After much speculation and anticipation, Instagram has finally opened up its advertising platform to allow advertisers and agencies not part of the initial launch to begin advertising on the platform. Yipee! The fact that its revenue stream is already looking stellar clearly speaks to the fact that advertisers are attracted to the shiny new thing in the marketplace. But it also begs the question as to whether it actually makes sense to advertise on the platform, or is it merely a passing fad?

In this post, we try to understand the benefits of Instagram advertising and decide, as marketers, whether it makes sense for your brand.

Engagement

The latest Forrester report shows that Instagram content generated a lot more engagement per follower than Facebook and Twitter. Consumers are attracted to visuals and the emotive feelings it evokes.

Build Trust

Instagram has the ability to help brands build trust and create a positive personality. Consumers will usually listen to what their connections say, like or buy and Instagram is able to help create some type of emotional connection to your brand.

Large User Base

Instagram is now bigger than Twitter surpassing 400 million users in a recent report. Brands love to connect to a large engaged user base; Instagram isn’t going anyway so that user base will continue to grow. It’s one of the most affordable platforms to reach your target audience today as well.

Millennials

If your brand resonates with the millennials, then this is the perfect place to reach your target audience with the under 30 crowd. They are also the most engaging according to this Adweek study.

Based on Mavrck’s research

Unfortunately, the greatest pitfall in advertising on Instagram is the fact that you’re reaching and connecting only with millennials. It will be some time before the more affluent and older audience begin their migration to the platform. Just look at Facebook in its early iteration, when it was primarily for college kids. Now everyone including your mom and her book club are checking in. It’s not a matter of if, but when will the Gen Xers migrate onto Instagram.

So should you as marketers be on Instagram? Certainly, if you’re reaching a very targeted group of millennials, but not so much for the Gen Xers yet. For brands that want to reach the older audience, this may not be their time. In today’s fast-moving digital landscape it’s important to reach and connect to your audience in the space they occupy, but crucially for marketers, the key is to not look at each channel separately. Take a holistic approach and then layer in the channels that are relevant.

Image via Jason Howie

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