Instagram is a platform unlike any other. While it has hundreds of millions of users around the world, it is most popular among teens and young adults. The platform has been purchased by Facebook and is currently being developed to bring in greater revenues for the company. But perhaps most notably, Instagram is the most established and active social network where pictures–not text–are the primary form of communication.
With this twist on social interaction comes a number of challenges. Businesses engaged in social marketing tend to see Instagram as a unique marketing opportunity, one that pairs well with a long history of image-dominant advertising strategies used over the years. But Instagram is more temporary than a billboard or a TV commercial, and because text isn’t a major component of its success, messages must be conveyed in innovative ways.
At first, adoption of Instagram by brand marketers was slow. Finally, however, this practice is starting to pick up pace. The more we learn about Instagram, the better we understand how to make it work even for small and medium-sized businesses.
Visual Channels Encourage Brand Visibility
Several types of branding are visual in nature. Logos, products and other branded content can be easily promoted on a visual platform, and heightened brand visibility is one of the best goals of using Instagram. Frequent updates can help your brand stay top-of-mind with interested followers, and you can deliver a consistent stream of content that entices would-be consumers to convert.
The most important consideration when producing content for Instagram is that the content must speak for itself–that is, the images must easily communicate a message to your followers. If consumers aren’t easily able to connect the image with your brand and its focus, the value will be lost.
Images Can Work as Referrals, Too
While long blocks of text won’t work well on Instagram, limited amounts can be extremely valuable–especially when utilized to refer followers to another website. Product referrals are a great example: after featuring a product in an Instagram post, you can add a hyperlink with the words: “Find the product here!” to entice consumers into visiting the page. Keep the text short and sweet, but don’t be afraid to utilize this technique when necessary.
One tip: since Instagram is a mobile-based social network, any referral links you provide need to be mobile-optimized. If not, you’ll immediately lose a large percentage of the traffic you just referred.
Marketers Are Figuring Out the Best Practices
There isn’t a ton of information about how to utilize Instagram and other visual marketing channels, mostly because they are a newer social breed. Because images can’t be analyzed quite as well as text, the insights that come from visual marketing analysis can be vague and occasionally misleading.
Despite these obstacles, marketers are figuring out how to make Instagram work for them. Instagram is helping, too: the platform has started to roll out paid advertising that delivers images to relevant users, similarly to how Facebook’s ad network operates. But brands that aren’t ready to pay for this exposure can still develop their own branded Instagram feed, and many already have: 80 percent of the world’s top brands are currently using Instagram in their digital campaigns.
This trend among marketers proves that while the road has been bumpy, professionals are figuring out how they can use Instagram to achieve their marketing goals. And as more research comes pouring in, these best practices will be revised to make a maturing Instagram platform even more valuable to businesses everywhere.
To start utilizing Instagram and other social marketing strategies, contact DBC Digital today
Greg Sherwood is CEO of DBC Digital, a marketing agency based in Denver, Colorado. With over 30 years of marketing experience with traditional and inbound (internet) marketing, Greg helps mid-sized businesses get a better return on their marketing dollars.
You can reach Greg at (303) 357-5757 or at dbc@dbcdigital.com
