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Why Businesses Can't Afford to Ignore Instagram

Zac Johnson
Zac Johnson
business.com Member
May 02, 2019

Here's why you need to use Instagram to create interest in your brand.

User growth and brand interest in Instagram is continually growing. If your business is still ignoring this extremely important social platform, now is the time to start using as part of your marketing efforts.

In the beginning, Instagram was just a hip place for teens to share their selfies. But over the years, it has transformed into a social network that offers unique growth opportunities to businesses of all sizes. Currently, the photo-sharing app boasts as many as a billion monthly active users – and counting.

But are you on Instagram yet? If you're a business owner, you should definitely start using Instagram as a tool to help you achieve your sales goals – especially since the platform has e-commerce in its sights. To make it big on Instagram, all you need to have in your arsenal is engaging visual content. By posting quality, eye-catching, and relevant content to this platform, you can build an online community of vibrant followers, boost sales, and forge a deep connection with your audience. The best part is that you'll have lots of fun using Instagram.

If you're still wondering if your business should use Instagram, here are six reasons why you should start using it now.

Competition on Instagram isn't too fierce ... yet.

Small businesses are having a hard time on Facebook. Apart from increased competition, the sharp decline in the organic Facebook reach has become a nightmare for business owners. Unlike Facebook, this social media platform doesn't filter what is shown in user newsfeeds. Every post that you share on Instagram is visible to all of your followers.

Plus, Instagram is growing, and most businesses haven't yet joined this social network, which means that any business that starts now will have edge over those that arrive late. Starbucks, Gucci, and Lego all have massive followings on the social platform and have been seeing great results.

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Instagram is the best platform for visual branding.

Visual branding is a powerful technique that helps you shape your audience's perception of your business. Whether you want your customers to associate your brand with happiness, a fun attitude, support for feminism, care or authority, there's no better way to communicate your business's values than through visual or graphics-based content.

It's important to understand that visual branding goes beyond photos. The colors, text size, font style and imagery of your content work together to create a visual experience for your audience. Instagram has several features that make it easy for your business to use images in a way that support your branding and connect with your audience.

Instagram is a mobile platform.

Mobile phones have deeply penetrated our everyday lives. By the end of 2019, the total number of mobile phone users will touch the five billion mark, and many users spend a significant amount of time on social media. In fact, 80% of traffic to all social media networks comes from mobile devices. As a mobile social media platform, Instagram offers businesses a huge opportunity to tap into this ever-growing mobile audience on a worldwide level.

It's also worth noting how smartphones have altered the way people shop online, as 80% of shoppers use their mobile phones to check out product reviews before buying a product. If you want to cash in on this trend, you need to use Instagram to expand and boost your online sales.

Instagram has a very high conversion rate.

While selling your products shouldn't be your focus when you use social media platforms, this doesn't mean you shouldn't or can't sell on social media. The point is to offer real value to people and build trust, and the sales will follow automatically. Instagram is for building genuine relationships and the social platform is thriving with real customers. As a result, it offers some of the highest conversion rates.

Instagram Stories is an excellent business promotion tool.

One of the coolest tools this platform offers is Instagram Stories, which are videos and photos that are only available for 24 hours. As a business owner, you can leverage this feature to present an interview, showcase what goes on behind the scenes at your business, demonstrate a product or inform your viewers about an upcoming event.

While designing Instagram Stories, you should try to be funny and creative, while adhering to your brand guidelines. If you do it right, the vanishing content you create with this tool is a fantastic way to get more viewers, drive traffic to your website and generate more sales.

The platform's interface is easy to use and after you learn the basics, you can create Instagram Stories in minutes. If you want to more design tools to enhance your content, you can find many free third-party apps that offer customizable layouts.

Instagram makes it easy to connect with influencers.

Collaborating with influencers in your industry is another great way to market and grow your business.

While using Instagram, you should identify and follow the influencers in your industry or niche that have a strong following. You can then send them your products and request a review. If influencers like your product, they may use it and mention your brand in their posts. In this way, you can reach the followers of those influencers and expand your audience.

Image Credit: MAD.vertise/Shutterstock
Zac Johnson
Zac Johnson
business.com Member
Zac Johnson is one of the widely respected leaders in the blogging and internet marketing communities. Through his popular blogs, bloggingtips.com and zacjohnson.com, he has helped thousands of readers grow their brands and make money online. A self taught entrepreneur, Zac’s been making money online for over 15 years and has been involved in nearly every facet of internet marketing while also finding great success in the world of blogging. In 2007 Zac launched his first blog at ZacJohnson.com, which is focused on his successes and failures, case studies, industry news and guides on how to make money online. In addition to his own personal experiences, Zac also writes about the latest online marketing trends and informs his readers on how and where they could be creating new revenue online. Zac’s personal blog currently has thousands of daily readers and has referred over $5,000,000 in new business to his advertisers and network partners since launching the blog. In addition to all of the above, I am also serving on the Board of Advisors with Brand.com and also consulting with their team to improve their day to day operations and reach while also managing their blog, social media and news team. Specialties: blogging, ppc, media buying, site production...