Social media has become a crucial element of developing businesses and developing their growth at a much faster rate. Platforms such as Instagram and Facebook have the ability to grab audience’s attention alongside developing a brands image. The way that most brands do this is through advertisements. Adverts on social media are inescapable and this therefore generates a huge return of investments for brands. Through using social media, this allows brands access to analytics such as likes, preferences of customers and also the latest trends. There are plenty of social media platforms out there in order to promote your brand however, when you are putting into account engagement, accessibility and target market penetration, Instagram is certainly the best and there are various reasons as to why Instagram in particular, has such a significant impact on audience outreach.
Instagram is a free social networking service built around sharing photos and videos which primarily launched in October 2010.[1] The reason why it is so widely used and so popular is because of its visual nature, simplicity and its appeal to a younger demographic. However the opportunities it holds goes beyond its visuals. As well as these things, Instagram allows you to show case a product and drive sales in a way that allows the audience to engage, therefor having a positive impact on audience outreach. Instagram is also perfect due to the fact it is available to use via a mobile. According to (Digital Marketing Blog, 2020, Why Use Instagram to Promote Your Small Business)`80% of social media browsing takes place on mobile devices’[2] therefore, building a platform on Instagram is ideal for any brand. Instagram is definitely the way forward when it comes to launching a successful social media campaign and reaching out to a specific target audience in a positive way. This all comes down to the amount of engagement it receives. According to (Elise Darma , 2020 , 5 reasons why Instagram is the BEST platform to grow your business in 2020 )[3] the amount of daily activity that Instagram receives is the highest out of the three major social media networks. This therefor suggests that Instagram has impacted audience outreach in positive a way through its ability to connect and engage with audiences, particularly younger people.
Marketing originally came in the form of prints, broadcasting and direct mail however, in comparison to digital marketing, traditional forms of marketing are rarely used. This is because the likes of Instagram and Facebook have taken over due to the impact they have on engaging with an audience at a much quicker rate. Most people have been exposed to traditional marketing methods at some point as it is a conventional mode of marketing that helps reach out to a semi targeted audience. Digital marketing on the other hand, has the ability to reach a more specific audience and evidently works better. Research from (Jellymetrics.com, 2020, How Has Marketing Evolved over Time) has shown that digital marketing actually began in the 1990’s when the internet first became popular in a commercial sense.[4] Although it took over a decade for the internet to become the main platform for marketing activities to take place, this eventually exploded resulting in the number of people using the internet to raise rapidly. This amount of people using the internet began to constantly grow resulting through some of the internet’s biggest names, for example (Jellymetrics.com, 2020, How Has Marketing Evolved over Time) Google in 1997, Amazon in 1994 and EBay in 1995.[5] Traditional forms of marketing still remain present however, it is clear that social media has definitely taken over and digital marketing on social media platforms is becoming increasingly important. As Swedosky (2007) stated ‘businesses cannot afford to ignore the benefits of using social media’ [6]In the past , when traditional marketing methods were being used , consumers were limited to the opinions of just a few friends before buying a certain product , however the use of social media has allowed the number and variety of opinions to grow. Swedowsky (2007) also stated ‘online access for brands is no longer a luxury but a necessity’[7]. This reiterates how important social media, Instagram specifically, is in terms of gaining audience outreach. Social media is used by so many people for enjoyment and businesses have started to realise this and use social media to their advantage. It is a quick and simple way for people to share thoughts and opinions with one another. Businesses also understand through the use of social media and digital marketing how important it is to have increased interaction with their audience. Furthermore, this gives them the opportunity to meet the demands of their customers better. It is evident that marketing on social media is now present in the majority of brands marketing schemes rather than traditional marketing methods that were more commonly used beforehand.
According to (Digital Marketing Blog, 2020, Why Use Instagram to Promote Your Small Business) there are over 25 million business profiles on Instagram right now[8]. This is proof that in order to be competitive and stand out in the digital marketing sector, it is essential that you have an Instagram business profile. The difference between having a business profile in comparison to a personal Instagram account is that it allows you access to analytics which means businesses can see statistics and demographics from their following. This helps as a brand, being able to understand who your target audience is and what they actually like. With Instagram’s ability to be so simple, and clutter free, digital marketers certainly enjoy customer engagement better. This is where they stand out against any other social media platform. A statistic to back this up, discovered through (omnicoreagency.com, 2020, Instagram by the numbers) is that ‘Instagram users are 58 times more likely to comment like or share a picture compared to Facebook’ [9]This is clear evidence that Instagram is the best at maximising audience outreach over any other social media platform. Another way that Instagram like to maximise engagement further is through the use of Influencers.
Influencers are a great way to drive traffic to a brand in order to impact audience outreach in a positive way, especially when it is done in the best possible method. According to (DigitalMarketingInstitute.com, 2020, 5 Tips for Effective Influencer Outreach) there are 3 main forms of Instagram Influencers, ‘Mega, Micro and Nano’. Theimportanceof influencers that have a much smaller following is growing. This is because they ‘hold a unique value and can reach a niche audience’ (DigitalMarketingInstitute.com, 2020, 5 Tips for Effective Influencer Outreach).[10] Brands on Instagram have certainly began to understand the positive impacts influencers can have on audience outreach. Additionally, once brands have built good relationships with influencers, they can reach a wider audience therefore generating more brand awareness.
According to (DigitalMarketingInstitute.com, 2020, 5 Tips for Effective Influencer Outreach) Instagram no longer use chronological news feeds making it a lot harder for content to be seen.[11] This means that huge amounts of brands will be fighting for attention and engagement from their audience. Due to this, more brands are using micro- influencers in particular in order to get their content seen. It is clear that using influencers who have a smaller following works better. An example of a brand who have used micro-influencers in order to generate more sales for a new product is Rimmel London. ‘For the launch of its Ultimate Jelly Range Rimmel wanted to drive mass awareness, product advocacy and consumer engagement’ (Internet Retailing, 2020, CASE STUDY How Rimmel Used Influencer Content to drive thousands of low cost clicks)[12]. Rimmel used the company Vamp who used a two phase strategy in order to help with Rimmels campaign. They used 20 influencers in total who created posts and Instagram stories sharing with their follows their experience from using the products whilst incorporating the key benefits that it entails. Instagram stories used the ‘swipe up’ feature which allows influencers to drive their followers to the exact website the product is sold on. Following on from this, Vamp used the seven most ‘high – performing’ pieces into advertisements. According to (Internet Retailing, 2020, CASE STUDY How Rimmel Used Influencer Content to drive thousands of low cost clicks’) this method was designed too ‘extend the impact of the influencer content and reach a wider audience, depending on their age, gender and location demographics’.[13] By doing this, Vamp were able to monitor how well the posts did online and therefore make any changes if it was needed.
As a result of this method, thousands of Rimmels customers were driven to the ecommerce sites which generated a huge amount of sales. Millions of people were reached and research from (Internet Retailing, 2020, CASE STUDY How Rimmel Used Influencer Content to drive thousands of low cost clicks’) shows that the average engagement rate was 26.5%.[14] This proves how useful Influencers are on Instagram when trying to maximise audience outreach for a business or a campaign.
To conclude, it is evident from research that Instagram has impacted audience outreach in a positive way. Instagram is used by so many people due to the fact it is simple and adaptable to every type of brand. In comparison to the likes of Facebook and Twitter, it is clear that the opportunities Instagram with holds are better when it comes down to engagement, accessibility and maximising audience outreach. This is because Instagram gives brands access to Influencers and other features such as business accounts which allow brands to analyse specific data on demographics. As a result of this, businesses have the ability to adapt to their customers needs which therefor shows how well Instagram allows brands to impact audience outreach to their best capability.
[1]MakeUseOf. (2020). What Is Instagram and How Does It Work? [online] Available at: https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/what-is-instagram-how-does-instagram-work/ [Accessed 12 Feb. 2020].
[2] Digital Marketing Blog. (2020). Why Use Instagram to Promote Your Small Business – LYFE Marketing. [online] Available at: https://www.lyfemarketing.com/blog/why-use-instagram/ [Accessed 30 Jan. 2020].
[3] Elise Darma. (2020). 5 reasons why Instagram is the BEST platform to grow your business in 2020 – Elise Darma. [online] Available at: https://elisedarma.com/blog/why-instagram-best-platform [Accessed 30 Jan. 2020].
[4] Jellymetrics.com. (2020). How Has Marketing Evolved Over Time – Jellymetrics. [online] Available at: https://jellymetrics.com/how-has-marketing-evolved-over-time/ [Accessed 6 Feb. 2020].
[5] Jellymetrics.com. (2020). How Has Marketing Evolved Over Time – Jellymetrics. [online] Available at: https://jellymetrics.com/how-has-marketing-evolved-over-time/ [Accessed 6 Feb. 2020].
[6] Abacademies.org. (2020). [online] Available at: https://www.abacademies.org/articles/eevol15no12010.pdf#page=95 [Accessed 6 Feb. 2020].
[7] Abacademies.org. (2020). [online] Available at: https://www.abacademies.org/articles/eevol15no12010.pdf#page=95 [Accessed 6 Feb. 2020].
[8] Digital Marketing Blog. (2020). Why Use Instagram to Promote Your Small Business – LYFE Marketing. [online] Available at: https://www.lyfemarketing.com/blog/why-use-instagram/ [Accessed 30 Jan. 2020].
[9] Omnicoreagency.com. (2020). • Instagram by the Numbers (2020): Stats, Demographics & Fun Facts. [online] Available at: https://www.omnicoreagency.com/instagram-statistics/ [Accessed 10 Feb. 2020].
[10] Digital Marketing Institute. (2020). 20 Influencer Marketing Statistics that Will Surprise You. [online] Available at: https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/en-gb/blog/20-influencer-marketing-statistics-that-will-surprise-you [Accessed 6 Feb. 2020].
[11] Digital Marketing Institute. (2020). 20 Influencer Marketing Statistics that Will Surprise You. [online] Available at: https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/en-gb/blog/20-influencer-marketing-statistics-that-will-surprise-you [Accessed 6 Feb. 2020].
[12] InternetRetailing. (2020). CASE STUDY How Rimmel used influencer content to drive thousands of low cost clicks. [online] Available at: https://internetretailing.net/mobile-theme/mobile-theme/case-study-how-rimmel-used-influencer-content-to-drive-thousands-of-low-cost-clicks–20634 [Accessed 10 Feb. 2020]
[13] InternetRetailing. (2020). CASE STUDY How Rimmel used influencer content to drive thousands of low cost clicks. [online] Available at: https://internetretailing.net/mobile-theme/mobile-theme/case-study-how-rimmel-used-influencer-content-to-drive-thousands-of-low-cost-clicks–20634 [Accessed 10 Feb. 2020]
[14] InternetRetailing. (2020). CASE STUDY How Rimmel used influencer content to drive thousands of low cost clicks. [online] Available at: https://internetretailing.net/mobile-theme/mobile-theme/case-study-how-rimmel-used-influencer-content-to-drive-thousands-of-low-cost-clicks–20634 [Accessed 10 Feb. 2020]
year 2 media blog 