- For one, it is a great example of what exemplifies visual marketing. Using photos as the only medium to communicate with the consumer audience is a power bet that businesses take.
- In a lesser manner, photos do not go up on your profile just like that. Brevity is the soul of marketing on Instagram using photos. There is always a tagline, a content announcement or simply a cheerful quote of positivity and trust me that is good enough content to get you going.
Despite these obvious advantages offered by Instagram's open platform for marketing, there are many businesses who still hesitate to invest as much in Instagram as they do on other networking platforms.
Surely when the world of 1 million users is generating a buzz on Instagram, why do businesses shy away? Well here are some commonly held misconceptions that keep businesses on the ledge. Let's get going on the de-bunking spree today!1. Platform For Visual Products Only
Now this is probably the biggest myth that most businesses harbor and never get going on Instagram's great platform. Let me set the score straight here. Instagram is a great photo-sharing app that is open to one and all, do not go out there looking to play the hardcore marketing rout.
Businesses, especially on the service side are the most apprehensive folks when it comes to this myth. It is understandable that you do not have a tangible good in hand to put a photo out there. However, as the Instagram Home Team shows, they put out their employees , desk work and company shots on their profile just to let know people that they are offering a good service. Well isn't that a basic yet powerful branding message to follow?
2. Big Brands Rule The Roost
The fear of the big fish is an unending fear that never goes away. If you are a small business, this is a valid apprehension to have but shouldn't stop you from competing. According to some good round-up research, this misconception is actually not true. There are so many startups and budding enterprises that Instagram picks up to feature on its blog, if they are doing a good job attracting attention. Some notable ones to mention are Mission Bicycle, Shwood, Almond Surfboards, Folk Fibres and even techies like MailChimp, HipMunk, Dollar Shave Club etc. If you really want some business inspiration, be sure to checkout Warby Parker, that is seen as a prime example of Instagram's business success story.
On a personal score, I do feel that Instagram is a great way to introduce your products and wares, more so if you are a freelancer or self-employed artist. Once you have created a niche here, driving sales is never going to be a problem.
3. Only Photos, No Content
I agree that Instagram at its heart is a photo sharing app. But who says that you cannot push content on a photo sharing platform. That's where the real business talent lies. Firms with a good Content Strategists will tell you that Instagram actually allows you to engage with customers more inter-personally. Why? How?
The most apparent reason to make the claim is that Instagram works on User Generated Content (UGC) , basically through the popular photo contests and targeted branding campaigns.
While photo contests are nothing new, when it comes to the latter, the trend is still in its nascent phase. All one needs to do is create a exclusive brand hashtag for the contest you are hosting. This is keeping in view the "X-factor" differentiation your product needs to create in a big pool of like-minded players.
Moreover, since Instagram allows syncing with other social media networks, promoting a contest/campaign is not really a problem. Once the contest is underway and results declared, businesses can use their business pages on other sites to showcase photo galleries of the successful event done. This not only acts a constant reminder to the audiences that you are actually doing something out there but also allows them to share and re-use the content that you put out there. That's when marketing is a done task!
4. Analytics
As a business that is heavily invested in a social media campaign, it is necessary to keep track of your success/ failure/ stagnation on the various platforms. When it comes to Instagram, businesses shy away primarily because they think there are no in-built analytics tools available for tracking . Well as goes our mission De-bunk, this is a grave misconception as well. There are scores of good analytic platforms and web apps such as SumAll, Statigram, Nitrogram, SimplyMeasured, GramPro and others like Static that are made exclusively for assessing brand performance on Instagram.
5. Loss of Photo Rights
This was a unnecessary hoo-haah that surfaced at the wee end of 2012 when Instagram's updated Terms of Use came out. It was rumored that Instagram had acquired the rights to sell photos that were on the platform to third parties without the owner's actual consent.
Instagram immediately sorted out its PR and legal squabbles to set the score right by bringing out a clear cut statement of new Terms of Use in January this year. It stated that the Instagram users were the real time owners of all the photos they put on the platform and "advertising on Instagram will be similar to Facebook’s sponsored stories. Instagram is not looking to sell any content outside of their app."
We hope that we put some of your obvious fears to rest with this article. If you have other inhibitions that make you keep away from Instagram, do let us know by leaving a comment in the section below.
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