Instagram has gone from being a social network recognized worldwide for the photographs shared by its audience of approximately 2.5 billion users, to being an essential part of the digital marketing strategy of brands.
In addition, Instagram offers facilities for companies that decide to have a presence on their network and advertise with them.
For this reason, it is not surprising that you can have easy access to the statistics of your posts and campaigns, as well as the possibility of a very specific segmentation through Face book Ads.
Advantage
1. His extreme popularity
Instagram is positioned as the sixth most used social network in the world with 100 million active users per month.
On the other hand, on average 200 million users visit at least one company profile every day and it is most likely that your potential consumers will come to you. Something that would not happen if you were not on this platform.
On the other hand, thanks to its popularity and the number of users using it, companies have realized that they can take great advantage of its use. That is how:
48% of brands are on Instagram, and if we count only the Top 100 brands worldwide, they are 90%.
50% of users follow less to a business account.
A third of the stories with the most views on Instagram are from companies.
80% of people make a purchase decision using Instagram for inspiration.
2. Ease of obtaining information
Companies can have easy access to the location, behavior, beliefs, and preferences of their potential customers.
This little research that you can carry out is key to creating a more accurate profile of your type of consumer and you will have more accurate and precise ideas of how to reach them with your brand.
Instagram campaign results in statistics
3. User behavior
60% of users use Instagram to do market research, that is, they use it to discover new brands, as well as new products and services. For this reason, just by having a presence on this social network, you are more likely to be discovered by potential clients.
On the other hand, as this is a very visual social network, if you create quality content and images that are pleasing to the eye, you will have much more chance of generating engagement with your users and that they even share your content or recommend you.
4. Customer service
When using Instagram, the instant messaging service is included and you can take advantage of this facility to improve the relationship with your customers.
Remember that now communication is two-way and that, through a channel, which in this case would be Instagram, communication can be generated in real-time.
For this reason, users are already so used to an immediate response that if you manage an adequate and friendly response time, it is more likely that users will generate empathy with the brand and convert.
On the other hand, if you are one of the people who neglect community management and do not respond to your users or pay attention to them, it is best not to have a presence on social networks, because if you are going to do something you must do it well.
Disadvantages
1. His extreme popularity
Yes, we mention it as an advantage, but this can also be a disadvantage for a brand that is just starting as it has to stand out in a platform full of users and competition. It has become so difficult that users keep trying to get more Instagram mentions on EarthWeb and other sources to grow faster.
To achieve this as a brand, you need to adapt your content to your audience, find what they are looking for, need, and give it to them. This means spending a lot of time creating and curating content that resonates with your audience.
Social media users
2. Its nature
Instagram was designed to be portable and although there is a desktop version, you do not have access to all the facilities that Instagram offers in its mobile version. Also, it is not compatible with all operating systems, for example, it excludes BlackBerry, OS, or Linux.
This can be a disadvantage depending on the audience you want to reach.
3. It is merely visual
If your line of business is travel, tourism, or beauty, it is most likely that the generation of visual content such as images or videos will be an advantage for you.
On the other hand, if your business is more serious and includes, for example, engineering or jurisdiction services, content creation is certainly more complicated and due to the nature of the business, likely, Instagram is not the social network for you.
The decision to run a business Instagram account depends a lot on your final goals, if you think it can be very useful for your business regardless of the products or services you offer, put your creativity into action to generate content.
Remember that the most important thing is that your images or videos are of quality, not only the content as such but also its display.
4. Engagement is high but conversion is not so high
The user experience of Instagram is very good and the facility for users to like, comment or share is gigantic. However, the ease of the actions prevents users from having a meaningful connection with the brand.