Instagram is now officially part of the 1 billion user club, joining Facebook and Youtube respectally. That makes it the third largest social media platform in the world and it’s 500 million daily active users makes it a prime destination for any business. Facebook obviously owns Instagram, but there appears to be no demise of the Insta feed anytime soon. While most companies are on Instagram already, they are only scratching the surface on the versatility offered.
Here a couple of interesting stats before we get started
- Of the 1 billion users, 64% of them are ages 18-29
- Instagram is projected to account for 25% of Facebook’s ad revenue
- 80% of accounts follow at least one business
- The most liked post has 53 million likes and it’s of an egg
Be Human
A common mistake that businesses make is making their content all about them. Instagram is an innately emotional and human environment. It’s a place where you follow friends and causes you care about to share content that you identify with. When your business makes a post you want to re-enforce the community that your audience is trying to be a part of. There should be a human element to your Instagram content. Robotic and generic posting will now just prompt your audience to scroll past to avoid unwanted noise. This is your chance to communicate in a meaningful and valuable way. Simply put, don’t overdo it. There’s not a need anymore to create high budget content that creates a big corporate smell around your company. Don’t be scared to post content that appears to be shot on an iPhone. Audiences may better identify with such content because it appears as if a friend could have made it.
As mentioned, creating a sense of being part of the community is what your focus should be. So wear your heart on your sleeve and firmly root your mission as your message. Social media being such an emotional environment means that people want to rally behind a cause they believe in. Your social media should provide social proof to your audience that you actually follow what you preach. Instagram recently changed their algorithm, aiming to create “a more wholesome experience”. You want to be sure you are following suit.
Storytime
Instagram stories have almost taken on a life of their own. They provide a fun and unique way to interact with your audience. You can go live, include a swipe up to an external link, post a poll and there is a new feature called quiz stickers. All of these features give you great flexibility with your content and customer interaction. Things you can use stories for include:
- Post footage of an office event
- Promote a product
- Give a preview to the company blog
- Give breaking news about the company
- Mention other companies you work with
- Run a contest
- Promote a hashtag
Creating a strong story will help you in your promotional endeavour. As long as you have story sharing on, your audience can share your story on their account. This makes them company advocates and further strengthens your social proof with your audience. Be creative with your stories as you want them to stand out. But use them sparingly, as too much content can overwhelm your audience and diminish your impact.
Action!
There are now over 2 million monthly advertisers on Instagram. That’s a lot of ads and people just scroll right on by most of the time. Most of these are generic, boring ads that just filter right through the audiences trained eye. Instead, adopt with the trend of video being a preferred form of communication. The pattern shows that videos drive 38% more engagement than image posts and nearly double the comments. Since engagement is considered the most important metric for social media success, this holds a lot of weight. This doesn’t mean you should substitute all your posts for video, but rather a healthy blend of the two. You can mix in everything you want to say and show in a short, well done-video.
Instagram is an extremely valuable platform that can help drive your brand awareness and leads if done correctly. It is a predominant platform for Gen Z and Millenials alike and these 3 simple strategies can help you connect with your target audience in a very interactive way while increasing your social presence. But you don’t have to go at it alone and you want to be sure you surround yourself with a strong team. So good luck and make your company Instafamous!
