Social media is the center of our modern society, and that trend is only going to continue. Working from home, video streaming at faster speeds, the internet is squarely in the center of our society. And Instagram is squarely at the center of the social marketing phenomenon.
Owned by Facebook (for a price of about a billion dollars), Instagram was launched on iOS in 2010 by creators by Mike Krieger and Kevin Systrom. The Android version and desktop interface were introduced separately in 2012, with apps for Fire OS and Windows 10 appearing in 2014 and 2016. Instagram was the fourth most-downloaded mobile app between 2010 and 2020.
The industry was first to notice. The SF Weekly gave Instagram the Best Locally Made App web award in 201. In December of that year, none other than Apple Inc. named Instagram that year’s App of the Year. Mashable put Instagram at the top of their 100 best iPhone apps list and was featured in Time’s list of the 50 Best Android Applications for 2013.
And users took notice too. In that single decade, Instagram has secured its place as a social networking giant.
According to Oberlo.com, Instagram has one billion active users, and half of those, a whopping half-billion, using the photo- and video-sharing app every day. The use of the app has increased ten times in less than ten years. Instagram popularized Tweeter’s 2007 innovation, the hashtag, now ubiquitous thanks to Instagram. And it’s popular with the kids; 71 percent of the app’s users are under 35, and the average user spends almost an hour at a time on the app.
All this means that Instagram is central to any good social marketing strategy. Along with Twitter, Youtube, and just a few others, Instagram is crucial to remaining competitive online. Over 71% of businesses in the United States use the app, and half the app’s users follow at least one business.
Instagram even beats out Facebook as a social marketing platform. Instagram can generate up to four times more interactions. And it’s the deciding factor in the final purchase decision of a colossal eighty percent of IG users, called Instagrammers by those in the know.
Instagram’s future continues to be bright, and the social marketing giant is sure to keep attracting new users. In 2020 alone, Instagram is launching Instagram Reels, a feature strongly resembling TikTok so that users can create short videos without security concerns. Instagram is also taking new steps to crack down on bot accounts and highlight its popular Stories feature, where most Instagrammers post their content, even more than on their actual feed!
And there are new ways for users to take full advantage of all that Instagram can do for burgeoning businesses, a new marketing tool for audience analysis, engagement, and management.
Ideally, any useful marketing tool would provide several key features that any new business needs to survive and thrive online. Growth and performance statistics would be first and foremost on the mind of any CEO, CFO, or entrepreneur. Daily, weekly, and even monthly activity must be available at a glance. Likes, comments, follows, and unfollows are all tracked in a single, easy-to-use app. Followers can be tracked by gender and language to understand your potential client base better. Accounts can be managed, other accounts automatically unfollowed (if they unfollowed you, for example), and they can be blocked from your account using the app.
But there’s more to making the most of Instagram than knowing the demographics of a business’ followers. Machine learning is the breakthrough technology that allows users to avoid unnecessary engagement and make the most productive use of your social marketing time and effort. Over 60,000 users already trust the app to make the most of their Instagram accounts and help their businesses thrive.
A new Instagram growth app allows users to do all this and more! Serious, growth-minded online entrepreneurs can track and manage growth and performance statistics, perform advanced Instagram searches with ease, and target audiences by language, gender, and size.
Once you’re a subscriber, you can improve your Instagram marketing by studying the growth and performance reports and adjusting your strategy. Learn how many likes and comments your account left and received over different periods. Track followers count change and see precisely when and how many accounts followed or unfollowed yours.
Machine learning user analysis, management, and audience data export are huge pluses for the serious social media marketer. The service can also automate repetitive actions and manage multiple Instagram accounts.
Users can detect who doesn’t follow them back and another way of maintaining Instagram audience quality. The service allows user to spot inefficient or low-interaction accounts among existing accounts and also with new potential audiences, limiting wasted time and effort and helping to find new Instagrammer audiences by searching publications by hashtag or location, combined hashtag and location queries, or even multiple hashtags and locations in a single search.
Using this incredible service, users can also find and connect with Instagram influencers and collaborate to increase brand awareness and even drive sales.
It does take managing social marketing on Instagram to a whole new level, and it can do the same for virtually any online product or service just like yours.
There’s no doubt that Instagram is and will continue to be at the very center of social media, marketing, network, and commerce. No entrepreneur can afford to ignore it or to mismanage it. The successful business will use every tool available to maximize the benefits of that incredible potential—one billion potential customers and clients, and now the tools to manage them like never before. Things will only get better for Instagram and the savvy men and women who ride it to the top.