Are you running the company Instagram account and struggling to find ideas for new posts?
Don’t worry; you’re not alone.
Instagram marketing can be hard work. It requires a constant stream of high-quality and engaging images, videos in a weird aspect ratio (9:16), reaching out to influencers, a marketing team not too camera-shy, and many more areas of expertise.
Is Instagram marketing worth it?
Definitely.
But just like any other marketing channel, it might not be the perfect fit for your brand.
Maybe you don’t have the resources to jump on a new channel and ROI on other channels seems to be higher.
Or perhaps, your target audience isn’t active on Instagram.
However, the number of companies that can claim their target audience is hanging out outside the walls of Instagram is getting smaller as we speak. In fact, there are more than 1000 images, plus all the Instagram Stories shared every second. The amount of daily active users has surpassed 500 million users with more than 1.1 billion users logging in every month. Instagram is already the third largest social media network, and might soon be taking over the lead from Facebook and YouTube.
Are you still sure your customers aren’t there?
That’s what I thought too.
To inspire your content ideation process, here are four reasons why brands invest in Instagram marketing:
- Stories have taken over images. Are videos going to be next?
- Brands collaborate with micro-influencers to increase reach.
- Brands display Instagram content on their websites to boost conversions.
- Your account mentions and data can enhance ad targeting and conversions on Instagram and Facebook.
1. Stories have taken over images. Are videos going to be next?
In August 2016, Instagram launched Stories to compete against Snapchat, and eyebrows were raised in marketing teams around the world: why copy a feature from a completely different service?
Today, we know the reason why.
There are 500+ million active users of Stories per day. Despite the popularity of Snapchat, there weren’t many who would have foreseen the fast growth at the time of the launch. With the copy of selfie filters back in 2017, the platform has grown multiple times the size of Snapchat.
Instead of Snapchat, TikTok has become the most relevant competitor for Instagram and Facebook. In 2020, Facebook lauched Instagram Reels to compete against the growing popularity of TikTok. It remains to be seen if the move is as successful as previously with Snapchat.
2. Brands collaborate with micro-influencers to increase reach
If you aren’t new to Instagram, you must have seen images and videos by celebrities promoting products and services. Influencer marketing is an excellent way to reach out to new audiences but big name stars might be expensive and selecting the right influencer can be tricky.
Who are the best influencers for your brand?
Shocking news alert: your existing customers!
Seeing the product or service being used by someone similar to us increases the likelihood of us buying it too. We’ve always trusted opinions by our friends and peers - and Instagram is a recommendation channel on steroids: images posted on Instagram are viewed by many of our friends and followers and, with the help of right hashtags, they reach far beyond our network.
That's the reason why forward-thinking brands encourage customers to share their feedback on social channels by mentioning a hashtag and their branded account. They filter and analyse the content and then collaborate with the most influential customers to amplify their social media reach further.
For more inspiration, learn how to create a user-generated content campaign.
3. Brands display Instagram content on their websites to boost conversions
E-commerce has always been a big part of Instagram – a stunning 72% of users report having bought something they saw in Instagram.
Wouldn’t it be great if you could display authentic Instagram images posted by your customers on your product pages too?
With the right tools in hand, it’s fast and easy. Here’s a step-by-step process on how to add user-generated content from Instagram to your website:
- Create a catchy hashtag and ask your audience to share feedback by mentioning both the hashtag and your branded Instagram account.
- Use tools like Flockler to gather all the mentions of your account or branded hashtag, and filter the ones you’d like to display on your site.
- Embed the social media feed on your homepage and product pages. If you have multiple products, you can create a separate feed for each one.
For more details, check our short guide on how to embed an Instagram feed to a website.
Why would you add user-generated on your website?
Brands typically see a 20-30% increase in conversion rates when social proof is displayed on a product or booking page...
4. Your account mentions and data enhance ad targeting and conversions on Instagram and Facebook
If you’ve been responsible for brand social media channels in the past few years, I’m sure you’ve noticed a decrease in organic reach on social media. Social media channels are becoming ‘pay to play’.
Not only is organic reach decreasing but the growth in the volume of content together with limited space in a user's News Feed means the advertising needs to be relevant too. In the long-term, the key to the success of Instagram lies in engagement level - and money won’t buy happiness. Only the most relevant advertising will be shown.
Who’s responsible for the ad relevancy and targeting on Instagram and Facebook?
The algorithms of both services will help you to find the right audience (and you can manage all the advertising via Facebook’s tools), but when it comes to ad relevancy, the finger is pointing at you.
That's where customer generated content can help you further. Authentic images by your audience (and the mentions) drive visits to your Instagram profile - and that information can be used for the targeting of ads on both Instagram and Facebook. The targeting options enable you to create Custom Audiences using profile visits and to build lookalike audiences too.
Also, you can increase the relevancy of your ads by asking for the customer’s permission to use their image in your advertising campaign. With tools like Flockler, you’ll be able to identify the most popular and engaging user-generated photos - and the ads with authentic images will have a higher engagement compared to pixel-perfect ones by your marketing team.
