Instagram – the visual playground for fitness enthusiasts, fashion bloggers and foodies alike – has reached a new milestone: 400 million users. The announcement came roughly nine months after their last milestone announcement of 300 million users, demonstrating a massive growth in such a short time for the often-left out social media platform. But with such strong numbers and the addition of an advertising feature, why are so few businesses using Instagram?
Keeping Up Visually
The potential reason for Instagram’s lack of popularity among businesses is likely to be down to the visual nature of the platform – many corporate brands can’t justify a presence on the platform because they feel they have no use for it. In some cases this can be true, but in most it’s just about finding a way to express your brand visually.
For an accountancy firm, for example, pictures of spreadsheets simply won’t cut it - but going behind the scenes and showing the world that their team aren’t your run-of-the-mill accountant stereotypes can prove invaluable when attracting creative or digital clients who are embracing the platform.
Advertising to the Masses
A similar problem arises when contemplating advertising on Instagram. For more serious brands, they can’t fathom a way to use Instagram’s advertising feature to bring users over to their website. The solution, however, is right there in front of them: add a dose of visual content into the social strategy and you’ll instantly see engagement levels soar and a new breed of customer joining you. And although user numbers aren’t quite close to Facebook’s just yet, that doesn’t devalue the potential advertising experience for businesses – after all, 400 million users is not a number to shirk at.
So now that the platform has shown what it’s worth – with a huge audience increase in a small amount of time and the advertising functionality to reach out to them all – why not give it a try and make your social activity a little more colourful? Interested in implementing Instagram in your social media strategy? Get in touch with the Christian Michaels Agency and let’s talk social!
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