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How do brands “follow” the influencer marketing platform Instagram? Pros and cons.

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Social media marketing has been quickly growing over the past years. It is less expensive and more efficient than common ways of advertising such as TV or radio advertising. Cost Per Click (CPC) has replaced Cost Per Thousands (CPT) as a way of paying advertisements.

Both Facebook and Instagram are known to be the mostly used social media in order to develop a digital marketing strategy. Businesses use them to boost their presence, visibility and reputation in order to optimize commercial results.

Instagram has reached 700 million monthly actives in two years, Constine (2017). With so many users, brands can’t miss the opportunity to appear in this digital platform, hence they use it to strengthen their branding strategy.

  • Click here to to find out 25 Instagram facts that you want to know.

Photo belongs to: https://9to5mac.com/2017/12/05/instagram-stories-archive-highlights/

Instagram stories are a quite recent addition within the Instagram app. According to SocialMediaToday (2017) it is wise to invest time and resources in Instagram Stories. It has 300 million daily active users and constant additions like being able to go live with a friend and camera roll uploads. Some brands’ Instagram Stories content reflects their larger Instagram strategy and branding.

Some advantages of using Instagram for brands include:

  1. Visual marketing is key and has the most success within digital marketing. Brands get to people through powerful images and quality videos of their products and services. The digital platform humanizes the brand in a natural way introducing the audience to the team and showing the way things are done, sometimes even explaining the processes products go through, proving that they are more than a logo. A company which uses Instagram is perceived as modern users have to be active and committed to their accounts.
  2. Instagram users are mainly young, sometimes also referred as the millennials, therefore it is an essential channel for brands who target this crowd.
  3. Instagram belongs to Facebook therefore both platforms are interlinked. A good presence in Instagram could help improve the brand’s presence on Facebook.
  4. As Red Idea (2014) mentioned, through Instagram customer service gets impersonal. However, customer service has also become more important than ever. Customers can comment their opinions and decide whether to follow or unfollow as a way of raising their voice and rating the service or products. They are willing to interact with brands and companies online, this is why it is key to listen and to communicate with them.

    “This is big opportunity for B2C and B2B business to get in direct contact with their customers and benefit from their questions and ideas”, (Red Idea 2014).

  5. Overall Instagram allows companies to optimize advertising efficiency by optimising their content. With the platform brands target customers, locally as well as globally.

Whereas disadvantages are:

  1. The App is limited to iOS and Android because although it can be accessed through a PC or laptop functionalities are very limited.
  2. Moreover, in Instagram there is a lack of space for brands to give detailed information about their services or products. Customers who want to search for a particular brand have to at least know the name of it. Once in the brand’s account Instagram users will get to know the products mainly through photos which have been previously posted.
  3. Despite being one of the most popular and powerful social media platforms, should brands only rely on Instagram? It may be just a fleeting fashion trend or it may continue to grow. Online trends change rapidly.
  4. Last thing to consider is; what about the customers who can’t be reached online?

References:

Constine, J. (2017) Instagram’s growth speeds up as it hits 700 million users, TechCrunch (available at <https://techcrunch.com/2017/04/26/instagram-700-million-users/>) [accessed 6th Jan 2017].

Red Idea (2014) Digital Marketing – Benefits, chances, risks (available at <http://redidea.eu/digital-marketing/benefits-opportunities>) [accessed 6th Jan 2017].

SocialMediaToday (2017) The 6 Benefits and Risks of Instagram Stories, (available at < https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/the-6-benefits-and-risks-of-instagram-stories/510649/> ) [accessed 6th Jan 2017].