Getting Started With Instagram Guide : Wordtracker

What is Instagram?

Instagram is essentially a camera smartphone app with a social community built behind it for sharing images. The app was purchased from its creators in 2012 by none other than the world’s leading social media network, Facebook.

Instagram was designed to capitalise on the ever improving technology crossover between smartphones and photography. Year on year new mobile devices focus on their built-in camera functions as a key selling point, mostly due to the increasing photo and short video-led world of social sharing

Why is it important?

Instagram is the fastest growing social media platform in the world at present
It has over a billion users worldwide (June 2018)
Over 60% of users log in daily, making the platform second only to Facebook in terms of engagement
The platform is estimated to receive over 100 million new image uploads per day
Users engage via comments or likes and the platform produces over 10,000 engagements every second

Instagram has huge penetration with the tech savvy Millennial audience (18-30) who are also the top online spending demographic.

Health, beauty and fashion are dominant categories within Instagram but travel and food are also very popular.

Until recently Instagram was completely untouched by advertising formats. A user’s Instagram timeline is only populated with images posted by other users they have purposely elected to ‘follow’. Thus the platform is seen as one of the most controlled and non-invasive social media platforms around. That said, despite being the least invasive, Instagram has a very personal connection with its users. It’s often said to be a highly motivational and inspiring platform within which personal discovery is seamlessly promoted.

Instagram has added video functionality to their platform within the last 12 months. This allows for videos (with sound) of up to 15 seconds to be used in place of an image. As a brand, this means you can use Instagram with a greater range of creativity. You can also use it to build a more personal connection with users. Some Instagram users have earned celebrity status similar to that enjoyed by YouTube Vloggers (Video Bloggers) showing just how powerful the platform can be and why it’s worth including in your social media marketing plan.

How do I use it?

Many advertisers and brands connect with their target audience on Instagram by directly earning follows through producing compelling content. This is something that within reason can be achieved very simply at the cost of a Smartphone and some artistic/photographic talent.

Paid-for advertising on Instagram is still brand new and only available to limited brands, with a more public platform to be made available some time in 2016. When this does become available Facebook has announced that paid-for advertising will be minimal as they want the non-intrusive organic nature of the app to continue to shine through.

At present the only way to generate clicks and traffic to your other online assets via Instagram is a single link from your accounts home page. Producing compelling content and earning followers will ultimately raise your brand’s profile and aid in awareness driving for new products.