Why Instagram is the Future of Social Media Marketing?
As Confucius said, “A picture is worth a thousand words”. We can see today on social networks that images generate more commitment than a text or a link. The image is a powerful lever of engagement and knowing a growing success, new social networks, such as Instagram, decided to devote themselves to this theme.
Some numbers
The numbers are not lying, and the CNIL has investigated the extent of the image on social networks. The following figures have come out:
- “More than one user in two takes a picture first in order to publish it”.
- “About 300 million photos are shared every day on social networks”.
- “More than half of French Internet users publish photos on the Internet, including 86% among 18-24 year olds”.
The “Picture Marketing” a trend in strong development
Picture Marketing can be defined as “image promotion”. The emergence of social networks specialized in image sharing has reinforced this trend. The Picture Marketing concerns: photos, images, infographics, logos, gifs, screenshots, videos … Why is it important for you to think about a Picture Marketing strategy before embarking on the web and social media? Because this method creates value for companies and allows them to:
- Create a first “good impression” for new visitors
- Create commitment and affinity for the brand
- Create sharing and virality thanks to long-term fans
- Develop brand awareness through sharing
- Ability to manage the company’s e-reputation with attractive visuals
- Be able to convey brand content in an understandable way and tell a story around it.
Each image must be adapted to the social network and the community concerned. Thousands of images are broadcast every day on social networks.
A company must know how to stand out. For this, it must set graphic codes to make it recognizable at a glance by Internet users. The more creative and qualitative the visual, the more the user will react to it positively.
In conclusion, social image networks allow businesses to:
- to generate commitment,
- to extend their notoriety,
- to increase a share of additional traffic on the website, blog
- and so on a long run to increase the sales figure.
Why use Instagram?
Businesses use Instagram for different reasons:
- Reaching new targets – targeting “power users”: a study published by the agency Kindai reveals that this category of influencers accounts for an average of over 200,000 followers. Their strong involvement in the network (almost half of them have 50,000 interactions per week) gives them an important ability to federate a community of followers. By touching these power users, brands have a lot to gain …
- Develop their presence on social networks – by sharing original visual content
- Federate a community around a brand – the notion of a company looking at all costs to sell is very erased on Instagram. In choosing to follow a brand, the Instagramer deliberately makes it part of his personal universe.
For the brand, the fact of existing otherwise than through a product or service gives it a more human dimension, more accessible and also more aesthetic thanks to an artistic treatment of the image.
A newfound proximity
A few decades ago, the prosperity of a bakery, a butcher’s shop, or a fish market depended not only on the quality of the products sold, but also on the personalities of the tenants. They knew their customers personally, asked them about their family, and even offered them tastings of the latest recipes.
Today, customers have multiplied and the link that unites them to the managers of the shops has frayed. Less and less loyal, they turned to new distribution channels, such as major retailers or online sales.
However, thanks to social networks and new technologies, artisans can now recreate and strengthen this proximity link, better identify their customers and above all, offer new services, more in line with their needs.
Promote and federate around an event
Instagram is a very immediate and responsive social network. This intrinsic quality of the tool, added to the geolocation system, offers you the possibility to communicate in real time on your events, or to create teaser images upstream.
On this occasion, you can invite users to create images and share them with one or more predefined hashtags.
Before the event, you can inform your community to win their commitment and participation on the day.
To conclude, Instagram is a social network of image and future, allowing you proximity with your customers and specifiers. However, it is essential, before embarking, to clearly define an editorial line and an effective strategy.
