Instagram: The Reasons Why…
1. It’s Instant
2. It’s Visual
3. It’s Gratifying

Instant Visual Gratification = Perfect!

There you have it, my top 3 personal and emotional reasons I use Instagram. Now the Business reasons I recognized Instagram to be of value for me and my Business.

First, for those of you who have not been introduced to Instagram officially:

Instagram is completely photo/video-centric. Users can post images and short videos (15 seconds), but not text updates similar to Twitter and Facebook

Instagram for Business:

1. Instagram is not slowing down. It is Growing Rapidly

Instagram currently boasts 300 million active users

It has become THE social network for image-based social media marketing.

45% percent of marketers are planning to increase their use of Instagram in 2015. In fact, marketers who spend 40 or more hours per week on social media platforms plan to increase their use of Instagram by as much as 49 percent in 2015.

I’m pretty confident you’ll agree that Instagram’s popularity has begun to rival Facebook. Today (2015), Instagram is the most popular network for sharing images.12

2. FREE Now, … for how much longer

In 2014, Facebook and other social networks have all but killed the organic reach of your Facebook posts, leaving you with little or no choice but to pay (Pay for Clicks) for exposure.

Many of you know that I’m philosophically opposed to spending your hard-earned money unnecessarily for Organic Search Optimization. Social media is fast approaching a “NO FREE-RIDE” business model. Let’s use it while we can.

It had to happen sooner or later; nearly every social media network has entered into the advertising ring. Platforms, such as Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and LinkedIn have all gone down the path of offering advertising options in 2014 (promoted pins, video-ads, twitter cards, etc.).

42% of marketers plan to increase their use of Instagram (up from 38% in 2013.

Business to Consumer (B2C) marketers are significantly more likely (49%) to increase activities than Business-to-Business (B2B) marketers (32%).[/accordion] 3

3. One & Done — Post Once and Share

Social Media’s advertising trend is leading to new Powerful and Measurable ways of integrating social ads with brands’ rich databases and social media platforms for better Customer Targeting.

Ronin Studios always considers how we’ll utilize your Measurable Website Data. Your behavioral data that we’ve collected from your Company’s website, email campaigns, online communities, etc. and by closely observing your other channels and social media platforms, the opportunities for growth via social advertising are endless and exciting — Why? Because we can Measure online activity.

4. Videos are HOT! Facts are Friendly — follow the Data

Instagram will continue to expand in the social micro-video space.

Keep an eye on Vine, Snapchat, Hyperlapse, and Instagram. All are competing for the most popular video networking site, they’re differentiating themselves via features such as editing capabilities, video lengths etc.[/accordion]

5. Mobile — Everything we Create and Publish has been “Responsive” for all Browsers and Smart-Devices

Sales for mobile phones with 4.7″ screens and over has increased from 4% to a third, while the number of mobile-only users on Facebook grew by 34 percent in 2014 alone.

This suggests mobile is becoming the first-choice channel! ‘Mobile-Aware’ should be ‘Mobile-First’ in 2015. Try to think about all the ways your social presence can deliver your Content (information about your Product, Service or Information) to the mobile user, your potential customer.

Visual content is more important than ever to a brand’s marketing strategy, but, why then, are so many marketers struggling to create a captivating Instagram profile?[/accordion]

Call us. We can help or inspire you to find your Brand and Marketing Messaging that will capture the customers you prefer.