the platform’s “swipe up” feature to send a private message to accounts they follow. This is a great way for brands to promote new products, services and special offers to their followers.
3. It’s Authentic
As consumers become more skeptical of traditional advertising, they are increasingly seeking out authentic content from brands that resonate with them on a personal level. Instagram is an excellent platform for businesses to share authentic, relatable images that showcase their personality and build brand loyalty.
Instagram’s popularity is in part due to its ability to spruce up photos with a wide variety of filters and editing options. This allows users to present an aesthetically pleasing and balanced feed, or opt for a more raw and real representation of their day-to-day life.
In fact, many Influencers have moved away from the jaw-dropping, perfectly edited images that originally gave them their influence, in favor of more “raw” content. This movement towards authenticity is evident in the rising popularity of Instagram Stories, which enable users to share a more unfiltered view of their lives.
In addition to utilizing filters and editing options, Instagram also allows for single-image posts that can be supplemented with the perfect caption that explains, adds context or continues the conversation started by the image. This can be a great way to highlight your products, share announcements or repost Tweets or Threads, for example.
4. It’s Fun
Instagram is a fun way to showcase your brand, and engage with your followers. It was originally intended as a photo-sharing platform for people to socialize through photos, but it’s evolved into a full-fledged marketing tool that can help businesses of any size reach their sales goals.
Instagram features a variety of filters that make your pictures look great, as well as other editing options like tilt shift, brightness, warmth and saturation, cropping and more. It also offers video features like Instagram Reels and IGTV that allow users to create up to 60-second videos. Plus, you can add automatic captioning via a sticker, use location stickers, and create Instagram Stories with all sorts of engagement options such as QnA stickers, poll stickers and more.
In addition, Instagram has introduced shoppable posts that allow you to add price and product information on a post so that it’s easy for your customers to buy directly from you. This new feature is perfect for small- and large-scale business alike. It’s a simple and effective way to drive traffic to your website or physical storefront, and convert that traffic into sales.
5. It’s Effective
Instagram offers businesses a number of ways to showcase products and services that can lead to sales. This includes shoppable posts which allow you to add product tags to your photos that link directly to your online store, and Instagram Stories where you can host live events or make announcements. Instagram also offers call, email and directions links that can be added to your profile to help customers get in touch with you or open up Google or Apple maps to find your location.
Instagram’s UI is clean and simple, unlike Facebook which has a sidebar, comments, articles and more that can distract from your photo or video. The cleaner user interface means that your content is displayed more effectively and makes a stronger impact with followers.
As a result of all these features, Instagram is a highly effective marketing tool that can boost your brand awareness, generate leads and increase customer loyalty. If you are not already using it, consider making it a key part of your holistic marketing and advertising strategy. LYFE Marketing can help you develop and execute an effective Instagram strategy that will drive results for your business.
