Selfies and hashtags: two things that aren’t in your branding strategy. It’s no wonder that you’re convinced Instagram isn’t right for your business.
But what if we were to tell you that there’s more to Instagram than selfies and hashtags? That there are convincing reasons as to why 70.7% of brands are expected to be on Instagram in 2017?
It’s true! In this article we’ve set out to show you why Instagram deserves a second look.
It’s not just for trendy brands.
A common misconception is that Instagram only works for brands that are ‘cool’ already.
“Sure – GoPro is active on Instagram but it’s a natural fit for them.”
Even if your small business sells extremely boring vacuum cleaners you can make it on Instagram. You have a brand, right? This platform is your opportunity to build that brand and become cool.
Are financial investment companies considered trendy? Probably not.
Renovo Financial is a lender for real estate investors in Chicago. They could have easily stuck to LinkedIn, but they took Instagram by the horns. Their variety of images show how passionate they are for both their industry and brand.
Images are quicker.
Content takes time to read. You have to convince users with an inviting headline to read your blog post and the same can be said for playing videos.
With attention spans getting shorter, it’s becoming even more important to deliver messages quicker. How much quicker can you get than looking at an image? It’s a one-step process.
Higher interaction.
If your small business has been publishing well thought out posts to Facebook and LinkedIn, we’re not surprised if you’ve been disappointed by low levels of interaction.
Don’t worry, you won’t feel like a loser when you join Instagram! Even if you start off with a small following you can stir up a surprising amount of engagement. While some Instagram users refuse to use more than two or even one hashtag, the data speaks for itself.
Instagram accounts w/ less than 1,000 followers w/ posts w/ 11 hashtags received an average of 77.66 interactions!
@osc_webdesign
Besides using hashtags, you can maximize engagement on Instagram by posting at strategic times. Use the results below found by CoSchedule as a guide.
People are lazy.
There.. We said it.
Whether it’s because we can get pretty much anything delivered to our door from Amazon, or because we can adjust the heat without leaving our couch..
As a human race, we’re relatively lazy.
Like we mentioned previously, looking at an image is really a one-step process. Although there is a caption, you can scan through hundreds at a time quickly without reading anything.
Often the captions don’t contain text at all and comments are kept short and sweet with emojis.
50% of captions and comments on Instagram contain at least one emoji!
Great way to give your brand a personality.
If you want to show your small business is run by real people and establish a branding identity, look no further. Instagram gives brands a casual way to express themselves.
You don’t have to shell out cash for designers to create images for you. Simply snap a picture on your cell phone, or better yet – “repost” from someone else! That’s right, you don’t even have to take photos yourself.
Instagram followers are likely to convert.
75 percent of Instagram users take action, such as visiting a website, after looking at an Instagram advertising post.
What can we say.. That’s impressive!
So with all of these reasons to get posting on Instagram, isn’t it time your business reconsidered its stance? If you’ve had successes or failures on Instagram, we’d love to hear from you in the comments below.
