The rise of Instagram.

Why?

Since 2010, Instagram has proven to be the fastest growing social media platform. It has a user base of around 300 million and is set to grow further. So why is this seemingly simple app growing so fast? Well really it all comes down to creativity, Instagram has found new ways to share content on their platform and make the user experience more seamless. For example, Instagram stories were launched to rival Snapchats, allowing users to provide disappearing images or videos.

Sounds simple, right? Well, that’s because it is. Instagram now has more leverage over all of its users who may have been using Snapchat alongside their own app, reducing the need to use both and funneling these users to their own services.

This aggressive tactic has paid off as Instagram has surpassed Snapchat in users. Instagram stories also encourage more content sharing and give your app a chat element, allowing it to compete with all other direct messaging platforms. Innovation like this is the reason for the sudden growth of Instagram.

What’s all this fuss?

Instagram is the perfect app for sharing content through visual images. Its public is young, educated and very fond of shopping. This makes the content creative, exciting and fast. It has a different feel to platforms like Facebook and Twitter, with a focus on images rather than words. However, studies have shown that, like Facebook, it is used on a daily basis, generating a loyal and highly active user base.

This ability to engage with a younger, more creative audience is ringing alarm bells for major companies looking to advertise on social media. With high usage, there will surely be more interest in in-app advertising. However, the competition will be ripe and companies will have to find creative ways to compete with their rivals in the visual world of social media.

How can it be used for marketing?

Of course, if you want to use this to market your company or a product, you need to consider how. This is a visual platform and therefore products are generally easier to market than services. But services are not impossible to promote on the app, finding exciting ways to bring your service to life will grab the attention of the Instagram user.

Hashtags are frequently used on Instagram and staying on top of trends or even starting your own is a surefire way to engage an audience, similar to Twitter. However, one must be careful to match the hashtag to the visual content it provides, so it’s not as simple as other apps that use this technique.

Instagram is predominantly a mobile app, so content needs to be easy to read and continuously updated for a demographic hungry for mobile data. Only new and fresh content will attract attention.

Finally, Instagram Stories are a great way to personally engage with your audience, and they only last for 24 hours. Stories should be used to keep potential customers updated daily about your business and reveal behind-the-scenes content to make the user feel like they are a part of the company.

Instagram can be used to market almost anything, with a creative mind and a committed team you can create quite a buzz around your brand!

The future

With a young and educated audience using the app on their mobiles every day, sustained growth and user loyalty can only be predicted. There will be more and more opportunities to use this app for business purposes and this writer’s advice is to get in while it’s hot. It’s only going to get bigger, so get into the market before it gets even more crowded.