Benefits of using Instagram as a Marketing Tool

Do you currently use Instagram for your business? If not, it may be worth re-considering...

Instagram is a hugely popular platform for personal use, however it is also regarded by businesses as

being an effective advertising tool. 

Social media has revolutionised marketing, with companies focusing an increasing amount of their efforts and budgets on using social platforms to spread the word. There are several reasons why Instagram is a brilliant platform to market on, read on to find out more!👀

Sense of Community

Instagram is  an interconnected platform, which creates a sense of community. The hint is in it's name really...'Social Media'😅. It provides a means for direct interaction with existing, as well as potential customers and an ideal environment to reach out and be SOCIAL with your target audience. 

One of the main purposes for using this platform is to build up a loyal fan base who enjoy the content you post and are willing to engage. This links with the concept of 'brand communities', where consumers share a mutual interest in a product/company and these social pages allow people to interact with each other, as well as with your company and the content you post.🙋Building these communities has become a priority for businesses today, due to the potential value they can provide such as brand loyalty and brand awareness which are both crucial to be successful in the long term.

Communication

Instagram is also a great communication tool. You can easily get into conversation with well...pretty much anyone!👋 Due to Instagram being focused on images, these conversations will tend to stem from a discussion over an image or video that has been posted. Often visual content can evoke a greater reaction from people and therefore there is more opportunity to speak to others about it, which Instagram is an ideal platform for. 🎥📷

It could be argued that Instagram is much easier to use compared to other social media platforms and followers’ expectations are lower, compared to sites such as Facebook which requires more intensive participation. However, this is not strictly true due to the communicative nature of the platform. You are expected put a lot of time and effort into ensuring that you participate successfully in the Instagram community and communicate in an effective way which attracts and maintains valuable followers. So don't think it's always the easy way out!😆#

Paid Advertising

Have you considered placing paid ads on Instagram as well as organic content?

Paid ads or 'Sponsored ads' on this platform can be an effective way of advertising, as opposed to including these 'hard-sell' posts within your other content on Instagram. By focusing your Instagram page content on generic lifestyle/product related posts, which are likely to create value and interest followers, you can then also have paid ads on the go too and have a balance between the two.

Many companies believe that they must have a digital selling strategy in place to take advantage of the opportunities of online marketing, however others would disagree and claim that businesses shouldn’t directly sell on social media and instead should focus on creating content which is interesting and useful to people who follow the brand. Instagram is also used as a relationship building tool, to get to know and understand customers wants/needs, it is therefore important for businesses to not over-sell on social media, but post relevant and valuable content.