Online photo and video sharing mobile app Instagram is one of the fastest growing social sites that has been gaining worldwide popularity by leaps and bounds. In June 2016, Instagram succeeded in achieving a remarkable milestone by doubling its monthly users to 500 million, up from the 400 million users in 2015. With more than half a billion users and more than 30 billion images on the site at present, Instagram is emerging as one of the most powerful marketing tool for businesses today. What’s more, more than 70 million images are shared on Instagram each day.
According to social media expert, of all social media tools, Instagram has a higher engagement rate, as well as the highest percentage of mobile audiences; thus, every big and small business should cash in on Instagram to reach their business goals.
Here are the top reasons why businesses should use Instagram in 2017.
- Achieve Visual Supremacy:
Human beings are visual creatures who fall in love with anything that is visually appealing. Since Instagram is a photo sharing platform, it enables you to tell your stories through pictures and videos. Thus, businesses should use Instagram for telling visual stories to their audiences about their products or services through visual content.
- Gain New Followers Using Instagram’s Story Feature:
Instagram stories combined with a compelling content can go a long way in driving more engagement by connecting brands with their audiences in a credible manner. Instagram Stories recently launched by Instagram allows you to create temporary sequences of photos as well as videos that play like a slideshow and disappear after 24 hours. Though these images cannot be liked or commented on, it enables you to see how many users have watched each and every image on the slideshow. What’s more, in case you do not want your stories to disappear, you can download them to your phone for future use.
- Best Platform to Target Millennials:
Another reason why Instagram is evolving as the most-preferred social media tool is because it targets the younger generation, especially the Millennials. More and more businesses today are targeting millennials to make big bucks in business. A study conducted by comScore revealed that millennials spend almost seven hours on Instagram every month. Thus, Instagram is the right platform for marketers who want to target Generation Y.
- The New ‘Shop Now’ Button:
Instagram has recently announced that it would soon add a ‘Shop Now’ button to allow brands to connect their shopping cart to their products exhibited on Instagram posts. Though Instagram will initially experiment with this feature, once implemented, it can prove to be a powerful tool for brands to showcase and sell their products online via Instagram.
- Sell Your Products Using Influencer Marketing Strategy on Instagram:
There are countless influencers on Instagram having large followings. Instagram influencers can help brands significantly by connecting brands with their target audiences. Moreover, by picking the right Instagram influencer, you can add greater credibility to your brand. When your target audiences notice influencers endorsing your products or services on Instagram, they are more likely to purchase your offerings.
If you are already leveraging Facebook and Twitter for your business but haven’t explored the power of visual marketing on a mobile web, it is high time you make use of Instagram as your marketing tool. In the era of mobile internet marketing, mobile internet usage is surpassing desktop usage. Thus, Instagram can be a great boon to marketers as it was invented as a mobile app and soon may take the place of a website.
Want to know more about using Instagram for your business? Just reach out to us with your queries.
