Do you ever wonder why your Instagram is magically filled with advertisements of all the things you love and want? Well, Instagram has launched a new targeting tool which allows brands to reach consumers who are highly engaged in their brand.
Amy Cole, head of brand development for EMEA at Instagram says “Advertisers are shifting their focus this from people’s mailbox to their mobile phones and Instagram has become brands’ shop window”. Many marketers are hesitant to use Instagram in their marketing strategies despite its growing popularity and usage. According to Greenlight, the digital agency behind the new targeting tool, of the 100 senior marketers they surveyed only 60% of them are not currently using Instagram as a marketing tool. Even after 30% of Instagram users admit to buying items after seeing them in photos or videos on the application.
We are starting to see more of our favorite brands pop up on our social media for this exact purpose. Companies are playing off of Instagram, the highly visual social media platform, to show a more personal side of their brands. Instagram provides more than just visual content, it shares a story. With this highly intimate interaction with consumers, companies are able to connect on a different level and increase sales and brand awareness. Along with intimacy, a study done by Visual Teaching Alliance says that 90% of the information transmitted to our brain are visual. This means that we mainly interact with our world through visual contexts! When we see something we are more likely to remember it and therefore buy it.
Forward thinking marketers would benefit from investing in marketing tools such as this one for successful campaigns and advertisements. In a techno savvy world where we are in constant contact with our cellphones and social media platforms it is unwise for any company not to invest more time and money into visual social media marketing.
Do you think its necessary for brands to start engaging more with their social media following?
-Isabella Martinez
IMC Hawks Blog 