Over the last 8 years, Instagram has become one of the most popular social media platforms. It boasts around 800+ million active users around the world, out of which more than 43 million users are from India. This has made the photo-sharing app a huge marketing platform for brands. In social media giant’s co-founder Mike Krieger words, “India is one of Instagram’s high-growth markets.” Instagram marketing has been extremely effective in business and influential lately thanks to its visual aesthetics, accommodating nature, high rate of engagement and remarkable growth.

Why should you choose to invest in Instagram for your business?

Instagram has the highest engagement rate at 2.2% per follower interaction rate. Other platforms dwarf in comparison including Facebook with 0.22% rate. Around 80% of users follow a business on Instagram, and there are more than 15 million registered businesses using Instagram business profiles. According to Instagram, 60% users say they discover new products on the platform, and 75% of Instagram users take action after being inspired by a post. In fact, 1/3^rd of the most viewed stories are from businesses. Instagram Stories, one of its many features, has helped to increase the amount of time people spend on the network. According to the sources from photo-sharing app, users under 25 years of age spend more than 32 minutes a day on the platform, while those over 25 spend more than 24 minutes a day. The platform uses Facebook’s demographic data to serve up ads to the appropriate parties. This makes the tool valuable for advertisers who seek to target a niche audience as well.

Here’s how brands can leverage Instagram to grow their business-

There are two ways a brand use this app to grow their business-

1. Through brand accounts 

This is where your brand can have its own page and content that people can follow. This allows you to directly be a part of your audience’s conversations and interests. Here’s what you should keep in mind.

2. Be clear about your brand and create relatable content

Brands need to be clear about what they stand for, have a uniform theme, and think in the mindset of their target audience. All these factors help in establishing loyal followers. You can also use Instagram’s Stories feature to conduct polls, promote events, etc. Brands like Nike, Puma, Levi’s, and Starbucks not only showcase their products but also keep up with current trends which, in turn, keeps their feed relevant and timely.

3. Go the ‘call to action’ way 

A picture is worth a thousand words. Make sure the images communicate the right message. The key to attracting more users to your handle is to offer great design and value. You can also use interesting captions that tell your followers exactly what you want them to do like tagging people you think would like something, etc. Your close followers will be quick to jump on board. Here are a few points to keep in mind to inspect CTA :

i. Put hashtags to good use – Hashtags help users discover relevant content and accounts to follow. By using hashtags on Instagram, you have a better chance of attracting new followers, getting more likes, and increasing engagement. In fact, using at least one hashtag increases engagement by 12.6%. Consider Calvin Klein’s #MyCalvins and Coca Cola’s #ShareACoke. Brands can also latch onto pre-existing hashtags like #TBT (#ThrowbackThursday) or #TGIF (#ThankGodItsFriday)

ii. Post at the right time – A lot of users prefer using social media during specific hours, so if you target those times you’ll not only get more comments and likes but more referral traffic overall. Do the research to find when your target audience is most active, then set your post schedule around those times to maximize your engagement per post.

iii. Promote your Instagram handle on other networks – Chances are your brand is present on multiple social networks. Share your posts there. It’s a great way to build up your follower count and encourage new people to discover what you’re sharing. You can engage your fans on virtually any platform to drive them toward your Instagram account.

iv. Through influencers – Brands often partner up with social media influencers to promote themselves. Instagram is one of the best social media platforms for brands to partner with influencers to reach audiences. In fact, it’s the best performing channel for social action, with an average 3.21% engagement rate(compared to 1.5% across all social networks). This works because it’s not a traditional type of advertising, but is an introduction to the brand via a credible source- the influencer. Brands must keep in mind the following factors to decide which influencers they should pick-

1. Influencer’s Instagram engagement

2. Influencer’s number and quality of followers

3. Whether your brand and the influencer share the same audience

With more than 800 million active users on Instagram, it’s not surprising to find that most companies are using Instagram to broaden their reach. With the right approach, you can see a great return from your efforts and step up your engagement. Commit to sharing great content and stay consistent to start seeing results soon.