Instagram and Visual Marketing
As social media becomes more prevalent in every day life, different companies and corporations are turning to social media platforms for marketing. Many of them are now realizing the benefits of using Instagram as a new means of marketing. Instagram is a social media application that allows users to post pictures with captions and hashtags that make the pictures searchable if the user’s profile is public. Companies use Instagram as a means of visual marketing. Instagram itself has made this type of marketing more accessible for businesses, offering three different types of ads: images, video, and carousel in which the company can choose multiple images that users can scroll through.
These new options give companies a different way to advertise, allowing them to stage their product in the most attractive way possible. It also allows for more direct consumer engagement as users are now encouraged to take pictures of themselves using certain products and contributing to company specific hashtags. This is especially true if companies create contests that include requiring users to be following the company. In doing so, the companies are not only increasing user engagement with their products, they are also creating more possibilities for long-term awareness and exposure to new products.
Instagram published multiple case studies in conjunction with different companies that demonstrate the effectiveness of this new visual marketing strategy. Ben & Jerry’s saw a 17% increase in awareness for their new flavor, and Philedelphia saw a 41% increase in sales. Multiple other companies also saw an increase in sales or some other positive increase in ad recall or site traffic, demonstrating how social media has large influence over certain age groups and the consumer’s decision to purchase what they are more familiar with.
Sources:
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/251651
https://business.instagram.com/?section=casestudies#caseStudies