When talking about social media marketing, we can all too often get sucked in to discussing Facebook; and why not? it’s a big hitter!
Well, the reality is Instagram (coincidentally owned by Facebook) can hit just as big. The image based social media platform has pipped Facebook for the top spot as the most popular social media platform for teenagers in the US for the past two years. Around a third of teenagers tout Instagram as their number one platform, with a third of that figure claiming they use it chronically, they are always scrolling. It’s the stereotype of a teenager buried in their phone, oblivious to the world around them, what are they looking at? Instagram it would seem!
It’s easy to see why, it’s fast paced, there’s instant gratification, there’s no need to scroll through reams of text. Instagram is the social media platform for the modern world. In fact the name Instagram is a portmanteau of the world ‘instant camera’ and ‘telegram’. Ok, teenagers are not our target demographic but to overlook Instagram is to over look a huge marketing opportunity.
Why?
Well it’s easier to use than Facebook, you’re not battling the constantly shifting algorithm to get your content out there – Instagram won’t restrict your reach nor hide content like Facebook does. This is somewhat of a double edged sword though, if you crack Facebook’s algorithm and your content is getting pushed out everywhere then more people, more importantly, more of our target audience are going to see it. With Instagram however, it’s a bit of a free for all – your content is battling against a lot more like for like content.
We’ll delve into how to draw people into your posts at a later date. For now, it’s important to remember that ‘The Gram‘ is a visual focussed platform – pretty pictures, people! Take a look at your analytics, find out what your audience likes, and create more content just like that. So we have our pretty pictures out there, but we can’t neglect copy. The words you put with your post should enhance it, add to it, explain more about it and importantly work towards your strategy. Just putting posts up for the sake of putting posts up, or box ticking, is something we should be looking to avoid – think about what your post is trying to achieve.
The hashtag has a lot of power on Instagram, you can put up to 30 on a post – which is probably more than you’d ever need. A hashtag is how people search for content on Instagram, want to see pictures about interior design? #interiordesign. Upcycling furniture? Yep, #upcyclingfurniture. Again, more about the ins and outs at a later date – we’re just broadstroking here.
Finally, other than YouTube, Instagram is where influencers come to…well influence. Most of them will have well over a million followers, so if you can get them to promote your business then that’s a sure fire way to massively increase your brand awareness.
Make sure to tune in next week when we’ll delve a little more into the cogs of Instagram.
