With over 1 billion users, Instagram is impossible to ignore. What was once a staple of youth culture is now one of the most important tools a business can use.
Using Instagram can have many different benefits, depending on how you use it. By gaining your Instagram following, you’re likely to get more business. But it’s not easy to gain an Instagram following — you need to learn how to get more followers on Instagram.
This article will walk you through some of the benefits of Instagram, so you can make use of it to grow your business and succeed.
Word of Mouth
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Before the dawn of television advertising and mass production/ transportation, the world seemed a lot smaller. Businesses were based on pleasing the members of their communities, where everyone knew each other.
Because of this, the most important service of advertising was worth of mouth. A few great recommendations were enough for word to spread and cause a thriving business. This can still be seen in certain suburban small towns.
After the dawn of mass production and advertising, mass advertising became more popular. A recommendation to someone to go to Wal-Mart didn’t mean nearly as much as an advertisement that could reach the whole world.
The internet has flipped the script again. Less and less people are paying attention to mass advertising. Even if they do pay attention, the wider options made available by the internet — as well as the information about corporate lies and advertising tactics — make them much less effective.
Word of mouth is back in again.
This is key to the world of social media advertising. The idea isn’t necessarily to reach the highest amount of people as possible but to create content that the few people who are guaranteed to see your content will share.
Customer Service
One of the key benefits of any social media page for a business is customer service. You don’t just advertise directly to your customers without middlemen, your customers are able to reach out directly to you.
Gone are the days of the popularity of the cold, detached, faceless corporation. People like businesses with warm friendly, empathetic personalities. It’s important to create a business persona and post in a way that feels human.
In the 2020s, people aren’t likely to call up your customer service number to ask you questions. They’ll likely shoot you questions directly over Instagram’s messaging service.
Many old-school business people take this as an insult. They feel like their authority is being questioned — that people aren’t being respectful. Get this out of mind: the business person of the 2020s has to be flexible, casual, and ready to deal with customers at any time.
Answer the question as quickly and informatively as possible. Make sure you respond in the voice of your business’s persona as well.
People might also ask you about specific products, services, and updates that you post about. They’ll likely do this directly in your comment section.
This is a great opportunity for you. By answering their question, you’re effectively creating an FAQ page for anyone else who scrolls through the comment section. This will save you time and prove to other leads that you’re caring and responsive.
Niche Marketing
Marketing in the 2020s is all about finding your niche. The prominence of the internet means that people are able to find content suited to fit their individual tastes, rather than generic mass-produced content.
This means that fanbases and niche communities develop around these niche tastes. Rather than trying to appeal to figure out which niche communities their products and services align with. Word spreads fast in these communities, and if you can catch their eye, you’ll see a sharp uptick in business.
Note the demographics of the people who like and comment on your posts. See what age they are, where they hail from, their gender, and what their interests are. Don’t completely throw out your business strategy to please them — that will read as fake — but instead, lean slightly in the direction of their interests.
By making use of hashtags, and Instagram SEO, you can pull in more people from these communities.
You Can Cross Over
Though TikTok has the voice of the younger generation, and Facebook has more users, Instagram is generally regarded as the cultural hub. Facebook is the domain of people posting family pictures, and TikTok generates fun content, but people often put the most meaningful content on Instagram.
This makes it easy to get followers from another side of the world of social media to your Instagram page. For more information, visit blog here, which will teach you about converting your TikTok followers into Instagram supporters.
Variety of Content
Instagram works better for business than any other social media platform because of the various content that you’re able to post.
Your standard sorts of posts — timeline posts — are suitable for relatively high-effort content. You have the ability to leave a caption to explain what the post is all about. People will also be able to share your post.
You can also post content on your “story”. This content is generally quicker and more ephemeral. The bar is low here, so you can post casual content that keeps your followers engaged.
Every once in a while, you can post a more high-effort “reel”. This is Instagram’s place for long-form videos.
Benefits of Instagram
As you can see, there are many benefits of Instagram, from helping you interact with customers, to the audience that you create, to the type of content that you post.
Make use of all sides of Instagram, and you’re far more likely to succeed.
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