So that you can take advantage of Instagram for your brand, we will make in this article a little overview of the advantages related to its use …
GENESIS: THE VISUAL FIRST
With more than 1 billion monthly active users (Source: Hootsuite 2019), Instagram has not stopped surprising since its launch in October 2010 and its takeover by Facebook in 2012.
100% dedicated to sharing photos and videos, the mobile application has developed over time to offer more and more advanced features.
Before even considering the many possibilities offered by the application, it is important to remember that the primary use of this social network is to give the opportunity to the user to realize and share with friends and community photographs and videos taken directly via his phone.
The second aspect that made the application so famous is undoubtedly the possibility for users to be able to add to their images various filters, giving an artistic and emotional dimension to publications.
Finally, like any good social network, users can add text and hashtags to their visuals, and their community is able to “like” and comment on their photos.
INSTAGRAM FOR WHOM?
Instagram was at its origin, just like Facebook at its launch, a social network mainly dedicated to individuals. Gradually, brands have seen a major interest in developing their image and the reputation of their product by owning the codes.
Of course, brands with a strong creative dimension in their DNA will be more inclined to take advantage of the application, whether in B2C (luxury and fashion houses, jewelry, hotel catering, etc.) than B2B to demonstrate in particular their know-how (creative agencies, photographers, architects, painters, graphic designers …).
However, any brand can communicate on Instagram, provided that it offers quality content by focusing on the visual aspect.
And if your business does not seem conducive to the use of Instagram, you can break your assumptions by taking the example of these brands in the engineering or construction industry: IBM, General Electric or Ghilotti. They manage to play codes social network while remaining relevant in their field through the quality of their publications!
Finally, if you are not sure which social network to choose for your business, you cannot repeat it enough: Set up goals in advance to best define your strategy!
The benefits of Instagram for your brand
They are numerous!
Indeed, Instagram is a great opportunity to promote your brand and the desirability of your products or services. This is the best way for you to diversify your communication and interact with your targets.
Among the many benefits of this social network are:
- Millions of connected users every day: these are all potential customers for you;
- A commitment rate sometimes going up to 10 times that of Facebook;
- A space dedicated to creativity allowing you to give a differentiating image of your company;
- The ability to communicate privately with your consumers to answer all their questions;
- The ability to access accurate analytics on your followers, allowing you to know what interests them or not;
- The possibility of publicizing your publications.
OK, BUT WHERE TO START?
In the first place, and to find out if Instagram is right for you, it will be necessary to analyze your marketing and business objectives. On this application, and as we have already seen earlier in this article, everything goes through the image before the text. This will be the visual that will allow you to “sell” your expertise or product.
It will be necessary to ask you the good questions: does my business have a creative dimension that I can put forward? Is the visual or photograph relevant to making my products or services even more desirable? Do I have the material and human capacity?
In a second step, you will have to consider your target: who do you want to talk to? Your future communications will adapt according to the type or types of “personae” that you have defined. For example, if you are an agency in UX Design, your targets could be the CEOs and directors of digital.
Finally, you will need to define an editorial line around themes that echo your goals and targets. This essential phase will allow you to precisely define the type of visuals and texts that you will post monthly, and therefore better organize your content production. Indeed, as for other social networks, to communicate effectively on Instagram, you will publish regularly!
FEATURES TO GO FURTHER
Today, it’s possible to do more than just post photos or videos on your Instagram feed. Indeed, among the key features of recent years, we find in particular:
- The ability to create “carousel” publications with multiple photos and videos;
- Access to “tagging” products on your visuals to redirect your followers to a product page of your e-commerce site for example;
- The ability to create “stories”, ephemeral publications available to other users for 24 hours ;
- The addition of a call-to-action button for corporate profiles that allows followers to make a reservation, contact the company and more;
- Access to IGTV, the “Youtube” made on Instagram, allowing you (via a dedicated app) to broadcast videos of up to 1 hour on Instagram.
In addition, know that you can also create advertising campaigns directly on Instagram. This will help you reach new targets and increase brand awareness.
IN CONCLUSION
As you can see, communicating on Instagram is a way for your brand to gain visibility and promote your products or services. The key word of this social network is “the image”, so you will have to evaluate its relevance according to your commercial and marketing issues.
Indeed, the regularity of your publications, their quality and especially their creativity will be essential in order to encourage the engagement of your targets and to recruit new subscribers.
