Top 6 Reasons for Brands to Be On the Instagram Platform

Instagram had initially started as a fun app where images could be shared. The same concept is even followed today but over time, almost a decade now after its launch, Instagram has transformed from a place to hangout to a more serious social networking site. The most important transformation of the platform is that it has become the go-to place for businesses as it promises great returns if used properly.

There are several good reasons for businesses to be on Instagram. With 34% of all internet users in the US now using Instagram, it is second to Facebook in terms of penetration to the US audience.

That means:

• Instagram offers a unique opportunity to businesses
• It helps to reach their target market more easily
• It helps them to present their product and brand in a much better way through pictures and videos.

Apart from these reasons, there are several others for the businesses of today to be on this platform.

Make the Best of The Internet Users

According to recent research by ComScore, it is found that most internet users spend most of their time on social media platforms, especially on Instagram, besides Facebook, rather than on any other social network.

The research says that:

• US internet users spend about 12 billion minutes on Instagram every month
• On Facebook, they spend a staggering 230 billion minutes.

Though the number is significantly low as compared to Facebook, is actually a useful feature of the platform that makes the businesses look for it. The platform is ideally a more niche and image-centric network that offers them a huge opportunity.

Establish an Online Presence

Especially for small businesses, establishing an online presence and dominating a niche market is very difficult on Facebook because getting noticed on this platform can really be a challenge for them.

With so many similar and diverse types of businesses using the platform, they are hard to get found through on-site search. Even if they are, it is very hard to differentiate them from their competition.

• The fact that only 9% of US small businesses are using Instagram at present, present an amazing opportunity for the others who are looking to start building their audience currently.
• There has been a significant rise noticed in the use of this platform by the small businesses since 2012 and till date it is showing no signs of slowing down or stopping.

Therefore, now is the time for the businesses to get on board as that will allow them to establish their audience before their competition becomes too aggressive to get a foothold.

Ability to Augment Brand

Instagram allows businesses to augment their brand with compelling visual content. This ability is not provided by other social channels which are why the businesses need to be on the platform.

Ideally, visual content helps the businesses to decide how exactly they want to showcase their brand. The most significant advantage of sharing pictures on Instagram is that it provides a wide range of filters.

• Using these filters, the brands can give a different feel and look to the images.
• This eventually helps them to convey their desired message and mood in a much better way.

If you are new to Instagram you may find a bit difficult to select and use these filters which is why you should take the help of professionals.

Instagram Drives Sales

The prime objective of running a business is to earn a profit, maximum at it. This can only happen when there is a high volume of sale and business revenue.

Since Instagram has a large number of followers, if you can only direct them to your site to learn about your product, it will be easy for you to convert them into your prospective sales. Instagram can help you do that with its compelling visuals.

When it comes to referrals and order value, according to Shopify, Instagram referrals result in an order value of $65 on an average.

However, it is true that most site visits will not end up in a purchase made by the visitor but the visitors that will do make the purchase will result in a business revenue that is relatively higher than other social networks. For example, the average order value of YouTube is $37.63, almost half of Instagram’s AV.

All these prove that Instagram is a platform that will help businesses to maximize their profit.

Visual Content Dominates

Typically, in social media visual content continues to dominate in terms of earning followers and most importantly in engagement. It is for this reason that social media users want their favorite brands to post visual content more than ever before. This is a critical piece of information for content marketing.

In fact, it is found according to research that:

• Visual content is presently the most important business tactic to optimize their social media content
• It helps them to keep their Instagram followers engaged and thereby raise the chances of making a conversion to prospective customers.

Therefore, make sure that you select images to post that includes:

• Infographics
• Graphic coupons
• Image quotes and
• Behind-the-scenes images.

As for the videos that you want to post, try posting short educative tutorials about the product usage and behind-the-scenes clips. These will ensure that you enhance the views as well as the engagement among the users.

Highest Conversion Rates

Lastly, and perhaps the most significant reason for the businesses to be on the Instagram platform is that it has the highest conversion rates as compared to all other popular social networking sites.

Though direct sales are usually not a benefit provided by social media platforms, it surely pays to have high conversion rates without any doubt. It is sort of a bonus that you get unexpectedly. According to Shopify, the rate at which the Instagram visitors go on to make the purchase after visiting the site is 1.08% which is the 4^th highest among all social networking sites.