The importance of Instagram for brands in 2015
The dawn of 2015 saw Instagram overtake Twitter in the on-going social media popularity contest. Drawing in over 300 million users every month, Instagram is now the channel for brands to watch, with Twitter missing out on the heavyweight title by a substantial 16 million users.
What makes Instagram great?
As someone who’s had a fair bit of experience with social media, I know and understand the importance of captivating imagery. If I post a particularly beautiful (or eye-catching) image for my clients I’d put money on the fact that its reach and engagement will be higher than a regular quality image. We are the image-savvy age, phones have impressive cameras and anyone can take a beautiful image, so that’s what we expect to see from our favourite brands. It just so happens Instagram is the absolute perfect tool to get those images to us!
Whether you’re a hash tag lover or hater, in terms of getting your posts, they’re extremely useful and no channel is more of a hash tag advocate than Instagram. When using hash tags on Twitter or Facebook, there seems to be a limit of about two before it becomes a bit ‘#cringe’. Whereas Instagram etiquette dictates the hash tag as king, the more you use and the more creative you get the better.
In my opinion, people generally respond positively to creativity and original ideas and Instagram is the creative social channel. There are an abundance of Instagram accounts out there that think outside the ‘square’ and this just proves the potential for brands, it wouldn’t take much to come up with something eye-catching and original. Here’s an example by London artist Tania Ling of how you can turn your Instagram feed into a work of art:
On top of that, brands that take the Instagram avenue can show their loyal followers something a little more ‘behind the scenes’. Where Facebook is your polished, finished product (more like mini advertisements), Instagram is the window into the world of your brand. It’s a great way to build brand loyalty and show your followers what you really do and how you’d like to be perceived.
Let the figures speak for themselves
Instagram introduced the verified badge in December 2014, marking it as a brand-friendly platform. Accounts with a badge are more easily found and cement their authenticity for Instagram users. And once a user has found their desired brand you’ll find they are 120 times more engaged than your average Twitter follower and 58 times more than a Facebook fan. This evidence is from a study by Forrester which found that Instagram posts achieved a per-follower engagement rate of 4.21%.
So what’s there not to like? All aboard the Instagram train before it leaves the platform!
Here’s a little #QuoteForLife to get you motivated
