Are you leveraging Instagram marketing for your business?
With more than 1 billion active users and ten years of existence, Instagram has entered a new age of maturity and opportunity. Once the “young” app for millennials who all but abandoned Facebook as their parents took over, Instagram is now home to a maturing userbase–with increasing purchasing power– and a powerful advertising space that leverages Facebook’s in-depth data points on its users.
With its ever-changing algorithms and evolving user base, Instagram marketing can feel like a moving target. Here are 6 instagram marketing myths that you shouldn’t let hold you back.
Instagram Marketing Myth #1: Its Users are Too Young
If your product or service carries a hefty price tag, you may be doubtful the user base on Instagram is old enough to be a viable demographic.
It’s an easy assumption to make. Every few years, there comes a new social media app that usually gets deemed “for young people”. Writing this in 2021, Tik Tok is that app today, whereas only a few years ago it was Snapchat. The technological evolution was clear– once an app gets “too mainstream”– i.e. too old– its youngest users will typically migrate to another app where they don’t need to worry about Aunt Peggy seeing their questionable posts.
Instagram was once the app that young-ins flocked to from Facebook. But those young-ins grew up. As of January 2021, 33.1% of U.S. Instagram users were between 25 and 34 years old (Statista). That’s old enough to carry significant purchasing power.
This millennial group holds the third-highest purchasing power in the U.S., after Baby Boomers and Gen X (V12data).
Significantly, millennials spend more online than other generations. Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to an overall increase in online spending across age groups.
Instagram Marketing Myth #2: You Need a Large Following
Of all the social media platforms, Instagram is perhaps the most burdened by vanity metrics– that seemingly important numerical social proof, such as the number of followers we have or the likes our posts get. Because of the platform’s cultural occupation with these metrics, it’s easy to get discouraged by a smaller following and give up or not even bother at all.
But having a high number of followers is not the same as– nor is it better than– having a relevant audience of people who are actually interested in your business.
Assuming you’re a business and not an influencer, you don’t need a high number of followers to acquire leads or sales from Instagram.
Influencers make money primarily from brand partnership and advertising others’ products. Follower count matters for them, as brands typically only want to work with high-follower accounts.
Businesses, as you’re likely aware, make money from a product or service it provides. We’re not trying to appeal to other brands or score product deals.
As a business, you would rather have 500 followers who are part of your target audience and actual, potential buyers than 10,000 followers who will probably never buy from you.
Instagram Marketing Myth #3: You need to be active constantly
Developing and maintaining an Instagram marketing strategy is a time-intensive undertaking. Not only do you need to put time into researching, planning, and creating content, you also need to take time to engage with others on the platform.
While you need to be consistently active on Instagram, you do not need to be constantly active– and doing so could actually backfire. If you feel like you’re on Instagram all day, it’s likely you’re not approaching it strategically or mindfully, and you’re bound to get burnt out.
So what does being consistently active look like?
- Showing up every day (but not all day)
- Batch creating content so you can easily distribute throughout the week or month
- Aiming for “targeted use” sessions rather than mindless scrolling
- Engaging with others in your industry and target audience in a strategic way
What does being constantly active look like?
- Spending hours a day mindlessly scrolling (without really thinking about why)
- Obsessing over your stories, posts, or reels
- Falling into the comparison trap looking at other brands or users
- Trying to post every day without a clear plan for what you’re posting and why
Everything changed when I switched to a “business use mindset” rather than a personal one. I stopped trying to be constantly active on Instagram and shifted toward being more consistently and strategically active instead. As a result, my weekly app usage has actually gone down and I feel like I have a healthier and more beneficial relationship with Instagram.
Instagram Marketing Myth #4: It Only Works for “Sexy” Brands
Instagram is, at its core, a photo sharing app. So you might assume you need an inherently picturesque brand to work on Instagram. Picture– women seductively swirling cocktails, a pretty perfume bottle glistening by the pool, a handsome dude adjusting his cufflinks. These things are all well and fine and will often have an easier time getting likes on Instagram. But we’re not just here for the likes, remember?
Believe it or not, Instagram can work for more traditionally boring brands too. Seemingly mundane consumer products like toothbrtushes, vitamins, and laundry detergent have found wild success on Instagram. Professionals of less-sexy industries like dental, legal, and even plumbing have managed to find create real business results on Instagram as well.
The key is creating content that’s educational, entertaining, or inspiring. Bonus points if it’s all three. You might not consider an industry like accounting to be super visually appealing, but if you’re providing information that people value, they will take notice. They may even call.
Instagram Marketing Myth #5: You Need to Be a Pro Photographer
It’s true that high-quality images and videos have the best chance of doing well on Instagram. It’s a visual platform, after all. Throwing an impressive image into someone’s feed is typically going to capture their attention, even if only for a second.
Thankfully, you don’t need to be a professional photographer to take decent photos these days. Most of us have extremely powerful cameras and access to fancy editing apps right on our phones. There are infinite free tutorials out there on how to use them. You’re not going to become a professional photographer overnight, but you can create images that are “good enough” for the feed and for your business.
If you do have the budget to hire a photographer, that would be a smart brand investment. A simple one- or even half-day shoot can provide images for several months worth of posting.
Instagram Marketing Myth #6: You Missed the Boat
Social media experts often stress the importance of being an “early adopter” of a platform. Those who join an app in its early days encounter less competition for eyeballs than they would on more established apps with a mature user base.
While it’s a great stroke of luck (and/or strategy) if you manage to pull this off, for most of us it’s just not realistic. As business owners, we can’t afford to invest in every new app that hits the market in hopes it will be the next Youtube or Tik Tok. There is actually a danger in doing this if you don’t have a large enough team, budget, or know-how as this can distract you from priorities that have a higher and more proven return on investment.
It’s true that it’s harder to grow on Instagram than it once was. But as we learned, “growing” in the sense of followers or other vanity metrics is not our priority as businesses. You can gain real value from Instagram marketing for your business– even now, in its 11th year and counting.
Don’t Let Instagram Marketing Myths Stop You From Leveraging The Platform
If you are looking to establish a business or brand presence on Instagram, there is nothing getting in the way but you. It’s easier to assume something won’t work for our business than to put the time and effort into making it work. Instagram marketing is by no means easy, but it is a marketing channel worth pursuing– regardless of your industry, product, or service.
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