Better for Business: Instagram vs Other Social Platforms
Where Marketing Happens
I’m going to start this one off under the assumption that you already understand two things: 1.) All of your customers are using social media. 2.) Social media is where marketing happens. If this comes to you as a surprise, read this What is Social Media Marketing?
Seriously, I could go the rest of my life without hearing the same tired opening line, “With more than 3.5 billion users, social media is now a preferred medium for businesses to reach out to its target audience.” Uhhh… Duh. Social media marketing has taken over traditional marketing in virtually every category, and it did so some time ago. If you’re just now getting into SMM, I have some tough news for you – you’re not tapping into a new way of marketing – you’re late. If that’s you, It’s time to kick things into overdrive and develop a strong social media strategy, right now.
For those of you who are running their social media game strong, congratulations. It’s not easy. There are so many things to consider and such an overload of information that making sense of it all can feel like trying to square the circle. My goal with this article is to first, help you understand that you need to be utilizing social media for your business, and second, make a case for why Instagram needs to be a part of your social media strategy.
So, without further ado, let’s get into it.
Why Your Business Needs Social Media Marketing
First, let’s take a look at some social media marketing statistics. I mean, would it really be a social media marketing blog without them?
Nearly 50% of the world’s population uses social media. That’s over 3 billion users worldwide. (Statista)
54% of social browsers use social media to research products. (GlobalWebIndex)
Each person spends an average of 2 hours and 22 minutes on social networks and messaging. (Globalwebindex)
What this data says is simple, (a lot of) people are spending (a lot of) time consuming marketing content on social media. It’s not accidental either. Unlike traditional marketing, like a radio, television, or the more modern Hulu ad for instance, where the person is forced to view the advertisement before they can enjoy their content, social media ads are actually sought out by users and viewed regularly. Why? Because a good social media strategy means the ads are the content. When you are doing social media marketing right, you are tapping into a culture that knows what they are looking for and are actively doing so.
Social media marketing targets audiences based on their activity and interest. I spend a lot of time viewing content on marketing, therefore, many of the ads I see are on the topic of marketing.
Social media is where your brand can best express its voice. Pair that voice with the right audience, and you’ve got the perfect stage to effectively grab the people’s attention and engage with them. The real question is, where is your audience? There are so many social media platforms and the user behavior is different on each one. For example, if you sell flower arrangements, you should focus on mastering the Pinterest Board. If you own a dog grooming business, you should definitely be utilizing Facebook Groups. It is of the utmost importance that you take the time to deeply understand your audience. If you do this well, you will avoid spending time on a platform that isn’t right for your business and ultimately save yourself a ton of disappointment when your efforts don’t pay off.
But there is one platform that makes sense for almost any business. Why? Because it cuts the wordy fluff and gets straight to what people who are engaging with content want – visual stimulation. That platform is Instagram.
Why Your Business Needs to Be On Instagram
Now that we’ve established that you need to be utilizing social media marketing, I want to share with you why Instagram is the rising star of the social media marketing game. Again, let’s take a look at the numbers.
Instagram now has over 1 billion monthly active users – a 42.86% increase from 2017 when it had 700 million. (Statista)
500 million of those users use it every day. (Statista)
90% follow a business on the platform. (Business)
Brands are driving a median engagement of 1.60% – nearly doubling Facebook at 0.09% (Sproutsocial)
89% of marketers say that it’s the most important platform for influencer marketing. (Mediakix)
Instagram profiles saw a follower growth rate of 16% in just the first half of 2019. (Quintly)
Instagram is seeing an upward trend in ad revenue – jumping from $23.66 billion in 2018 to $28.52 billion in 2019, and will likely net $33.71 billion in 2020. (eMarketer)
The number of usage by U.S. marketers jumped from 69.2% in 2018 to 73.2% in 2019, with the possibility of reaching 75.3% in 2020. (eMarketer)
71% of U.S. businesses use Instagram. (eMarketer)
Ad spending on Instagram is 23% higher than on Facebook. (DigiDay)
Between 2016 and 2020, Instagram added 26.9 million users – far more than any other social platform tracked. (eMarketer)
Pause.
Before we move on, I want you to take a moment and think about those numbers and what they mean. What does the data tell you? Seriously, take a minute and contemplate the insights that are in front of you. I’ll wait…
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Well? What did you come up with? Please, leave your thoughts in the comments below. I’d love to hear and discuss them.
What I think this data says is this: People are in love with Instagram. I know it, marketers know it, and you better believe that the other businesses in your industry know it. People have flocked to Instagram and they are using it – a lot. It is such an effective tool for marketing purposes that, before you know it, every one of your competitors will have an Instagram strategy in place. But why? What makes Instagram so unique that, even though it’s been around for a decade, the numbers are on the rise? Well, I’m glad you asked.
Instagram is a place where people and brands alike showcase the most visually appealing content they have to offer. It’s about aesthetics. It’s not just a picture of a salad, it’s as breath-taking as a picture of a salad can be. This creates a culture of superior content. When you look at the content on Instagram you find yourself intrigued and inspired. You want what Instagram has to offer. You want to be like the girl doing a flawless king pigeon pose (whatever that is) or the guy doing a triple backflip off the top of a two-story condominium. People see something that they can’t look away from, they engage, and they follow. It doesn’t matter if it comes from a brand or an individual, people just want the content.
GoPro’s Photo of the Day is a perfect example of the quality of content that Instagram users have come to expect from brands.
This is also why we’ve seen such a rise in influencer marketing. Influencers are the new celebrities, endorsing brands that – without thousands of followers – wouldn’t give them the time a day. They have a following and the ability to set trends. That makes the kind of person a brand wants to work with. It’s genuinely the most interesting blend of social media user and marketing that has ever existed, and it’s damn effective.
Instagram is incredibly direct with what it offers. It cuts away all the other distracting features and offers the people what they want – content. I like what Dominique Jackson from Sproutsocial has to say on the topic,
“Facebook is like the restaurant with 50 different options. There’s so much you can do from messaging to playing games and watching videos. Facebook provides its users with hundreds of possibilities, and there is truly something for everyone. Instagram is like the burger place downtown that serves two things, burgers and fries. It doesn’t give you an opportunity to get distracted and is hyper-focused on a few core features.”
By eliminating everything but the content, the rules to the game are made simple: Define your target audience and create content that is engaging to them. Master this, and you’ll be well on your way to killing it on IG.
I could spend all day talking about why Instagram is the premier social platform for marketing, but this article is already getting a bit wordy so I’ll regress and just stack it up against the others and let you decide for yourself how worthy your time it is. Check it out.
Instagram vs Other Social Accounts
When it comes to social media marketing, chances are, your business should be utilizing more than one platform. All the big names (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest) have so much marketing value when applied correctly. It is also possible that your business will thrive more on one of these other platforms. My hope is, after reading this article, you can see the incredible value that Instagram has for marketing purposes. The most value if I do say so myself.
Disagree? Change my mind in the comments below!