If you’re a digital marketer and your company/client is not on Instagram… it’s time to get yo gram on.  Unless you’re selling prunes and your target market is 80 year old men, then you are permitted to continue with your traditional marketing techniques.  The rest of you… it’s time.  It’s time to join the fastest growing social media platform in the world.  It’s time to join the 48.8% of US brands on Instagram (by the way, that number is expected to increase to 70% by 2017) (Hootsuite, 2016).  Maybe your mama told you not to buy into peer pressure. Not to do something just because everyone else is doing it.  Good advice, let me give you a few more reasons why Instagram is the key to growing your brand and increasing conversions.

It seems obvious that having an Instagram account can increase brand awareness.  Posting frequently and using relevant hashtags will introduce your brand to a portion of the 500+ million users on Instagram (Statistica, 2016).  Instagram goes beyond just awareness though.  75% of Instagram users take action, such as visiting a website after viewing a post (Hootsuite, 2016).  By posting unique content and engaging with users, brands can encourage users to take action, thus moving them through the marketing funnel towards a purchase.  Last week I bought something online after seeing a post about their sale on Instagram.  I was already aware of the brand, and I had considered buying something on a few occasions, but nothing inspired me to decide to purchase a product, until I saw this Instagram post:

I hope by now you are convinced that Instagram is a viable tool for you to raise brand awareness and increase conversions.  Heck, even the person selling prunes should have started an account and made a post by now.  The next thing you need to know is how to use Instagram to accomplish your goals.

1. Reach a wider audience using hashtags relevant to your business and your target audience interests.  Make use of hashtags specific to your brand.  @staples does this well.  They use generic hashtags such as #happyhalloween to reach a broad audience with relevant and interesting posts.
2. Create engagement by offering contests and promotions.  @zevia gave away a free case of their new product.  To enter the contest, the viewer has to like the photo and follow @zevia.  Not only does this raise awareness about Zevia’s new product, but it encourages user engagement
3. Feature customers content.  Doing so encourages your customers to create unique content featuring your brand and rewards their engagement.  @starbucks does this very well.  If their customers take a cool photo featuring Starbucks’ brand, they often repost it to their own page.

Now that you know what it takes to be successful on Instagram, there is no reason for you not to get yo gram on.  It’s time.  Actually, the time was yesterday  But it’s not too late.  By making use of the three recommendations above, anyone can grow their Instagram page, reach their target audience and encourage movement through the marketing funnel.

Examples:

Zevia: https://www.instagram.com/zevia/?hl=en

Staples: https://www.instagram.com/staples/?hl=en

Starbucks: https://www.instagram.com/starbucks/?hl=en