Woah, hold your horses! What am I saying here? After all, I am a digital marketer with services offered that includes “social media”……
Instagram is the hottest marketing tool out there, everyone is using it, “instagrammers” are making a fortune just showing videos or photographs of themselves in various poses, venues, tasks and making a lot of money – even appearing on television shows like “Strictly Come Dancing”.
So WHY on earth is a digital marketer saying Instagram is not worth spending valuable marketing time and money on?
Firstly, let us see what is GOOD about Instagram?
There I go again, am I contradicting myself? NO!
Instagram is a GREAT marketing tool IF your product is easy on the eye, a “MUST HAVE” product – Tshirts, clothing, gifts, cars, motorbikes, shoes, food, jewellery, etc. etc. AND services like gardeners, landscapers, interior designers, designers, furniture makers and more.
So, if you have a product or service that is easy to photograph with a mobile phone, use Instagram to increase the awareness of your products to followers that might just click on your product to visit your website.
Which businesses are NOT worth using Instagram for?
Why am I writing this post? A recent potential customer asked me to look at their digital marketing and during the remit I looked at their website and a link on there was for Instagram. I asked them WHY on earth are they using Instagram, the owner replied that it was popular and he had a lot of followers. He thought it was the best marketing tool they had.
WRONG I told him. I do not beat around the bush here!
The company made aluminimum product hangers for shop fitting and retail displays. The type of product that will not gain any followers for the visual aspect of the product and cause the follower to say “wow, I need that!”
The client had 67 followers from 90 posts.
I asked the client how many people had purchased from his instagram account = NONE.
Outcome = A complete waste of time and cost.
We have another client who is an upholsterer, and their Instagram acocunt has 945 followers and is connected to their Facebook account. With 148 posts, their enquiries in 12 months have been approximately 25 with 5 sales.
Outcome = Well worth doing.
Dr. Martens do Instagram and do it very well. With 2.3 MILLION followers and 4379 posts!
I know that they use Instagrammer influencers to send their products to for a photograph share of the products being worn and they make a huge amunt of sales from Instagram alone, with an increase in shop visits and online sales.
Outcome = Well worth doing!
Do I use Instagram?
Yes. I use it for personal reasons, to keep a presence, to show potential clients that we use it (if they ask) but mainly to keep in touch with friends. We, as an agency, do not use it for marketing ourselves…. why?
Read above!! 😉
Instagram is a GREAT marketing tool, done right and by relevant companies.
Instagram is a great marketing tool that is not worth being used by ALL business types!
Instagram business users think that if they have a high amount of followers, they will get business from Instagram bu tmainly people just follow accounts, so that they will be followed in return.
Are you using Instagram? Does it work for YOUR business?