In this opinion piece, Charles Tidswell (pictured below), vice president of the JAPAC region at Socialbakers, provides three data-fuelled reasons why brands shouldn’t ignore Instagram in their marketing strategy.

Instagram is a highly popular online advertising channel that’s bringing value to two million marketers across the world.

Recently, Instagram has been rapidly expanding its user base. In September 2017, the network’s audience size reached a whopping 800 million monthly active users – a 100 million increase from just April 2017. This poses an undeniable opportunity for brands who can leverage Instagram’s community as a source of potential customers.

Socialbakers data shows that brands can reach and engage the Instagram audiences quite easily, which makes their marketing efforts that much more effective.

However, if you’re still not tapping into Instagram’s marketing potential, here are three data-based reasons why it’s time to do it:

1. You can reach nearly a quarter of your target audience with each organic Instagram post 

Marketers can achieve really high organic reach on Instagram. Socialbakers’ analysis of nearly 214,000 Facebook and Instagram posts found that the median Instagram reach is as much as 24 per cent – over three times more compared to Facebook. This means that each Instagram post you publish is seen by roughly a quarter of your audience, which can help you effectively raise brand awareness and create more business opportunities.

2. Instagram posts gain six times more interactions compared to Facebook posts

Socialbakers looked into the number of interactions received by content on Instagram and Facebook and discovered that Instagram posts are over six time more engaging per reach compared to Facebook posts.

Our data has also shown that the biggest difference between Instagram and Facebook engagement lies in the video content. While almost 5 per cent of companies’ Instagram audience interact with video content when they see it, this number is closer to one percent in the case of Facebook.

Instagram’s high engagement is one of the platform’s biggest assets that can be leveraged by companies in many creative ways, from enhancing customer relationships and brand image to driving website traffic and boosting conversion rates.

3. 99 per cent of Instagram profiles outperform Facebook profiles in terms of interactions per reach

Socialbakers’ comparison of the same brands’ profiles on Instagram and Facebook proved that Instagram profiles achieve much better results overall than the Facebook ones. As much as 99 per cent of Instagram profiles outperform Facebook profiles in terms of interactions per reach and interactions per impressions.

Additionally, around 80 per cent of Instagram profiles achieve a higher number of organic impressions and reach per audience when compared to Facebook profiles.

What does it mean for marketers? Their content will most likely perform better organically on Instagram than on Facebook, which is a natural thing, stemming from the platforms’ differing characteristics.

The takeaway

While Instagram can surely help companies achieve great results, the platform should complement, rather than lead, a brand’s social media marketing strategy. Instagram is the choice for brand awareness campaigning due to its high reach and engagement, but if brands are set to make the most of what the growing platform offers, now is the time to optimise how they approach Instagram marketing.