Social media is the key to successful marketing in today’s world. But when there is a limited budget, you need to decide which platforms are the best.
According to a recent study, 80% of marketing professionals always include Instagram in their strategies. They believe IG account promotion is the fastest way to grow the brand and improve ROI.
But, surely, there must be some evidence-backed reasons why Instagram is so popular among brands. Why do marketers prefer Instagram when there is the social media giant – Facebook – and trending apps like TikTok?
Well, in today’s article, we will expose the real reasons why brands invest so heavily in Instagram. Let’s dive in!
1. It Has Over 2.35 Billion Active Users
Instagram has the third-biggest user base at 2.35+ billion active users. While this may not sound very appealing (since Facebook and YouTube surpass this milestone), it’s more about the type of audience Instagram has.
The social media platform has only 2% population above 65 years old. This means the majority of users belong to the working class. These people have a need and want that is more urgent than people in their retirement age.
And so, they are a better target for marketing products and services.
2. It Is a Visual-Based Platform
Instagram has a very unique format when compared to social media platforms. It focuses on visuals and aesthetics instead of text. So, you can’t post anything on your profile unless it has an image or short video.
The platform further encourages users to make things eye-pleasing by offering multiple editing options. You can capture and edit your media content right from the app. If you want to post temporary content, there is a Story feature too.
While Stories provide the option of text-only, there are many customization options available to encourage aesthetics. Even the algorithms promote content that is high-quality, vibrant, and pleasant for the eyes.
What does that mean for marketers? The weight has shifted more towards visuals than text, so better results can be expected by just capturing good visuals.
3. It Drives 23% More Engagement Than Facebook
It is a well-known fact that the human brain processes images faster than text, and Instagram’s whole structure is based on it!
As discussed, the platform promotes the use of premium visuals – which also explains why the majority of users are young or middle-aged. For marketing professionals, these remarkable features of Instagram hit the sweet spot.
The engagement rate on Instagram is much better than on Facebook. So, even though more people are present on Facebook, more Instagrammers engage with ads and IG saves.
They will like, comment, and share the branding content without hesitation. This means it is easier to fulfill marketing goals on Instagram than on other platforms.
4. It Allows the Brand to Humanize
Another way social media has changed traditional branding practices is by making them more human and personal. People now prefer brands that make them feel seen and heard.
They won’t just go with the quality and experience of a brand – they will also consider what they experienced when interacting with it.
Fortunately, Instagram is one of the few social media platforms that allows the brand to humanize. Through Stories, the brand can share behind-the-scenes, production, interviews, and much more. You can also conduct ask-me-anything sessions.
5. It Has Less Competition Than Facebook
This may come off as a surprise. But, even though many advertisers include Instagram in their strategies, there is still way less competition on the platform.
On Facebook, there are more than 10 million advertisers who run promotional campaigns regularly. Comparatively, Instagram only has 2 million advertisers. This means the chances of successful marketing are more on this visual-based platform.
The Instagram algorithm further assists organic branding by pushing high-quality images and reels up the feed. So, if you’re consistently posting the right things (that is content aligned with your marketing goal), there’s no reason you won’t see amazing results.
6. It Is the Most Popular Influencer Marketing Platform
A recent analysis of 1800 campaigns showed that Instagram is the most popular social media platform for influencer marketing. Another study concluded that Instagram provides the highest ROI to influencers – followed by YouTube and Facebook.
So, it’s evident that Instagram is the best choice for influencer marketing. This platform has reputable influencers in almost every niche. Their massive following and high engagement rates make them ideal to promote your brand.
However, you need to ensure that the audience of the influencer is your target audience too. If an influencer runs a general baking account and you want to promote your latest cake icing tools, it’s best to find another influencer who specializes in the cake decorating niche.
7. It Has a Good Conversion Rate
Shopify revealed that Instagram businesses have a conversion rate of 1.08%. The traffic that comes from Instagram to Shopify places an order of $65 on average. This is sometimes more or less.
But the average rate is still way higher than Twitter and other social media platforms (except Facebook and YouTube). This means Instagram is excellent for boosting sales and driving traffic to your website.
Last Words
All in all, Instagram is a must-have social media platform for brands. It provides access to a huge user base who is actively looking for products and services.
Also, since it promotes visuals and offers tools to be creative, you can easily benefit from the platform to run successful marketing campaigns.
